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Notes and Needs for Holy Week
| Worship Helps
Beginning with Palm Sunday we'll have three opportunities to gather in worship this week. That means plenty of opportunities to share in leading liturgy, readings and prayers. Please send me a note letting me know if you'd like to be part of leading worship this Sunday, Thursday or Friday. Thanks.
Hospitality Helps
Thursday evening we'll begin with a shared meal at 6:30 in Wilson Hall. We're having a simple soup supper. If you can contribute a salad, soup or dessert, please contact Cheryl Lederle or Clark Chesser. We would also welcome volunteers to help set up and clean up Thursday.
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Gracias! Lots of Notes of Thanks that We Should Share
| Thanks to Ron Bookbinder for hosting a delicious coffee time.
Thanks also to Toni Bissessar for coordinating palms and lilies for the sanctuary.
Help Wanted!
Seriously. We have officially run to the end of the current sign ups for hosting coffee time. If you can host any of the coming weeks through May, please let me know and I will put your name on the list. Thanks.
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Final Wii Kirk of Spring!
| Friday, April 29, at 6:30 p.m., the doors open on the final Wii Kirk night of fun and pizza!
Mr. & Ms. Pizza (aka Clark Chesser and Cheryl Lederle) will once again be churning out the best pizza in Arlington. The Wii will be on the big screen -- including the Beatles Rock Band for all you karaoke crazies -- and plenty of good food and great conversation will be shared by all.
Please bring a beverage, dessert, salad or snack to share.
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April 30: We Rebuild Together!
| Saturday, April 30, is the annual Rebuilding Together day of service. This year we will again be working with a crew from Falls Church Episcopal, and taking on the rehabilitation of a home just south of I-395 in Arlington. For details, and to volunteer, contact Tom Hull.
Boxes Needed!
In advance of the work day a CPC crew will be packing up the client's belongings for safekeeping during the painting and construction work.
We need boxes!
If you can help with finding and procuring boxes please contact Cheryl Lederle, who is organizing the pack up effort.
Friday, April 29, at 6:30 p.m., the doors open on the final Wii Kirk night of fun and pizza!
Mr. & Ms. Pizza (aka Clark Chesser and Cheryl Lederle) will once again be churning out the best pizza in Arlington. The Wii will be on the big screen -- including the Beatles Rock Band for all you karaoke crazies -- and plenty of good food and great conversation will be shared by all.
Please bring a beverage, dessert, salad or snack to share.
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| Mark Your March Calendars! | |
Coming soon to the wee kirk:
AFAC bagging: Monday, April 18, 7:00 p.m. at AFAC. Dinner follows at Cheryl and David's home.
Choir practice: Wednesday, April 20, 6:45 p.m.
Session meets Wednesday, April 20, at 7:30 p.m.
Maundy Thursday, April 21, soup supper in Wilson Hall at 6:30 p.m. followed by worship in the sanctuary.
Good Friday worship, April 22, 7:00 p.m.
Wii Kirk, Friday, April 29, 6:30 p.m.
Rebuilding Together, April 30, all day.
Music Sunday, May 1.
Christian Ed/Spiritual Formation discernment team, Sunday, May 1, 11:30.
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From Palms to Passion
Progressive ... Inclusive ... Diverse |
April.2011
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Greetings!
 The long journey of Lent draws to its conclusion filled with the drama of Holy Week as we move from the pageantry and celebration of Palm Sunday through the deep connection of Maundy Thursday and on to the desolation of the cross on Good Friday. Jesus told his followers to take up the cross and follow, so on this Holy Week we walk with him. It is altogether fitting that we should walk together in worship and in service. So we begin with the joy and celebration of Palm Sunday, continue in worshipful work by gathering at AFAC on Monday evening, move together to table on Maundy Thursday, stay awake and watch on Good Friday, and together long for the hope that is to come with the new life of resurrection. Come and see. Come and serve. Come and worship. peace, David PS: There's a lot of good stuff in this note, and several invitations for you to help out in a variety of ways. Please take the time to read it all! |
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CPC Is Looking Good!
 | | Don Hodgen Keeping the Grounds |
A dedicated crew of CPC folks spent several hours earlier this month sprucing up the joint.
In addition to cleaning the sanctuary, polishing the brass, and dusting the stained glass windows, the spiff-up crew straightened out several closets and made a few minor repairs. We also fixed up an old sign post next to the parking lot, removing the "hanging nooses," landscaping the base, and adding a Clarendon Presbyterian Church banner.
Thanks to Carol DeFord for heading up the clean up, and to John Green, Don and Amber Hodgen, and Travis Reindl for pitching in (and pitching out).
 | | Travis Coming Out of a Very Clean Closet |
Space Use Discernment Group
It takes not only the sweat of our brows to keep the building fully functioning, but also the wisdom of our minds and the leading of the Spirit as we think together about the most faithful stewardship of the physical plant.
Toward that end, Sunday, May 15, following worship we'll hold the initial gathering of a team of folks dedicated to making the best use of the space and caring for it in the most carefully considered way.
If you'd like to be part of this conversation, join us in the purple parlor (the transformation of which is one item up for consideration) for one hour on May 15. We'll have food to sustain us as we prayerfully listen for God's leading concerning the way we manage and care for the beautiful building and grounds we have been given.
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CPC Is Teaming With Discernment:
We Need Your Discerning Mind
Following up the input from the congregation received during small-group gatherings last fall we are in the midst of a season of discerning our congregational callings around mission, education, spiritual formation, worship, and the use of our space.
About 20 members of the congregation have participated in prayerful gatherings to talk about worship, mission, education and spiritual formation, and next month we'll hold the first gathering of a group whose focus will be how we use, decorate, arrange and care for our space, including the sanctuary.
Each of the meetings has followed a pattern of prayer, reading and discussing scripture, and actively listening for what the Spirit is saying to the church about the concerns in front of us. Every voice is important, and we need you to participate.
The Christian education and spiritual formation team meets again Sunday, May 1, following worship. The sacred space team holds its first meeting Sunday, May 15, following worship.
If you have questions and the process or purposes of these teams, please let me know.
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It's Joyful Noise Season!
Our annual Music and the Spoken Word Sunday worship will be May 1 -- the Sunday following Easter.
For that service, we invite you to share a reading or a piece of music that holds a special spiritual meaning for you. Whether the piece is "sacred" or "secular" is not important. For example, past participants have read from favorite poems, novels, plays, or essays, as well as favorite psalms, Bible stories and religious texts. We've had personal stories and small-group skits as well.
Shared music pieces have ranged from live instrumental or vocal performances to prerecorded pieces on CD (a CD player is available).
This year the choir will share a special selection or two, and the Sunday school kids will also be singing.
Whatever you feel led to contribute, please let us know no later than Easter Sunday, April 4, so that we can assemble the program. Call (703-931-0515) or e-mail Mike Bagwell with the title of the piece you wish to share, its author or performer, and its approximate length.
Music and the Spoken Word Sunday is always one of our most joyous and meaningful services, but it only works if you bring your gifts to share! |
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance in Japan
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, working with partner churches through Church World Service, is providing relief in Japan in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami that struck March 11.
The initial $100,000 from One Great Hour of Sharing funds provided to CWS has gone towards an immediate response to 5,000 households, about 25,000 individuals, now living at 100 evacuation sites in the northeastern area of Japan - the prefectures of Miyagi, Fukushima, Iwate, Ibaragi and Tochigi.
The focus of the response is on evacuation sites where basic needs of food, water, sanitation, electricity and fuel are not being met. To contribute to the relief efforts through Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, click here for a link to PDA's secure giving site.
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Prayers of the People
Our Seasons of the Spirit prayers for the coming week include people suffering for the sake of others as they work for peace in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere; for families torn apart by violence; and these members of CPC: Marc and Cindy Scarcella and Brielle, Jack and Elsie. We also hold Peg True in the light this week as she recovers from shoulder surgery. Thanks go to Sallye Broome who is coordinating some meals for Peg during her recovery. To sign up, send Sallye a note. Thanks also to Gillian Burgess, James Fisher and Suzanne Matula, each of whom has offered a meal.
Our texts for the week include Isaiah 42:1-9; Psalm 36; Psalm 70; Job 14:1-14; John 13:1-17, 31-35; Psalm 22 .
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A-10 Update as of March 30
The presbyteries' vote on proposed amendment 10-A stands at 79 presbyteries in favor and 58 opposed (including one tie that counts as a "no" vote). The voting during the past week included one more "flip" from "no" to "yes" from the voting on a similar proposal defeated two years ago.
It takes 87 presbyteries (a simple majority) voting in the affirmative to change the constitution. Between now and early June the remaining 35 presbyteries will cast votes on the amendment. National Capital Presbytery votes at a special meeting Saturday, April 30, at Gaithersburg Presbyterian. Seven more affirmative votes are needed to pass the amendment, and though past trends are no guarantee, it seems likely at this point that the 87th affirmative vote will be cast in mid-May. The Open Doors/MLP chapter of National Capital Presbytery plans a worship celebration following that 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.
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