Please consider joining us for two events on Saturday, December 7 to launch your season of Advent.  

Starting at 1:00, our priest-in-charge, Dr. Reverend Mother Aloha Smith will lead us in a free instructed rosary-making session for a workshop featuring a special form of prayer meditation called the Tharseo Rosary.  The five decades of the circle of ten beads are based on the five places in the Gospels where the Greek word translates to “Take Courage!” or “Be of Good Cheer!” or, maybe, “Pull up your Socks!”

Required are ten beads with holes large enough for stringing (not necessarily identical), one distinctive ‘Our Father’ bead, three Cardinal Virtue beads, stringing material such as sturdy waxed string, leather or yarn, one small cross.  Some materials will be provided from Mother Aloha’s personal stash, so feel free to come if you have none of these.

We will serve international holiday pastries and finger foods, and have coffee and cider available for all participants.

At 3:00, there will be a concert with three readings from Scripture punctuated by music by violinist Mari Hashimoto of the Carolina Primrose Quartet, harpist and alto Regina Maimone, former Asheville Symphony pianist turned chamber musician Peter Kutt, musician and songwriter extraordinaire Chinobay, who plays several instruments from East and West Africa, and has performed internationally with Grammy award-winning musicians like Bela Fleck, and Denis Sewanyana, a percussionist, dancer and visual artist from Uganda who conducts workshops to benefit art programs for children in Uganda through his community program Sewi Arts, which you can visit on Facebook.  

A preview of Denis’s work is viewable here, and you may contact him ahead of time if you would like prints of any of the images included.

Denis and also Carl Mascio of Hendersonville, will be exhibiting and selling their artwork in the Homework Center.

The workshop is free,  The concert and art exhibit are $10 for congregants of Good Shepherd, $20 for the general public.  Seating is limited so please reserve a place by calling 828 329-2217.