Everybody loves a parade, and Palm Sunday is the one great parade of the liturgical calendar. The work of the people this Sunday is to wave palm branches and shout, "hosanna!"

It is, of course, work that anyone and everyone can do -- women and men, young and old, rich and poor, of every race, nation, sexuality.

So come and celebrate! Come wave a palm! Come sing and shout!

But when the parade is over and the street cleaners are left sweeping up after us the real work begins.

Will we stick around? Will we watch with Jesus in the garden? Will we journey with him to the cross?

Palm Sunday tilts so quickly into Passion ... into real life.

At our best, the community of faith holds these together: palms and passion, celebration and suffering, laughter and weeping. Come, lets us journey together toward the cross.

peace,

David

PS: If you'd like to honor or remember someone through the gift of sanctuary decorations for Easter we'll be accepting donations at church for the next several Sundays. Your $10 contribution will be acknowledged in the bulletin on Easter as a memorial or honorific, and the money will be used to purchase a variety of seedlings for our Plot Against Hunger garden and flowers to decorate the sanctuary.

This Sunday we receive the annual One Great Hour of Sharing offering, so bring your fish!

Many of you took a fish-shaped change collection box at the beginning of Lent with the challenge to drop in a dollar a day for 40 days. Let's see how close we come this weekend.

Since 1949 Presbyterians have joined with millions of other Christians through One Great Hour of Sharing to share God's love with those in need. Your generous gifts assist those affected by natural disasters, provide food to the hungry, and help build strong communities.

Your contributions support Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, the Presbyterian Hunger Program, and the Self-Development of People Program.

Through these programs the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has been on the ground in Haiti continuously since the earthquake in January, 2010, is working today in response to this spring's tornadoes in Indiana and Kentucky, and continues to serve communities across the nation and around the world. Your contributions make a big difference.

The community that breaks bread together is a healthy one! Toward that end, we'd like to have a round of "Dinners for Six or Eight" during the season after Easter.

Would you be willing to host one dinner gathering at your home some time between Easter (April 8) and Pentecost (May 27)? If so, please contact Ron Bookbinder about setting a date for your party. Thanks for considering. David.

At the congregational meetings in October and January CPC members expressed a desire to have opportunities to study the Bible and to have additional worship opportunities.

In response, during the season of Easter this spring, David will lead a 3-part Bible study looking comparatively at the four gospel accounts of Easter. What do these stories tell us? How are they similar? How are they different from one another? What is important in the differences, and in the similarities?

We'll meet at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesdays (April 18, May 9, May 23) in the chancel area of the sanctuary. We'll spend about an hour with the text, and close with a 20-minute Evensong worship.

Please let me know if you plan to join us for these evenings.

Saturday, April 14, join us as we plants seeds of hope -- and vegetables -- in a new and expanded garden at CPC. We'll start at 9:00 a.m., rain or shine, and aim to finish by midday.

This year, with funds from a community garden grant, we'll be constructing raised beds for our Plot Against Hunger.

Work has already begun with the removal of the dying tree on the Jackson Street side of church. The beds will be build on either side of the stump, in what is now a full-sun slope. (Thanks again to Sam Foulke for wielding the chain saw to remove the tree!)

If you have questions about the garden project, please contact Gillian Burgess.

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:

1. Ensure effective and efficient stewardship of the congregation's human, financial, and physical resources.
2. Develop more diverse and interactive ministries, particularly with respect to music and Christian education.
3. Facilitate better identification and harnessing of congregational time and talents.
4. 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.