Emma Rodriguez, Clare Shields, Susan Barbella and Alex Nicholson
August 23rd
Special Music:
Chris Vogt and Sally Twentey
Guitar, Trombone, and Vocals
CLS Ensemble
August 30th - Service of Healing and Prayers
Guest Preacher: Rev. Lynice Pinkard of UCCEG
There will not be a sermon on this date, but a collection of different readings that have been shared during the "Prayers of the People" in the last year
We are offering church members the opportunity to reserve a pew before they are made available to the public in three months (end of August barn sale). Most of these pews are in need of repair and are no longer used in worship. Due to a lack of space to store these pews, we are offering them to members before selling them.
These pews have held generations of worship, prayer, celebration, and sacred memories. We would be honored for members of our church family to have the first opportunity to give them a new home.
If you are interested in selecting a pew, please contact the church office or speak with Pastor Jill for details and availability. And please do not walk off with one from the Walti room since the ones we are offering are currently stored in the loft or the basement of the barn!
GROW SPIRITUALLY AT CLS
WEDNESDAY PRAYERS
At 11 AM every Wednesday, we gather online to pray for one another, requests shared with the congregation, our community, and world.
Friends on the Journey is a self-guided discussion group that talks about living faith and spirituality today. The congregation of the Church of the Loving Shepherd is made up of persons from diverse backgrounds, religious and spiritual experiences. As in the congregation, each person’s unique perspective is respected in Friends on the Journey. All are welcome to join the conversations; wherever you are on your spiritual journey, your experience will be appreciated.
Over the years through personal experiences, some reading, guest speakers, and the occasional video, the Friends have wrestled with what it means to be a person of faith and spirituality in today’s world. A few of the topics covered have been: forgiveness, healing, compassion, hope, prayer, mercy and spiritual gifts.
FOTJ meets monthly from September to May,
held in the evenings in person with a Zoom option on the
2nd Thursday of the month.
Topics and dates are announced on Sundays at worship, in the weekly announcements of virtual meetings sent out by the Office and in Light Matters. At the meeting in September, the calendar of topics for the program year is planned.
Please note: The one exception to the meeting schedule is during Lent when we meet weekly for six weeks and a book is discussed.
Calling for Advent Quotes:
Each year in the December issue of Light Matters, a calendar of members favorite quotations for is published. This provides an inspirational quote for each day of Advent and the days leading up to the New Year.
The quotes are short, pithy expressions to ponder during the full days of Advent. Members share poems, prayers, sayings, and readings that speak to their hearts. If during your readings this summer something makes you stop, think, or catch your breath, please share it! You never know how it will inspire someone else!
You can give it to Maureen McGovern after worship service any Sunday or send it to her in the email link below. New to CLS and don't know who Maureen is? Just ask the person greeting you at the door and they will point you in the right direction! Thank you!
No one should have to navigate life’s hardest seasons alone. Journey Companions is a ministry of compassionate volunteers who come alongside individuals and families facing illness, hospitalization, disability, aging, or other life-changing circumstances.
More than visitors, Journey Companions will serve as caring advocates; helping people navigate unfamiliar systems, connect with community resources, coordinate practical support, and overcome the obstacles that often accompany a medical or personal crisis. Whether assisting with phone calls, researching resources, helping obtain medical equipment, arranging transportation or home care, connecting families with local services, or simply offering a calm and caring presence during overwhelming times, our goal is to lighten the burden so that individuals can focus on healing and hope.
Journey Companions do not replace medical professionals or social workers. Instead, they serve as trusted partners, walking alongside individuals with compassion, dignity, and faith while helping them access the care and support they need.
Grounded in our call to love our neighbors, this ministry reflects the belief that healing comes not only through medicine, but through community, encouragement, and the assurance that no one walks alone. Currently, Christine Bennett and Pastor Jill will be pulling a team together; if you are interested in volunteering, let us know!
Our July 24th food delivery was a beautiful, warm day and summer weather is a perfect time for cheeseburgers! Our delivery included buns, frozen turkey patties and cheese. Keeping the food products safe is our responsibility. How do you keep the frozen patties from beginning to thaw when delivering on an 80+ degree day?
John Taylor had the answer! He donated several freezer bags to keep the cold and frozen foods from thawing during the delivery process. Thank you, John!
A hearty thank you also goes out to our CLS “Foodies” for bagging and delivering the donations, to the CCFB who supplements our contributions with produce and other perishable items, and our congregants who generously give!
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Next Food Delivery - Friday, August 28th
*Thursday, August 27th at 8:30 AM
*Meet in the food pantry to load bags with non-perishables
*Friday, August 28thbetween 8:30 - 9 AM
*Meet at the food pantry to unload CCFB food truck
*Bag perishables
*Deliver bags to families in pairs or small groups
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There’s room for new hands and hearts, so come be a part of the team!
Besides your physical presence, we welcome donations for our deliveries.
CURRENT NEEDS: Toilet paper and paper towels are always appreciated.
Are you available for 1-3 hours to assist us in spreading wood chips, cleaning up fallen branches, and tending to our flower beds? Please let us know.
The weeds are growing quickly, and the branches continue to fall from these summer storms! We could certainly use the extra hands to help keep our property beautiful. This Grounds Day is rain or shine!
For many years, the loft of our barn has quietly waited.
Long before the barn was completed in the late 1990s, that loft echoed with songs of worship and the voices of people gathering together. Now, after many years, we believe God is calling that space back to life...but in a new way.
With the creative vision of Lena Shigeno and other youth, we are beginning the exciting work of transforming the loft into a welcoming gathering place where young people can experience community, creativity, and faith. Imagine a space filled with art that celebrates young artists, open mic nights where teenagers discover their voices, conversations about life and God, laughter, friendships, and memories that will shape a lifetime of faith.
This wasn't part of our 2026 budget because, quite honestly, we never imagined we would have this opportunity. What a wonderful "problem" to have.
Over the next two months, our teenagers (and adults supporting this new ministry) will begin clearing the loft and preparing it to be designated for teenagers and no longer storage. The improvements we are planning to do are not structural, but practical steps to cover pipes and electrical lines in the loft, allowing the space to be used safely and comfortably throughout the year.
If you are in a position to make a gift beyond your annual pledge, we would be deeply grateful. Every dollar given to this special offering is a way of saying to our young people, "You belong here. This church believes in you, and we are making room for your future."
Buildings become sacred not because of the lumber that holds them together, but because of the lives that are transformed within their walls! Thank you for helping us prepare a place where faith can grow, friendships can flourish, and young people can discover that they are deeply loved by God and by this congregation.
An excerpt from Pastor Jill's sermon on her birthday Sunday!
(Inspired by a Mylie Cyrus song "Younger You.")
Every so often, someone asks a question that immediately sends us traveling through time. "If you could go back in time, what would you tell your younger self?"
Most of us have an answer.
We'd tell ourselves not to worry so much.
We'd tell ourselves not to marry that one person...or to marry them sooner.
We'd tell ourselves to buy Apple stock.
We'd tell ourselves to spend more time with our parents.
We'd tell ourselves to trust God a little more and fear life a little less.
It's a beautiful question. But this week, as I prepared to celebrate my fiftieth birthday, another question came to me. What if we have been asking the wrong person? What if it isn't older you talking to younger you… What if younger you walked into this room today...looked at the life you've built...and asked you a few questions?
Picture a younger you walking through that door. Any age you want to imagine.
They don't know your future disappointments.
They don't know your diagnosis.
They don't know your divorce.
They don't know the promotions or failures.
They only know dreams.
Then they might start asking questions. Would they recognize your joy? Would they recognize your courage? Would they recognize your kindness? Would they recognize your faith? Or would they ask... "When did you become so afraid?"
Joshua is fascinating because he isn't young anymore. He's likely around eighty; although, we all know that the Old Testament times counted time differently. But what we know with certainty is that he has spent forty years waiting. Forty years watching Moses lead. Forty years wondering if he'd ever get his chance. Yet God speaks to him almost like a nervous young adult. "Be strong and courageous."
Why? Because courage isn't something we outgrow. In fact, the older we become, the more reasons we accumulate to stop taking risks: We've been hurt. We've failed before. We've lost people close to us. We've buried dreams because it wasn’t the right time. We've become careful. Last night, my friend Sarah told me a story of when she went on a trip where they were repelling in Bryce Canyon, Utah. She was terrified to trust the rope and lean back into a canyon. Her young nephew then said to her, "What would younger Sarah do?" Knowing that the answer was younger Sarah didn't have the fear or apprehension that older Sarah has.
Younger us often believed anything was possible. I mean, heck, I thought I could run away with my motorcycle gang boyfriend (his name was Baby Shark) at 5 years old AND I thought I could build an entire Ewok village in my back yard! But older us? Older us knows everything that can go wrong.
That changes us.
I don't think God tells Joshua to be courageous because Joshua lacks strength. God tells Joshua to be courageous because experience has taught Joshua exactly how hard life can be. I wonder...If twelve-year-old Joshua could have met eighty-year-old Joshua...maybe he would have asked..."Did you make it out of Egypt?" "Did God keep God's promises?" "Did you ever stop trusting?" But God answers those questions before Joshua ever asks them. "I will be with you."
Then Paul enters our story.
Unlike Joshua...Paul isn't standing before the Promised Land. He's sitting in prison, having done nothing other than tell his life changing story. Yet he writes: "Rejoice." "Do not worry." "The peace of God..."
Notice... Paul doesn't say, "Life became easier for me." He says, "I discovered a peace stronger than my circumstances." I love tying these together because Joshua teaches us courage & Paul teaches us peace.
Joshua reminds us that God says, "Be strong and courageous," while Paul shows us how we cultivate that courage: through prayer, gratitude, disciplined thinking, and trusting God's presence. Together, the two readings create a powerful movement from God's promise to God's practice. Both come from exactly the same place. Trust. Not certainty. Trust. That's a line worth repeating.
Somewhere along the way...many of us traded wonder...for worry.
Curiosity...for control.
Adventure...for anxiety.
Faith...for certainty.
Younger me probably thought fifty-year-old Jill would have everything figured out. She'd probably be disappointed I wasn’t a full-time artist! But maybe... she'd also be surprised. Because while I don't have all the answers, I've learned something she didn't yet know. That I have always been courageous all along, it just took some difficult things in life to show me that.
First of all, it is important that you know how frightened younger me was. As I was reflecting on this question, "What would the younger you ask the older you?" It probably would be the same one I kept asking adults over and over again… "How do you know there is a God?” Not because I came from a religious family, but because I had a fear of dying. Yes, younger me was afraid, but older me has shown courage I didn’t know I had.
First, this birthday carries a significance I can't ignore. July 12 isn't just my birthday. It's also the fourth anniversary of my double mastectomy. It wasn't an easy day. Not that any surgery is easy, but following this particular surgery, the medical team became concerned that I might have suffered a stroke. Until they could rule that out, they couldn't give me pain medication for 24 hours. So, imagine waking up from an invasive surgery and waiting twenty-four hours before anyone could ease the pain. I still can't imagine what that was like for Jay and my son as they stood beside my bed, wanting so desperately to help and simply having to wait with me as my body went into shock.
The months that followed were filled with questions. Anyone who has received a life-changing diagnosis knows that uncertainty has a way of rearranging everything. Doctors no longer assign timelines unless someone is nearing the end, but like many people, I searched for answers anyway. What I found online wasn't particularly comforting. The more the cancer spread, the less time I had.
When you believe your future may be shorter than you imagined, you begin asking different questions. Not, "How much time do I have?" But, "How do I want to spend the time I've been given?"
For me, that diagnosis didn't just change my health. It clarified my values. I wanted to care for my body as faithfully as I could. I wanted to reduce the stress that had quietly become normal. I wanted work that gave me flexibility to be present for my family.
And perhaps most importantly, I wanted to spend my days doing work that brought me joy…not someday, but now.
So every day I reminded myself of the life I hoped to live. Because I wanted my heart to stay pointed toward hope instead of fear. I wanted my decisions to reflect trust rather than anxiety. I prayed for the courage to follow wherever God might lead, even if I couldn't yet see the path. Then something unexpected happened. A conversation over a glass of wine with John & Doris Rudibaugh in June 2024. An invitation to meet with Tom Stretton and Earlin Lutz in September 2024. And taking on the part-time job as your interim Pastor as I scaled back my role as Executive Director at my nonprofit.
One conversation became another. One door quietly opened after another. Six months later, you called me to serve as your pastor. Looking back, I don't believe cancer happened so I would end up here. I would never say God caused suffering just to produce a particular outcome. But I do believe God met me in the middle of that suffering. What cancer did was strip away the illusion that tomorrow is guaranteed. It helped me let go of what didn't matter and pay closer attention to what did. It gave me the courage to say yes to possibilities I might have overlooked before and the trust to believe that even when I couldn't see the road ahead, the Divine was already waiting there for me.
If younger Jill were listening to this story, she might be surprised by all that life would hold. She certainly wouldn't have chosen the difficult seasons. Neither would I. But I can honestly say this: I found courage and a peace that passes understanding because of it. And somehow, even through the hardest seasons, God has continued to bring life where I could only see uncertainty.
Soooooo…. What if younger you came to visit today?
Would they ask...Are you still dreaming? Are you still forgiving? Are you still laughing? Do you still believe people are good? Do you still trust God?
Have you become kinder?
And maybe...the most important question...Are you becoming the person I hoped we'd become? The beauty of our faith...is that God never asks us to become younger. God asks us to become NEW. 2 Corinthians says that we are a "New creation." Joshua says, "Go forward." Paul says, "Think on these things." And guess what? Jesus never once says, "Go backward."
Yes, today is my birthday. And if my younger self knocked on my front door...she'd probably have a hundred questions. I wouldn't be able to tell her life was easy. I'd have to tell her that her pets and her parents won’t live forever, that she'd lose people she loves. I'd have to tell her she'd face days she never thought she'd survive. I'd have to tell her she'd hear words from doctors that would steal her breath. I'd have to tell her she'd cry more than she ever imagined.
But then...I'd smile. Because I'd also get to tell her this…You are stronger than you think. You are braver than you know. Not because you never became afraid… but because every time fear invited you to stop living...you chose courage instead.
Every rainbow really does require some rain. And every season of rain taught you to trust the One who never stopped walking beside you.
NOTE: You may call the office and leave a voice message anytime for Jill (ext 101) or Lisa (ext 102). If we are working from home, calls are forwarded to us.
CLS | 1066 South New Street | West Chester, PA 19382 US
