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