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Gracias! Lots of Notes of Thanks that We Should Share
| Thanks to everyone who brought such delicious food to share for last Sunday's potluck.
Special thanks to Martin Lederle-Ensign for setting up tables and chairs on Saturday afternoon (and for providing child care during the congregational meeting.)
Thanks to everyone who helped clean up and put away tables, chairs and dishes after brunch.
We're back to regular post-worship coffee time this weekend, and we look forward to the hospitality of Mike Holloway.
Help Wanted!
The sign up sheet for hosting coffee hour is posted on the bulletin board outside of the church office, and there are plenty of dates open beginning with Feb. 13.
(You can check the schedule each week on the calendar on the CPC web site.
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| Welcome New Members | |
Sunday morning we celebrated the commitments of six new members to CPC.
Gillian Burgess and Grant Mandsager, parents of Sydney Susan. Gillian is an attorney working in banking regulatory law for the Federal Reserve. Grant is engaged in a study of the gastronomic, soporific and intellectual activities of post-natal beings, i.e., he's at home with Sydney Susan. Grant and Gillian are adding to CPC's triathalon team!
Jessica Johnson. Jessica, who grew up in Tennessee, is studying forensic psychology. She's a geek about license plates.
John Layno. John's family has been part of the Clarendon community throughout his life. He is a systems engineer for the FAA. He and Emily love to spend time together outdoors.
Dave Norman. Dave's work life involves analysis of satellite imagery. Be sure to ask him about being charged by a grizzly bear in Alaska.
Gwen Wray-Samans. Gwen's life these days is wrapped around daughter Tara. Both Gwen and Tara are seriously looking forward to Jamie's return from a month long reserve training.
We also welcomed Josh Burruss and Heather Bean Burruss, who had been received into membership by session last year, but were not able to be with us in worship when their class of new members was received.
Be sure to reach out with a welcome to each of these new members of the congregation.
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| Mark Your Calendars! | |
Coming soon to the wee kirk:
MLP phone bank, Feb. 10, 6:00 p.m.
Family Circle Sunday School, Feb. 13, 11:30 a.m.
Session meets Feb. 16, 7:30 p.m.
AFAC bagging night, Feb. 21, 7:00 p.m.
Heeding God's Call, Feb. 24, 7:30 p.m.
Wii Kirk pizza and games night, March 11, 6:30 p.m.
Rebuilding Together, April 30.
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Standing on Holy Ground
Progressive ... Inclusive ... Diverse |
February.2011
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Greetings!
 Begin the often gray and dreary month of February with joyous worship this Sunday! We'll brighten the season as we make a joyful noise, gather at table to share the sacrament of communion, and share some good conversation about what it means to be standing on holy ground. It is Super Bowl Sunday and that means that we'll be joining thousands of other congregations across the country in receiving a special Souper Bowl of Caring offering. Our contributions will go to support the work of the Arlington Food Assistance Center. Come and be a part of bringing more light into the darkness of these days. peace, David PS: With a nod toward our good health as the cold and flu season continues we'll be serving communion in the pews this Sunday. This means that we need some elders not currently serving on session to assist. If you're an elder and would like to serve communion this Sunday please let me know. |
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Souper Bowl Sunday! A Great Presbyterian Story!
A simple prayer: "Lord, even as we enjoy the Super Bowl football game, help us be mindful of those who are without a bowl of soup to eat" is inspiring a youth-led movement to help hungry and hurting people around the world.
This prayer, delivered by Brad Smith, then a seminary intern serving at Spring Valley Presbyterian Church in Columbia, SC, gave birth to an idea. Why not use Super Bowl weekend, a time when people come together for football and fun, to also unify the nation for a higher good: collecting dollars and canned food for the needy? Youth could collect donations at their schools and churches in soup pots, and then send every dollar DIRECTLY to a local charity of THEIR choice.
The senior high youth of Spring Valley Presbyterian liked the idea so much they decided to invite other area churches to join the team. Twenty-two Columbia churches participated that first year, reporting their results so a total could be determined, and then sending all $5,700 they had raised to area non-profits.
That was 1990. Since then, ordinary young people have generated an extraordinary $70 million for soup kitchens, food banks and other charities in communities across the country. In addition, hundreds of thousands of youth have experienced for themselves the joy and satisfaction of giving and serving, inspiring people of all ages to follow their generous example.
To learn more visit the Souper Bowl of Caring web site, from which this story was taken.
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Gick Up a Phone and Change the Church
The Open Doors chapter of More Light Presbyterians is working to get out the vote in National Capital Presbytery in support of an overture that would delete language from the Presbyterian Book of Order that discriminates against GLBT people.
 To succeed, we need your help!
On Thursday, Feb. 10, at 6:00 p.m. MLP is holding a phone bank session to call all the active and retired pastors in National Capital Presbytery. We will ask them to attend one of the cluster meetings NCP is holding in March for conversation about the overtures, and also to come to the Presbytery meeting on April 30 when the overtures will be voted on. We need to make about 300 phone calls!
This is an opportunity for our congregation to show our support for the end of discrimination in our church. National Capital has supported such efforts in the past, but we cannot take anything for granted. The voting on this overture in the Presbyter of the James last month resulted in a tie. A tie counts as a "no" vote. One more vote would have swung a fairly conservative presbytery toward a more welcoming and inclusive denomination.
The phone bank callers will meet at Western Presbyterian Church, 2401 Virginia Ave., NW, in Foggy Bottom. The calls should only take about an hour and we'll have pizza after we finish calling. Will you join us? Please email Diane Curran dcurran@harmoncurran.com or Sherry Trafford at sherry_trafford@hotmail.com to let us know you are coming and to find out more ways you can help.
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Prayers of the People
Our Seasons of the Spirit prayers for the coming week include the staff and volunteers for A-SPAN and for all of the clients who use their services; and these members of the CPC family: John Green, John Gunn and Mike Holloway. Please let them know that you are holding them in the light.
Our texts for the week include Genesis 1, Exodus 3, Psalm 27, Psalm 100, John 1:1-15, John 3:1-20.
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Information Please! Lent Plans Up to You
We are working on a couple of Lenten study opportunities, and need you input to make final plans. Your answers to a couple of brief questions will help a great deal.
Would you participate in a Lenten group focusing on the practice of Christian hospitality? We talk a great deal about how important hospitality is at CPC. This Lent we'd like to deepen our understanding of this foundational spiritual practice, and think creatively about the ways we can express it in our lives.
Would you like to learn more about our confessional heritage, especially as the denomination considers adding the Belhar Confession to our Book of Confessions?
These are not mutually exclusive opportunities, so you can certain say "yes" to both of them. They are, however, being imagined quite differently. The hospitality series will be more experiential while the confessions study will be more of a traditional intellectual study group.
Finally, it will help us logistically to hear from you about scheduling options. Understanding that no time works for everyone, and that the final call will have a great deal to do with the schedules of facilitators, which of these times would work for you?
* Sunday mornings before worship.
* Sunday mornings immediately after worship.
* Sunday afternoons before dinner time.
* Sunday evenings after dinner time.
* A weekday evening.
* Saturday mornings at 9:00.
Send me a note with your preference, and we'll use the feedback as we complete plans for Lent.
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Come and Sing! John Bell Is Coming to Arlington
 John Bell, who led an evening of congregational song at Clarendon two years ago, is returning to Arlington to lead a series of workshops and worship services at Arlington Presbyterian Church, March 13-16.
John is a minister in the Church of Scotland and a member of the Iona Community, where he has helped to lead a broad renewal movement in congregational singing and global hymnody.
Details are available on the National Capital Presbytery web site, and there's a flyer on the bulletin board outside the office at church.
If you've never had the opportunity to sing with John, make sure you mark your calendars for Sunday evening, March 13, at 7:00, when he will lead a community sing. You will be part of making some beautiful music, and you'll have a blast while doing it.
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