Updated September 9, 2026

WORSHIP

A New Service
Our campus ministry is growing! In order to reach out to all area colleges and universities, we will have a Sung Mass at 5 p.m. on Sunday evenings followed by a meal throughout the program year. This service will be the bedrock of a community of students in search of a place to explore their faith, ask hard questions, and find a community. While this Mass is especially for students, all are welcome! This new service kicks off on September 13.

Choral Evensong & Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament – Sunday, September 20
Join us on Sunday, September 20 at 3 p.m. for the first Choral Evensong & Benediction of the program year. Music includes the Magnificat & Nunc dimittis in D by Herbert Brewer and O thou sweetest source by Charles Wood. Reception to follow.

Upcoming Major Holy Days and Special Services
Our custom at Good Shepherd is to celebrate Mass on all Major Holy Days of the Church year. Allowing God’s extraordinary time to break into our ordinary time is a hallmark of the Anglo-Catholic tradition. You are encouraged to make these feast days a part of your regular rhythm of prayer, if at all possible. Join us on Monday, September 14 at 12:05 p.m. for Holy Cross Day.

MUSIC

Music Notes
This Sunday, September 13, sees the return of our wonderful choir for the season, and it is a special joy to welcome them back into the stalls to continue to enrich and deepen our worship through music. This Sunday’s choral Mass setting will be Harold Darke’s Communion Service in E, which he wrote for King’s College, Cambridge while he was a student there, publishing it many years later. This Sunday’s anthem, entitled We wait for thy loving-kindness, is a jam-packed but compact piece setting a few short verses of psalmody written by William McKie, an Australian-born organist who was Organist and Master of the Choristers at Westminster Abbey from 1941 until 1963. McKie composed this anthem for the marriage of HRH Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten in November 1947. The piece’s chant-like opening, dramatic shifts in energy and emotion, and choice of text make it a very suitable bidding for the start of a new year of worship together at Good Shepherd as we await (and experience) God’s loving-kindness together. The Mass will conclude with Bach’s ever-popular Sinfonia from the 29th Cantata, brilliantly arranged for organ solo by French virtuoso, Marcel Dupré.  

Good Shepherd Choristers
Our chorister program for children ages 7 and older will be restarting this fall!  If you know of a child who might be interested in joining, please contact Alden Wright, and please help us share information on this program with others in the local community. Registration for this upcoming year is open! Please register on Realm if you have an account or by emailing Alden Wright.

As an added bonus, any child who is registered as a chorister will also receive a complimentary in-home trial lesson from Crescendo Music Academy on any instrument (including voice).

formation

Adult Forum
Beginning this fall, we will gather for weekly adult education. While our children are in Sunday School, adults will receive regular formation of their own! Our first class will be called Rooted and Renewed: Living the Tradition, Growing in Faith, Discerning Our Future. Together, we will explore the core pillars of our common identity as we learn who we are and how God is calling us to serve. The class will feature both lecture and community conversations. The Adult Forum begins on September 20 at 9:30 a.m. To learn more, email Mthr. Maddie.

Pilgrims in Christ
Pilgrims in Christ is a process of robust spiritual formation that is based on the ancient catechumenate, which prepared candidates for baptism. At Good Shepherd, Pilgrims is broadly conceived and is intended for those seeking baptism, confirmation, reception into the Episcopal Church, renewal of baptismal vows, or simply a deepening of one’s own relationship with Christ. Pilgrims is both an introduction to the Christian faith and a journey of discipleship in community. Each session will begin with your questions, move into instruction, and conclude with a discussion. The class meets on Sundays at 1:30 p.m. in the Parish House, beginning September 20. To register, email Mthr. Maddie.

Godly Play
Children enter into parables, silence, sacred stories, and liturgy in order to come close to God who is at work in the world around them. Godly Play assumes that children have some experience of the mystery of the presence of God in their lives, but lack the language, permission, and understanding to express and explore it. The teachers tell stories and ask “I wonder…” questions meant to guide the children on their spiritual journey and help them fall more deeply in love with God. Godly Play resumes on Sunday, September 20. 

Weaving God’s Promises
Youth learn using an Episcopal-based curriculum which introduces them to three years’ worth of stories from the Bible, as well as liturgical lessons that come out of the Episcopal/Anglican tradition. In this class, youth will deepen their prayer life, explore Holy Scripture more maturely, and discuss the fundamentals of our faith including creation, salvation, Incarnation, and the Holy Trinity. Weaving God’s Promises resumes on Sunday, September 20.

community & fellowship

Annual Parish Picnic
Join us this Sunday, September 13 to kick off an exciting new program year! Our festivities begin with the Blessing of the Bookbags during the 10:30 a.m. Mass. Everyone who is returning to school this year, as either a student or a teacher, is invited to come forward for a blessing and a small gift. After Sung Mass, we will gather on the lawn for burgers and hot dogs, games, and a ministry fair. Finally, at 5:00 p.m., we will celebrate our first Sunday night Sung Mass, especially for students, with dinner to follow. It will be a joyful, busy day! You don’t want to miss it.

The church will provide hamburgers, hot dogs and the fixings for the picnic, but we need your help with salads, vegetables, drinks, and desserts. You can email the church office to be added to the list.

OUTREACH

Social Concerns
Are you interested in helping to prepare and/or serve meals for homeless families? Please contact the Crocketts at the parish office to let them know your interest. 

Support the Ardmore Food Pantry
The Ardmore Food Pantry is a ministry based at St. Mary’s Church (Episcopal) in Ardmore. The Food Pantry is entirely funded by individuals, congregations, and a few grants and receives no government funding, which enables the Pantry to serve guests without having to collect sensitive information like address or income. Gifts of any size are welcome at any time of year. There is also a basket at the back of the church where you can drop off non-perishable, unexpired food items only for delivery to the Pantry.

PASTORAL CALLS, VISITATIONS, & EMERGENCIES  

In case of pastoral emergency, or to have the Eucharist brought to someone unable to attend Mass, please call Mthr. Maddie at 682-460-6601. 

Parish Prayer List

In the Anglican Communion cycle of prayer for The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia (Sunday), The Diocese of Blackburn – The Church of England (Monday), The Diocese of Bo – The Church of the Province of West Africa (Tuesday), The Diocese of Boga – Province de

L’Eglise Anglicane Du Congo (Wednesday), The Diocese of Bolivia – The Anglican Church of South America (Thursday), The Diocese of Bondo – The Anglican Church of Kenya (Friday), and The Diocese of Bor – Province of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan (Saturday).

For Sarah, Archbishop of Canterbury, Sean, our Presiding Bishop, and Daniel, our bishop, and in the diocesan cycle of prayer for The Church in Wales (Sunday), St. James, Collegeville (Monday), Trinity Church, Oxford (Tuesday), Philadelphia Cathedral (Wednesday), Trinity, Swarthmore (Thursday), St. Francis in the Fields, Sugartown (Friday), and Non-Parochial and Retired Clergy (Saturday).

For peace across the world; for this nation and its elected leaders; for all who live and serve in this local community; for the poor, the homeless, the hungry, the lonely, the oppressed, those in vulnerable communities, immigrants, and refugees; for those in prison, especially Dwayne and Michael, and all those who are suffering; for an end to injustice of all kinds, especially racial and economic injustice; for an end to gun violence, especially in our local community; for the good creation that God has entrusted to our care, that we may be faithful stewards of it; for this parish church, for all who worship and serve here: for our staff and vestry, for our Advancement, Finance, and Social Concerns Committees, for our campus ministry, for our chorister program, for our retreat house, for those who share space with us on this campus, for all yet unknown to us whom God will draw to this place to come to know and love our Lord Jesus, and for the growth of ministry here for the sake of the Gospel.

In our parish cycle of prayer: Sean Gould (Sunday), Kevin Loughrey (Monday), John Seither (Tuesday), Connor Brubaker (Wednesday), Sonya Abraham and Jayden Thomas (Thursday), Hanna Donohue (Friday), and Paige Miller (Saturday).

In our Friends of Good Shepherd cycle of prayer: John Wallace (Sunday), Jerome Wells and Douglas King (Monday), Dave and Betty Fish (Tuesday), Dave and Deborah Lander (Wednesday), Nina Lander Milton (Thursday), John Goldsborough and Julia Stein (Friday), and Robert Mace (Saturday).

For those in need, especially for Bob, Jack, Jeannette, John, Darlene, Lois, Paige, Ian, Celia, Chris, Suzanne, Amanda, David, Nancy, Peter, Frank, August, Moses, Jim, Pam, Julius, Holly, Robin, Debbie, Sean, Diane, David, Linda, Connie, Paul, Signe, Rita, Fred, Leslie, Kile, Bradley and family, Drew, Susannah, Phil, Jane, Bruce, Pat, Jesson, Doug, Gilbert, Marcille, Charles, Carol, Alex, Frank, Lizzie, James, Sue, Peter, Rebecca, Haviland, Molly, Carolyn, Brandon, Gary, Justice, Jim, Deidre, and Sandra.

To add names and requests to the prayer list, please complete this form.