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Thanks
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Thanks to James for hosting coffee hour. We look forward to a Sunday brunch this wee. If you'd like to help out with that, contact Cheryl at cledster@gmail.com. |
Pledge Drive
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As of the end of December we have received pledges totaling $76,066 on or way to the goal of $97,500. Please prayerfully consider making your pledge now. Pledging is both a spiritual practice for the giver and a huge help for session as we plan the 2010 budget.
Thanks again to all of you who have already made your pledge for 2010.
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Session Retreats; You Help!
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Saturday, Jan. 23, the session holds its annual planning retreat at church. We will be using the feedback collected at the open space retreat in October and at the fall congregational meeting as we make plans for 2010.
You can help us in two ways:
First, please hold session in the light of your prayers that day. We meet from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and it is always powerful to know that we are being prayed for as we do our worshipful work.
Second, please take three minutes to fill out the on-line mission survey by clicking here. This is your final chance to use this survey.
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Join Us Now
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The beginning of the new year is a great time to explore new commitments. To that end this month we have gathered a group of folks who are exploring membership at CPC.
Please hold us in the light of your prayers as we share faith stories, talk about the story of Clarendon, and think together about what it means to become a member of the church.
We'll meet over a meal this Sunday, and if you'd like to join us just look for the "Exploring Membership" table sign at brunch.
We anticipate receiving a group into membership later this month.
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This Week @ CPC
Special Plea for Haiti Assistance
Progressive ... Inclusive ... Diverse
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January 2010
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Greetings!
Grace and peace, 
We often note in worship that the opportunity to give is one of the great joys of our community life. Whether it is giving our time at AFAC or on a Rebuilding Together work site or putting a $100 bill in the offering plate or making a pledge to the 2010 church budget, we find our own deep joy in efforts to meet the world's deep needs.
This week brings news of the devastating earthquake in Haiti, the poorest country in our hemisphere. The need there right now is almost unimaginable. You can donate to Presbyterian Disaster Assistance efforts to assist in rescue and recovery efforts in Haiti by clicking here.
We are richly blessed, and it is our deepest joy to be able to give back.
Grace and peace,
David
PS: We will dedicate food gifts to AFAC this Sunday during worship. If you would like to contribute please bring nonperishable food items.
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Tomorrow: Come Shape a New Vision 
Interested in exploring the possibility of creating an ecumenical faith
community that tries to live out the love and justice of Jesus?
Come to CPC tomorrow evening at 7:00 p.m. to be part of the initial
conversation.
The Revs. Carol Howard Merritt and Brian Merritt will join us to share a vision of what such a ministry might look like in the Metro corridor. Carol is the author of Tribal Church, which is also the name of her popular blog. She is associate pastor at Western Presbyterian Church in DC. Brian is senior pastor at Pallisades Community Church, also in DC.
The conversation tomorrow evening has grown out of several years of congregational discernment concerning our call to serve the young adult population in our community, and a year-long conversation that Brian and I have been having about exploring and creating new patterns of Christian community life and worship.
We anticipate being together tomorrow evening for about 90 minutes. We plan to meet downstairs in classroom A. For those who are not sure of that location, there will be signs in the church narthex (right outside of the sanctuary) directing you to the meeting room. Come and see.
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Third Sunday Food Offering 
This week we receive our monthly food offering for the Arlington Food Assistance Center.
Last year AFAC supplied more than 2 million pounds of food to needy families in Arlington, and served more than 1,000 clients per week.
We will go to AFAC next Monday evening at 7:00 to bag groceries. Following that work, which usually takes about 1 hour, we will gather at Cheryl and David's home for a simple meal and good conversation. All are welcome.
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Book Study and Peacemaking in Lent 
The season of Lent, which begins with Ash Wednesday, Feb. 17, has traditional been a time of reflection in the church, and this year at CPC we will reflect together on two critical challenges to the Christian movement as it begins its third millennium.
The Rev. John Green will join me in facilitating a book study group focused on Harvey Cox's new work, The Future of Faith. The publisher's blurb apty describes what Cox attempts in the book:
In The Future of Faith,
legendary Harvard religion scholar Harvey Cox offers up a new
interpretation of the history and future of religion. The author of When Jesus Came to Harvard and The Secular City,
Cox explains why Christian beliefs and dogma are giving way to new
grassroots movements rooted in social justice and spiritual experience.
Does Cox's interpretation ring true? Does it provide wisdom for the church at this critical juncture? Can it help us as we work together to be faithful followers of Jesus in the 21st century? The answers to those and other intriguing questions awaits. Details on meeting times coming soon.
Clearly Jesus' call to his followers to be peacemakers is of paramount importance if we are to follow the bloodiest century in human history with a more peaceful one.
As evangelical scholar Tony Campolo puts it, "Jesus does not call us to be peace lovers; he calls us to be peacemakers."
But how? In the current climate of war, how are we to be peacemakers? With violence in our community a given on the nightly news, how are we to be peacemakers? When a murder happens literally on our block, how are we to be peacemakers?
Using a new lectionary-based curricul published by Christian Peace Witness, we will listen for Christ's call to make peace in our context. Details on meetings times coming soon.
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Wii Kirk Returns; Mr. & Mrs. Pizza Unite 
Friday, Jan. 29, at 6:30 p.m. Wii Kirk returns to CPC. If you've never attended a Wii Kirk you don't know what you're missing. So here's a preview: - The best pizza in Arlington, baked in the ovens of CPC by our master pizza makers under the expert guidance of Clark Chesser and Cheryl Lederle (AKA, Mr. and Mrs. Pizza).
- Lots of other goodies provided pot luck by the rest of us.
- Games galore, including Wii games played on a very large screen TV.
- Sometimes Twister comes out, too.
- Good conversation with CPC folks and friends.
Drop in anytime between 6:30 and 9:00 and get your weekend off to a roaring good time.
In the meanwhile, Clark Chesser and Cheryl Lederle have set aside their year-long battle for pizza supremacy and united to provide us with the best pizza in Arlington.
To improve their capacity to delight us (and to stock the kitchen for this and other events), Mr. and Mrs. Pizza, have registered this month at Bed, Bath and Beyond. As of this writing, the registry has not yet gone live but we trust that it will soon. Check it out and bring a gift when next we Wii.
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