Good Shepherd Episcopal Church

Good Shepherd Episcopal Church We are friends and neighbors who love God and our church and are learning to love as Christ loves us.

Like most Floridians, we have arrived from other parts of our country and Canada.

Join the Good Shepherd Parish Family to celebrate the 4th Sunday After Pentecost at 8 a.m. (Rite I) or 10 a.m. (Rite II)...
06/20/2026

Join the Good Shepherd Parish Family to celebrate the 4th Sunday After Pentecost at 8 a.m. (Rite I) or 10 a.m. (Rite II). Or you may join the live streamed service beginning at approximately 9:50 a.m. by clicking the links found here: https://mailchi.mp/909720267040/pentecost-4-06212026-14767745

06/20/2026

Gospel Reflection
• How many angels do you have watching over you?
• I’ve always heard about my “guardian angel;” but I never considered that there might be more than one.
• Well in today’s Morning Prayer Gospel I discovered why I only have one – I’m not “humble” enough.
• Jesus says: “I tell you, in heaven their angels (the little ones) continually see the face of my Father in heaven.”
• Okay, there’s a possibility I might get more than one guardian angel, but what’s that got to do with my lack of humility?
• To answer that, we have to look at yesterday’s Morning Prayer Gospel.
• “At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ He called a child, whom he put among them, and said, ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
• So, to get multiple angels “continually” seeing the “face of my Father in heaven, I have to become “humble.”
• I think that when Jesus makes this fine point, He’s talking about a certain type of humility.
• Jesus describes Himself as “gentle and humble of heart.”
• Being “gentle” and “humble of heart” do not fit the normal expression of my Type A personality; but I’ve learned that’s not my “truest” self.
• My “truest” self is who I am in God.
• In order to be my “True” self, I have put on my “God self,” who I am in God -- and then I can be “humble,” even “gentle and humble” like Jesus.
• My practice is to try to do that more and more every day – I need all the guardian angels I can get!
• We’ll hear more about our angels in just a few minutes, but for now let’s pray. Please join me on page 79 in the Book of Common Prayer.

06/18/2026

Gospel Reflection
How many angels do you have watching over you?
I’ve always heard about my “guardian angel;” but I never considered that there might be more than one.
Well in today’s Morning Prayer Gospel I discovered why I only have one – I’m not “humble” enough.
Jesus says: “I tell you, in heaven their angels (the little ones) continually see the face of my Father in heaven.”
Okay, there’s a possibility I might get more than one guardian angel, but what’s that got to do with my lack of humility?
To answer that, we have to look at yesterday’s Morning Prayer Gospel.
“At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ He called a child, whom he put among them, and said, ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
So, to get multiple angels “continually” seeing the “face of my Father in heaven, I have to become “humble.”
I think that when Jesus makes this fine point, He’s talking about a certain type of humility.
Jesus describes Himself as “gentle and humble of heart.”
Being “gentle” and “humble of heart” do not fit the normal expression of my Type A personality; but I’ve learned that’s not my “truest” self.
My “truest” self is who I am in God.
In order to be my “True” self, I have put on my “God self,” who I am in God -- and then I can be “humble,” even “gentle and humble” like Jesus.
My practice is to try to do that more and more every day – I need all the guardian angels I can get!
We’ll hear more about our angels in just a few minutes, but for now let’s pray. Please join me on page 79 in the Book of Common Prayer.

Join the Good Shepherd Parish Family to celebrate the Holy Eucharist on the 3rd Sunday After Pentecost at 8 a.m. (Rite I...
06/14/2026

Join the Good Shepherd Parish Family to celebrate the Holy Eucharist on the 3rd Sunday After Pentecost at 8 a.m. (Rite I) or 10 a.m. (Rite II). Or you may join the live streamed service beginning at approximately 9:50 a.m. by clicking the Facebook and YouTube links found here: https://mailchi.mp/39b4161967f6/pentecost-3-06142026-14767658

06/11/2026

Gospel Reflection
• In the church I grew up in we believed we were the one true Church, even religion. I happily lived in that church for most of my life. I even trained and worked as a hospital chaplain in a large Catholic hospital after my retirement. That ended up being the most important career experience of my life.
• In today’s Morning Prayer Gospel, Peter responds to Jesus’ question to His disciples: “But who do you say that I am?”
• Peter hits the nail on the head: “You are the Messiah,* the Son of the living God.”
• But what is behind Jesus’ response to Peter:
o “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter,* and on this rock* I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
• Jesus clearly says “on this rock I will build my church.”
• After I became a hospital chaplain, I was ordained a deacon in the Episcopalian Church. Both of my faith traditions say Peter was the rock upon which Jesus built His church establishing “apostolic succession,” the unbroken lineage of Bishops. I believe that the bishop who ordained me was in that “apostolic succession” – my former faith tradition does not.
• But, again, there’s more behind Jesus’ question.
• Jesus’ first response to Peter calling out the Messiah is: “flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.”
• For me, that statement was just as important as pronouncing Peter as the “rock” upon which Jesus would build His church.
• Jesus’ church is the people of God, and God speaking directly to His people, for me, is primary.
• I think God created “apostolic succession” for the people of God, not the people of God for “apostolic succession.”
• Let’s pray about that. Please join me on page 79 in the Book of Common Prayer.

Community Dinner at Good Shepherd today at 4:30 p.m. Information about these opportunities to have a great hot meal and ...
06/10/2026

Community Dinner at Good Shepherd today at 4:30 p.m. Information about these opportunities to have a great hot meal and enjoy spending time with our guests and parish family. Read all about the dinners and more in our weekly news blast found here: https://mailchi.mp/061ae2366f70/06-10-2026-14767605

Join the Good Shepherd Parish Family to celebrate the Second Sunday After Pentecost at 8 a.m. (Rite I) or 10 a.m. (Rite ...
06/07/2026

Join the Good Shepherd Parish Family to celebrate the Second Sunday After Pentecost at 8 a.m. (Rite I) or 10 a.m. (Rite II). Or you may join the live streamed service beginning at approximately 9:50 a.m. by clicking the links found here: https://mailchi.mp/837d47c7e20c/pentecost-2-06072026-14767584

06/04/2026

You may remember in last week’s Morning Prayer Gospel we ended with Jesus’s summary teaching on “judgement.”
In a Word, don’t.
“Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her…”
In this week’s Gospels Jesus continues teaching.
But then He hears the news about John the Baptizer’s death. Jesus’ cousin John has literally been with Jesus from the beginning – from their “in the womb” meeting when Jesus’ mother Mary visits John’s mother Elizabeth, and her baby, John, leaps for joyin her womb at the presence of baby Jesus.
John’s beheading by Herod leaves Jesus without a peer.
So what does Jesus do after hearing of the violent death cousin John?
He keeps teaching.
Actually, upon hearing the news of John’s death he goes away to a “deserted place by himself.” But a great crowd follows the grieving Jesus.
It’s almost evening, but Jesus heals their sick, and, in the midst of his grief He has “compassion for them” and feeds “five thousand men, besides women and children.”
Jesus has no time for judgement, anger, or other understandable emotions in His grief; He continues to do the work of His Father – with compassion.
Let us pray that somehow Jesus found a way to do His grief work, possibly late at night with His Father, as we begin our prayer this morning.
Please join me on page 79 in the Book of Common Prayer…

Address

1115 Center Road
Venice, FL
34292

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 1pm
Tuesday 9am - 1pm
Wednesday 9am - 1pm
Thursday 9am - 1pm
Friday 9am - 1pm
Sunday 8am - 1pm

Telephone

+19414977286

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