June 17
Beloved families of Good Shepherd,
Peace be with you! VBS 2026: ROOTED IN LOVE ended this past Friday with a VBS Parent Program and Celebration Lunch (click HERE to watch our children sing the songs of our faith during our VBS Parent Program). My heart is filled with gratitude for our VBS volunteers and our Good Shepherd Church and Day School families who participated in VBS. A special thank you is extended to our VBS Decorating Team (Elizabeth Vaughan, Effie Vaughan, Aarilyn Waletich-Silverio, and Olivia Deep) for their stellar work in building a beautiful tree with the nine fruits of the Spirit along with a waterfall of the Holy Spirit. I also want to thank Good Shepherd’s two Godly Play Trainers, the Rev. Cynthia Insko and the Rev. Lois Howard, for their excellent work in guiding our Godly Play stories and responses during VBS. Lastly, I extend my deepest thanks to our VBS music teachers, Ms. Laura Crawford and Mr. Frank Espinosa, for their great work!
In this Sunday’s Gospel reading from Matthew, Jesus implores us to love God above all else. Jesus understands our human tendency to place our family at the center of our lives and make them our highest love. Children are quite adorable and are so easy to love, especially when they are young. Jesus uses some strong words to keep parents from going off-track spiritually by loving their children more than God: “whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.”
Both parents and children grow strong spiritual roots in God’s love when they worship God above all else:
When God is the center of gravity in the life of a family, each family member is free to grow into spiritually healthy trees, “planted by a river, a tree full of fruit, with leaves that are always green.” (Psalm 1, from Psalms for Young Children, by Marie-Hélène Delval)
I hope everyone’s summer is off to a great start. We hope to see you this Sunday!
Many Blessings,
Patty
A special thank you is extended to Elizabeth and Effie Vaughan for their great work in designing and building our VBS 2026: ROOTED IN LOVE decorations. Effie painted all nine fruits of the Spirit!