Russian Mini Concert at CPC

Last Sunday after church, CPC Music Director Elina Akselrud teamed up with Mezzo Soprano Zoya Gramagin to offer an amazing mini concert of Russian songs and arias. Check out the video of their final number below.

Zoya Gramagin with Elina Akselrud @ CPC Malverne from Fritz Nelson on Vimeo.

Lenten Challenge: Read through the Psalms

“Just open the Psalms, to any page, and begin reading. Sooner or later you will find something that speaks to your situation, that seems to be speaking directly to you.”
- Kathleen Norris

A possible schedule for reading the entire book of Psalms during Lent:

Week 1: Psalm 1-25
Week 2: Psalm 26-50
Week 3: Psalm 51-75
Week 4: Psalm 76-100
Week 5: Psalm 101-122
Week 6: Psalm 123-150

Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper - March 8 @ 6:00

Lent 2011 Series

This lent we will be focusing on prayer. Here is a tentative schedule of topics.

Lent 1 - March 13: Introduction, Lord's Prayer, Service of Healing Prayer
Lent 2 - March 20: Prayer in community. Special guest: Jason Storbakken, founder of Radical Living, an intentional Christian community in Brooklyn.
Lent 3 - March 27: Prayer through movement. Special guest: Roslyn Coors. Labyrinth walk after church.
Lent 4 - April 3: Table Prayer - the spirituality of food and family
Lent 5 - April 10: Prayer in the ordinary and mundane
Palm Sunday - March 17: Prayer in the Valley - a focus on Jesus' prayer life in the week before the cross.

In pastor's coffee house we will be focused on the Psalms.

Bowery Mission Trip - Nassau Joint Youth

Youth and adults from Malverne joined with five other churches in a mission trip to The Bowery Mission in New York City on February 24. Some of the kids helped cook lunch and sort through that day's food offerings. Others took sandwiches out to a local park and invited people into The Bowery Mission for lunch. A third group planned and led The Mission's noon chapel service. Then we went bowling at 300 Lanes in Chelsea Piers.

View a slide show:


View a video of the opening of the worship service. Warning: horrible singing from the one holding the camera.

Nassau Joint Youth Bowery Mission Worship from Fritz Nelson on Vimeo.

Souper Bowl Food Drive Contest

Over the four Sundays in February, the congregation of CPC Malverne, CPC Merrick and Middle Island Presbyterian Church challenged each other to collect the most food for the Long Island Council of Churches food pantries in Freeport and Riverhead.

Merrick, the smallest of the churches, won, collecting 553 food items, or a wopping 8 food items per church member! Languishing in last place, they took the lead by collecting 281 cans on the last Sunday of the month.

Middle Island, the largest of the churches, took second place, collecting 724 food items, or 7.1 food items per church member. In second place going into the final Sunday, they maintained their position by collecting 265 food items on the last Sunday of the month.

Malverne, who was leading going into the final Sunday, collected only 41 food items going into the final Sunday of the month, ending with a total of 479 food items, or 5.71 food items per church member.

Combined, the congregations collected over 1,750 food items for the Freeport and Riverhead food pantries!

Ask an Expert Parenting Worships

Community Presbyterian is partnering with Little Blessings Christian Preschool to offer a series of Thursday night workshops for parents of toddlers and preschoolers. All workshops start at 6:30 and include pizza dinner and child care.

Here's the line-up:
February 17 - Child Development 101 w/ Bonnie Piotrowski, Director Little Blessings
March 3 - God in the Home: Spiritual Practices & Tough Questions w/ Pastor Fritz
March 17 - Raising Healthy Children w/ Dr. Joseph Rozenbaum, LI Pediatric Group
March 24 - Disciplining with Love w/ Ilene LoCastro, CPC Counseling Center

The registration fee is $15/workshop/family or $45 for all four.

Register Online

Congregational Priorities 2011

Priority#1: Congregational Fellowship

Bringing the congregation together across generations outside of worship

Potluck lunches & dinners
Movie nights
Mission projects
In home gatherings
etc.

Sign up for this priority!

Priority #2: Little Blessings Christian Preschool
Reaching out to as many families as possible with the goal of filling the preschool and then inviting those families into CPC's ministry and worship.

Sign up for this priority!

Priority #3: Welcoming Visitors
Inviting visitors in
Welcoming our guests once they arrive
Deepening our guests faith
Integrating our guests into our ministry and worship

Sign up for this priority!

Christmas Eve Services

Family Service - 4:00 pm
Featuring hand bells, youth band, special activities for children, communion and more.

Lessons and Carols - 11:00 pm
A quiet service of music and scripture. Featuring special music by Elina Akselrud and Joe Sortino.

Caroling 2010

We had a great time caroling last Saturday, sending out two groups. The afternoon group went to visit our friend Gertrude Lewis at Saint Albans NYS Veterans Home and then went on to visit our friend Gloria Pelluso at the Bristol in Lynbrook. The evening group went house to house, having a great time bringing joy to members and friends of the congregation.

Here are some video clips:

O Holy Night at Saint Albans


Jingle Bell Rock at Shirley Hsieh's house


Silent Night at the Bristol


We Wish You a Merry Christmas at Gladys Sutcamp's house

2010 Advent Christmas Schedule

This is the complete schedule for Advent/Christmas at CPC this year.

First week of Advent

Sunday, November 28 (First Sunday of Advent)

9:45 – 12:00 Worship & church school

6:00 – 8:00 Family Advent kick-off (Pot Luck Dinner, Family Advent activity & evening worship)

Saturday, December 4

5:00 pm Saturday Service

5:00 – 9:00 pm Lighting of Malverne table w/ hot cider & cookies

Second week of Advent

Sunday, December 6 (2^nd Sunday of Advent)

9:45 – 11:00 Worship & church school

Saturday, December 11

9:00 am Decoration of Sanctuary

5:00 pm Pre Caroling Simple Supper

6:00 – 9:00 pm Christmas Caroling I – Church members

Third Week of Advent

Sunday, December 12 (3^rd Sunday of Advent)

9:45 am Worship & Church School, Decorating of Christmas Tree

11:15 Presbyterian Women Cookie Walk

TBA Christmas Caroling II – Nursing Homes

Saturday, December 18

10:00 – 12:00 Christmas pageant rehearsal

5:00 pm Saturday Service

Fourth Week of Advent

Sunday, December 19 (4^th Sunday of Advent)

9:45 am Worship, Children’s Christmas Pageant

Dedication of Blessing Boxes

Friday, December 24 (Christmas Eve)

4:00 pm Family Service w/ Communion

11:00 pm Service of lessons and carols

Blessing Boxes

This Christmas we're partnering with the LICC Freeport Feeding Center to create "Blessing Boxes." A blessing box is a shoe box (or other similarly sized box) filled with enough toiletries for a family of four along with a personal prayer, note or scripture verse. We're encouraging every household in the church to make at least one complete box, and to invite friends, neighbors, family members, scout troops, work colleagues, etc. to join you.

Bring your blessing box to the church any time between now and December 18. We'll be dedicating the boxes during the service on December 18th.

Here's what should be in your blessing box:
Soap, Shampoo, Deodorant, Toothpaste, Toothbrushes (4) Shaving Cream, Safety Razors & small toys.

You can also add make-up or other cosmetics.

We will also welcome new: underwear, socks, hats & gloves. (Don't put into the box.)

The New Fridge Arrived!

I dropped into church on Tuesday afternoon and found the new fridge delivered, installed and working! The old fridge was gone! Thanks to the folks at PC Richards & Sons, Bill Voelker, Don Neugebauer and the Thrift Shop ladies.

Partnering with our Dollars

Maria Studer, chair of the Partnering Congregations team at the Presbytery of Long Island stopped by on Sunday to receive CPC's donation to the team's work. Partnering Congregations encourages Presbyterians on Long Island to work together to accomplish ministries they couldn't do alone. Examples include multi-congregation youth work, new church development, elder and deacon training, local outreach to the Hispanic community and more.

Cooking Making w/ Little Blessings

Pastor Fritz dropped by the Preschool to do a little pre-fair baking. Check out these pictures.

Church Fair a Success

Finally I've gone through all my pictures from the church fair. View the slide show below. Thanks to everyone who worked so far. Together we earned just over $4,000, a real help to the church as oil prices continue to increase.

Getting Ready for Visitors

On Tuesday night the Session discussed what as a congregation we might do differently if each Sunday we anticipated that visitors would be joining us. After just a brief discussion we came up with the following list:
- We would be on time to church
- We would have someone at the door to welcome people
- We would have a "host" for the service
- We would be sure to introduce each other to guests
- We would "freshen up" the space, children's activity bags, etc.

The Session also decided to make Advent 2010 a time of intentional inviting and welcoming others into our worship and our congregational activities. If we do that, we need to get ready.

What would you do differently if you knew visitors were coming to church? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Stem cells and prayer

Driving to the Farmer's Market Sunday morning had the radio on to a show called "Being" - the successor show to another great show called "Speaking of Faith." "Being" explores the big questions about life, the universe and spirituality.

On Sunday, the host, Krista Tippet, interviewed Dr. Doris Taylor, one of the leading stem cell researchers, most known for using stem cells to rebuild and revive a heart. What she said fascinated me.

Stem cells, she says, are the cells used to regenerate our bodies. We have thousands of them. When we get cut, stem cells are what allow our skin and muscle to rebuild. If we suffer heart, lung or kidney damage, stem cells are what repair that damage. The reason why bone marrow transplants work so well on cancer patients is that bone marrow is full of stem cells, which flood the body and rebuild the damage caused by the cancer.

So here is the amazing thing: Her research shows that stress kills stem cells. It also shows that prayer (both the act of prayer and the act of being prayed for) increases the number of stem cells in the body. So when we pray for somebody we are literally, through divine intervention, increasing the number of stem cells in their body, thus enabling them to get well. Isn't that amazing?

The Quilt is Done!

The quilters have finished the quilt to be raffled off at the fair! Its incredible. To buy a ticket see Roxanne McDonald or Elaine Burns. The drawing will be held on November 6th.

Presbytery Day 2010

September 25th is Presbytery Day, a time of worship, workshops and eating with Presbyterians from all across Long Island. Hosted by Setauket Presbyterian Church, it starts at 9:30 and runs until 3:30. Let Pastor Fritz know if you're interested in attending.

Highlights include:

• Multi-cultural hymn sing
• Taste of Long Island
• Prayer Shawl knitting
• All Presbytery choir
• Evangelism workshop
• Issues discussions on both immigration and the Middle East

See the flier
Where is Setauket