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Spring Forward!
| Daylight Savings Time begins this weekend. Don't forget to set your clocks ahead one hour before you hit the hay Saturday night. If you do forget, I promise a baffo benediction for the one-hour late arrivals.
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Gracias! Lots of Notes of Thanks that We Should Share
| Thanks again to Clark Chesser and Cheryl Lederle for the wonderful soup we shared on Ash Wednesday, and to Jeannette Regetz, whose delicious chocolate cake reminded us that Lent is not about "giving up" treats! Thanks to everyone who pitched in to set up and clean up Wednesday evening.
Another big thanks, in advance, to Cheryl and Clark, for tonight's Wii Kirk extravaganza!
Thanks to Toni for hosting coffee time. We look forward to Travis Reindl's hospitality for this Sunday's coffee time.
(You can check the coffee hour schedule each week on the calendar on the CPC web site.)
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Worship and Mission Discernment and Planning Groups Gathers Next Sunday
| | Sunday, March 20, following coffee time both the worship planning group and the mission discernment groups will meet. The worship planning group will gather in classroom A downstairs. Mission will meet in the purple parlor/library on the main floor. Watch this space next week for details and background materials. |
| Mark Your March Calendars! | |
Coming soon to the wee kirk:
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.
National Capital Presbytery meets Tuesday, March 15, 6:00 p.m. at New York Avenue Presby.
Session meets Wednesday, March 16, 7:30 p.m.
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.
AFAC grocery bagging, Monday, March 21, 7:00 p.m.
Lenten Soup Series Thursday, March 24, 6:30 p.m.
Bryan McFarland in concert, March 26, 7:00 p.m.
Spring clean up day is Saturday, April 2.
Rebuilding Together, April 30.
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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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Walk Together ...
Don't You Get Weary
Progressive ... Inclusive ... Diverse |
March.2011
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Greetings!
 The season of Lent, which began this week with Ash Wednesday, holds an open invitation to us to journey together toward deeper faith, deeper understanding, deeper lives. Ultimately, the journey of Lent, done well, is a journey toward Jerusalem and the cross. What does any of that mean for you and your life right now? Come and see! The only way to take this journey is to begin. So join us for worship this Sunday morning and begin your journey of Lenten self-discovery and God-discovery. Sunday morning we will gather at table and share the bread of life and the cup of salvation -- sustenance for our journey. We'll also consider the strange and beautiful "blessings" of the Beatitudes from the fifth chapter of Matthew. I invite you to consider them now, and we will ponder them together Sunday morning. Blessed are the poor, the mourners, the meek ... and blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. To be blessed in the way that Jesus means it in this context means encountering God deeply. During our Lenten Sunday morning worship members of the community will be sharing some of the ways that they have encountered the living God, including practices of faithful living that make the presence of God real in their lives. We kick that off this Sunday morning with Clark Chesser and Cheryl Lederle offering both an invitation to journey together this Lent, and a some thoughts on how the practice of hospitality helps draw us closer to the heart of God. Come and worship! peace, David PS: Clarinetist Peter Mika joins us in worship again this Sunday. You don't want to miss the beautiful Bach and Mozart pieces he and Amy will be playing Sunday morning. |
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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 next Thursday.
For the next four 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.
RSVP to Cheryl and Clark. Please! |
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.
Please let me know if you would like to join the CPC contingent for any part of the John's time in Arlington.
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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. |
Prayers of the People
Our Seasons of the Spirit prayers for the coming week include the ongoing reconciliation processes in Northern Ireland and in South Africa; and these members of the CPC family: Tom Hull and Jerome Liwanag, Shawn and Kristi Jeske and Keira. Please let them know that you are holding them in the light.
Our texts for the week include Psalm 22, Psalm 76, Isaiah 2:1-4, Micah 4:1-4, Matthew 5:1-12, Luke 6:27-36 .
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A-10 Update as of March 10
As of yesterday, the presbyteries vote on proposed amendment 10-A stood at 65 presbyteries in favor and 46 opposed (including one tie that counts as a "no" vote). The voting thus far includes a 14 presbyteries that "flipped" from "no" votes two years ago to "yes" votes this time, and one that went the other way. That makes a net gain of 13 presbyteries thus far. A net gain of nine presbyteries is necessary to "flip" the final result.
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, 55 percent of votes cast at presbytery meetings thus far have favored the change. This does not include six affirmative voice votes and one voice vote to disapprove.
National Capital Presbytery votes on the amendment at a special meeting, Saturday, April 30.
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