Bethesda Cares is our Outreach of the Month:  Bethesda Cares, Inc. is a community response organization which addresses the problems of the homeless. Using in-kind donations and a vast of network of volunteers, Bethesda Cares, Inc. leverages their resources to provide Client Services and Community Services. Client Services focuses on eviction prevention, outreach social work and a job-search center. Community Services provides community education on homelessness and panhandling. Christ Church's Sandwich Ministry makes and delivers sandwiches to the Bethesda Cares lunch program in downtown Bethesda on the first and second Saturday's of every month. Volunteers may also  serve food to the homeless. The Women of Christ Church collect and donate toiletries and new clothing for distribution at the On-site center.  If you would like to participate in Christ Church's Sandwich Ministry, please call Emily Barry at 301.758.3456 or email at Emily.barry@bingham.com

Have You Submitted Your 2010 Pledge Card?
 
We are off to a slow start on our 2010 stewardship campaign.  We are behind in number of pledges and total pledged amount compared to this time last year.
This past week, we had to move $15,000 out of our meager operating reserve of $71,000 to make our payroll because our pledge receipts for 2009 are also running behind.
 
Given our response to date to the 2010 stewardship campaign, the Budget & Finance Committee is projecting a deficit in excess of $71,000 for our draft 2010 budget.
The Vestry asked everyone to consider a 15 percent increase in their pledge for 2010.  This is needed if we maintain the same number of pledges in 2010 that we had in 2009.  This increase would allow us to: 1) add a half-time assistant. to the office staff, 2) provide a modest 1.5 percent increase in staff and clergy salaries, 3) fully fund the music program that is being supported in large part by designated gifts and fund-raising in 2009, and 4) fund the inflationary increases in our other mainly fixed expenses.  We know the 15 percent increase hurts.  Many of you are probably having the same discussion that we are having, that it is painful to make these increases year after year.
 
Simply put, we need more pledges than in past years.  If everyone who cares about Christ Church and wants the programs we offer would pledge, we would be able to fund our clergy, staff, and programs.  If you are concerned that your pledge may appear too modest, you should know that this is between you and God.  Only the Clergy and the front-office staff see your pledge.
 
There are several religious traditions that have set contribution requirements for participation.  The Episcopal tradition is to follow Christ's example of voluntary giving.  We should not feel obligated to give.  Rather, we should give because we want to support the clergy, staff, and programs at Christ Church.
 
Unless we all step up and pledge, we will clearly not be adding a half-time assistant to the office.  So, we will need additional volunteer time to continue to support our services and programs.  Also, it is unlikely that clergy and staff will receive salary increases.  Moreover, it currently appears that the Vestry will need to think hard about cutting staff hours in order the balance the budget.
 
If you feel like we do that every one of our clergy and staff are adding significant value to our lives at Christ Church, you must return your 2010 pledge offering ASAP.  Please, submit your pledges now since the Vestry must act on the 2010 budget with the next several weeks.
 
If we have raised any questions in your mind, please do not hesitate to contact any of us on the Budget and Finance Committee.
 
Lew Price for the Budget and Finance Committee (Hill Carter, Bonnie Douglas, Kurt Ellison, Leslie Martin, Bob Quinn, and Ted Seale)  
 

God's Post-it Notes
 
Frank Wade, the former rector of St. Alban's, used to say that his first task in preparing a sermon was to read the coming Sunday's lessons as if he had found a yellow post-it note saying, "Frank, I thought you'd find this interesting!  Love, God."  I often wish God would be more specific.  Some weeks, to be honest, I want to write back, "Really?  What could I possibly see in this text that has anything to do with my life?"
 
The truth that Frank so perfectly captured is that God does speak to us through these ancient texts.  Sometimes it takes a bit of work to sift through the language and history to find the relevance to our modern world.  (One of my seminary professors called this process "getting us out of the sandals and into the Nikes.")  Sometimes our own ideas of what God thinks keep us from hearing what God is saying.  Sometimes the process is so difficult that we muck it up for a long time, thinking the text tells us one thing (like, "women can't be priests"), and deciding later that's not what the text really meant.   It would be great if God spoke in a special accent, or with the voice of James Earl Jones, or always immediately preceded by a flash of light, a rumble of thunder, or a burning bush.  But that's not how God usually works.
 
The thing is, God is present in our lives whether we see and hear God, or whether we don't.  God is always present, speaking, whispering, leading, knocking...  The trick is to train ourselves to see and hear.  One very effective technique is to ask ourselves, "What is God's word for me today?"  Ideally, we'd live our lives in such a way that we ask that question in every moment.  That's not only hard to do, but frankly, I'm not sure I can handle That Much God.  But we can start small.  The easiest place and time to start using that technique is at church on Sunday.  Try it one or two Sundays as an experiment.  Come to church and listen and participate as if you absolutely knew that God had a special word for you personally in the service.  It could be in the music, in the sermon, in the text of the Scripture.  Or it could be in the notices on the back of the bulletin, the adult forum speaker, or the touch of a stranger's hand at the Peace.  Every moment you spend attentively watching, listening, and waiting for God to speak, move, or touch you will change your entire experience of worship.  And of course, when your feel a stirring, when your heart begins to sing, or to beat fast, or your vision clears, or when you feel the breath of God against your face, you will be changed.  You will have God's word for you - for that day, that moment. 
 
Over time, you may find God's word in many places and contexts - in the song of a bird, the feel of a cozy sweater, the taste of raspberries, the sight of your family gathered around the table.  The trick is to learn to see, and hear, and find God's post-it notes.  Because God leaves them for you everywhere.

At its September 23, 2009 meeting, the Vestry took the following actions:
The Vestry of Christ Church approves the expenditure of up to $1500 for upfront costs associated with the Fall Festival.
 
The Vestry of Christ Church approves starting a strategic planning process in November for the next five years.
The Vestry of Christ Church approves a music fundraising event of the Three Mezzos in Concert to be held in October 2009 at the church. Proceeds will be split between the Three Mezzos and the Christ Church Music Fund.
The Vestry of Christ Church approves a music fundraiser/concert at the church featuring our choir to be held in November 2009. A CD is to be recorded with costs of the recording to be furnished by an anonymous donor.
The Vestry of Christ Church approves a music fundraiser/concert at the church in the form of an Advent program to be held in December 2009 with proceeds to go to the music fund of Christ Church.
The Vestry of Christ Church approves holding a raffle of a car to benefit the J2A and the opening of a Paypal account for the purposes of the fundraiser.

For anyone who attended the fabulous "Tre Mezzi" concert with the improved acoustics created by the new floor, all I can say is Wow!  We are evaluating the final bids on the furnace, and will start the process of replacing our old inefficient heating plant very soon.  If you haven't noticed the activity, the new guttering is being installed and new drainage channels have been dug.  These will assure the structural integrity of the building by solving the water run-off problems. With your commitment and generosity, we have already accomplished many of our critical goals.

     It's like our own households.  We have monthly and annual expenses that we anticipate and pay regularly: heating and cooling, electricity and water, mortgages, and taxes, food and clothing. These things we expect and budget for monthly. Similarly, the Stewardship pledges deal with our ongoing parish expenses: salaries, heating and cooling, snow removal, electrical and water, etc.  Capital Campaigns fund things beyond the normal monthly or annual costs that we can plan for, like when our dishwasher, washer or drier dies, our roof needs replacing, or our basement leaks.  They also deal with upgrades similar to what we might undertake at home: upgrading our furnaces to more efficient ones, or we decide to expand our living space.

     We still are evaluating what can be done, given our available Capital Campaign funds, to solve other problems such as additional electrical upgrades, lighting improvements, and better handicapped accessibility and we are workin on a solution for our thirty five year old pew cushions. Beyond these, we still need to face the fact that only half of our organ works and the rest is deteriorating at an alarming rate.

     As has been pointed out before, we don't know when the growing number of failed and failing elements will make our organ unplayable, but it has reached the point where investing further money into trying to patch things together no longer makes sense. A new organ will cost approximately $180,000. To acquire one we will need $60,000 up front. However, organs aren't sitting on a shelf waiting to be delivered. Delivery will take 1 to 1 ½ years, at which time we will need another $60,000.  Then, once we have evaluated and approved the organ and its installation, we will pay the final $60,000.

     The first, active phase of the Capital Campaign concluded at the end of September. To so many of you who have pledged and contributed, our sincerest thanks.  However, we don't have the funding to achieve all our goals.  However, there are still several parishioners who are still evaluating their ability to support the important needs of the parish that can not be addressed as part on normal stewardship.  If you are among these folks, please consider prayerfully what you can do. If you have not yet determined how and at what level you may support this campaign, I urge you to respond immediately. Pledge cards are available in the church, and our website has a great deal of information about the campaign and the projects it includes. Any and all contributions and pledges are welcome and sincerely appreciated.
     If you have any questions, please call Doug Smith at 301-871-7078, or e-mail me at dsmith@velodyne.com.  Thank you, and may God bless you.

 

prepared by James R. Catlette,
Organist and Choirmaster
 
 
Again, thank you to so many of you who tuned out for our first Christ Church Concert in 08-09.  The Tre Mezzi really delivered.  You gave three standing ovations.  Mother Gini whistled and the Reverend Dr. was found clapping along with "I Done Done, What I Done, Done."   One retired priest, the Rev. Betsy Hague (same name, no relation to Bill) said that the only concert which surpassed ours in her memory was that by Pavarotti, live.  We have already engaged Kehembe, Sylvia, Shawnee for a return in 2010.  The choir will be making a decision about whether to offer another concert on November 22 or 29th this week.  Stay tuned for details.  We also hope to present an Advent Lessons and Carols service at some point during December.  Why the flurry of activity?   Choral stewardship.  We very much want to end the year in the black.  The Tre Mezzi concert raised in excess of six hundred dollars beyond expenses.   We look forward to an Artists Series in 2010 to help support our musical program.
 
One of the other music goals for 2010 is to have a greater presence amongst our parishioners and also those outside of the parish.  The Tisdale piano and wonderful new resonant granite floors make for a very fine setting for a variety of groups to enjoy-either through choral concerts, instrumental concerts, or solo piano.  Happily, with the removal of half of a pew in the front on both sides and in the rear, there is now access for those with handicaps  from the front and rear.  Wheelchairs can easily make it around the new piano.    While change is hard on all of us, it is nice that we can adapt to our aging congregation and community through these simple alterations.    A further goal that I am setting for the choir is that we purposely engage on a regular basis in taking our music into the homes of parishioners who cannot get to church.  Our senior warden of many years, Ted Swett, often encounters difficulty in joining us on Sunday mornings.    I suspect he would appreciate such a visit.   In my discussion with Bill Hague, he thought that the idea of choral communion was something many of you would appreciate.  We are trying this out Sunday, November 1, when many choir members will head to Suburban after the  11:15 anthem, and sing for Susan Catlette -who will have completed twelve days in the hospital. While she is on-the-mend, this can be part of our ministry to her.  Since it is also our true anniversary, this is something I appreciate the choir being willing to do.
 
And a final p.s.   Some of you have been wondering  why many choristers exit during the 9:15 service.  Where are they going and what are they doing?   When the organist-choirmaster selection committee met with me over a year and a half ago, I told them that my lead priority was to re-establish choral music at the ll:15.  We are still smaller in numbers than I would like, and often we need to gather those who are singing at both services for a rehearsal for our reduced 11:15 service.  Do you realize that Deborah Bartlett, Nora Buckley, Susan Catlette join in with the Langley children in singing two services EVERY sunday?  We are trying to get the departure down to a minimal sound and will be experimenting over the next week or two. 
 
While music is canonically required  in the Episcopal Church, we hope to enter more fully into the sentiment with which  J. S. Bach signed all of his works:  "To God Alone Be the Glory."  (Soli Deo Goria)
 
Jim

The Apple Festival is Coming!
November 7 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
 
Excitement is building for our Apple Festival on Saturday, November 7.  The festival is an old fashioned church bazaar with an Apple theme.  There will be things to buy: old and new, fun food, face painting -- even a moon bounce.!
 
What Can You Do to Help?
Start your fall cleaning now- set aside items to donate for the booths. Donations will be
accepted October 1-31. A collection box will be in the Undercroft, or call to arrange for drop off or pick up. Would you like to chair a booth? Let us know!
 
What Kind of Items Are Needed?
Books- in good condition-novels, crafts, coffee table books, no magazines,
textbooks or encyclopedias, please.
Jewelry-costume jewelry, earrings, necklaces, bracelets, pins
White Elephant-small household treasures, collectibles, lamps, china, silver, crystal,
wedding or other gifts you no longer need, artwork, etc
Holiday Items- especially for Christmas or Thanksgiving
Kids Clothing-Clean, gently worn kids only clothing - infant to pre-teen
Toys-in good condition
Sports Equipment- All sports equipment welcome: examples: tennis racquets,
lacrosse sticks, baseball bats & gloves, clean cleats, hockey sticks, etc.
Kitchen Items- equipment, gadgets, cookbooks
 
Volunteer
Please sign up for a 2-hour slot to volunteer at a booth of your choice, sell tickets, paint faces, help in the kitchen, set up and decorate on the Friday before the festival, or clean up after the festival is over. Check the sign-up sheets in the Undercroft, or email Betsy Robbins.
 
Baked Goods Needed on the Day of the Festival
We will have sandwiches, hot and cold apple cider, baked apples and caramel apples.  We will be having a bake sale table, and would love to have apple baked goods, such as apple pies, apple cakes, apple muffins, apple cookies. But any and all baked goods are welcome!
 
Planning Meetings
Meeting to finalize logistics and details for the festival will be held on Wednesday evenings at 7:30 p.m. following the Wednesday night dinners, on October 7, 14 and 21 and on November 4.
 
Contact:
Betsy Robbins, 301-738-0076 or betsyrobbins@comcast.net
Lisa Johnstone, 301-585-3163, lamlmj@aol.com
Winnie Holbrooke, 301-962-9050, winniekh@aol.com
 
The Apple Festival is an all-parish event. The proceeds from the festival will benefit the capital campaign, with a portion going to outreach.
 

 

 

Finding and Expressing Faith through Our Senses: An interfaith exploration
 

November Adult Forum Series

This month we will examine the different ways we find and express our faith through our senses.  Our exploration will be further enriched by Imam Malik and Rabbi Stone who will share with us  their experiences of how the senses enrich their own faith.
Nov. 1st               Eric Latham, Walk About America
Eric Latham, the executive director of Walk About America, will speak about his walk across America to raise money for cancer research.  He will explain how the everyday secular act of walking helped him find and share hope in a spiritual sense with others he met along his journey.

Nov. 8th                Bishop Chane
Nov. 15th              Imam Johari Adbul Malik
Nov. 22nd             Rabbi Warren Stone, Temple Emmanuel.

 

 WRONG E-MAIL ADDRESS

A lesson to be learned from typing the wrong email address!
A Minneapolis couple decided to go to Florida to thaw out during a particularly icy winter. They planned to stay at the same hotel where they spent their honeymoon 20 years earlier.
Because of hectic schedules, it was difficult to coordinate their travel schedules. So, the husband left Minnesota and flew to Florida on Thursday, with his wife flying down the following day..
The husband checked into the hotel. There was a computer in his room, so he decided to send an email to his wife.  However, he accidentally left out one letter in her email address, and without realizing his error, sent the email.
Meanwhile, somewhere in Houston, a widow had just  returned home from her husband's funeral. He was a minister who was called home to glory following a heart attack.
The widow decided to check her email expecting messages from relatives and friends. After reading the first message, she gasped and fainted.
The widow's son rushed into the room, found his mother on the floor, and saw the computer screen which read:
To: My Loving Wife
Subject: I've Arrived
Date: October 16, 2005
I know you're surprised to hear from me They have computers here now and you are allowed to send emails to your loved ones. I've just arrived and have been checked in.
I've seen that everything has been prepared for your arrival tomorrow.
Looking forward to seeing you then!!!! Hope your journey is as uneventful as mine was.
P. S. Sure is freaking hot down here!!!!

Sarah Forman   11/01
Carrie Smith     11/01
Elizabeth Johnston 11/03
Mary Whytsell  11/03
Lynda Ellis     11/04
Elaine Finney     11/04
Kevin Barrett     11/05
Henry Rutsch     11/05
Emily Seibel     11/05
Andrew Lee     11/06
James Choulas     11/08
O'Keefe McLoughlin     11/08
Clara Durbin     11/09
Caroline Seibel     11/09
Basil Hayley     11/10
Constance Miner     11/10
Holten Moreno     11/10
Thomas Hart     11/11
Dorothy Mesmer     11/12
Ted Seale     11/12
Annabel Kaufman     11/13
Walker Simpson     11/13
Lisa Johnstone     11/14
Paul Rice     11/14
Nora Buck     11/15
Richard Gill III     11/15
Kevin McCoy     11/16
Barbara Pierson     11/16
Paige Merz     11/17
Doug Smith     11/17
Nina Whiting     11/17
Paul Cooney     11/19
Richard O'Neill     11/19
Lewis Price     11/19
Benjamin Simpson     11/19
Fay Bogley     11/20
Corrigan Peters     11/20
Donna Tisdale     11/20
Fiona Carpenter     11/21
Aiden Finn     11/21
Aubrey Wright     11/21
Andrew DeVierno     11/22
Aaron Mpuga     11/22
Frank D. Martin     11/23
Marie Pressel     11/23
Andrea Gill     11/24
Kelsey M. Jaynes-Culver     11/24
Matthew King     11/24
Lauren Padgett     11/24
Sabina Vanegas     11/24
John Villemarette     11/24
Elides Charleston     11/25
Ellie Flynn     11/25
Rachel Ferry     11/26
Winifred Holbrooke     11/26
Casey Merz     11/26
Ebaide Akhigbe     11/27
Claude Bogley     11/27
Carlo Colella     11/27
L. Dawn H. Governatori     11/27
Elise Brownell     11/28
Charlotte Lekakos     11/28
Spencer Brooks     11/29
Valerie Bukharin     11/29
Gerald L. Lett     11/29
Brandi Sue Rorabaugh     11/29
John Smegal     11/29
Josh Zuniga     11/29
Blake Brantley     11/30
Joan Leffingwell     11/30
Darleen Lugenbuhl     11/30


 

Please Join Your Friends in the Kensington Community For
An Ecumenical Thanksgiving Service
Tuesday, November 24th
7:30 pm at Temple Emanuel
10101 Connecticut Ave. Kensington, MD 20895  301-942-2000

Christ Church will hold its annual Thanksgiving Service at 10 am on Thursday, November 26 at 10 am. 

 

Please view the church calendar by CLICKING HERE. 

 

WHOW-Women Helping Other Women
   Tuesday 7:30pm -Room 3
AA and AL-ANON MEETINGS
Women's Al-Anon- Monday 7:15 pm-Undercroft
Al-Anon (ACOA)-Monday 8:30 pm-Undercroft
Women's Al-Anon-Tuesday 9:30am-Youth Room
Women's Al-Anon-Tuesday 10:30 am-Undercroft
Women's Al-Anon-Tuesday 11:45 am-Youth Room
Liberty AA-Tuesday 8:30 pm-Youth Room & Room 2
Terrapin AA-Thursday 10:30 am-Undercroft 
 

Interfaith Concert
to Honor Cardinal  McCarrick