Volume 43, Number 11 - November Collegiate Presbyterian Church & The Vine Student Center l Ames, Iowa

Transcription

1 Volume 43, Number 11 - November 2018 Westgater the Collegiate Presbyterian Church & The Vine Student Center l Ames, Iowa Happy Thanksgiving Calling All Shoppers!! CPC Rummage Sale Extraordinaire!! Bargains galore! Fashions to die for! Fine collectibles! Boutique accessories and trinkets! Intriguing gadgets and junque! And more infant and children s clothing, housewares and small appliances, yard goods and linens, books, music, and artwork, jigsaw puzzles and toys, ready-to-wear clothing for all ages and sizes, holiday décor for every room of your house! Doors open promptly at 5:00 pm on Thursday, November 1. Shop then until 8:00 pm or on Friday, November 2, from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm. Return on Saturday, November 3, from 8:00 am to 12:00 noon for half-price day and other deals! Be sure to join us for the November sale. Once our doors close on November 3, they will remain closed. After 71+ years of organizing one of the best and most enjoyable recycling projects in Ames, the Rummage Committee of CPC s Presbyterian Women association will be hanging it up. It has been a wonderful run, and the Rummage Committee is grateful for the tremendous support and participation we have had from the CPC congregation, the Ames community, and beyond. Help us make this final sale one more resounding success Shop CPC!

2 Poinsettias will grace our building for the Christmas season! Our custom is to take these plants to folks in our congregation who are not able to get to the church very often or who have experienced the death of a loved one in the last year. See upcoming bulletins for details. November Sermon Series Influential Women of the Bible Advent is coming! And we are excited to announce that we will be exploring Advent through church-wide materials designed to draw us nearer to God and each other. With the theme of Draw Near, we will name our individual and collective longing for God s closeness and for a world made new. Look for information on the many ways you can participate in this formative season as it draws near! Advent 1 Draw Near to Wonder (Luke 21:25-36) Advent 2 Draw Near to Truth (Luke 3:1-6; Luke 1:67-79; Philippians 1:3-11) Advent 3 Draw Near to Justice (Luke 3:7-18; Zephaniah 3:14-20) Advent 4 Draw Near to One Another (Luke 1:39-45, 46-55; Psalm 80:1-7) Sunday, November 4 - Lydia Sunday, November 11 - Esther Sunday, November 18 - Hannah Sunday, November 25 - Priscilla

3 RUMMAGE THANK YOU SOCIAL If you helped in the following ways for the Fall Rummage Sale: Monday set-up Set up display of merchandise on Thursday Morning Helped staff the sale any of the three days Helped clean-up after the sale ended on Saturday We would like to invite you to come and help us THANK OUR RUMMAGE CHAIRS!!! DATE November 14, 2018 TIME 9:00 A.M. 10:30 A.M. WHERE Sarah Barlow Lounge at CPC Additional Instructions: You are to wear or bring an item you purchased at any of the sales. RSVP: Jean Hassebrock by November 11, 2018 Hanging of the Greens Sunday, November 25 10:15am to 2:00pm *Join us in the Westgate Lower Level to begin decorating for Advent and Christmas. *A simple lunch will be served at 12:00pm in the Social Hall *You are invited and encouraged to dress down for this Sunday NOVEMBER A D U L T S P I R I T U A L F O R M A T I O N C L A S S E S Sunday, Nov. 4 & 11 - Helser Chapel George McJimsey will be teaching a two-session course on Religion and the Constitution. The first session will discuss the origins of religious freedom and early controversies surrounding it. The second will discuss Supreme Court rulings on state and local laws that touched upon matters of religious faith and expression. The object will be to heighten our awareness of the heritage of church and state relations. Sunday, Nov. 18 & 25 - No Spiritual Formation Classes Happy Thanksgiving Produce Table Wrap-up CPC s produce table has finished another season and, thanks to your generous support, we collected offerings totaling $ which will be donated to Camp Courageous. Camp Courageous, located near Monticello, Iowa, offers year-round camp and respite care opportunities to youth and adults with disabilities. This is the first time that produce table offerings have gone beyond Story County, which is an indication of how strongly we value what Camp Courageous provides for Iowa families. Nancy and I have seen first-hand what a blessing the Camp s services can be. Our grandson, Elliot, has special needs requiring 24/7 oneon-one care and providing that care week after week is a tremendous strain on our son, a single father. Elliot spends a week every summer at Camp Courageous, where he receives excellent care and comes home with a smile. Meanwhile, our son has a week in which he is able to get a haircut, interact with other adults, and enjoy uninterrupted sleep - things most of us take for granted. Providing a week of one-on-one care is not inexpensive. Our hope is that the proceeds from the produce table can help make such care available to a family which could not otherwise afford it. Produce table money will not be used to send our grandson to camp, but it is through Elliot s camp experiences that we learned of the priceless gift of respite that Camp Courageous offers to caregivers. We owe a debt of gratitude to Zack Koopman for hosting the table when Nancy and I were away, to the Readheads for the beautiful gourds and finding a home for the leftover vegetables. But most of all we thank CPC members for their faithful support.

4 Shared Blessings Christmas Bags In late November, the Club CPC children will be packing Christmas bags for children ages These bags will be going to the Shared Blessings program at Northminster Presbyterian Church. This ministry provides free hygiene/paper good items to families in need. The 60 bags we packed last year were all given out at their first distribution in December. Because their need is so great, we would like to be able to pack 120 bags this year at a cost of approximately $10 per bag. These bags will include personal hygiene products, books, hats and mittens, coloring items and a small toy. We have been asked to make each bag as similar as possible so we will be shopping for the items. If you would like to make a monetary contribution to help us purchase the items included in our bags, please make a check out to CPC with Club CPC Christmas bags in the memo line. Deadline for donating is Sunday, November 18th. Spring 2019 Volunteer Help Needed It is definitely not too early to think about our Wednesday night needs for our Spring 2019 semester. Please check out our links to be part of a cooking or cleaning team on Wednesday nights or the link to provide desserts. This ministry supports our university students who participate in the Vine as well as our children and youth. Please consider how you can support these vital ministries of CPC! Club CPC Desserts: tiny.cc/cpcdessertsspring2019 Club CPC Cooking/Cleaning: tiny.cc/cookcleanspring2019 SAVE THE DATE for VBS 2019 While it might seem early to be planning, Vacation Bible School is too important to wait! Please mark your calendars for June 24-28, 2019, from 9 am to noon for CPC s To Mars and Beyond VBS. Children ages 3 (and potty trained) through those finishing 5th grade are invited to join us as we explore where God s power can take us. Along the way, they ll learn how God walked with heroes of the Bible, and that God is always with them, too. Children will discover how they can go beyond with faith, boldness, kindness, thankfulness and hope. Relevant music, exciting science, creative crafts, fun recreation, and memorable Bible stories will help kids discover the wonders of God s universe! This fun filled week takes many, many, MANY hands. Middle and high school youth as well as adults are welcome to join us in our fun adventure. Questions or want to volunteer? Talk to Betsy (betsy.thompson@cpcames.org) or

5 Below is the poem based on John 11 which was read during our All Saints' Celebration service. It is one of three poems written from Mary's perspective by writer, Andrea Skevington. To read more, visit her blog at andreaskevingon.com. Mary, sister of Lazarus, at your feet a second time She sits in the shuttered room, the room where her brother had laid, dying, dead, the messengers sent out returning empty, with no reply, like prayers that bounce off ceilings or stick to the roof of the mouth, choking with sorrow. When you stay by the Jordan that shuttered room is where Mary stays. This is her shadowed valley, the dark forest of her path, foreshadowing yours, it is all foreshadowing you. The room where her brother had laid, how can she ever leave it now? But leave she did, at last, when you called for her, she came quickly, running, trailing darkness behind her weeping. Mary, once more at your feet, and when you saw her weeping, you wept too. You know us in our grief. You come to us, call to us. In our darkest, most shuttered places, your spirit moves, breaks with ours. Death lay heavy upon you, too, and all the sooner for this, what you do now, standing before that tomb. For now, you who are Life, Word made warm and beating flesh, and weeping, call Lazarus out, You, who are life, and will rise, call out one who is dead from the cold tomb. You watch as they run to free him from the graveclothes, pull darkness from him, calling in strange bewildered delight, and you see Mary s face as she sees now, her brother, who was dead, once more in light, astonished, seeing your glory, part of your glory, as she weeps again, is weeping again breathless with joy. Video Operator needed for first service We are in great need of a video operator for first service. If you are interested, please contact the office at or secretary@cpcames.org C P C S TA F F Brett Becker Pastor/Head of Staff drb@cpcames.org Betsy Thompson Children & Youth Pastor betsy.thompson@cpcames.org Julie Erkel Hagee Director of Campus Ministry & Adult Spiritual Formation julie@cpcames.org Doug Sweeney Choir Director dsweeney@carrolltigers.org Laura LaGrange Organist laura.lagrange@cpcames.org Jenny Foley Business Administrator jenny.foley@cpcames.org Victoria Knight Secretary/Graphic Artist secretary@cpcames.org MEALS Nov 7 - No Meal Conferences Nov 14 - Build your own Sub Sandwich Nov 21 - No Meal - Thanksgiving Nov 28 - Lasagna

6

7

8 November Sunday, November 4, 2018 Communion Daylight Saving Time Ends 9:00a Traditional Worship Service (Sanc) 10:00a Fellowship Coffee (Library and SBL) 10:15a Spiritual Formation Classes 11:15a re:forming Worship Service (Sanc) Sunday, November 11, :00a Traditional Worship Service (Sanc) 10:00a Fellowship Coffee (Library and SBL) 10:15a Spiritual Formation Classes 11:15a re:forming Worship Service (Sanc) Sunday, November 18, :00a Traditional Worship Service (Sanc) 10:00a Fellowship Coffee (Library and SBL) 11:15a re:forming Worship Service (Sanc) Sunday, November 25, :00a Traditional Worship Service (Sanc) 10:00a Fellowship Coffee (Library and SBL) 10:15a Hanging of the Greens 11:15a re:forming Worship Service (Sanc) Collegiate Presbyterian Church & The Vine Student Center thewestgater