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Thanks
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Thanks to Cheryl Lederle for bailing us out once again on coffee time.
We look forward to the culinary delights of Ted Billings this weekend.
There is a sign up sheet for hosting coffee hour. It's posted on the bulletin board outside the church office on the main floor.
Thanks to Karen Kimmel for organizing repairs following snow damage to windows and gutters.
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Celebrate Life
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Saturday, March 6, at 2:00 p.m. we will gather in worship to affirm our resurrection faith and to
celebrate the life of Fred Regetz.
Fred left the church militant and joined the church triumphant earlier this week.
While for Fred, death came as a friend at the end of a long struggle, we hold Jeannette, Suzann and Jonathan in the light of our prayers as they grieve.
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Shining Light in Haiti
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Thanks to everyone who helped put together relief kits for Haiti. We completed 100 of them to deliver to Church World Service.
In other Haiti news, Dave Norman, who has been worshiping with us for several months, will not be with us for the next month. He has shipped out to Port au Prince to help coordinate relief efforts. He will be living in and working from a tent at the airport. We hold Dave in the light as he shines a bit of light in Haiti.
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CPC Needs You!
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Many folks have noted to me over the past year that CPC has become much more than a Sunday-morning church.
That is great testimony to your faithfulness. And is also requires your leadership.
We have a couple of key leadership positions to fill this spring.
First, we need someone to step up to serve as treasurer for the congregation. Dar Davis has served in this role for several years, but is leaving the area soon. She has automated most of the treasurer functions (bill paying, for example), and is available to train her successor.
If you feel called to this important ministry, please let me know.
We also need additional offering counters on Sunday mornings. We will train you in the task. Please let me know if you can join the team.
We are looking for a new member for the CPC-Clarendon Child Care Center liason team which meets no more than once a month to coordinate joint building use concerns. Please let me know if you are able to take this on.
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Come and Worship;
Come and See
Progressive ... Inclusive ... Diverse
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February 2010
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Greetings!
 Please don't miss the important news in the left hand column! Check it out as well as all the news below.
The unbelievable snowy month of February is drawing to a merciful close, with one last blast apparently on the way.
Well spit in the eye of Old Man Winter, and gather in the bright warmth and beauty of Clarendon's sanctuary this Sunday morning.
We are a week into Lent. Have you taken on a discipline or spiritual practice for the season? Are you setting something aside for these 40 days? How is it going?
I've taken on the discipline of writing through Lent. I'm trying to put something on the blog every day. In the process I am sure to rediscover the difference between quantity and quality, but I also hope to learn some things about my own creative process. I shall see; and you can, too, on the blog.
Our two Lenten adult education offerings have begun, but it is certainly not too late to join us.
Thursday evenings at 7:00 we are studying the lectionary texts for the season from the point of view of peacemaking. We had a lively conversation last week, and look forward to welcoming some friends from Pax Christi to continued conversation in the weeks ahead.
Sunday afternoons we are studying The Future of Faith, as well as the future of faith. We are taking a reading week to get through the first 90 pages, and will resume on March 7.
Lent will not be all study. We'll mix in some fun, fellowship and service as well. We'll welcome new members on March 7. The next Wii Kirk will be March 19. We'll have a third-Sunday brunch on March 21, and we'll bag groceries at AFAC on the 15th.
The heart of it all, though, is worship. Come and see.
peace,
David
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Worship Week Comes With a Warning
We welcome back our good friend, the Rev. Rusty Lynn, to worship leadership this weekend. 
Rusty
is a working artist, and is retired from the Center for Pastoral Counseling. He is also an honorably retired minister member of National Capital Presbytery, and for many years served on the board of the Open Doors/More Light Presbyterians chapter.
Our texts for the day include the beautiful words of Psalm 27 -- "I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living" -- and the gospel reading from Luke 13:31-35, Jesus' lament over Jerusalem. The sermon is "I'll Sing On."
Through the season worship will also include reflections on the central role of mission in the life of the church. Tom Hull will share his thoughts on the experience of Rebuilding Together. WARNING: Tom will issue a challenge and an invitation to act on your faith in April
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Presbytery Endorses CPC Overtures
National Capital Presbytery, at a special meeting last Saturday, voted to endorse three overtures that were brought forth by the CPC session, including: - One to removed from the Book of Order the restrictions limiting the ordination of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons.
- One to reword the directory of worship's section on marriage to make the language inclusive of same-gender couples.
- One calling the entire Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) into a season of discernment on peacemaking, and, in particular, to consider the possibility of the denomination aligning itslef with the historic peace churches.
Travis Reindl, clerk of session, spoke on behalf of the first two CPC overtures, and clearly moved the presbytery with his powerful words. Following the meeting, a member of Chevy Chase Presbyterian sent me this note:
"I just wanted to express my
gratitude for the outstanding presentation your Clerk of Session (Travis?) made
at the Special Presbytery meeting last Saturday at Fall Church Presbyterian
Church. I thought he spoke eloquently, from the heart, logically, and
factually. His background information and reasons for approving the two
overtures he presented were done so professionally and so lovingly and
sincerely, without malice or sarcasm (more than I can say for some of those who
subsequently spoke opposing the overtures). It set a high tone for the
discussions. And his personal anecdote added to the powerful message and the
need for abandoning discrimination. Please pass on my sincere thanks to him."
When I shared news of the meeting with a friend and colleague in Minneapolis, site of this summer's assembly, he said, "wow! Three overtures from one session to one assembly must be a record!"
Our voice continues to far exceed our size.
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MLP Sponsor Documentary Filmmaker
Filmmaker
Alice Bouvrie will be at Chevy Chase Presbyterian Church, March 14 at 4:00
p.m., to promote and raise funds for her current project, Thy Will Be Done. Bouvrie will show a portion of the film and discuss it with the audience.
The film, currently in post production, follows
Sara Herwig, a male-to-female transsexual, on her journey toward ordination as
a minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Herwig was
accepted by the church as a candidate for ordination in 2002, but her
ordination has faced continued opposition from those who do not recognize her
as female and those who challenge her candidacy because she is in a same-sex
relationship with a woman.
When Herwig was married last March to Jenn, a
biological female, the situation was further complicated. Jean Southard, the pastor who performed the
marriage, now faces disciplinary charges in the church.
Thy Will Be Done is a
feature length documentary that addresses gender justice and sexual equality in
faith communities and the broader society.
Chevy Chase
Presbyterian Church is at One Chevy Chase Circle NW, Washington, DC, 20015.
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PC(U.S.A.) State Clerk Encourages Health Reform Action
by Jerry L. Van Marter
Presbyterian News Service
WASHINGTON -
On the eve of the Bi-Partisan Health Care Summit in Washington, D.C.,
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) General Assembly Stated Clerk Gradye
Parsons and the Presbyterian Washington Office have joined thousands of
faith community leaders and organizations urging the Obama
administration and Congress to "complete the task at hand on behalf of
the millions who are left out and left behind in our current health
care system."
In addition to the Feb. 24 letter to the President and Congress - under the umbrella groups Faithful Reform in Health Care and the Washington Interreligious Staff Community - the religious leaders are running a full-page print advertisement in The Hill and an additional online ad at The Hill's Web site, showcasing the letter and its signers.
The
letter concludes: "As people of faith, we envision a society where
every person is afforded health, wholeness and human dignity. Martin
Luther King, Jr., famously wrote in his 'Letter from Birmingham Jail'
that 'justice too long delayed is justice denied.' Less well known is
his admonition that 'of all the forms of inequality, injustice in
health care is the most shocking and inhumane.' Let us not delay health
care justice any longer. This is your moment for political courage,
vision, leadership and faith. We urge you to take heart and move
meaningful health care reform forward."
The
letter was signed by more than 4,000 people of faith, 58 national
religious organizations, more than 80 regional and state faith
organizations, and 26 national faith leaders.
For the full text of the letter, click here.
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Exposing Ourselves on Facebook
Well ... not exactly. But we are moving beyond passively waiting for people to come across our virtual presence on the web.
For the next couple of months we are advertising on Facebook, and thousands of local Facebook users will, at the very least, see our ad.
In the first couple of days more than 17,000 Facebook users were exposed to our ad. While only a handful clicked through to our website in the first week, those who have come to the web site from the ad have spent, on average, a bit more than 10 minutes on our web site.
As this week's news clearly shows, we have a great story to tell -- our part of the old, old story of God's love. We're exploring new ways to tell the story. If you have suggestions, please let me know.
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