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Gracias! Lots of Notes of Thanks that We Should Share
| Thanks to Ted Billings for providing food for the Unchurch, and to everyone who helped clean up.
Coffee time!
Thanks to Cheryl Lederle for setting up coffee time last week and the Chuck Abbott for cleaning up. This week we look forward to the hospitality of Betty and Ted Billings.
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Milestones
| We will hold a celebration of the life of Ditty Boaz and a service of witness to our resurrection faith Saturday, October 29, at 4:00 p.m. at Clarendon.
Ron Bookbinder asks prayers for his Great Aunt Francie Huber. After a fall, she is recovering in a rehab facility and hopes to be able to return to her home.
Cheryl Lederle asks prayers for her colleague, Uhuru Goss, who is facing surgery and is the primary caregiver for her mother, who is being treated for cancer.
In this space we celebrate moments and milestones in the lives of members of the community. So, if you have a birthday, an anniversary, a graduation, a promotion, a retirement, or other milestone to celebrate send me a note and we'll shout it out right here.
Likewise, if you have a prayer concern that you'd like lifted up in the prayer lives of the the community, let me know and we'll list that here, as well.
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Mark Your
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Coming soon to the wee kirk:
Unchurch! Sunday, Oct. 9, 6:00 p.m.
Exploring Membership, Sunday, Oct. 16, 11:30 a.m.
Session, Sunday, Oct. 16, 11:45 a.m.
Unchurch! Sunday, Oct. 16, 6:00 p.m.
AFAC grocery bagging, Monday, Oct. 17, 7:00 p.m.
Exploring Membership, Sunday, Oct. 23, 11:30 a.m.
Worship planning team, Sunday, Oct. 23, 11:30 a.m.
Unchurch! Sunday, Oct. 23, 6:00 p.m.
Fall congregational meeting, Sunday, Oct. 30, 11:30 a.m.
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Dreaming the
Next Church
Progressive ... Inclusive ... Diverse |
October.2011
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Greetings!
 When Jesus said of Peter, "on this rock I will build my church," he was risking the future of his movement on a man who consistently failed to understand Jesus and who would bail on him when the going got really rough. So if we sometimes feel as if this whole enterprise of the church is hard we can take solace in the fact that it was built by people just like us -- often confused and fearful, but also eager to try to follow the enigmatic preacher from Galilee. Bring your confusion, bring your fear, bring your deepest longings and together we'll figure out the best and most faithful ways to follow Jesus in our time and place. Why bother? In an age of unbelief, when the most hip attitude is a detached dismissal of organized religion, why bother with church at all? Because the way of Jesus is a way of life, and a way of life abundant. Come and see. Come and help us work it out together. Come and be the church with us at Clarendon. This month we'll spend our "unchurch" time -- Sunday evenings from 6:00-7:30 -- in a wide-ranging conversation about what God is calling us to be as the next church at Clarendon. Bring your questions. Bring your gifts. Bring your whole self. grace and peace, David |
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Come to the Unchurch! And Bring a Friend.
Sunday evening at 6:00 the Unchurch continues.
Click here to download an unchurch flyer to share with friends! For the next three Sundays the Unchurch will be a forum on the church. In other words, we'll talk about what church means, how and where church happens, who's in and who's out of church, what the whole enterprise has to do with that Jesus fellow, and lots of other questions that spark along the way.
We've invited the whole community to join us, and thus far a few sojourners have come in. We're using meetup.com as one new way to connect. I encourage you to join us there, too, because it always helps a meetup if it's clear on line that there will be participants. Click here to find the unchurch meetup.
We'll close October with DC poet Rose Berger (a longtime staff writer for Sojourners). Rose will be joined by poet Joseph Ross for a joint reading.
In November we'll devote the unchurch to further explorations of the spiritual practice of hospitality. Picking up where we left off last winter during our Lenten soup series, Clark Chesser and Cheryl Lederle will guide us deeper into the art and practice of Christian hospitality.
Unchurch will feed your body and your soul. The evening will begin with a community meal at 6:00, followed by about 45 minutes of program time, and a brief prayerful closing time of worship in the style of the Taize community in France -- lots of candles, simple songs, the evening psalm and community prayers. There will be childcare available for the youngest members of the community during the program time, and there will be programs for the elementary-middle school children as well.
Unchurch is for everyone, but it's especially for folks for whom the traditional Sunday morning worship time (even as nontraditionally as we do it at CPC) does not work. All of which means, it's a great time to invite friends who might otherwise shy away from church. Unchurch will be an open space to build community, share ideas and experiences, learn from each other and from artists, poets, activists, musicians, theologians and leaders in the larger church. If you have an idea for a leader, or if you've a topic you'd like to lead, please let me or Marit Simenson know.
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Exploring Membership at CPC this Fall
Our exploring membership group takes a break on this holiday weekend, and will resume on the 16th and 23rd.
The gatherings will give folks who are new to the community an opportunity to learn about Clarendon, about the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and about each other.
All are welcome, and it's not too late to join us! If you'd like to be part of this fall's exploration, please contact David.
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AFAC Hits New High in Clients
Last month, AFAC served 1,450 families, a 19 percent increase from one year ago and a new record high for a single month. AFAC sites two key reasons behind the increase. First is the continuing economic stagnation, and second is new distribution sites. With more families struggling to secure adequate income the strain on food budgets continues. CPC continues to "fill the gap" for these families by filling the bags at AFAC every month. We're also harvesting the first small "crop" from our "Plot Against Hunger." |
CCCC Silent Auction Coming Soon
The Clarendon Child Care Center's annual silent auction will be Sunday, November 5, at 7:00 p.m. The event has outgrown Wilson Hall and will be held this year at the Lyon Village Community House at 1920 North Highland Street. Click here for a preview. |
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