January Newsletter from Bill Humphreys


Hello Church folk and friends!                                            January 19, 2023
I hope that 2023 is off to a good start with you and yours. Good health; good finances; good employment, paid and unpaid, on the job and volunteering, and good child care for children and grandchildren; good, safe travels; all of the above and more. Happy New Year!
Recent events: Worshipers have enjoyed and appreciated the decorating of several people in both congregations, El Buen Pastor and Smith Memorial, who decorated the sanctuaries for Advent and Christmas, and who returned more recently to un-decorate our worship spaces. It might have been mostly un-noticed, but the faralitos at Smith Memorial on Christmas Eve were a nice item for people who saw them!  

Two recent deaths have led to burials at the El Buen Pastor cemetery; we thank Waldo for his attention to preparing the grave sites. And similarly, we thank him and others who have helped the respective families have  meaningful and supportive gatherings and services at the tender time of death and bereavement. 
Today I have some dates in mind:
For this coming Sunday, January 22: it was previously announced that El Buen Pastor would have its Annual Meeting this weekend, 1/22. That has been changed to 2/12/23, February 12, 2023. As with most annual meetings, the business will include the reception of annual reports for 2022, and the nomination and election of deacons and elders. The annual meetings include the opportunity for official meetings of the corporations as well as the congregational meeting. As “regular” meetings of the congregation, the annual meetings may also include any business brought to them by members of the respective congregations.
Sunday, January 29, is this month’s (the quarter’s!) “Fifth Sunday!” That means… HYMN SING. This month, on the 29th, we’ll meet for worship at 10:00 AM at Smith Memorial in Truchas. So that’s an hour later for the Smith Memorial congregation and a half-hour earlier for the El Buen Pastor congregation. I hope that as this season goes along, the weather will be good and worshipers will make a good effort to come and sing some hymns of YOUR choosing!
Looking ahead a bit: Sunday, February 19, will be Bill’s Sunday NOT to be there for worship. The Rev. John Guthrie is scheduled to be the worship leader and preacher for that day. Plan to attend for a good worship experience and to greet John!
A little further ahead: LENT is the next liturgical season coming up, beginning on February 22 with ashes on Ash Wednesday! Not counting Sundays, Lent continues for 40 days until Easter, reminding us of the 40 days of Jesus’s wilderness experience, parallel to the days and nights of rain in the story of Noah and the Flood.
    Current plans are for an Ash Wednesday service at El Buen Pastor at 6:00 PM; both congregations and all of your friends are welcome to attend and, as you wish, present yourselves, at least your foreheads, for the imposition of ashes, reminding us that we are dust, and to dust we shall return.  -but don’t be in a hurry for that!


Lent continues right through Palm Sunday on April 2, Maundy Thursday on April 6, Good Friday on April 7, and Happy Easter(!) on April 9. Watch for more information about worship events and times, especially for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday!

The forecast and developing weather must have played a big role in who attended and didn’t attend worship this past Sunday. The earlier services (at 9:00 AM) in snowy Truchas was almost completely snowed out (or in!); the 10:30 service at El Buen Pastor missed a few more-regular participants. No problem, of course; absences can all be made up simply by attending this coming Sunday! So far, at least, you’re not likely to be asked for excuses  reasons, just “we missed you; welcome back!”
What else?  
All the very best wishes to you and yours as these days go along!

Blessings. Health. Joy. Peace! -Bill Humphreys.   


            262.853.4918 for calls/texts
            or reply to this e-mail address: wwhumphreys@aol.com

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