Thank you for your patience.
Sanctuaries are built for the primary purpose of public worship in the life of a congregation. As Lutherans, it is the place where God serves us with his Word and his Sacraments. We join together with brothers and sisters to confess and be absolved, to pray, praise and give thanks, to hear the promises of God’s steadfast love and faithfulness, to receive the Body and Blood of Christ in Bread and Wine among so many other wonderful things. During His earthly ministry Christ regularly attended synagogue to teach God’s people that he was their Messiah. Every time we gather together in worship we teach the same thing!
Teaching is an important aspect of a life lived in a sanctuary.
Most of you already know that at the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year GSLC was approached by Hayward Collegiate with a conundrum. They were out of space and needed a temporary location for a 5th grade classroom. With reservation and great respect they asked if they might be able to use one side of our sanctuary for one year until plans to build more classrooms were developed. After much prayer and discussion the congregation voted to approve this temporary use of our sanctuary seeing it as a way to serve and instruct, to practice wisdom while also trust that God would honor the tough decision to repurpose part of the worship space.
Thank you for your patience.
After a long year of flexibility we are down to our final few months of utilization of that space for classroom instruction. The timeline for final installation of new modular classrooms is early Fall 2024 at which point we will recover the side of the sanctuary for full-time worship use. We know that it wasn’t the prettiest thing to look at nor was it always the most convenient. However, thank you for being patient because it provided an invaluable opportunity to gain trust and respect with not only school administration but families as well. Each time they entered the sacred space of our sanctuary they were reminded of the incredible level of sacrifice you made for their children. Many, many times in public and private faculty, administration, families and visitors alike have commented on how grateful they are for your willingness to open your doors *literally* and metaphorically.
While we’re on the topic of sanctuary spaces — take a look at the OTHER SIDE where we have removed the large stage that was constructed during the COVID-19 pandemic. While it served a wonderful purpose of creating a space to present online worship during the pandemic after a return to in-person worship it soon became underutilized. More than this, it took up A LOT of space that we have recently needed for overflow seating. So, it has been removed and now we have even more flexibility to make room for all of the new visitors and families that have been gracing the sanctuary of Good Shepherd.
