Learning about Love

I made a new friend over the weekend, a PC(USA) Missionary working in northern Africa who for her security will remain nameless. She works in an overwhelmingly Muslim country where, while she can freely worship (her family has been Christian for generations), she cannot freely talk about Jesus Christ outside of the confines of her church.

I learned from my friend that Arabic has many more words for love than English and one of those words, used almost exclusively by Christians, means "Christ like love." A doctor, my friend began to train young, disaffected youth to care for the elderly. The best care, she believes, is Christ-like care, and she began teaching her students to love as Christ loved. She and her staff made it a point to embody compassion, forgiveness, empathy, hope, life, love. They developed a curriculum, using the Bible, Koran and other Arabic writings to teach Christ love.

Not only did the care improve, the lives of the students improved dramatically. They reconciled their marriages. They developed life goals and self esteem. They cared better for their children. They became trustworthy, dependable, committed.

In turn the lives of their clients changed. NOt only were they receiving quality care, but they were receiving Christ love.

We tend to think that the gospel must be spoken to be shared, be articulated to have an affect. We also tend to believe that for the gospel to change a life, a person must articulate their belief in basic creeds or doctrines.

The Apostle Paul reminds us that we can prophesy, do miracles, preach, teach and more, but the greatest and most powerful gift we have is love. My new friend's story underscored this reality. By systematically unleashing on the world hundreds of young men and women, Christian and Muslim, filled with Christ love, she may have done more for the cause of our Savior than the millennia of sermons preached in the churches of her home town.

Sunday's Sermon - Welcome to the Kingdom

On Sunday, Pastor Fritz launched a new sermon series: God's Dream for our Lives, God's Dream for our World focusing on the Kingdom of God as illustrated in Jesus' parables.

About the Kingdom of God, Pastor Fritz says this:

For the last two years I have been studying the concept of the Kingdom of God as it is used by Jesus. In the process I have become convinced that if we really want to understand the heart of our faith, if we really want to have a faith that shapes us and shapes our world, we must understand Jesus teaching on the kingdom of God. And one way to do that is to study Jesus’ parables.

Read the Sermon

Fall Fair 2009

CPC's fall fair is coming up fast on October 17th. Fair organizer Jean Bishop has a bunch of stuff planned to help us get ready. Here's what is coming up.

Crafts Workshops – spend an evening working on crafts to see at the fair. The dates are:
Wednesday – September 30 from 7:30 to 9:00
Thursday – October 8 from 7:30 to 9:00

Apple Picking – We are going to pick apples to sell at the fair. Make it a family outing on Saturday, October 10 – meet at the church at 8:30 am. We will be back by noon.

Baking with Pastor Fritz – on Friday, October 16. Learn how to bake bread, scones, and apple turnovers. If you have a favorite recipe, bring it, and we’ll make that too! Meet at the church at 9:00 am.

Set up for the Fair – Saturday, October 17 at 8:00 am. We will set up as much as we can outside – vegetables, pumpkins, plants, apples, plus craft tables.

Sell vegetables, baked goods, and craft items.

Set up for the Fair Dinner – Saturday at 4:00 pm – set tables

Cook for the dinner – see Janet Neugebauer or Willa Ramsey

Serve the dinner – see June Englese

Clean up for the dinner - see Janet Neugebauer or Willa Ramsey

2009 Crop Walk, October 4th

Mark your calendar for 1PM Sunday October 4th. This is the date of the 2009 Western Nassau CROPWALK being held again in Baldwin Park. I've lost track, but I believe this is the 18th or 19th year we'll be taking part.

This is our Community Responding to Overcome Poverty. Hungry people in developing countries typically walk as much as six miles a day to get food, water, and fuel, and to take their goods to market. We walk to be in solidarity with their struggle for existence. We walk because they walk. 25% of the money we raise will go to support the Freeport food center run by the Long Island Council of Churches with the rest helping to fight hunger and poverty around the world including the United States.

Lorne Birch will be available Sunday to sign up walkers with their pledges and to give out sponsor sheets. The sheets are a way to get folks at work, at school, and in your family to support your effort on October 4th.

If you are unable to walk, think about a pledge sponsoring the group from church who will be walking. Hope the weather is great and see you on the 4th.
Don Neugebauer

Sunday's Sermon - Homosexuality and the Church

Last Sunday we closed out our all request summer sermon series with a request to look at Romans 1, a complex passage that, among other things, condemns homosexuality as sinful. I've been struggling with this topic for years and attempted to condense some of my thinking (and my struggle) into the sermon. We will revisit this topic in a couple of weeks as we embark on another year of Pastor's Coffee House, which will begin with a study of Paul's letter to the Romans.

Read the sermon
Read other sermons in the All Request Summer Sermon Series

The many brief discussions I had on the way out the door suggest that we all live in this tension between discipline and grace. Is being a Christian primarily living a strict, disciplined life, following the rules and expecting others to do the same? Or is being a Christian primarily being gracious and inclusive toward others regardless of background and behavior? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Sunday's Sermon - The Prodigal Son

All summer we've been working down a list of congregational sermon requests. Last week's request was to revisit the Parable of the Prodigal Son.


Read the sermon
Read past sermons from this summer
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PC(USA) and Health Care

As the debate around health care gets less and less civil it may be time to step back a bit and think about how our commitments as followers of Jesus Christ informs our thinking regarding this current health care reform debate. To help inform our thinking, I've posted a few links to what our church, the Presbyterian Church (USA), has said about health care. I've also included the full text of a resolution passed by the 2008 General Assembly of the PC(USA).

As Presbyterians we believe that the discernment of God's will comes through discussion and that there is plenty of room for debate. The following are only offered as guidance, not as a doctrinal dictation. Leave your thoughts in the comments. (Please stick to substantive reflections and refrain from name calling, etc. I will delete any comments not in the spirit of Christian dialogue and respect.)

• August 2009 Letter on Health Care by Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons
• Christian Principles for Health Care Reform as outlined by the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program
• Resolution from the 2008 General Assembly supporting a publicly financed, privately provided single payer health care system
• PC(USA) Washington Office - Information on current legislation.

Expanded text of the 2008 General Assembly resolution from the August 2009 letter by Gradye Parsons.

Jesus Christ, who has reconciled us to God, healed all kinds of sickness (Mt. 4:23, par) as a sign of God’s rule. Isaiah speaks God’s word to say “No more shall there be… an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime” (Isa. 65:20a). We, as Reformed Christians, bear witness to Jesus Christ in word, but also in deed. As followers of our Great Physician Jesus, we have a moral imperative to work to assure that everyone has full access to health care.

Our nation is in a crisis in health care, which presents an unprecedented opportunity for our nation to provide health care affordable for all. In this country there is a baby born every fifty-one seconds to a family with no health insurance. In this, the wealthiest nation in the world, our infant mortality rate is second highest in the industrialized world. Forty-seven million Americans are uninsured (50 percent employed; 25 percent children; 20 percent out of labor force as students, disabled, et al.; 5 percent unemployed). The U.S. spends nearly twice as much per capita than any other country on health care, but we rank poorly in the thirty-seven categories of health status measured by the World Health Organization. The rise in childhood obesity, asthma, diabetes, and other chronic diseases indicates that the overall health status of people of this country is declining.

We are warned by the prophets not to heal the wounds of God’s people lightly; yet in 2006 the aggregate profits of the health insurance companies in the United States were $68 billion. During that same year more than 15,000 families were forced into bankruptcy because of medical expenses. Our business employers operate at a competitive disadvantage internationally because health care costs are assumed by the governments of other industrialized nations. The General Assemblies of the PC(USA) and its predecessors since 1971 have called for reform of health delivery systems in the United States to make them accessible to the entire population. Our federal government already operates efficiently and with low overhead the health delivery programs of Medicare and Medicaid; and yet at the same time insurance companies spend nearly one-third of every premium dollar on marketing and other administrative costs and in fact, several such companies spend less than 60 percent of premium dollars they receive on health care services.

The American College of Physicians, the nation’s second largest physician group, has endorsed a single-payer healthcare system. Only a single-payer system of national health care coverage (privately provided; publicly financed; not socialized medicine) can save what is estimated to be $350 billion wasted annually on medical bureaucracy and redirect those funds to expanded coverage.

Sunday's Sermon - A Gospel Who's Who

All summer we've been working down a list of congregational sermon requests. Last week's request was for a quick review of who the scribes, pharisees, Sadducees and other opponents of Jesus were.


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Read past sermons from this summer
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Sunday's Sermon - Celebrating the End

All summer we've been working down a list of congregational sermon requests. Last week's request was one of those things that all preachers should talk about but never do - how to approach the end of life as faithfully as we seek to live our lives.

Last week's request: Celebrating the End: funerals, cremation, body burial & other end of life concerns

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Read past sermons from this summer
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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

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Read past sermons from this summer
View the schedule

Sunday's Sermon - Pursuing a Dream

Last week's request: Pursuing a Dream

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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?

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Read past sermons from this summer
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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.