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Thanks
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Thanks to everyone who pitched in to make our Third Sunday Brunch delicious and delightful. Special thanks to Cheryl for coordinating the festivities.
We look forward to the fruits of Carol Deford's labors this Sunday.
If you'd like to help out with coffee hour, please contact Cheryl at cledster@gmail.com. |
Pledge Drive
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As of the end of December we have received pledges totaling $83,816 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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Sunday following coffee time we continue our exploring membership gatherings.
Linked here is a "Presbyterian 101"
document that has everything you always wanted to know about
the Presbyterian Church.
We'll talk about whatever in the document you want to talk about, as
well as look at some "marks of membership" and the questions you are
asked upon joining the church.
The beginning of the new year is a great time to explore new commitments.
Come and see.
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This Week @ CPC
Continued Response to Haiti Needs
Progressive ... Inclusive ... Diverse
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January 2010
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Greetings!
Grace and peace, 
I am consistently amazed and humbled at the incredible generosity of the Clarendon Community.
The week I arrived at CPC, in the summer of 2003, the church's ancient boiler sat like a strange piece of modern sculpture on the Jackson St. sidewalk. Inside the church was posted a chart traking the two-year plan for paying off the new boiler. Barely 12 months later the chart was gone and the debt was paid.
Each of the subsequent years has witnessed some extraordinary acts of generosity: raising money for an immigrant family's medical needs; Christmas Eve contributions to AFAC that always exceded expectations; pledging that stretched families and balanced budgets.
Still, I am blown away by the outpouring of generosity in response to the Haiti earthquake. We don't have a total yet, but already our small community has contributed hundreds of dollars in aid money, and this weekend we will continue to gather both money and resources for health kits.
You can donate online to Presbyterian Disaster Assistance efforts to assist in rescue and recovery efforts in Haiti by clicking here, or make out a check to Clarendon Presbyterian with a memo to PDA/Haiti Relief and it will go through us to PDA
Following worship Sunday morning we will be assembling hygeine kits for Church World Service relief efforts. We have more than 150 one-gallon ziplock bags to fill with hand towels, wash cloths, soap, bandaids and assorted other sundries.
Together we are the body of Christ in the world. Sunday presents an opportunity to be Christ's hands filling bags with much needed supplies for our sisters and brothers in Haiti.
We are richly blessed, and it is our deepest joy to be able to give back.
Grace and peace,
David
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Worship Week 
This Sunday is the third Sunday of Epiphany on the liturgical calendar. The lectionary cycle of readings draws us to the beginning of Jesus' public ministry as Luke records it. The gospel reading Sunday (Luke 4:14-21) include Jesus' first public teaching.
We'll reflect on that under the heading, "First Steps." The second reading comes from Paul's letter to the church at Corinth in which he describes the gathered community as the body of Christ in the world (1 Corinthians 12:12-30).
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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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A Note of Gratitude to CPC 
I received this note earlier in the week, and it reminds me of the importance of our ministry at Clarendon beyond the walls of the church. I thought it worth sharing:
"I was just on the Presbytery website and notice that Clarendon put
forth some awesome overtures for consideration for endorsement. Just
wanted to commend them and you in leading the church in this way. I'll
keep the presbytery in my prayers on February 9th."
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