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.