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Fall Back!
| Daylight Savings time ends this weekend -- officially at 2:00 a.m. Sunday.
If you forget to turn your clocks back, feel free to come on over to church and put the coffee on. We'll see you at 10:00 a.m. EASTERN STANDARD TIME.
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Gracias! Lots of Notes of Thanks that We Should Share
| Thanks to everyone who brought food to our potluck brunch Sunday, and special thanks to Sydney for helping to push chairs into place!
We look forward to the hospitality of Carol DeFord for this Sunday's coffee time.
Thanks to Cheryl Lederle, Marty Rosensweig, Sallye Broome, and Jeannette Regetz for providing food and support for the memorial service for Ditty Boaz.
Thanks again to Marit Simenson for setting out the feast at Unchurch! Thanks to Cheryl, Hannah, and Martin for helping set up. Thanks also to all who stuck around for the clean up after.
Thanks to Carol and to Travis Reindl for riding herd on the removal of lots of old furniture and collected stuff. The joint looks so much nicer.
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Welcome New Members
| We welcome Michael and Andrea Haynes and Paula Green to membership at Clarendon. Please make sure you reach out to them in the coming days to make them feel part of the community at Clarendon.
If you are interested in becoming a member of the congregation, please send me a note. We will welcome another group of new members early in 2012. |
Milestones
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Cindy Scarcella celebrates her birthday this week! Happy birthday!!!
Don Hodgen asks prayers for his mother, who faces a lengthy recovery following a car accident.
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
Calendars! | |
Coming soon to the wee kirk:
Unchurch! Sunday, Nov. 6, 6:00 p.m.
Christian education planning team, Sunday, Nov. 6, 11:30 a.m.
Peter Mika concert, Saturday, Nov. 19, 7:00 p.m.
AFAC bagging, Monday, Nov. 21, 7:00 p.m.
A-SPAN feeding, Thursday, Nov. 24, 5:45 p.m.
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Giving and Gratitude
Progressive ... Inclusive ... Diverse |
November.2011
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Greetings!
 I draw theological inspiration from a wide variety of sources, and as the month of Thanksgiving rolls in I've been thinking of the words of two strikingly different Christian thinkers: Henri Nouwen and Mr. Rogers. Nouwen was a Dutch-born Roman Catholic priest who wrote more than 40 books about spiritual life. Fred Rogers was a Presbyterian minister who hosted a long-running public television show for children. Nouwen observed that gratitude is the response to the world that forms the foundation of all authentic religious expression. Fred Rogers said, "the meaning of life is service." The heart of Christian faith is lived out somewhere close to the intersection of those two observations. When, in gratitude for all we have been given, we respond with lives of service we are following the way of Jesus. This month in worship members of the Clarendon community will share from their own experience of giving through the mission service of CPC. As John Calvin put it, "When we are certain that the earthly life we live is a gift of God's kindness, as we are beholden to God for it we ought to remember it and be thankful."
So during this month of thanksgiving, for what are you grateful? How do you express that gratitude? What does your own sense of gratitude compel you to do?I invite you to think about your own experiences of giving through service, and join in the spiritual practice of giving thanks. If you're on Facebook, join the folks there who are, each day, expressing gratitude for something in their lives. The world -- even the virtual one -- could certainly use a season of giving thanks. grace and peace, David PS: Speaking of service, we're postponing one CPC opportunity to serve. Our fall spruce up day, originally set for this Saturday, has been postponed until Saturday, November 19, due to a building use conflict. |
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Unchurch! Hospitality this Month
Sunday evening at 6:00 the Unchurch continues. This Sunday we begin a three-week series on the Christian practice of hospitality. Clark Chesser and Cheryl Lederle will facilitate a conversation about the ways that hospitality draws us out into the world.
As you would expect in a series led by Mr. & Mrs. Pizza, the food for November Unchurch gatherings is going to be delicious, and the welcome will be warm.
Come for dinner at 6:00. Conversation begins at 6:30, and we'll close with a worshipful time of quiet reflection. The evenings will end at 7:30. All are welcome, and it's a great time to invite friends who may be "spiritual but not religious."
Unchurch will feed your body and your soul. This Sunday (Nov. 6) following coffee time we're reconvening the Unchurch! planning team. Please join us as we review the first two months of Unchurch! and consider what might come next.
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November is Stewardship Season
 Every November, as we consider the annual budget for the congregation and the call of God to be good stewards of our resources I encourage you to go to the web site globalrichlist.com. That site reminds me that even if I cut my income in half I remain among the richest four percent of the world's now 7 billion people. I have been given so much, and it is truly a joy to be able to give back.
That joy reminds me that stewardship is first and foremost a spiritual practice rather than a financial one. To keep my soul balanced I need to give from what I have received. Jesus understood this clearly. As he told his followers, "where your treasure is there will be your heart also." If your treasure is going to God's work of love and justice, then your heart is going there as well, and such is the direction of a healthy heart.
This week you will receive in the snail mail some information about considering and making a commitment to the financial support of the ministry and mission at Clarendon. Next week you'll receive a second mailing that will include a commitment card and an invitation either to mail it back to church or bring it with you on Sunday, November 20, as we dedicate our commitments and ask God's blessing on them. If you do not receive these mailings, please let me know and we'll get the information to you. |
Peter Mika and Ensemble Appassionato Perform Again
Clarinetist Peter Mika and Ensemble Appassionato visit Clarendon again next month for an intimate evening of chamber music in the sanctuary, Saturday, November 19, at 7:00. This will mark the second time the ensemble has appeared at CPC. Peter has performed during worship for the congregation on numerous occasions during the past year. The November performance will include works by Johannes Brahms, Max Bruch, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. |
CPC Puts the Giving in Thanksgiving!
Join the Clarendon crew this Thanksgiving as we feed Arlington's hungry with the Arlington Street People's Assistance Network. Meet up at church at 5:45 p.m. Thanksgiving day. We'll deliver meals in Virginia Square and Rosslyn. We should be finished handing out food by 7:00 p.m. If you can be part of this Thanksgiving Day service please let me know. |
Updating the Directory
We're updating the CPC directory this month. There will be a copy of the current directory on the table under the nametags outside the sanctuary. Please take a moment this month to confirm (with a check mark) that your information is correct. Write in updates, or add your information if it's not there. Also, to help us grow our capacity to celebrate, if you'd like to be celebrated we invite you to add your birthday. No year necessary! |
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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