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Gracias! Lots of Notes of Thanks that We Should Share
| Thanks to Cheryl, Hannah and James for setting up coffee time Sunday morning.
Thanks to Clark Chesser for providing the delicious soup that sustained the Christian Education/Spiritual Formation discernment group Sunday morning.
Thanks to Gwen Wray-Samans for "dialing for justice" at the Open Doors/MLP phone bank last week. We contacted every minister member of National Capital Presbytery urging affirmative votes on amendment 10-A. (For an update on 10-A voting see below.)
Help Wanted!
During brunch Sunday morning we will circulate the sign up sheet for hosting coffee hour, but you can also offer your hospitality and culinary gifts via e-mail. Just let me know which Sunday you'd like to host and I will put your name on the list.
(You can check the schedule each week on the calendar on the CPC web site.)
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| Mark Your March Calendars! | |
Coming soon to the wee kirk:
Family Circle Sunday School, Feb. 20, 11:30 a.m.
AFAC bagging night, Feb. 21, 7:00 p.m.
Heeding God's Call, Feb. 24, 7:30 p.m.
CE/Spiritual formation discernment group, March 6, 11:30 a.m.
Ash Wednesday, soup supper and worship, March 9, 6:00 p.m.
Wii Kirk pizza and games night, March 11, 6:30 p.m.
Family Circle Sunday School, March 13, 11:30 a.m.
John Bell concert and community sing, March 13, 7:00 p.m. Arlington Presbyterian.
Lenten Soup Series begins Thursday, March 17, 6:30 p.m.
Mission discernment group and worship planning team, March 20, 11:30 a.m.
Bullied! A special showing of a powerful documentary film, March 20, 3:00 p.m. at Church of the Pilgrims.
Lenten Soup Series Thursday, March 24, 6:30 p.m.
Bryan McFarland in concert, March 26, 7:00 p.m.
Rebuilding Together, April 30.
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| Pick Up Your New Directory | |
The 2011 CPC directory is out! Copies are available at church. They are in one of the plastic mailboxes hanging on the wall right outside of the church offices on the main floor. Please pick one up.
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| MLP at the Movies | |
Open Doors/More Light Presbyterians is sponsoring a special showing of the documentary Bullied at Church of the Pilgrims, Sunday, March 20, 3:00 p.m.
Bullied is a documentary film that chronicles one student's ordeal at the hands of anti-gay bullies and offers an inspiring message of hope to those fighting harassment today. It can become a cornerstone of anti-bullying efforts in middle and high schools.
The showing will be followed by a discussion featuring Diana Bruce, director of Health, Education and Wellness, District of Columbia Public Schools.
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Faith, Works, Food
Progressive ... Inclusive ... Diverse |
February.2011
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Greetings!
 OK. It's not exactly "Eat, Pray, Love," but that headline struck me as an appropriate tagline for this Sunday at CPC. We'll worship, and gather around a couple of texts including the famous line in James about the deadly state of faith without works. Brunch is Back!Following worship, we'll share a not-exactly-pot-luck brunch. Karen Kimmel is hosting us, and here are our assignments: 1) Folks whose last name begins with A-H, please bring a vegetable, salad, or bread. 2) Folks with a last name beginning with I-P, please bring a main course dish. 3) Those whose last name begins with Q-Z, please bring fruit or dessert. In addition, Sunday we receive our monthly food offering for AFAC. The Family Circle Sunday School also meets Sunday morning in classroom A as soon as children are fed! Come and worship! Come and eat! Come and share! peace, David PS: I will be on study leave this week working on a writing project that I hope to share with you in the coming weeks. That means the weekly e-blast is going on a brief hiatus. Also, the Rev. Kevin Ogle of the Center for Pastoral Counseling, will join us in worship leadership on Sunday, Feb. 27. Thanks. |
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 Lent Soup Series Coming Soon to a Thursday Near You
The season of Lent offers a time for paring down and refocusing our lives. We'll work on that this year with a series of soup suppers and conversations beginning on Ash Wednesday and continuing for the following four weeks on Thursdays.
Ash Wednesday we will gather for a simple soup supper at 6:30 and then share in a time of worshipful conversation in the sanctuary.
Then on Thursdays (March 17, 24, 30 and April 7) we'll share soup and stories beginning at 6:30 p.m. on each of those four evenings.
Clark Chesser and Cheryl Lederle will guide us as we consider insights from Naomi Remen's Kitchen Table Wisdom, and from our own lives. We will continue our focus on the Christian spiritual practice of hospitality during this series, and we'll talk about some of the practical ways that we participate in this spiritual practice as well as the ways that it shapes our lives in community.
Watch this space for further details as we draw closer to the beginning of Lent. |
AFAC Needs Your Help Going Green
and Filling Bags
In an effort to be more environmentally friendly, AFAC is providing its clients with reusable bags for carrying groceries. We have some 50-pound rice bags (empty) that can be converted into grocery bags with a little bit of creative stitchery. If you'd like to try your hand, let me know. We will have the bags at church this Sunday.
Don't forget: Monday evening at 7:00 we bag groceries at AFAC, and then gather at David & Cheryl's for a simple meal. As always, an RSVP is helpful but you're more than more than welcome even if you forget to let us know.
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Come and Sing!
Bryan McFarland In Concert at CPC
 Singer-songwriter-Presbyterian pastor Bryan McFarland is coming to CPC! Bryan will be in concert at Clarendon on Saturday, March 26, at 7:00 p.m. Bryan combines spirituality and emotional storytelling into a sentimental yet lighthearted style. He tours listening rooms, theaters and coffeehouses and leads workshops and retreats at colleges & universities, churches, conference centers, and private venues. As Salem Presbytery's Hunger Action Advocate, Bryan staffs two committees who collect & distribute the presbytery's Pennies for Hunger offering and he speaks, sings and lobbies on issues of hunger and social justice. Bryan has served local PCUSA congregations in Kentucky and Indiana and as campus minister at Maryville College, the University of Louisville, and the University of North Carolina Greensboro. He lives in Greensboro, NC with his wife, daughter and their pets. |
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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Prayers of the People
Our Seasons of the Spirit prayers for the coming week include the staff of AFAC and all of the people who come to AFAC for food; and these members of the CPC family: the entire Hodgen family -- Don, Maria, Carl and Amber. Please let them know that you are holding them in the light.
Our texts for the week include the Psalm 130, Isaiah 58, James 2:15-17, Mark 6:30-44, John 6:1-35, Revelation 21:1-6 .
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A-10 Update
As of yesterday, the presbyteries vote on proposed amendment 10-A stood at 38 presbyteries in favor and 31 opposed (including one tie that counts as a "no" vote).
Clarendon's session drafted one of the overtures to last summer's General Assembly that formed the basis for the present 10-A. If adopted, the amendment would remove the current language of section G-6.106b in our Book of Order and insert this wording:
Standards for ordained service reflect the church's desire to submit joyfully to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in all aspects of life (G-1.0000). The governing body responsible for ordination and/or installation (G.14.0240; G-14.0450) shall examine each candidate's calling, gifts, preparation, and suitability for the responsibilities of office. The examination shall include, but not be limited to, a determination of the candidate's ability and commitment to fulfill all requirements as expressed in the constitutional questions for ordination and installation (W-4.4003). Governing bodies shall be guided by Scripture and the confessions in applying standards to individual candidates.
It takes 87 presbyteries (a simple marjority) voting in the affirmative to change the constitution.
In terms of raw vote totals, 54 percent of votes cast at presbytery meetings thus far have favored the change. This does not include a handful of affirmative voice votes. This is the first time in the 16 years that the presbyteries have been voting on this issue that those favoring opening ordination to GLBT candidates for church office have ever led at any stage of the voting process.
National Capital Presbytery votes on the amendment at a special meeting, Saturday, April 30.
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