On the secular calendar this Sunday is Mothers Day, and we give thanks today for those who bore us into this life.

Of course, given the incredible complications of human life, it is certainly true that Mothers Day is a time of deeply mixed emotions for many. Indeed, Jesus understood the complexity of family life, and famously distanced himself from his biological family by insisting that behavior rather biology determined his family ties: "anyone who does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother."

With that careful reminder, and with the assistance of lectionary passages that draw us back to baptism, we'll celebrate the gift of our baptism into the household of God as the primary way that we construct family. At the heart of that idea of family is love.

Come this Sunday and celebrate the gift of many kinds of families, and remember that in baptism you are called and claimed by a new family.
peace,

David

This week I received word from the Arlington Food Assistance Center that they are ending the grocery bagging program that Clarendon has supported and participated in for more than a decade.

AFAC experimented last week with having their clients bag their own groceries, and thus providing more food choice for clients. It was a huge success and let to an immediate service change.

Therefore, we will not bag groceries at AFAC on Monday, May 21, or on the third Monday evening of any subsequent month.

Cheryl and I would like to invite y'all over to the house on the third Monday of this month (21st) at 7:00 p.m. for what seems likely to be the final AFAC-baggers meal, and we propose that over the meal we have some conversation about both some of the options for volunteering proposed in the note below as well as other ways that we might focus our energy in service to our mission of feeding and sharing the fellowship of the table.

Puwen Lee, volunteer coordinator at AFAC, is planning to join us for dinner and conversation about ways CPC can continue to support and participate in the work that AFAC does.

Let me know if you can join us on the 21st.

National Capital Presbytery is offering an neighborhood outreach workshop Saturday, May 12, from 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. at Westminster Pres in DC. Jeff Krehbiel, pastor at Pilgrims, is leading this event and Jeff does good work. The details are available here. 

We've talked a lot about wanting to grow, to get better at outreach, to be more relational and connectional. Here's a hand-on opportunity to increase our capacity to do these things.

I'm planning to attend and would love to have group of Clarendon folks join me. Please consider, and let me know whether or not you can participate.