Pentecost: The Work of the Spirit
August 27, 2008
Pilgrims on the Journey:
1. This is my last note with the Pentecost graphic-- next week we begin Homecoming Season (more about that below). To celebrate the end of summer, Labor Day Weekend is our annual "T-Shirt Sunday," when you are invited to wear your favorite t-shirt, and express your passions, your style, your humor, your personality. (I do my best to wear a tie after Labor Day, if the weather cooperates.)
2. Special Offering for Open Table: For the next two Sundays we will be receiving a special "juice" offering for Open Table, our Sunday afternoon meal and hospitality for the hungry and homeless. Please bring a large bottle or two of prepared shelf-stable juice-- NOT refrigerated juice, such as OJ, etc., NOT frozen concentrate-- that we can keep in our pantry and use as needed. There will be a collection site in the Narthex for your offerings. To volunteer for Open Table, send a note to DeLania Hardy dhardy@ampo.org
3. Our full Fall schedule will resume on Homecoming Sunday, September 7, with Christian Education programs for children and adults at 9:30 a.m., reception of new members and celebration of the Lord's Supper during morning worship at 11:00 a.m., and a Pot-luck buffet following worship. Mark your calendars for this special day!
4. We will launch two new Adult Education Classes on September 7, both meeting at 9:30 a.m.:
"Paradise Squandered," led by Margee Iddings and Rosemary Luckett
September 7, 14, and 21, Downstairs in the Bird Room
These three sessions will provide an opportunity for participants to get "up close and personal" with the powerful images that artist, Rosemary Luckett, has created. The artist has a strong concern for the environment. She invites us to think creatively about our disconnect-connections to the American landscape. Participants will wrestle with the questions that are raised in the drawings and then have an opportunity to frame their own questions about the rapidly diminishing web of life and how persons of faith may respond.
This We Believe: Engaging the Creeds, Ancient and Modern, led by Jeff Krehbiel
September 7, 14, 21, 28, Upstairs in the Youth Education Room
Does it matter what we believe as Christians? Can modern (or post-modern?) people find meaning in 4th century creeds? What's the relationship between what we believe and how we live out the faith in our daily lives? How do we make sense out of doctrines like the Virgin Birth or the Resurrection of the Body, and does it really matter what we think about these things? Why on earth does the Presbyterian Church have an entire book of confessions? Together we will wrestle with these and other issues as we engage a variety of creeds, ancient and modern, from the 4th century Nicene Creed, to the 20th century Belhar Confession from South Africa.
5. To prepare for the Fall, Music Director Rob Passow will be leading a Mini-Retreat for the Choir on Saturday morning, September 6th, 9 a.m. to noon. If you have been thinking about joining the choir this year, this is a great opportunity! Send a note to rob.passow@verizon.net for details.
6. WIN GOTV: If you took home WIN Voter Pledge Cards, please bring them back this Sunday. Also, Jean Stewart is recruiting volunteers who can work phone banks on September 3-8, leading up the Primary on September 9. If you are available any of those evenings, please send Jean a note: jean.stewart@rcn.com
7. Upcoming Dates: Mark Your Calendars!
- Theology on Tap: A new five-week series will begin Monday, September 15, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
- 9/11 Unity Walk: This year Pilgrims is helping sponsor this annual walk for Inter-Faith Unity, Sunday afternoon September 14, which begins at Washington Hebrew Congregation on Massachusetts Avenue, and ends at the Gandhi memorial.
- More Light Presbyterians--Open Doors Chapter Annual Meeting will be Sunday, September 28, at 5 p.m.
- Pilgrimage Service Day will be held this year on Saturday, October 4.
8. This week I conclude our "Listening for the Spirit at Work" listings for the season:
- This is the last Sunday we will have the Labyrinth available in the Bird Room for meditative reflection before worship. If you have never walked the Labyrinth, it is an ancient spiritual practice of walking circuits-- a spiral pathway-- to the center of labyrinth, and then back out, allowing for prayer and reflection on the journey of life. (See http://www.lessonsforliving.com/labyrinth.htm ).
9. Prayer Concerns:
- Jean Gilpin has moved to a new room at Ingleside Retirement Community, where she can receive a higher level of care. Her new room number is 96.
- As schools across the region begin this week, I invite you to keep the students, teachers, and school administrators in your prayers.
Peace,
Jeff Krehbiel, Pastor
Church of the Pilgrims
Washington, DC
www.churchofthepilgrims.org <http://www.churchofthepilgrims.org>
August 20, 2008
Pilgrims on the Journey:
1. This Sunday at Coffee Hour we will say "Good-Bye" to Peggy Harwood, who moves to Texas next week, where she will be living closer to her mother, children, and grandchildren. We'll miss you, Peggy!
2. Summer is quickly drawing to a close (with the low humidity today, it feels like Fall is already here!). Our full Fall schedule will resume on Homecoming Sunday, September 7, with Christian Education programs for children and adults at 9:30 a.m., reception of new members and celebration of the Lord's Supper during morning worship, and a Pot-luck buffet following worship. Mark your calendars for this special day!
3. To prepare for the Fall, Music Director Rob Passow will be leading a mini-retreat for the choir on Saturday morning, September 6. If you have been thinking about joining the choir this year, this is a great opportunity! Send a note to rob.passow@verizon.net for details.
4. Pat Goeldner, who works on the staff at IONA Senior Services, has reserved a block of 15 tickets for the Young @ Heart benefit concert at the Ellington High School Theater on Saturday, September 6, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20.50. Let Pat know soon of your interest: pgoeldner@iona.org
5. General Assembly Moderator Visit This Saturday: Our newly-elected Moderator, The Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow will be visiting National Capital Presbytery on Saturday, August 23rd. From 10:00 a.m.to noon, he will lead an informal forum open to everyone in the Presbytery at the First Presbyterian Church, 601 N. Vermont Street, Arlington, Va. Ample parking is available; the church is also located within a few blocks of the Ballston Metro stop. You can read Bruce's moderatorial blog at www.mod.reyes-chow.com.
6. "Many Stories, One Voice" is the name of the first convocation of Pro-LGBT Christians, a conference to be held September 4 - 7, 2008 in New Orleans, Louisiana. More Light Presbyterians will co-sponsoring the event, which will include rich Bible study, challenging and profound worship and praise, genuine relationship-building across and amidst our differences, concrete skills-building, reflective and incisive theological analysis, and strategic action. For more information go to: www.welcomingresources.org/msov.htm#about
7. DC Cowboys Update: The cowboys dance troop, who rehearse in our Fellowship Hall each Tuesday night, are still in the running for the America's Got Talent competition: See them on the live semi-final next Tuesday, 8-10 p.m. on NBC.
8. Listening for the Spirit at Work:
- Gerry Hendershot offers this book review of Karen Armstrong's The Bible: A Biography. This is one of a series on “Books That Changed the World.” Armstrong, a lapsed Roman Catholic nun, is a prolific writer on the Bible and other religious topics. Much of this short book covers ground that is familiar to amateur students of the Bible--or frequent and attentive worshipers! I did learn some things about the history of hermeneutics. (I had to use that fancy word for “ways to study scripture”.) For instance, early Rabbinical Judaism had an almost heretical disregard for the original meaning of the text. Much more important to the Rabbis was the meaning of scripture for life in their contemporary communities of faith. They would have scoffed at notions of “Biblical inerrancy.” To them, the Word of God was a living thing to be sought continuously through careful reading and vigorous debate. Let it be so!
- All of our "Spirit at Work" stories, both those from Sunday worship and my weekly Updates, are now posted on our website: http://www.churchofthepilgrims.org/pentecoststories.html
- We will continue to have the Labyrinth available in the Bird Room for meditative reflection before worship. If you have never walked the Labyrinth, it is an ancient spiritual practice of walking circuits-- a spiral pathway-- to the center of labyrinth, and then back out, allowing for prayer and reflection on the journey of life. (See http://www.lessonsforliving.com/labyrinth.htm ).
9. Prayer Concerns: Ashley will be traveling to Nantucket this weekend to attend the funeral of a close friends' father, Mr. Baltimore, who passed away last week. Please keep Ashley's friend, Carol, and her family, in your prayers.
Peace,
Jeff Krehbiel, Pastor
Church of the Pilgrims
Washington, DC
www.churchofthepilgrims.org <http://www.churchofthepilgrims.org>
August 13, 2008
Pilgrims on the Journey:
1. Well, I've now joined the modern world and am on Facebook! In addition to my own personal page, we also have a Church of the Pilgrims group, started by Jonathan Mertz, and now managed by Gerry Hendershot. If you are on Facebook, please "friend" me and join our Pilgrims group!
2. The Darfur Interfaith Network, with support from the Peacemaking Team of National Capital Presbytery, will hold a vigil this Sunday, August 17, at the Chinese Embassy from 1-2 to call attention to China's role in the support of the government of Sudan, the perpetrator of genocide and displacement in the Darfur region.
3. Young @ Heart, the chorus of senior citizens who sing Rock & Roll classics (and the subject of a documentary of the same name showing earlier this year at the Avalon), will be playing a special benefit concert for IONA Senior Services at the Ellington Highschool Theater on Saturday, September 6, at 8 p.m. Tickets range from $20 to $100, and are selling fast. Are you interested in going? Send me a note by the end of the day tomorrow, and we'll try to buy a block of tickets.
4. General Assembly Moderator to Visit: Our newly-elected Moderator, The Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow will be visiting National Capital Presbytery on Saturday, August 23rd. From 10:00 a.m.to noon, he will lead an informal forum open to everyone in the Presbytery at the First Presbyterian Church, 601 N. Vermont Street, Arlington, Va. Ample parking is available; the church is also located within a few blocks of the Ballston Metro stop. You can read Bruce's moderatorial blog at www.mod.reyes-chow.com.
5. Housing Needed: Tim King, a friend and colleague of Mark Fraley, has been working as a community organizer in Chicago and is in his mid-twenties. He recently accepted a position with Sojourners in NW DC and is looking for housing. He is cost-conscious and is looking to rent a single room or for group housing. Please contact him directly with any leads by email timothymichael.king@gmail.com or on his cell 773.414.1745.
6. Listening for the Spirit at Work:
We will continue to have the Labyrinth available in the Bird Room for meditative reflection before worship. If you have never walked the Labyrinth, it is an ancient spiritual practice of walking circuits-- a spiral pathway-- to the center of labyrinth, and then back out, allowing for prayer and reflection on the journey of life. (See http://www.lessonsforliving.com/labyrinth.htm
Peace,
Jeff Krehbiel, Pastor
Church of the Pilgrims
Washington, DC
www.churchofthepilgrims.org <http://www.churchofthepilgrims.org>
August 6, 2008
Pilgrims on the Journey:
1. We concluded last Sunday our final Spirit at Work story, with a moving story by Gregg Seppala. You can read all these wonderful stories, both those from Sunday and our weekly Updates, at http://www.churchofthepilgrims.org/pentecoststories.html
2. Ward 2 Churches in the Washington Interfaith Network will be doing another "Get Out the Vote" walk on Saturday, August 9, in support of WIN's "Neighborhoods First" agenda. Training will be at Church of the Pilgrims at 9:15 a.m., followed by walking the neighborhood. No previous experience necessary! This is a great way to connect with our neighbors around our values. If you would like to participate, or need more information, send me or Jean Stewart jean.stewart@rcn.com a note.
3. This Sunday has been designated "Homelessness and Affordable Housing Sunday," by the Presbyterian Church. We will mark that by lifting up WIN's affordable housing strategy, particularly related to providing permanent supportive housing for the homeless.
4. Sunday Hospitality Needed: Volunteers to help provide goodies for Coffee Hour following worship are needed for August 17 and 31st, as well as future dates in the Fall. If you would like to help for these or any future Sunday, contact our "coffee hour coordinator," Nikki Felix: mnvfelix1@juno.com
5. South Africa Trip Planned: Bob Schminkey, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance Coordinator for our Presbytery, and former Presbyterian Mission Co-Worker in South Africa (together with his wife, former Pilgrim intern Sarah Holben), is leading a trip to South Africa to visit Cape Town, Victoria Falls/Livingstone Zambia and Chobe Game Park in Botswana, scheduled for late Feb - March 2009, and is limited to 12 people. The estimated cost is $5,950. If you are interested, contact Bob at bobschminkey@verizon.net.
6. General Assembly Moderator to Visit: Our newly-elected Moderator, The Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow will be visiting National Capital Presbytery on Saturday, August 23rd. From 10:00 a.m.to noon, he will lead an informal forum open to everyone in the Presbytery at the First Presbyterian Church, 601 N. Vermont Street, Arlington, Va. Ample parking is available; the church is also located within a few blocks of the Ballston Metro stop. You can read Bruce's moderatorial blog at www.mod.reyes-chow.com.
7. Listening for the Spirit at Work:
- Charles "Van" Gorder recommends A. J. Jacobs' A Year of Living Biblically. While he didn't like the ending, he found it riveting, He writes: "The premise is a secular Jewish kid who sets out to write about following the Bible literally for one year. He does a highly commendable job of handling the topic in a stream of consciousness format. He respectfully handles some of our more eccentric expressions of Judeo-Christian faith. It was a good mirror to look at where I was, am and may go."
- We will continue to have the Labyrinth available in the Bird Room for meditative reflection before worship. If you have never walked the Labyrinth, it is an ancient spiritual practice of walking circuits-- a spiral pathway-- to the center of labyrinth, and then back out, allowing for prayer and reflection on the journey of life. (See http://www.lessonsforliving.com/labyrinth.htm ).
8. Prayer Concerns:
- Church Administrator Marcia Mapp reports that her daughter, Charmaine, is home recovering from her umbilical hernia surgery yesterday, and that all went well.
Peace,
Jeff Krehbiel, Pastor
Church of the Pilgrims
Washington, DC
www.churchofthepilgrims.org <http://www.churchofthepilgrims.org>
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