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Gracias! Lots of Notes of Thanks that We Should Share ...
| Thanks to Karen and Marty for their gracious (and delicious) hospitality Sunday at coffee time. We look forward to Toni Bissessar's hospitality this Sunday.
Thanks to James Fisher and Cheryl Lederle for the delicious soups for Ash Wednesday, and thanks to Betty Billings and Mike Holloway for setting up Wilson Hall for the dinner.
(Coffee time hosts are posed on the CPC web calendar.)
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Celebrations &
Concerns
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We hold Amy Williams in the light this week as she recovers from surgery.
We hold elder Cindy Bolbach, moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and member of Arlington Presbyterian Church,in the light. Cindy is recovering from surgery last week to address anemia concerns.
Please hold Barbara Allen's mother, Mildred Allen, in the light as she continues to have difficulties transitioning to life in a nursing facility.
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| Unchurch! Returns! | |
Sunday evenings through the season of Lent join us at the Unchurch!
Beginning Sunday, Feb. 26, at 5:30 p.m. we'll gather for supper, and some good conversation, followed by a brief closing worship.
Through Lent we'll be talking about stages of life and stages of faith, as well as the circles of our lives in which we express that faith in service to family, neighborhood, school, work, church and broader community.
We'll be tapping resources in the broader community to help us better understand both the stages of our own lives as well as the matrix of gift, call and need that we experience differently at different points along the way.
There will be programming for our young people each of the Sundays, and it will help us prepare that if we know who's coming! Please let me know what children to expect.
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Mark Your
Calendars! | |
Coming soon to the wee kirk:
Choir practice, tonight at 7:00.
Nominating Committee, Sunday, Feb. 26, following worship.
Unchurch returns!, Sunday, Feb. 26, 5:30 p.m. The Unchurch gathers each Sunday evening through the end of March.
Liturgical leadership workshop, Sunday, March 4, 11:30 a.m.
Facilities, Finance, Personnel team meets, Sunday, March 11, 11:30 a.m.
So Others Might Eat empty bowls dinner at St. Charles, Wednesday, March 14, 6:00 p.m.
Wii Kirk, Friday, March 16, 6:30 p.m.
AFAC grocery bagging, Monday, March 19, 7:00 p.m.
Pancake breakfast, Saturday, March 24, 9:00 a.m.
Rebuilding Together! Saturday, April 28. |
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Detailed Invitation Below
Progressive ... Inclusive ... Diverse |
February 2012
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Greetings!
Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent. We marked it well in worship last night, and heard an invitation to use these next 40 days to let go of that in our lives that needs to be released while picking or taking on practices that guide us along the way of Jesus. As a congregation, and as individual members of the body, we can choose this 40 days to seize an opportunity to deepen our faith and express it more vibrantly day by day. Or we can walk through the season in a daze of busy-ness, changing nothing that needs changing and ignoring the invitations to engage. What stands in the way of making changes that we need to make? For many of us, the answer to that simple question comes down to fear. Thus the central question for Lenten meditation or reflection might just be: of what am I afraid? Can you let go of your fears? Can you live without them? What might be different for you, for our congregation, if we did let go of fear? Over the past several months we've received a good deal of feedback from the congregation about a variety of programs, policies, personnel and facilities as we work toward crafting a clear and compelling vision for the more vibrant congregation we all want. I invite you to use the 40 days of Lent to respond to one invitation to join this ongoing process of change at CPC. It is time to turn comments, suggestions and complaints into clear, focused action. If we are going to do this at all well we must do it together. This e-blast contains several invitations. Please discern your own sense of call. We need folks to do some simple research ( detailed invitation below). We need folks to help chart a way forward for overseeing our facilities, finances, and personnel ( detailed invitation below). We need new leaders ( detailed invitation below). We want more folks involved in worship leadership ( detailed invitation below). The central promise of our faith is that God is with us -- Emmanuel. If that is true, then nothing in all of creation -- not even death itself -- is worth fearing. Certainly joining the process of change at church is nothing to fear. For 40 days live with no fear! That is the beginning of life abundant. peace, David PS: Unchurch! returns for Lent. Gather for a simple meal at 5:30 p.m. this Sunday, with good, multi-generational conversation and activities, and a brief time of worship to follow. We'll conclude by 7:30.
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Detailed Invitation 1:
An Opportunity to Improve Our Liturgical Skills
The life of a vibrant congregation begins in worship that fills our spirits and challenges our hearts and minds. Such worship involves all of us, and taps a variety of leadership gifts. The liturgical arts -- presenting scripture, leading prayers, preaching, music -- form the foundation for such worship, and we want to do all of these as well as we possibly can.
Toward that end, the Rev. Walter Green will offer a liturgical arts workshop Sunday, March 4, following coffee time. This simple workshop is designed for everyone who is interested in any aspect of worship leadership, from sharing scripture to leading prayers to preaching.
Please take this opportunity to help us make our worship experience more compelling.
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Detailed Invitation 2:
CPC Needs You! We're Making Upgrades Inside and Out
As the church enters a season of self examination with an eye to the future we also need to extend that discerning view towards our facilities and personnel structure here at CPC.
Many of our practices, from mission-related tenant arrangements to personnel policies, have evolved over several decades and they are due for an update.
Likewise, member feedback indicates interest reimagining worship space, improving exterior space, and making capital improvements to the building. All of these things items, and more, can use fresh eyes and new input! Join Carol DeFord after worship, Sunday March 11, to discuss these issues and develop a plan of action. If you're not able to attend, please send Carol email to cpc.fandp@gmail.com and we'll make sure to keep you in the loop. |
Detailed Invitation 3:
Clear Vision Requires Research: It's Your Turn
Last Sunday we took another step in the research phase of our visioning process, and now have a set of basic questions to pose to various community organizations that we identified in January.
We have named more than a dozen organizations from whom we'd like to solicit this general information:
- What are the greatest challenges facing your organization today? What are the challenges facing our community?
- How could CPC play a vital role in addressing these challenges?
- When you look out five years, what challenges do you foresee for your organization? For our community?
- How could CPC play a vital role addressing those challenges?
We envision brief phone (or in-person) conversations to gather this information. While we also have a few more specific questions for several of the organizations, the information interviews should take no more than 15 minutes.
What we need now is you! We have a few volunteers for some of the organizations, but we need folks to step up and contact AFAC, A-SPAN, BRAVO, the department of Human Services, GLBT youth organizations, People of Faith for Equality VA, the Arlington Free Clinic, Occupy Faith DC, nearby assisted living facilities, and CPC tenants.
If you are willing to take on one of these interviews, or if you have another group to whom we ought to speak, please let me know.
We would like to complete these conversations during the next two weeks. The information we gather will be used to help us refine the outward-focus aspect of our refocused vision.
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Detailed Invitation 4:
Clear Vision Requires Leadership: Help the Nom Com
The nominating committee holds its initial organizational meeting following worship this Sunday. With the by-laws change reducing session terms of office to two years we will have significant turnover of leadership on session for 2013. While some members of the class of 2012 are eligible to serve another term and may feel called to do so, that class has five members. In other words, the nominating committee has a large slate to fill by our October congregational meeting.
If you have thoughts or suggestions, or if you feel called to serve in leadership at CPC in the coming year, please share your thoughts with a member of the nominating committee. Members include: Chuck Abbott, Toni Bissessar, Amber Hodgen, Wes MacAdam, and Marit Simenson.
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Staff Design Group Articulates Principles
CPC's staff design group continues its work this month according to the principles laid out fully in the attached document.
The group's work is being conducted in relationship to the broader visioning work of session and the congregation, and will proceed according to a set of broad goals and principles that emerged from the group's conversations and guidance from session.
To maintain and expand a vibrant congregation, the staff design group will ensure that staffing at Clarendon be designed to:- Ensure effective and efficient stewardship of the congregation's human, financial, and physical resources.
- Develop more diverse and interactive ministries, particularly with respect to music and Christian education.
- Facilitate better identification and harnessing of congregational time and talents.
- Complement the strengths of existing staff and lay leadership.
The group has reviewed data from National Capital Presbytery and from the broader Presbytery Church (U.S.A.) on staffing patterns of similar-size congregations, and will present those findings Sunday. Elders Travis Reindl, Karen Kimmel, and Gordon Hawthorne, and members Dave Norman and Grant Mandsager are serving on the staff design team.
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