Sunday's Sermon - Creation, Evolution & Scripture

All summer we've been working down a list of congregational sermon requests.

Last week's request: Creation, Evolution & Scripture

Read the sermon
Read past sermons from this summer
View the schedule

Sunday's Sermon - Pursuing a Dream

Last week's request: Pursuing a Dream

Read the sermon
Read past sermons from this summer
View the schedule

Scriptures for Encouragement

A list of scriptures to read when you're needing encouragement.

Psalm 46
Psalm 121
Psalm 139
Isaiah 35:3-4
Isaiah 40:6-11
Matthew 6:33
Matthew 11:28-30
Matthew 18:28-31
Luke 8:22-25
John 6:35-37
John 10:11-18
Romans 8:38-39
2 Corinthians 5:17-19
Ephesians 3:14-20
Philippians 4:11-13
Hebrews 12:1-12
Revelation 21:1-8

Sunday's Sermon - Discerning God's Plan

Last week's request: How do I discern God's plan for my life?

Read the sermon
Read past sermons from this summer
View the schedule

Sunday's Sermon - Apostles' Creed II

For our second installment of the All Request Summer Sermon Series we discussed the theology of the Apostles' Creed using another historic document, the Heidelberg Catechism, as a guide.

Read the sermon.
Read the Heidelberg Catechism
Download the Presbyterian Study Catechism (which also discusses the Apostles' Creed extensively.)

Thoughts on Swap Day

The idea for Swap Day originated during discussions last year by the Stewardship Team regarding our materialistic tendencies. Our goal was redistribution - taking things that we no longer needed and making them available to others who needed them. It sounded simple, but after spending six hours mingling with people on the front lawn of the church, I realized it was anything but. Some observations:

• We have a lot of stuff. Many people mentioned that if they had known about the swap sooner they would have cleaned out their attic, basement, etc. to contribute. Some seemed eager for a guilt free way of getting rid of their stuff.


• Stuff is addictive. Some people had trouble distinguishing between need and want, and when faced with the prospect of being able to acquire more for no money, they went crazy.



• People were surprised by free. Many people could not believe that we would simply give stuff away. It didn't fit into their world view. Some, when they did comprehend it, liked the vision of a world that we provided. They left hoping for more - not more free stuff - but more of a world governed by mutuality, sharing and relationships as opposed to commerce. See earlier blog posting: Why we gave stuff away for free.


• People struggled with free. More than one guest, as they were leaving, made sure that I knew that they had both brought a bag of stuff and made a donation. Other guests struggled when we refused to accept payments or suggest a donation level. One woman I talked with never managed to wrap her head around the reality that we were not holding a fundraiser.



• Our enterprise was profoundly spiritual. Our God is a god who gives freely who calls us to give with no expectation of return. The grace of God shown through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is off the market. We cannot buy it. If it was for sale, we could not afford it. We can only accept it. Our god of commerce attaches a price to everything and bases an individual's value on whether or not they can afford the price. Many of our guests needed to donate, either stuff or money, because it showed they had worth - that they were neither charity cases nor thieves. If it is hard to accept a free toaster oven, children's toy or picture frame, how much hard it is to truly accept the free gift of love, self worth and hope available through Jesus Christ. And, if we go to such effort to prove that we are neither charity cases nor thieves when people are freely giving stuff away, what does it say about our attitude toward those who rely on charity for survival?

Thanks again to everyone who helped and to everyone who came! A special thanks to the women of the Thrift Shop for their logistical assistance and their support.

And by the way: At the end of the day we counted just over $200 in the donation cans. Our food pantry volunteers mentioned that the Food Pantry's freezer broke. The $200 will help pay for repairs.

Why give stuff away

Community Presbyterian's decision to hold a swap day as opposed to a yard sale came out of discussions about our relationship with material possessions. Here are our two motivating factors:

1. A rich man came to Jesus and asked him: “What must I do to have a rich, full and amazing life?” And Jesus said to him: “Go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor.” We live in a community where some people build additions onto their houses or rent garages to store all their stuff and where others lack the bare necessities for comfort. We spend millions of dollars and destroy the environment getting rid of stuff we’ve deemed useless and then spend millions of dollars more and further destroy the environment to acquire new stuff. So we give away stuff to achieve some of the balance our God desires for our lives, our communities and our natural world.

2. Our lives are encumbered. “Cumber” is an ancient word for all the things that weigh us down and drag us out. We can be encumbered by stuff, encumbered by financial debt, encumbered by worries or fears, encumbered by hurtful relationships, etc. Jesus Christ promises a life without cumber where, instead of weighing ourselves down, we trust in God to provide what we need, year by year, month by month, week by week, day by day, hour by hour. Most of us are not at a place of faith where we can fully let ourselves, our lives, our possessions go and trust totally on God, but this swap is one small step towards realizing God’s promise.

Sunday's Sermon - Apostles' Creed I

To help everyone follow along in the All Request Summer Sermon Series, I'm going to try to post all the sermons online using a new document sharing site set up by Google. Not sure how this will work, but we'll give it a try.

View last Sunday's Sermon - Apostles' Creed I

The SWAP

I hope you are all cleaning your closets, basements, attics, and garages! I am surprised at the stuff I found and didn't even know I was missing. I guess I don't really need it, so I am in the process of disencumbering. However, there are people who might need my cumber, so I am taking it to CPC for the Swap.

Let's work together to rid ourselves of our cumber and help those in need.
See you next Saturday from 9 am to 2 pm.

All Request Summer Sermon Series

Many thanks to everyone who contributed topics for the summer sermon series. Here's the schedule. The schedule is very loose and rather arbitrary, so if you requested a topic and you're not going to be here when its scheduled, let Pastor Fritz know.

Click to read a previously delivered sermon.

July 5..........Apostle’s Creed I: History and background
July 12 ........Apostle’s Creed II: Theological Meaning
July 19 ........Discernment & Vocation: Figuring out God’s plan for your life
July 26 ........Pursuing a dream: Scriptures of Hope and Perseverance
August 2 .......Evolution, Creation & Scripture
August 9 .......Celebrating The End: Thoughts and Theology around funerals, burials, cremations, etc.
August 16 ......Bible Study: A Gospel Who’s Who – Scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots, and others
August 23/30....Bible Study: The Prodigal Son
September 6.....Hymn Sing
September 13 ...Homosexuality, Marriage & The Church

Youth Group Kayak Trip

A few weeks ago CPC youth went kayaking. Here are some picts.

Thank you to everyone who helped out with the 2009 Food Drive and who brought food. We collected enough food that when we were done lugging it into the Sanctuary, I was tired. Check out the slide show below to see for yourself.

Food Drive 2009

Bring a bag (or box) of non-perishable food to Community Presbyterian Church on Saturday, June 13 between 10-3.

This is the fifth year CPC has held its annual food drive. What started as a way to help the Long Island Council of Churches fill the shelves before donations dropped off in the summer has become a campaign to help increasing numbers of our neighbors who are hungry.

This from a recent Long Island Council of Churches newsletter:

It should come as no surprise that the number of clients we are feeding this year has increased over 50% from the same time last year. We’re feeding 54% more households, including 39% more children, 60% more adults, and an astounding 94% more seniors than we did a year ago. We greatly appreciate the growing awareness among our supporters that more and more of our neighbors are hungry.

The most dramatic increase is the number of seniors who now need our help, followed by the increasing number of single moms with infants who can’t afford to buy baby food, infant formula and diapers. These changing demographics highlight the expanding number of our most vulnerable citizens who have fallen into poverty and need our assistance to make ends meet. What we find especially heartbreaking is that a significant number of seniors now come to us for help had been donors for many years. Many live on fixed income, and there is no way they can keep up with the rising prices of basic needs like food, housing, and medical prescriptions. Medicare insurance has more than doubled in the past six years while their income has barely risen at all, with annual social security cost-of-living increases averaging 2%-4% at most.

All food collected during the food drive will be donated to the Long Island Council of Churches Food Pantry in Freeport. So raid your pantry or go shopping and join Community Presbyterian in stocking the food pantry before summer comes.

A moving story from our sister church to the Southwest

At a gathering of South Asian Presbyterians at the Valley Stream church last week, the Rev. Emanuel Nasir told of his first call, serving as supply pastor for a small church in Ohio. For a Women’s Sunday worship in 1975, an elderly woman in a wheel chair described to the congregation how their church had first become interested in Pakistan (and probably why they were willing to welcome an immigrant Pakistani as their pastor).

Years and years before, the church had responded to a plea, channeled through the denominational office, from a missionary in Pakistan. He had welcomed a young man and his wife whose Hindu family had disowned them when they became Christian. He wanted to provide work for them in a bookstore at his mission, but lacked the financial resources to provide a salary. The small church in Ohio sent money for many years to provide that salary.

Even before the elderly woman finished her story, Emanuel stood up, saying to the congregation, “That young man was my great grandfather. And now here I stand, as your pastor.” As Dr. Nasir reminded the group of South Asian immigrant pastors and church members, the gospel of Jesus Christ went out to Pakistan from the Presbyterian Church here in the States. Now it is coming back full circle, as these faithful Presbyterians, themselves the product of Presbyterian mission and witness, become a blessing to their American brothers and sisters.

Shared by Ellen Marquart, Executive Presbyter, Presbytery of Long Island

Alternative Gifts for Mother's Day

Are you like Pastor Fritz and always buy your Mother's Day gifts a little late? Here are some ideas for how you can support programs that help women while also honoring Mom.

Buy a handmade gift from women artisans
Heartbeats Catalog
A wonderful catalog run by Sisters of the Humility of Mary featuring cards and crafts all by women.
A Greater Gift
Fair trade crafts from around the world, including many from women's cooperatives.

Support organizations that help women
Various projects and programs of Presbyterian Women
Includes general support of Presbyterian Women and special mission projects around the world.
Church World Service
Select a project that would be meaningful to your mother and get a special card sent to her.
Women for Women International
A program supported by CPC's women that helps women in war zones, including Iraq & Afghanistan.

Got another idea? Leave a comment.

Confirmation Class Hero's

On April 28th the CPC Confirmation class participated in the Hero's Run in East Rockaway to help raise money for soldiers wounded in Iraq & Afghanistan. We don't have any pictures of them leaving Rob Hallam in the dust, but here's a picture from when they got back to the church.

Good Friday 2009

This year's Good Friday service centered around a series of meditative drawings done by the CPC Confirmation Class - Terry Gagstetter, Erik Riker & Michael Yang. Their drawings are playing in the slide show below. Click on the slide show to get a closer look.

Preserving the Faithful - Lent Series IV

During Lent this year, Pastor Fritz is preaching a sermon series entitled 'God's Bailout Plan.' Below are excerpts from the fourth sermon in the series, which discussed the restoration of Israel after the exile.

Read a vision of the Prophet Jeremiah regarding the Jewish exile community.
Read John of Patmos' great vision regarding Christ's reconciliation of those in suffering.

This Sunday we turn to the second journey – the Exile.

In destroying the temple and carrying off its treasures, the Babylonians probably thought they had not only defeated the Israelites but their God as well. The Biblical writers confess that God not only is alive and well, but that God was using the Babylonians to punish the Israelites for their disloyalty. The Israelites had not worshiped the Lord their God with all their heart, soul and strength. They had not loved their neighbors as their selves. They had ignored the poor, abused the widow, neglected the orphan and been unwelcoming to the foreigner. So God uses Babylon to teach Israel a lesson. At the hands of King Nebuchadnezzar, God delivers a dramatic, world changing wake up call.

In Babylon the Jewish elite found they had to either refocus on God and the Torah law or loose their identity. They had to learn to worship God, to keep their customs, their beliefs, their faith, when it was neither easy nor convenient to do so.

Seventy years after the fall of Jerusalem, the Assyrians, led by Cyrus the Great, conquered Babylon. While God used Nebuchadnezzar to conquer, God uses Cyrus to restore. Cyrus allows the Jewish people, to return to Jerusalem and provides them with money to rebuild the city and the temple.

The Israelites got themselves into their mess, but God still got them out. We get ourselves in lots of messes, but God remains ready with a bail out plan. John of Patmos, who wrote Revelation, offers a vision of the end of the world. Disaster has followed disaster as all the sins committed, all the mistakes made, come back to haunt the world. But when the smoke clears, the bodies are not littering the battlefield. Instead the multitude of the faithful, people from every nation, all tribes and peoples and languages, are before the throne of God in joyous worship. God has nurtured rather than destroyed, sheltering, feeding and filling the multitude with the water of life while he wipes away the tears from their eyes.

Sprung from the Trap - Lent Series III

During Lent this year, Pastor Fritz is preaching a sermon series entitled "God's Bail out Plan." Below are excerpts from the third sermon in the series, which draws lessons from the Israelites' enslavement in Egypt and God's rescue.

Read about how the Israelites became enslaved
Read about God's decision to rescue them

In Egypt the Israelites became victims of a paranoid, xenophobic ruler who needed slaves to complete his numerous building projects. By working them to death, the king – possibly Ramses II – would prevent them from siding with Egypt’s enemies during times of conflict.

When I think of this world, I often think of a giant pinball machine with billions of tiny balls representing all of us humans. Ideally the balls should dance in intricately beautiful choreographed patterns. But inevitably somebody misses a step or drops out of line. Chaos ensues.

Sins big and little pervade our lives and pervade our world. We live among corrupt and broken systems operated by corrupt and broken people. We, our neighbors, our world suffer as a result. The Apostle Paul talks about the entire world, all of creation, groaning under the weight of sins large and small, innocent and diabolical. It is this sin that causes a cashier at Target or an engineer on the Long Island Rail Road to loose her job because a person who wanted a little more house than they could afford was seduced by a broker seeking a larger commission from a mortgage company seeking bigger profits, who was invested in by a bank trying to get in on the action which in turn was insured by AIG. Pinballs out of step, out of line. Broken choreography bringing pain, suffering and hurt into our lives and into our world.

Over and over again Scripture affirms that God hears our groaning, the groaning of the world and responds. God responds to the Israelites by sending Moses. God responds to our groaning by sending Jesus Christ. God responds to the groaning of the world through his church, whom he has charged to continue Jesus’ legacy of love, justice and healing in a broken world.

New Ways of Being Church

Just got back from spending three days in Louisville, KY at a conference focused on New Ways of Being Church. Featured speakers were: Diana Butler Bass, Marcus Borg and Brian McLaren. Earlier posts contain some soundbites from their presentations.

All the speakers seem to agree upon two points which have major repercussions for faith communities. Personally, I find both exciting. But others find them quite disturbing and even frightening. If Butler Bass, Borg & McLaren are correct, it means that to be effective (or even survive) congregations have to do church a whole new way.

Point 1:
Our "Christian culture" has shifted to a "secular" or "pluralistic" culture, meaning that many people attend church out of an intentional desire to follow Christ rather than because church attendance is expected.

Conventional Christians want church to be an unchallenging environment that mirrors the conventions of the surrounding culture. Conventional Christians have no desire to change themselves or society.

Intentional Christians want to be lead closer to God and in doing so to be challenged to lead genuinely Christ like lives. Intentional Christians yearn for personal change and societal change.

Intentional Christians find conventional churches to be shallow, unspiritual and even hypocritical. Conventional Christians find intentional churches threatening to their entire belief systems.

Point 2:
Spiritual focus needs to shift from the suffering and death of Jesus for an individual's sins to Jesus' declaration of the coming of the Kingdom of God.

All the speakers agreed on this, and this is their most controversal claim. For the last 1500 years, Christianity's focus has primarily been other worldly: We follow Christ to avoid hell and get into heaven. The primary goal of the church is to get more people into heaven and help everyone avoid hell. Believing in the right things became more important than doing the right things.

The speakers called for a new reformation based on practice not belief, focused on following Jesus in this world as opposed to following him to the next world. They envisioned a Christian community steeped in prayer and worship, committed to social justice and peace, defined by hospitality and who take as their foundational commandment to love God and love neighbor.

Brian McLaren

This is the third installment in my series of notes from the recent conference I attended at Louisville Seminary on New Ways of Being Church. These are from the lecture and discussion given by Brian McLaren, and really consists mostly of sound bites that jumped out at me. This is the longest entry, in part because I consider Rev. McLaren one of the most innovative and far sighted thinkers in the church today. For a fuller idea of what he thinks, read his books, especially Everything Must Change and A Generous Orthodoxy .

Humanity is in the midst of a change as big as any in history. A whole new society is emerging, that we do not yet know what is. Reacting to this change is about more than changing music or adding programs.

The big shift:

• Conquest & control -> conservation
• Mechanics & sound bites -> holistic systems
• Secular science -> spiritual science
• Objective -> intersubjective
• Organizational -> alliances & networks
• Individual -> communal & traditional
• Denominational -> post denominational
• Consumer -> sustainer

The new vision of what church is comes from those new to the faith and the young.

Pivot points
How do we relate to Jesus?

• Taking what Jesus says seriously
• Jesus as more than forgiver of sin
• Focus on Kingdom of God
• Jesus not a religion maker but a kingdom proclaimer

How do we relate to the world

• Move from: the gospel being an institutionally controlled message which provides an enhancement of the soul (self) so that it can get to heaven
• To: In following the gospel, the church serves as God’s agent in recruiting people to engage in the healing of the world.

An old interpretation of how the Gospel helps us relate to the world:


A new interpretation of how the Gospel helps us relate to the world:


How do churches relate to each other?

• We celebrate a range of ministry and mission by a range of congregations with different styles and different gifts.

Three new ways of being church:

1. A movement that seeks to join God in the healing of the world
2. A disciple forming community that seeks to practice the way of Jesus. Product of the church is “Christ like people”
3. A liturgical/mystical network that practices receptivity to the Holy Spirit

Marcus Borg

This is the second set of notes from the recent conference I attended at Louisville Seminary on New Ways of Being Church. These are from the lecture and discussion given by Marcus Borg, and really consists mostly of sound bites that jumped out at me. You will note that this is a very short entry. Frankly, I was not very impressed with Dr. Borg's thinking. For a fuller idea of what he thinks you can read any one of his kajillion books, although almost all discuss his pursuit of an "authentic uncorrupted gospel" and not his ideas on new ways of being church - of which he apparently has very few. The below ideas were mostly borrowed from others, but seemed to have some use and possibly some merit.

The church is moving from communities of convention, where participants attend because that is what society expects of them, to communities of intention, where participants yearn for something and seek to accomplish something.

Intentional Christian Communities:

• Engage in theological education to allow participants to articulate the gospel
• Engage in a new way of living distinct from the surrounding culture
• Educate about prayer and worship (Worship is a subversive practice that declares that God and only God is Lord of our lives.)
• Encourage active participation in God’s intense love (passion) for humanity.

Diana Butler Bass

This is the beginning of my notes from the recent conference I attended at Louisville Seminary on New Ways of Being Church. These are from the lecture and discussion given by Diana Butler Bass, and really consists mostly of sound bites that jumped out at me. For a fuller idea of what she thinks, read her books, especially Christianity for the Rest of Us.

Church needs to shift from defining what we’re not to defining what we are.
A new definition of church for the 21st century:

Christian communities who practice a generative, birthing faith that seeks primarily to create new opportunities for the transformation and healing of individuals and society.

Diana’s study of successful congregations revealed that by intentionally engaging Christian practice congregations:

1. Grow in spiritual vitality
2. Grow in numbers if demographics warrant, experiencing evangelistic success because those living the gospel cannot keep silent
3. Are vital congregations that challenge their participants to deeper spiritual life and practice
4. Are profound
5. Motivate participants to action
6. Give participants meaning to life
7. Practice hospitality to each other, children and strangers

Rick Warren: “We are in the midst of a new reformation – a reformation about deeds, not creeds.”

New Ways of Being Church

I'm Louisville, KY for a few days attending the annual Festival of Theology at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Its not much of a festival - no jugglers, cotton candy, cool bands, dance troupes or any of the things that make a festival, well, festive. It is a time of hearing lectures by and having discussion with three of the most innovative minds working in the church today:

Diana Butler Bass - a church historian who calls for a refocus on basic spiritual practices (hospitality, sabbath keeping, tithing, simplicity, etc) in congregational life.
Marcus Borg - a New Testament scholar who feels an intense analysis of scripture can separate a radical "true gospel" from a later "socially accomodating" gospel and by focusing on this more radical gospel, the church can find renewed purpose and identity.
Brian McLaren - a pastor who feels that congregations should focus not on what they believe but instead on how they live out the life of Jesus as the community of Christ in this world.

As I have time over today and tomorrow I'll be summarizing their ideas and the discussion that follows.

Translating Babel - Lent Series II

During Lent this year, Pastor Fritz is preaching a sermon series entitled God's Bailout Plan. Below are excerpts from the second sermon in the series.

Read the story of the Tower of Babel
View what the Tower of Babel might have looked like
Check out the archeology from the British Museum

We still build great towers as a testimony to human ingenuity, power, wealth and might. Al Qaeda targeted the World Trade Center on multiple occasions because the twin towers were, in many ways, a temple to the capitalist west and the wealth of the United States. When they fell, we felt emasculated. And the politicians rushed to promise that we would rebuild, bigger, better, higher, more secure. We would demonstrate our power and the supremacy of our economic belief system.

As bad as 9-11 was, imagine how bad it would have been if we had lost perspective on who our God really is. What if we had given superiority to the human made systems and philosophies, governments and multi-national corporations represented by those towers? Many years ago, our ancient ancestors made that mistake. They saw earthly power and confused it with divine power. They saw earthly wealth and confused it with divine blessing. They too built a tower to move the human into the realm of the divine. Luckily, in Abraham, God had a bail out plan.

Paradise's Promise - Lent Series I

During Lent this year, Pastor Fritz is preaching a sermon series entitled God's Bailout Plan. Below are excerpts from the first sermon in the series.

God had reached out from heaven in love and crafted the earth, filling it with beauty and goodness. Everything about the world gave life. Nothing gave death. Everything about the world gave joy. Nothing gave pain. God’s love infused everything. There was no hate. The second of two creation stories calls this world the Garden of Eden. Dante called it Paradise. When we glimpse this world in the course of our very ordinary, non paradise filled lives, we call it God sightings.

Our sin blocks our participation in paradise as effectively as a painted window blocks the sun. As God expelled Adam and Eve from Eden, our sin expels us from intimate relationship with the divine.

Their fall is a metaphor of our personal falls. Instead of bearing the fruit God desires of us, from the first moment from the womb we are like the pear tree, wanting to grow quickly and bask in the sun. God built these yearnings, doubts and desires into us. Not so that we can experience suffering, but so that we can freely and wholly commit ourselves to him.

Most people spend most of their lives in the litter and bombed out factories along the tracks. That’s not what God wants – it has never been what God wants – and time and time again God seeks to rescue his people from the mess of a world filled with sin.

Blanket Delivery

Last fall during Mission Sunday we made a whole bunch of no-sew fleece blankets. Our goal to present them to women in the battered women's shelter proved easier said than done, but finally we were able to deliver the blankets to the Nassau County Coalition Against Domestic Violence, where they'll be used in the Coalitions Safe Home for Abused Families. Thanks to Gloria Braun and Nancy Stalb for arranging the delivery.

Pancake Supper 2009

On Shrove Tuesday, as New Orleans went wild for Marti Gras, we had a much more sedate pancake supper at CPC followed by our annual burning of the palms. Many thanks to everyone who helped with the dinner and everyone who came to eat. A special thanks to Malverne Prime Meat for their donation of the sausage and a super special thanks to the Malverne Fire Department who stopped by to make sure we didn't burn down the church while we were burning the palms.

In addition to being a good dinner, the evening raised $550, which will be split between the Interfaith Nutrition Network and the CPC Youth Fund.

Pancake Supper

SHROVE TUESDAY PANCAKE SUPPER
BURNING OF THE PALMS

FEBRUARY 24 @ 6:00

An all you can eat pancake and sausage dinner followed by a micro bonfire of last year's palm leaves.

EVERYONE OVER 12 - $8
EVERYONE 6-12 - $3.50
EVERYONE UNDER 6 - Free

ALL ARE WELCOME.

Ash Wednesday Service
Wednesday, February 25
7:30 pm

Pastor Fritz's Lenten Challenge

In less than a week we'll be eating pancakes, burning the palms, donning ashes and beginning a time of spiritual preparation for Easter. It is traditional to give something (like chocolate) up. I prefer to add. Here are some thoughts:

Add a daily devotional or prayer time to your day.

• Pick up a Lenten devotional guide at church
• Receive a daily email with scripture readings for each day. (Click on the Daily Lectionary check box and put in your email address.)
• Participate in daily online devotions from d365.org
  
• Receive a daily devotional email
• Forget all the guides - find a quiet place, read one of the Psalms, light a candle, lift up to God your worries and concerns and create space and silence to feel God's spirit in the breeze.
• Read through the Gospels (or just one Gospel) paying special attention to the teachings of Jesus. (This is a special challenge from Presbytery Executive Ellen Marquardt.)
  

Read an entire book of the Bible (or two if they're short). If you have small children, use a children's Bible and read it with them. Here are some good starting places:

• Luke or John
• Acts
• Romans (for lawyers only)
• 1-3 John
• Genesis
• Jonah

Practice hospitality by inviting neighbors, friends or even complete strangers over for a cup of coffee, a dessert or even a meal. Explore the difference between hospitality - a cup of coffee and listening ear over a messy table - and entertaining - a sparkling clean house, the best china and the perfect centerpiece.

Covenant with a friend or your pastor to keep the daily office, a cycle of prayers and readings used by many to begin and end each day connected to God.

Keep a journal of God Sightings, taking time each day to note how God is working in your life and in the world.

Select an area of your life to tithe: (Tithing is the "churchy" word for giving 10% of anything to God.) Here are some ideas:

• Go whole hog and for six weeks give 10% of all your income to charities of your choice.
• Every time you go grocery shopping, buy an extra 10% for the local food pantry.
• Volunteer 10% of your non-work time
• Spend 10% of your non-work time with someone you love but has been neglected.
• Reduce your carbon emissions or energy usage by 10%.
  

Give up a major addiction - coffee, cigarettes, alcohol, afternoon cookies - and give the money you save to a cause you really, really care about.

Becomming Missional

After church on Sunday, Rev. Ellen Marquardt, Executive Presbyter of the Presbytery of Long Island made a presentation about becoming a congregation more focused on doing the work of God in and with the local community and less focused on congregational structures, organizations and buildings. She called this outward focused type of congregation "missional," because every participant in the congregation's life and worship sees her or him self as a missionary in every aspect of their lives. Church structures then exist to energize and empower their congregations to be missionaries.

This is a radically new/old way of "being church" rooted much more in the ministry of the 1st Century church than in the ministry of the congregations many of us grew up in. To underscore this, Ellen led those present in a study of Luke 10, the story of Jesus appointing 70 of his disciples to go out into the neighboring towns and villages to cure the sick and bring a Spirit of peace.

Click below to view Ellen's Power Point from the workshop

You Go Girl! - 2

Beatrix's efforts continue
“I am very proud to inform you that Long Island so far has raised about $13,332 and 4,389 cans of food," she says

Five Important Ministry Questions

Long Island Executive Presbyter Ellen Marquardt is speaking on changing churches and changing cultures at CPC this Sunday. (Presentation at 11:00, Lunch following.) Recently in her weekly email to the Presbytery she wrote the following:

In preparing for a presentation about being a “missional” church, I came across 5 questions that missional church writer Reggie McNeal says the church should ask its members:

1. What do you enjoy doing?
2. Where do you see God most at work in your life right now?
3. What would you like to see God do in your life over the next 6-12 months? How can we help?
4. How would you like to serve other people? How can we help?
5. How can we pray for you?

How might your church, our presbytery, be different in 5 years if we asked each other those questions, and answered them faithfully and prayerfully?

You Go Girl!

A few months ago, Beatrix Weil set out on a mission - to get as many of the 700 schools on Long Island to participate in the Souper Bowl of Caring. Not only did she get 50 schools to participate in this nation wide collection for hunger centered on the Super Bowl, but she ended up inviting the entire Tri-State to join CPC in mission. And oh, by the way, CPC collected over $300 for the LICC Food Pantry as our Souper Bowl drive.

Check out the links:

Article in the Lynbrook/East Rockaway Herald about Beatrix
Interview with Beatrix on WCBS 800am (Click on the Souper Bowl logo on the bottom of the page)
National Souper Bowl collection total

God Sightings and Prayer Concerns

Every year at the Annual Meeting, the CPC community submits both God sightings from Church activities in the previous year and prayers for the year to come. Here's a sampling. For a complete list, drop us an email. Have your own God sighting or prayer concern, leave a comment.

Select God Sightings:

• All the CPC mission projects
• Robert Moone’s smile in the Christmas pageant
• The youth band at Christmas
• 75th Anniversary dinner
• The Mini fair and dinner
• Work in LICC food pantry in Freeport
• Food collections
• Blanket making
• Pinebrook clean-up
• That we nearly met our financial goal for 2008

Select Prayers for the Congregation

• Our various mission projects will be successful and fill us with purpose and motivation
• Increase membership
• The continued strength, health and energy of congregational leadership
• Enlightened stewardship giving
• Commitment and concern for our members and others
• That we can continue to move beyond the way we have always done things to being open to new ideas in how to spread our light in doing God’s ministry
• That the Holy Spirit will inspire and guide us

Congregational priorities announced

The CPC blogger spent the holidays in Bermuda and stayed a little long. But a lot's been going on.

On annual meeting Sunday Pastor Fritz announced the Session's three priorities for 2009. At the annual meeting, congregation members volunteered for teams to address each team. Here are the priorities:

Thrift Shop/Earned Income
To provide short term support for the Thrift Shop and its volunteers while developing a long range plan for income generation from the Upper Church Hall, either through the Thrift Shop or other uses.

Bible Study
To increase opportunities for Bible Study within the congregation and encourage participation.

Mission Outreach
To build upon the success of last year's mission efforts, such as the Food Pantry Volunteers, Pine Brook Clean-up and the Community Food Drive to engage ourselves and our neighbors in local mission.

Want to join a team? Drop an email to cpcmalverne@optonline.net with the team you want to be a part of.

Got an idea for the teams? Leave a comment.

Christmas Eve Services

Christmas Caroling 2008

Here are some pictures from the Christmas Caroling last Saturday night. Thanks to everyone who came out and sang and everyone who let us sing to them. Special thanks to those who organized the wonderful dinner beforehand and the hot chocolate lounge afterward.

They Did It!

For the past two years CPC's Sunday School has been saving up to donate $1,500 to purchase a Joy to the World animal collection for Heifer International. They've collected cans, done good deeds, solicited donations at church fairs, sold various items after church, participated in the Gardener's Market and more. Just last week CPC's Mission Treasurer counted all the money and cut the check. Two sheep, four goats, a heifer cow, and two lamas are on their way to helping impoverished rural families. Our youngest Sunday School class also added some pigs. Thanks to everyone who contributed in ways large and small. A special thanks to Lorne Birch for continuing our focus on this important mission.

Family Advent Kick-off

CPC got a surprise donation of a rather worn outdoor nativity set so after a great dinner we set to work with paint, brushes and artistic sensibility. Take a look at the pictures and look for the figures to grace the church lawn in a few days.

Christmas Resources

Charities with Giving Catalogs
www.heifer.org
www.worldvision.org
www.bowery.org
www.pcusa.org/give
www.partnersforjusttrade.org

Sources of Fair Trade gifts
www.agreatergift.org
www.handcraftingjustice.org
www.heartbeatscatalog.org
www.tenthousandvillages.com
www.fairtradefederation.org
www.partnersforjusttrade.org

Handcrafting Justice
25-30 21st Avenue, Astoria, NY
(718) 204-0909

Online Advent Calendars
www.followthestar.org
www.edow.org/spirituality/advent/

Shopping Free Christmas
www.buynothingchristmas.org
www.adventconspiracy.org

How'd you spend $85,000?

In my sermon Sunday, I suggested that if everyone in the congregation committed just 5% of their income to the ministry and work of Jesus Christ through Community Presbyterian Church, we would have a surplus of $85,000. I then challenged you to brainstorm on how you might spend it. Here is what you came up with in worship. Have any more ideas? Add a comment by clicking on the comments link below.

Suggestions on how to spend $85,000

Finance handicapped access (4 people)
Build a youth and/or community center (3 people)
Improve energy efficiency (2 people)
Find the bell
Provide hot lunches
Sponsor a speaker series
Buy more handbells
Start a nursery school
Support Meals on Wheels
Parish nurse
Expand giving to Presbytery & LICC
Downstairs piano
New kitchen
Seat cushions
Support Menaul School

In preparing my sermon, I came up with a whole list of possibilities. Play the movie below to view what I came up with.

Harvest Market and Dinner

A rare and exceptional thing

Last Sunday, Community Presbyterian paused toward the end of the service to remember long time member Bill Vath. There are many times when as a church we do not live up to our calling to live out the kingdom of God with each other and to illustrate Christ's kingdom to the world. Last Sunday the forgiveness, compassion and blessings of Christ's kingdom were fully visible.

The web is too public a place to go into why this was the case, and those who know, know. But as Pastor I am incredibly proud of Community Presbyterian for the love, caregiving and reconciliation that was shown. We lived out what we preach, and that, even in the church, is a rare and exceptional thing.

75th Anniversary Party

It was a wonderful evening at the Pompeii on Sunday, a big family reunion spent connecting with old friends, remembering memories of the church, enjoying good music and eating good food. Many thanks to the Anniversary Team for all their hard work putting this together. Thanks to all the local merchants who contributed to our raffle. Thanks to everyone who came. Thanks to Elina for taking on the role of photographer. A slide show of some of her pictures is below.

Crop Walk 2008

We hit the pathways of Baldwin Park on Saturday for the annual South Nassau CROP Walk to benefit Church World Service and the Long Island Council of Churches Food Pantry in Freeport. Thanks to everyone who walked. Here are some pictures.

Reflections from Mission Sunday - II

In planning Mission Sunday, I spent a lot of time talking with senior citizens in our community. Initially we planned to send teams only to the houses of senior citizens in our congregation; but they either wanted to be at church to make blankets or "had everything under control." So I secured an invitation to drop in on the Malverne Seniors Club, which meets at Village Hall every Thursday. A few observations:

• Anyone interested in developing a snow shoveling business would find plenty of work. Snow removal is the number one task that seniors expressed a desire for help with around their house. Many lamented the passing of a time when groups of teens would come around after snow storms and offer to shovel.
• Many of the seniors were skeptical about our offer of free help on a specific day. What they really wanted was someone they could call with small household related needs whom they knew to be honest and affordable.
• Help filling out forms and paperwork around property tax discounts, medicare, and other paper-heavy transactions was as needed as assistance with household chores.
• As our society becomes more cash based and increasingly individualistic, many people struggle with receiving free assistance from strangers. The Mission Sunday projects were designed to be neighborly, not charity. We were not seeking those who could not help themselves, who could not pay or who had no other options. We were merely seeking to provide a friendly smile, some youthful energy and a little help around the house. Yet I sensed that to many, to accept help would be to accept charity, and that went against their grain. I wonder if we would have gotten a different response if we called the day a fundraiser and charged.
  

Reflections from Mission Sunday

Last Sunday, October 5th, was Mission Sunday. When I was a kid, Mission Sunday usually involved having a guest speaker who was a missionary and taking a special offering. Thanks to our Hands On Mission Team, we decided to put our faith into action by exchanging sitting in the sanctuary listening to Pastor Fritz for going out and practicing our faith through mission projects in the community.

I went with a group of people to take church to one of our members who has found it increasingly difficult to come to church. What a joy it was to see him singing along to This is the Day, and joining us in prayer. Elina came with us and gave voice to a piano which, while a fixture in his living room, had not been played since his wife died. We then played several games of bingo, with the only prize being the pleasure of bring joy, prayers and company to one person's life.

A second team went and helped a neighbor with odd jobs around her house. The crew washed windows and removed an air conditioner for winter and helped us all remember a time when neighborliness was not confused with charity.

A third group stayed at the church and turned large swaths of Polartek into blankets. When finished we will take the blankets to a battered womens' shelter or somewhere else where they are needed.

As we reconvened over pizza afterwards, spirits were high. It was good to be outside of the building, working among our neighbors and sharing our faith through our hands, our footsteps and our smiles. Unfortunately, nobody took any pictures - so you'll just have to imagine.

Suburban Spirituality

Our special guest, Marie Zupka Ludder, offered some reflections Sunday morning on how to stay focused on God in the midst of the business of life. Here is a snap-shot:

1. Heed the calls to prayer of daily life. When you hear the fire siren or the ambulance wail, take a moment to pray for those in danger and those responding. When you hear the train whistle, pray for those on their way to work or home.

2. Thank God for our food. We pray "Give us this day our daily bread" and need to respond with "Thank you Lord for this food," whether its a formal prayer during family dinner or a quick prayer in the drive through or as we munch a Snickers.

3. Set an extra place for Jesus. Remember when we are gathered at the table for meal time that Jesus is with us. Some families have found the practice of setting an extra place setting for Jesus to be a profound reminder of Christ's presence.

4. Journal. Keep a small note book during the day to write reflections of how God is working and worries and concerns to lift up in prayer.

5. Pray the news. As you scan the headlines, lift up the world and those in it in prayer.

6. Let waiting time be prayer time Instead of getting all anxious when we wait, turn it into a time of prayer. Marie advocates "guerilla prayer" - stealth prayers for those in your vicinity who are especially distressed - the mother in the shopping line, the fellow commuter on the train, the driver in the traffic jam about to explode in road rage.

7. Go out like the Wise Men, seeking Jesus. Put a star by the door you use most often to go in and out of your home to remind you of the Wise Men and their search for Jesus. Go about your day in the same spirit.


Marie is Associate for Congregational Resources at the Presbytery of Long Island.

How to Give to Hurricane Relief

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is Mobilized!

If you want to help your neighbors (no matter where they live) recover from one of the four hurricanes/tropical storms that have hit so far this hurricane season, you can do it three ways:

1. Put a check made out to Community Presbyterian Church, and with either "US Hurricane Relief" or "Caribbean Hurricane Relief" on the memo line. Gifts made this way will be credited to our church's mission giving.
2. Go to http://www.pcusa.org/pda/response/usa/gustav-index.htm to give online with a credit card. You can choose to give to US or Caribbean relief, or both. These gifts won't be credited to the church, but if it's more convenient for you, that's great.
3. Assemble, or give money for, a Disaster kit - a 5 Gallon bucket containing everything from scrub brushes to work gloves to clothes line. The kits are distributed by Church World Service, our disaster relief partner through the National Council of Churches. For more info on kits go to http://www.churchworldservice.org/kits/index.html. If you make a kit, you can drop it off at the church - just make a small cash donation to help with shipping.
   

Don't forget that Haiti, especially, has little of the infrastructure and aid systems available in the US--they need as much help as they can get after being hit by multiple storms in a matter of days.

I know it doesn't always feel like it, but most of us experience more plenty than need. God has given us that plenty so that we can help those in need. These are our neighbors. Let's care for them.

Black Monday

As I got off the train today in Manhattan the mood was grim. Bear Sterns seemed manageable. Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac seemed like a Washington problem that Washington solved. But somehow Lehman Brothers was different. It seemed closer to home, another domino that fell, with AIG waiting in the wings.

While the news cameras showed Lehman Brothers staff cleaning out their offices, my friends were calculating which of their friends would be affected and my organization, The Bowery Mission, were calculating how many of our donors were now broke. It seemed a bad day for the financial sector and a bad day for fundraisers.

And it was a good day to remember that we worship the God who created heaven and earth and not the bronze bull that is firmly anchored on Wall Street. We're taught and acculturated to measure our worth and our security by the size of our pay check, the diversity of our portfolio, the assets invested in our houses and how our cars stack up against our neighbors. Now our lust for that worth, our desire to leverage everything in an attempt to find wealth where there is none, has created a house of cards which is causing much pain and fear as it falls.

"In life and in death we belong to God," begins the PC(USA)'s Brief Statement of Faith. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God," scripture tells us, "and everything else will be granted to you." These are not mere words. Times like these remind us that these are the fundamental truths of life.

Be sure to pray for those whose jobs are gone, whose houses are slipping away, for whom security has been replaced by fear and uncertainty.

Eat Local, Share Local

Earlier this year our Stewardship Team came up with a simple idea with profound implications. Once backyard gardens started producing we would put a table up in back of the church. Any gardener with extra produce could leave it on the table. Anyone who needed produce could help themselves. Because we live in a consumer culture, we did put a basket out for money. But we didn't put prices on things and the money would go to church mission projects (the Food Pantry and Heifer) instead of to the gardeners.

As I've watch the table pile with produce before services and empty at the end of services, it occurs to me that there are other areas of our lives in which we have abundance and others may have scarcity. I know of a church member who tends the lawns of his neighbors. He has an abundance of time and likes doing lawn work. They are unable to do lawn work. I know of parents with an abundance of love who end up welcoming all the children in the neighborhood into their house. I know of neighbor of mine with an extra bedroom, who lent it to a friend of a friend who needed a place to stay. I know of a man with an abundance of money who gives most of each pay check away.

Jesus tells of a man who had a harvest so big he could never sell it all, so he enlarged his barns and gloried in his abundance. Jesus calls this man a fool. When our lives overflow with abundance, we can bless others and gain blessing ourselves when we share that abundance with others.

Pine Brook Clean-up

Many thanks to the approximately 40 people who showed up this morning to help clean Pine Brook here in Malverne. We filled more garbage bags than we could count, removed about a quarter of a car from the woods and pulled about four shopping carts, a gas grill, an old type writer, a swing set and a desk chair from the brook. We found a deer path and fresh deer scat, learned to identify poison ivy and educated the youth of Malverne about almost every conceivable brand of beer.

Those with long memories reminded us of a time when locals fished for mackerel and went swimming in the brook's many lakes and pools. We all experienced the peace that comes from standing in the shade of dense woods as the world passes us by. "The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it," we are reminded by the Psalmist. Today we got a glimpse of that grandeur and accepted our God given responsibility to be stewards of all God has given us, including natural space. The result, a few acres left a little better than when we found them.

Scroll down for pictures.

Special thanks to:
Malverne United Free School District
Mayor Patti McDonald and the Village of Malverne
Toni Sussman
Paul Jessup and the Malverne DPW
Malverne Police Reserve
Long Island American Water
Boy Scout Troop 24
Girl Scout Troop 1209
CPC Malverne Stewardship Team

Ocean Avenue Before

Pine Brook Before

Scout Troop 24

A Morning's Work

Ocean Avenue After

The Welcoming Crew

Don dumps his boots

Bowery Mission Trip - August 21

A huge thank you to everyone who went on the trip to serve lunch at The Bowery Mission. Some of us helped organize the pantry. Others made a huge salad. Michael showed his skill at cutting cake. Marianela was a pro at the frier. Lunch was a superb tuna salad on a bun with french fries, salad, cake and purple drink. The line stretched out the door but there was enough food for all.

Before lunch we went to the chapel service - done by some guy from Tennessee who either wants to be a rock musician or an evangelist, never quite figured out which. Mostly, though, he went way long - nothing like a room full of people who haven't eaten in a while and the preacher goes long.

Check out the pictures below!

Pantry organizing

Making Salad

Fry Cook

Serving Lunch

Pine Brook Clean-up

Saturday, August 23
8:00 - noon
Pine Brook between Whalen Field & Malverne High

Come when you can, stay as long as you can.

Wear long pants, long sleeve shirts, gloves, sturdy shoes.

In partnership with the Village of Malverne and Mayor Patti McDonald. Special thanks to Long Island Water, Malverne DPW, Malverne Police and Auxiliary Police.

Get a map to see where to go!

Why is a church sponsoring a clean-up?

Because “The Earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it/the world, and all who live in it.” Psalm 24:1

We have been entrusted with the care of the Earth on behalf of God the Creator. Our labors will prevent trash from running into Long Island’s bays and the Atlantic Ocean.

Songs of Praise - Spirituals

All summer in worship we're focusing on church music. We're also singing our hearts out. Last Sunday we, a predominantly while congregation, tried to navigate our way through the spirituals. We didn't come close to singing them like they were sung by our sisters and brothers who suffered through slavery, but we found meaning any way.

Our hymn of the day was There is a Balm in Gilead. We also sang Amen, Amen; I've Got Peace Like a River; Every Time I Feel the Spirit and My Lord, What a Morning.

Mostly, however, Pastor Fritz discussed the role of the spiritual in helping African-Americans develop a theology of hope and perseverance in the face of suffering. In doing so, he quoted liberally from an interview between Crista Tippett, host of Speaking of Faith and actor, singer and missionary Joe Carter. LIsten or read the interview for yourself.


Extra:
YouTube: Every Time I Feel the Spirit - a thousand variations, one song.

Songs of Praise - Dr. Watts & John Newton

All summer in worship we're focusing on church music. We're also singing our hearts out. On August 3 we focused on the greatest English language hymn writer - Isaac Watts and the greatest English language hymn - Amazing Grace. (Written not by Isaac Watts, but by John Newton.)

We mostly sang the classics by Watts: Joy to the World, I Sing the MIghty Power of God, I Love the Lord who Heard my Cry and When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.

But we focused on Amazing Grace.

What struck me most as I studied this hymn was how the last verse:

"When we've been there ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we first begun"

moves the hymn from earth to heaven. This verse is why we sing Amazing Grace at funerals. But John Newton didn't write the last verse. His verses are very much bound here on earth. Try singing Amazing Grace without the last verse. It's a different song. Just as beautiful. Just as meaningful. But different.

Links:
Amazing Grace sculpture by Gail Collins
Amazing Grace collage by Amy Rehnae
Amazing Grace the movie

Pray global, pray local

There weren't many of us at church on Sunday and I was debating whether to say anything about the conflict between Georgia and Russia during the prayer time when an elderly member of the congregation raised her hand and requested prayer for her aid, whose family lived in Georgia and whose 18 year-old son was at risk for being called up in the draft. Another person just had a close relative return from Baghdad. Yet another had a husband serving in Afghanistan.

In my sermon I played an excerpt from Martin Luther King, Jr.'s sermon Why Jesus Called a Man a Fool. I played the end - where King quotes from the spiritual There Is a Balm In Gilead to make his point about the need to rely on God to make through difficult times. Earlier in the sermon, however, King speaks about how dependent and connected we are with others around the world. "You can't leave home in the morning," King says, "without being dependent on the rest of the world."

It seems easier to pray for the troubles that are in our face rather than those half way across the world. It seems easier to pray for seemingly manageable things - such as successful surgeries performed by top rated doctors - than unmanagable things such as war and peace. But I was reminded on Sunday that what is far is also near. I was also reminded that what seems impossible is possible.

So we should pray for peace - whether in Afghanistan, Georgia, Iraq or anywhere else, knowing that not only are we praying for the world, but we're praying for our immediate neighbors as well.