CPC December A monthly publication for the members and friends of Christ Presbyterian Church

Transcription

1 CPC December A monthly publication for the members and friends of Christ Presbyterian Church

2 2 Deadline: Chimes is published the last week of each month. Articles are due by the 20th of December to: If you have no internet access, use Karen Perko s mailbox in Fellowship Hall.

3 In This Issue: 4. Fearless -Randy Working 6. Children s Ministries 7. Youth Ministries Regular Worship Times Traditional: 9:30 am Contemporary: 11:00 am Contact Information Christ Presbyterian Church Chillicothe Rd. Chesterland, OH Deacon s Minutes 9. AMY RAU -cpc librarian 10. December at a glance More dates to remember 13. In Our Prayers 14. Stewardship (440) Website 3

4 Dear friends, I mentioned in our last newsletter that I m doing a mini-series of sermons called Fearless. The inspiration for this series comes from the Bible from the new book by Max Lucado called Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear. We live in fearful and anxious days, and those feelings contrast with the promise of Christmas. Sometimes the distance between what is and what we think should be makes the season difficult. One lesson I ve learned about fear is how to put the storms of life into perspective. That s a lesson I want to hold onto as we move into the cold and stormy time of year. We see this in the story of Jesus calming the storm that s told in the gospels. He sleeps in the boat while a terrific tempest kicks up and the disciples struggle to maintain the boat. They wake him, screaming in fear, and shout Don t you care that we re dying? Jesus speaks a word of authority, and the storm recedes. 4

5 Maybe this is a stormy time in your life, as it is for many in our economy and political climate. Storms will come for all of us. What makes the difference is having Jesus with us in the boat. I believe at least a couple good things come out of troubling and painful times. One is that our faith is tested and grows. Untested faith is weak faith. To realize our need for God and his wonderful provision, we need to go through the tough times. That doesn t mean we have to like them! But the Lord sympathizes with us in these times, and he makes us stronger through them. Second, the storms have a way of moving us to where God wants us to be. When the wind rises, we start to make progress toward the goal God sets before us. So faith that is strongest and most purposeful is faith that has been tested. Jesus came into the world to be with us in our point of need and not only us, but the whole world. May you know his faithfulness this season. 5 With love for you in Christ, Pastor Randy

6 CPC Advent Pageant What Does God Want for Christmas? We will get closer to revealing the answer each Sunday during the 9:30am Children s Moments. The final reveal will take place at the 5:00pm Christmas Eve Service where each child can participate in a role. In addition, please join us: Sunday, December 19, :30am -Combined Service 11:30am -Pizza & Salad lunch 6

7 FOR LASERSPORTS in Bedford Hts. GOD SO LOVED Bring a friend January 1:00pm $15 per person for 4 games. RSVP Andrea by Jan 2 Youth Ministries Christmas Card THE WORLD It s that time of year again! The youth will be collecting and hand delivering your Christmas cards after the church services during December. Christmas cards can be dropped off during church hours Monday through Thursday and on Sunday mornings through December 19. Please put full return and delivery addresses on cards. Cost is $0.40 per card due at drop off. Checks can be made out to Christ Presbyterian Church with YM Post Office in the memo. Thank you for this opportunity to serve our CPC family. 7

8 DEACON S MINUTES We opened our meeting with all Deacons present. Pastor spoke about the unfortunate decision Session anguished over regarding the cut of personnel due to our financial problems at CPC. We keep all involved in our prayers. These cuts will begin Jan 1 st. Pastor spoke to us from the Book of Hebrews, Chapter 13, keep Jesus at our center. Secretary and treasurer reports were distributed, read and approved. We received two Thank you letters, one from the Geauga Sheriff s office. We now have 29 college students in our church. Dinners and or soup were provided for three families in our congregation. Our outreach committee has many projects planned for the Christmas season and we will be receiving info on a family to help from the Department of Job and Family Services. We will again help WomenSafe and our congregation will be asked to help with Prison Ministries and the Geauga Dog Warden s department. Gift cards or cash were sent to three needy persons or causes this month. We wish speedy recoveries to all of our church family and friends. A very blessed Thanksgiving, and a safe one to all of you and your loved ones! Barb Albrecht, Secretary of Deacons 8 Here and Now...There and Then by: Beth Moore Is a lecture series on the book of Revelation. Beth presents many points of view, allowing women to decide for themselves when the interpretation varies among scholars. She teaches that God is as specific about what He does reveal as He is about what He does not reveal. Held here at CPC: 10:15am & 6:45pm

9 Deacon s Outreach Geauga County Dog Warden The Geauga County Dog Warden continues to run short of food for the 700+ dogs that come through their facility each year. The needs are: Canned or dry dog food, Dog treats, rawhides, flea prevention medicine, Dawn de tergent, baby shampoo and even half used dog medications that your pet no longer needs. A box will be placed in Fellowship Hall for your donations. Geauga County Prison Ministry - 60 new softbound religious books will be purchased for the prison inmates as a part of the Prison Christmas Ministry. Outreach Family We will be sponsoring a Mom and her two children from Geauga County during the Christmas holidays. The daughter is 11 and the son is 14. A wreath made up of helping hands will be located in Fellowship Hall. Each hand will list the gifts requested. Once you purchase the gift, we are asking that you wrap it in Christmas paper and return it to Fellowship Hall by December 19 th. Attach the hand to the outside of the gift. Deacons will then put nametags on each gift. WomenSafe Gift Tree Once again, a Christmas tree with ornaments will adorn our Fellowship Hall. Each ornament will contain a gift suggestion for the women and children of WomenSafe. We ask that you take an ornament from the tree and purchase the gifts requested. Return the gifts unwrapped and place them under the tree. The tree is scheduled to be setup by the Thanksgiving weekend. If you have any questions, contact Shannon Monsman ( ) or Marsha Zimmerman ( ) or any of the Deacons. Thank you in advance for your faithful support. AMY RAU CPC LIBRARIAN Amy, a Pittsburgh native, lives in Chesterland. You probably know her as one of the beautiful voices that grace our church choir, but outside of CPC, she s a very active woman. She works at Lincoln Electric in Euclid, and has many interests that keep her busy. She plays volleyball, softball, and golf. She likes playing pool, sailing and, of course, singing in the choir!.whew! Try and keep up with that! She s looking forward picking up where Marianne Richards left off. And we re thrilled to have her. Thank you Amy! 9 I have no librarian experience so I'll depend on Marianne's experienced advice, but I love books and am looking forward to spending time caring for our collection. -Amy Rau

10 REGULAR WEEKLY EVENTS IN DECEMBER Youth Group...Sundays 6:30pm Staff...Mondays 10:30am Men s Discussion Group...Mondays 7:30pm Modern Worship 6:30pm & 9:00am. Women s Prayer 9:00am Men s Fellowship Group Wednesdays Arabica in Chesterland Saturdays CPC Women s Bible 6:45pm Choir 6:00-7:00pm. WEEK 1 Wednesday, December 1: -Worship Committee Meeting Saturday, December 4: -Tres Dias Reunion WEEK 2 Monday, December 6: -Children s Ministries 9:30am -Staff 11:00am -Deacons 7:00pm 10

11 WEEK 3 Sunday, December 12: -Youth Committee Meeting 10:45am -Journey to Bethlehem with COPS & NCIS. *Meet at CPC 1:30pm Wednesday, December 15: Chapel Circle Christmas Luncheon At Bass Lake -in Chardon 12:00pm Response is needed by December 12th WEEK 4 Sunday, December 19: -Evening Communion Service 7:00pm WEEK 5 Friday, December 31: -New Year s Eve Tuesday, December 21: -Session 6:30pm Friday, December 24, Christmas Eve: -Family Service 5:00pm -Modern Service 9:00pm Saturday, December 25: -Christmas Day! 11 February 12th Fellowship Event

12 We warmly invite you to join our church family and hope you will let us know how we can support you. Office: christmas EVE Services 12 &

13 In our prayers, Larry Van Santen, Bill Mann, Chuck Smith, Irene & Hal Clyde, Glenn & Ethel Rex, Connie Wilkerson and Janet McIntee For Prayer requests, call Dee or HappyD304@msn.com Thank you for your calls & cards during my recent hospital stay for knee surgery. They were most appreciated. -Bill Mann Thank You to everyone for the cards and wonderful support sent to me during my time in the hospital. 13 God Bless! Larry Van Santen

14 The last day for submitting your 2010 CONTRI- BUTIONS to Christ Presbyterian Church will be Friday, December 31, All checks MUST be dated by December 31, 2010 to be accepted in the 2010 Statements of Giving. Please try to have your contributions completed and turned in by Sunday December 26 th if possible. Next year s PLEDGE Envelopes should be available to be picked up on Sunday, December 12, 2010 BUT please DO NOT start using them until 2011 since some envelope numbers may be changing from the ones you are currently using. If you do not see a box of envelopes with your name on it on the table with everyone else s and wish to use PLEDGE envelopes in 2011 please contact me or leave a note in the FINANCIAL SECRETARY box in the Fellowship Hall or call me at If you have not been using PLEDGE envelopes and would rather not be bothered trying to remember where you last put them before Sunday s service, do not worry. As long as you use a PEW envelope (with your name on it) or a check, you will receive a year end statement of CONTRIBUTION CONTRIBUTION statements should be ready to be passed out by Sunday January 2, 2011 and /or January 9, NOTE: The INITIAL OFFERING ENVELOPE is used to offset the cost of the PLEDGE ENVE- LOPES only. Each box of PLEDGE ENVELOPES (including Youth) costs less than $5.00 (as a reference $). The PER CAPITA is basically a membership fee for being part of the Presbyterian Church of the Western Reserve Synod and changes yearly; around $21.50 Merry Christmas to All, Rusty Wenger (CPC Financial Secretary) Thank You to Everyone who graciously donated shoeboxes to the Samaritan's Purse. We sent 35 boxes this year! That s about 10 more boxes than last year. Imagine what we can do next Christmas! 14

15 Deadline: Chimes is published the last week of each month. Articles are due by the 20th of December to: If you have no internet access, use Karen Perko s mailbox in Fellowship Hall. CPC Financial Update 2010 Operating Budget Month Actual Income Actual Expenses (Income Expenses) Jan-Sept $206, $225, $19, Oct. 22, , , $229, $246, $17, Reserve as of Jan 1 $ 12, Operating Fund Balance -$ Most Unusual Sheila McKenzie White Chili People's Choice Award Sandy Stumpf Judge's Choice Award Rob Russell Judges: Chesterland Fire Chief, John Wargelin; Mike Callam from Callam's Grille & Pub; and Jim Patterson from Patterson Fruit Farms Thanks to Bremec Greenhouses for the donation of beautiful mums which each entrant received. 15

16 Christ Presbyterian Church Chillicothe Rd. Chesterland, Ohio