mark your calendar november 17 congregational meeting after … · 2019. 11. 6. · join charlie...
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Three of my favorite baseball players recently won Gold Glove awards as the finest fielders in their positions. Alex
Gordon, left fielder for the Royals, Zack Greinke, pitcher for the Astros, and Francisco Lindor, shortstop for the Indians,
inspire awe, not just for their athletic ability but also for their attitude toward the game. They play with abandon, and at
least in the case of Gordon and Lindor, with great big smiles. Their game has a kind of self-forgetting that comes when
one gives everything––to a craft, to listening, to a moment, to prayer.
Dare I say: Lindor laying out for a ball that’s racing for the gap, then springing up to sling it to first, is like watching prayer,
at least if prayer is giving oneself fully, as the moment asks, to God.
November begins a cultural season of giving: giving thanks, giving gifts, giving hospitality, giving charitably. This trains us,
as good observance of seasons does, in postures and practices that need embrace in all seasons. (True ball players don’t
field baseballs only during the regular season!) This time of year, the church tends to talk about stewardship, which is our
faithful response to God with the gifts God has first given us.
Some of God’s gift is financial. How, one may ask, does my financial life reflect the giving of myself to God and God’s mission?
Many are receiving in the mail a Narrative 2020 Budget, pledge card, and letter inviting financial commitment to God’s
mission in CPC. I ask you to seek God’s guidance for how you would give and then to bring a pledge card to
worship for dedication on Sunday, November 17.
However, as important as financial gifts truly are, it’s the selves behind them that are most impactful on the church’s
“game.” How we lay out our time to share in life together, including missions efforts such as the food pantry, community
meals, and Vacation Bible School. How we sacrifice our comfort as do ballplayers colliding with a fence because the
moment doesn’t ask for playing it safe but, in St Theresa of Avila’s words, “striving like strong.”
This posture of risked life with God, of openness to what might seem like “failure” for the sake of Christ––not every
dive results in a catch––was part of discussion at the October 26 Leadership Summit. Elders, deacons, and other leaders
in the church acknowledged the attractiveness of remaining in ways of church, and ways of engaging church, that are
familiar. It can be difficult to stretch ourselves out and catch new ways of being.
For example, the What’s for Dinner Challenge, which is a way of being church not practiced “at church” but out in life,
even with friends we don’t see in a church building. (Do come to Challenge’s closing celebration on November 23!) But
that’s just the way God asks us to stretch––to understand church life, which is to say Jesus-following life, as happening in
the thick of ordinary life.
In a way, out-of-church-building life is The Game, the real “performance” of Jesus-following life. Which makes our
gathering essential because it gets us ready to offer and live for God every moment of life we are in.
God grant the church the agility and Spirit fueled passion of life fully given to God.
Mark Your Calendar
November 17
Congregational Meeting after Worship
What Is It?
If you are the parent of a preschool through 5th grader here at Christ Church,
you’ve probably experienced one of those “manna from Heaven” moments when
your child’s Sunday school teacher handed you their morning’s project:
“What is it?”
Please allow me to introduce some clarity into the situation.
Our approach to Biblical teaching in Sunday school is to
tell stories, introduce characters, and bear witness to significant events from the
Bible. We engage in pre and post-story activities that bring the story to life and help
to make it memorable.
On a deeper level, we invite our children to wonder about the feelings and
motivations of the people in the story and to look for what God is doing in and
through them. We call on the children to process what they hear, sometimes with
games, sometimes with science or cooking, and many times, through art.
Those creations that you see coming home are not your child’s work but the results
of your child’s work, with the story they heard or the message they internalized.
As parents, grandparents, and your children’s most influential spiritual teachers, your invitation is to ask them
about what they did or made in Sunday school. Ask them to re-tell you the story or to tell you about the
characters in the story: what happened, how, and why?
Finally, ask your children what they learned about God from the story and if
there is anything, they still wonder about. With older children, encourage them
to think about where God might be in similar events and circumstances in their
own lives.
Those take-home creations can serve as a window and as an opportunity for a
conversation about faith, belief, and truth - at an age when it can make the
most difference. They are very deliberately planned with the knowledge that it
is not the morning, but the afternoon that is the most important part of Sunday
school!
God Bless.
:
.
Salad, Pasta and Sandwiches
Join in the fun, great company and
Enjoy some very tasty food.
Immediately following Coffee Hour
November 24th at 12:30PM
Please sign up by November 17
Sign Up Is In Fellowship Hall
Aland Smith (724-456-7894) for more info
ALPHABET THEATRE’S
YOU’RE A GOOD MAN CHARLIE BROWN
FRIDAY NOV. 8 & 15 OR
SATURDAY NOV. 9 & 16,
7:30pm
Join Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy and more
in this musical comedy written by Clark
Gesner It will leave you with a smile on
your face and a heart full of acceptance.
Tickets $10 at the door.
SEND A CARD
Charlotte Wood invites cards for
Jeanette Mann whose birthday is November 24.
Jeanette may receive them at Holly Hill, Room 206,
10190 Fairmount Rd, PO Box 337, Newbury, OH 44065.
Grateful Praise Choir
Presents
A Benefit Concert
For 12 year old Devin Moore
November 24, 2019
Devin Moore was born with a rare heart disease and is in need of a heart valve replacement. He
has had several open-heart surgeries in his young life and if Devin does not have this surgery, he
most likely will not live long into 2020.
Due to the high cost of this surgery, and the family’s medical insurance not paying the full amount,
the family is in need of funding in order for this young boy to have this surgery.
November 24, 2019 at 3:00 pm
Ledgewood Christian Church,
8261 Kinsman Road, Novelty, Ohio 44072
Donations will be taken and all proceeds of this concert will go to Devin Moore and his family.
Please join the Grateful Praise Choir in lifting God’s praises!!
Join as Christ Church continues listening to God’s Word…
EXPLORE FAITH THAT’S “IRRESISTIBLE” NOV. 10, 17 & 24 Andy Stanley’s
“Irresistible: Reclaiming the New that Jesus Unleashed for the World” We will consider the faith modeled by our first century brothers and sisters who had no official Bible, and little chance of survival. What made their faith so irresistible? What would it mean to live with such faith today?
DONATE FOOD FOR LOCAL FAMILIES
The Food Pantry is grateful for donations of soup, macaroni and cheese, tuna and cereal. Find Red Bags in the Narthex, returning them with food to share with neighbors.
Know Someone?
We are in need of a:
Nursery Caregiver
To work Sunday mornings in our church
nursery during the months of February,
April, June, August, October, and
December.
Interested applicants may email Elizabeth
Goodin at elizabeth@christpcusa.org
Jeff Healey 11/01
Nancy Kule 11/03
Gary Karges 11/07
Milan Tropf 11/08
Elizabeth Goodin 11/09
Eric McCaslin 11/15
Rob Zimmerman 11/15
Josh Chenoweth 11/16
Eric Milnar 11/16
John Perko 11/16
Judi Smith 11/16
Bob Russell 11/18
Ruby Van Zuylen 11/19
Lindsey Moritz 11/20
Gary Stumpf 11/20
Pat Gedeon 11/21
Pam Lyman 11/21
Paul Russell 11/21
Stephen Douglas 11/22
Joanne Graham 11/22
Matt Troyer 11/22
Jeanette Mann 11/24
Jane Larrick 11/27
Kealyn Palchick 11/27
Bill Fischer 11/30
Keith Rex 11/30
If you desire to host a special Sunday morning
Coffee Hour in honor or in celebration of someone,
please contact: Barbara Bodmer at:
440-256-1181 or email bjbodmer@yahoo.com
FLORAL ARRANGEMENT If you desire to purchase a
special floral arrangement for a Sunday morning worship
service, please contact: Trish Lawrence at:
216-765-1064 or email pelawrence2012@gmail.com
Church office hours:
8:30 am - 3:00 pm
Monday - Thursday
Church Office e-mail:
office@christpcusa.org
Pastor Matt's e-mail:
matt@christpcusa.org
Contact Information
Christ Presbyterian Church
12419 Chillicothe Rd.
Chesterland, OH 44026
440-729-1688
www.christpcusa.org
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