Food Drive a Huge Success

Many thanks to everyone who contributed to our annual community-wide food drive.  Thanks also to the many church folks who put out fliers, picked up food from their neighbors and volunteered to run the collection station and sell clothes for our clothing sale.

Its Food Drive Time

On June 2 CPC kicked off its annual Community Wide Food Drive and we'll be collecting on Saturday, June 8th.  If you got a notice on your door, just leave a bag of food on your steps and we'll pick it up.  If you didn't, bring food by the church between 9 and 3 on Saturday.  All donated food will go to the Long Island Council of Churches Feeding Center in Freeport.  Every month as many as 1,300 families depend on the Freeport Feeding Center to keep healthy food on their table.

Here's an example: One familiy - a husband and wife and three kids.  The parents are in their early 40's.  The kids range in age from eight to twelve.  The wife lost her job.  The husband is a school janitor and receives no pay over the summer.  The family is not eligible for food stamps because their annual income is just over the $35,000 threshold.  Even if they were, they would receive less than $800/month - not nearly enough to feed their entire household. 

All types of non-perishable food are welcome.  Especially welcome are basics such as pasta, sauce, rice, beans, tuna, peanut butter, etc.  Low sodium food are also helpful, as are foods appropriate for Hispanic or Caribbean diets.

Community Presbyterian will also accept money to give to the food pantry or you can give directly at www.liccdonate.org.

Your Minute of Cuteness

Every year Little Blessings Preschool raises caterpillars and watches them become butterflies.  Here the kids are releasing a reluctant new friend.

Holy Week Schedule

Here's the schedule for Holy Week 2013

Palm Sunday - March 24
8:30 am - Breakfast
9:40 am - Parade of Palms
9:45 am - Worship with special music by the Little Blessings Singers

Bowery Mission Trip - March 27
Spend the day at The Bowery Mission, helping make lunch, lead worship and do whatever else needs to be done.  Contact the church office to register.

Maundy Thursday - March 28 @ 4:00
Foot washing & communion

Good Friday - March 29 @ 7:30
A Tennebrae reading of the passion

Easter - March 31
6:30 am - Sunrise Service @ Jones Beach #6
9:45 am - Resurrection Celebration with special music by the CPC Sunday School, Adult Choir and others.

Hurricane Sandy Workday

On Saturday, March 2, CPC members joined with the Presbytery of Long Island for a work day helping homeowners in East Rockaway and Freeport.  By the end of the morning we were tired, dirty and had helped two of our neighbors get one step closer to recovery.

10,360 Food Items!

This year's Souper Bowl Food Drive yielded over 10,000 food items collected by 10 churches.  CPC did their fair share by collecting almost 2,000 food items, making us this year's winner.  Check out the score card below along with a picture of our crew delivering the food to the Long Island Council of Churches Food Pantry in Freeport.

Tuesday Night Lenten Series - The Practices That Transform Us

Here are the details for this year's Tuesday Night Lenten Series

Topic: The Practices That Transform Us
Book: Spiritual Disciplines Handbook by Adele Ahlberg Calhoun
Schedule: 6:45 - 8:30; includes simple supper

Dates, locations and themes

February 19 - Malverne - The Practice of Worship
February 26 - Freeport - The Practice of Opening One's Self To God
March 5 - Massapequa - The Practice of Avoiding False Gods
March 12 - Baldwin - The Practice of Sharing One's Life
March 19 - Garden City - The Practice of Making Present the Love of Christ

Spiritual Practice 1 - Breath Prayer

During Lent 2013 we're going to be focusing on simple spiritual practices that have the potential to transform our lives and our relationship with God.  Each week we'll be introducing a simple spiritual practice in worship and posting it to the blog.

Breath Prayer
Prayer is the most basic of spiritual practices and breath prayer is one of the oldest tools for prayer.  Breath prayers can be powerful centering devices as well as a way to feel the calming reassurance of God in difficult and stressful situations.

The prayer is very simple.  Slow down your breathing.  As you breathe in, say to yourself a name of God.  As you breathe out, say to your self a need or request you want God to address.  The graphic below has some ancient breath prayers, but you are free to identify your own names for God and add your own requests.

Its Souper Bowl Time!

Once again CPC has accepted the challenge from Middle Island Presbyterian Church as to who can collect the most canned goods for the Long Island Council of Churches Food Pantry during the month of February.  This year seven other churches joined us.  Already the combined churches have collected almost 5,000 food items, and the month isn't over.

Below is a chart as to how CPC is doing.  We won last year, but we're currently in fifth place!  Invite your neighbors, your friends, your family, even colleagues at work, to join in helping Long Island's hungry families.

Christmas Pageant 2012

We had a wonderful Christmas pageant this year complete with several firsts including inclusion of children from the Little Blessings Christian Preschool and the inclusion of adults in most of the major roles.  Check out the slide show below.

Christmas Gifts for the Bowery Mission Women's Center

The Presbyterian Women's Circle of Community Presbyterian Church is encouraging everyone to buy Christmas presents for the women of the Bowery Mission Women's Center this year.  The list is below. Gifts should be in church by Sunday, December 17.

List of Gift Ideas

Watches

Journals

Rain Boots

Pajamas, robes

Slippers

Gloves & scarves

Carrier book bags

Purses, wallets

Toiletry items

Lotions/Body Washes

Make-up

Jewelry

Picture frames

Pocket calendars

Appointment books

New Living Translation hardcover Bibles

Devotional books

Gift Cards (Walgreens, Payless, JC Penny, Starbucks, etc.)

Water bottles

Travel mugs

Sweaters & sweatshirts

Socks/pantyhose

Stationary & stamps

Resume/document folios

Pen & pencil sets

Personal CD players w/ Earphones

Rain boots

General Items needed for the Women’s Center

Loose leaf notebook paper

1” Three ring binders

Spiral notebooks

Towels & washcloths

Pillows

Winter White Corelle dishes and mugs

25 green placemats

Instructions

·       Any and all sizes are welcome.  Items that do not fit the women currently in the house will be saved for women who might come later in the year.

·       Do not wrap.

·       Items should be placed in the sanctuary, under the Christmas tree.

·       All items must be to the church by worship on Sunday morning, December 16

Advent/Christmas at CPC

Here is what's going on this Advent/Christmas season at Community Presbyterian.

Morning worship with lighting of the Advent Candle - Every Sunday in December, 9:45 am

Lighting of Malverne - Saturday, December 1, 5-9 pm
Community Presbyterian will be serving free hot cider, cookies and apples from our table on Hempstead Avenue.

Advent Kick-off Pot luck & Craft Night - Sunday, December 2, 5:30 pm
Pot luck dinner, crafts, worship and music with our sister congregations from Nassau Joint Ministry.

Christmas Caroling - Date & Time TBD
A simple supper followed by going house to house brining Christmas joy to our neighbors.  Then we return to the church for a quiet evening of conversation, cookies and crafts for the kids.

Christmas Pageant - Sunday, December 23, 9:45 am
We'll be starting a new tradition this year under the direction of Kimberly Birch & Bonnie Piotrowski.  The pageant is open to everyone regardless of age.

Christmas Eve Services - Monday, December 24, 4:00 pm and 11:00 pm
The 4:00 family service is a relaxed, child oriented celebration of Christmas, with communion.  The service lasts about a hour and fifteen minutes.  The 11:00 service follows a low key lessons and carols format, and finishes around 12:05 on Christmas Day.

Mission Opportunities
The Presbyterian Women this year are leading us in mission for the Christmas season.

• Bakeless Bake Sale - a fundraiser for the Presbyterian Women.  Take whatever you would normally spend on the annual Presbyterian Women cookie walk and just give that to the women.
• Christmas Presents for the Bowery Mission Women's Center - The Bowery Mission gives homeless and hurting women a chance to rebuild their lives.  The Presbyterian Women make sure these women have a wonderful Christmas.  List of presents needed.

Food Drive 2012!

This year’s food drive week is June 10-16. On Sunday the 10th, leaflets will be distributed at church and we will divvy up the neighborhood. We have 2000 door hangers and we mean to hang each and every one of them! Then, on the 16th, we will collect the food from our neighbors and bring it to the church’s front yard. Be sure to sign up for a shift in front of the church on Saturday from 10-3! Don't live near Malverne? Join us by making a donation to your local food pantry or soup kitchen.

Long Island suffers from hunger along with the rest of the nation. In one survey done by Feeding America, it was found that of Long Island households utilizing food pantries:

-         47% had to choose between paying for food and paying for utilities

-         49% had to choose between food and rent or mortgage

-         36% had to choose between food and medicine or medical care

-         44% had to choose between food and transportation

-         34% had to choose between food and gasoline

-         39% are under the age of 18

-         4% are elderly

-         30% include someone with poor health

-         6% of “households” are homeless

Unfortunately, donations to food pantries usually drop off during the summer and schools no longer offer free or reduced cost lunch to students. Families suffer during this season which is why we hold our annual food drive in June. What can you do to help? Bring some of the items below to the church on Saturday, June 16 between 10 and 3. We’ll be donating the food to the Long Island Council of Churches’ Food Pantry.

Here is what the Food Pantry needs most to meet this increased need:

• Canned vegetables (low salt)
• Soup (low salt/low fat)
• Canned fruit, 100% Fruit Juice (not fruit drink)
• Pasta, rice, canned beans
• Complete pancake mix
• Oatmeal, grits, dry cereal (non/low sugar)
• Canned tuna, chicken, salmon (in water)
• Canned stew
• Nuts (low salt), peanut butter, jelly
• Dry milk, Parmalat
• Shampoo, soap, toiletries
• Clean, gently-used clothing
• Diapers (all sizes), Enfamil formula, baby cereal, baby wipes and powder

For more info:

Visit http://www.ncccusa.org/ecmin/licc/

2012 Confirmation Class

Since November kids from Malverne have joined youth from the Presbyterian Churches in Baldwin and Massapequa for confirmation class.  We finished up last Tuesday night with a special closing service at the Malverne church.  Check out the picture.

Planting Onions

On Sunday we joined with our partner congregations and spent a few hours at Crossroads Farm at Grossmans, a CSA here in Malverne. We got a tour, planted onions and then got to pull carrots to take home. Check out the picts.

Holy Week Schedule

The following is the schedule for Holy Week at CPC

Maundy Thursday - 4:00 pm
A contemplative service featuring foot washing and communion

Good Friday - 7:30 pm
A reading of the Passion Narrative from John's Gospel combined with a Tenebrae (dying of the light) service.

Day of Gladness - Saturday, April 7
A special day where the entire congregation is being challenged to intentionally make the gladness of Christ's resurrection known in ways large and small.

EASTER
Sunrise Service - 6:30 am at Jones Beach #6
This is the annual Nassau County Sunrise Service sponsored by the Long Island Council of Churches. Adrian Pratt, the Pastor of Baldwin Presbyterian Church is preaching this year.

Resurrection Celebration - 9:45 am
We bring the Alleluia back into the sanctuary and raise it to the rafters. Includes the telling of the Easter Story in ways appropriate for children and adults alike. We'll also be reporting on our Day of Gladness activities.

Easter Egg Hunt - 11:15

Palm Sunday 2012

We had a great Palm Sunday service, filled with processions, singing and communion. Many thank you to our worship leaders, the choir and Pam Jusino for helping develop the liturgy and the movement. Also thanks to Karen Record for shooting this video.

Untitled from Fritz Nelson on Vimeo.

We Did It! CPC Wins Souper Bowl Collection

Thanks to Rob's abundant efforts, CPC more than survived a last minute surge by Middle Island and won the SouperBowl 2012 food collection competition. We'll receive the trophy on April 12th at the Presbytery Meeting in Roosevelt.

Here's the final standings.


Here are some pictures from Shirley Yang as they delivered all the food to the Long Island Council of Churches Food Pantry in Freeport.

2012 Lenten Study - God's Abundant Table

Nassau Joint Ministries presents God's Abundant Table, a Lenten journey of food, community and worship across five stand-alone sessions. Topics include God's abundance, hospitality, the link between justice and food, spiritual food and giving thanks. Sessions begin with a simple dinner at 6:45 followed by a study and then closing with worship.

Dates & Locations:
February 28 - Massapequa
Presbyterian Community Church
150 Pittsburgh Street

March 6 - Garden City
The Presbyterian Church
91 Chester Avenue

March 13 - Malverne
Community Presbyterian Church
12 Nottingham Road

March 20 - Freeport
First Presbyterian Church
178 South Ocean Avenue

March 27 - Baldwin
First Presbyterian Church
717 Saint Luke's Place

Today's Souper Bowl Shopping Hint

Thanks to Don Neugebauer for catching the great deals on canned goods at Target. Campbells Condensed Soup four packs are $2.25 each. Goya tomato sauce is $.47 each. I was able to get 42 food items - soup, rice, beans and tomato sauce - for $25.