Month: November 2015

Sermon:”Perilous Times”
Scriptures: Luke 21:25-36

Join us for Worship at 10:30 a.m., and for coffee and fellowship after the service. All are welcome!

Helping Syrians
We will be collecting items to send to Syrian mothers and infants/children via a container on a ship, through the local organization NuDay Syria. (http://www.nudaysyria.net/home.html). At the website, under projects, you can find more information about containers. Examples of much needed items are clothes, coats, shoes, boots, new underwear and socks, female hygiene products, diapers, soap, powdered detergent, sleeping bags, blankets, soccer balls, stuffed animals, non-battery operated toys.
Food items needed include rice, flour, cooking oil, sugar, cans or bags of tuna, food high in protein such as peanut butter or nutella, energy bars, protein drinks, powdered and liquid milk and *always* infant milk in any form. All food items must be unexpired and in non-breakable packaging.
You can also get online and order items for containers from Amazon where you get free shipping and great pricing. We have a wish list there and it is very straight-forward to order from them.
Financial donations or full or partial sponsorships of containers are always appreciated. If you are interested in a financial donation, or have questions, please contact Ellen (ellends1313@gmail.com). The last Sunday to bring in items will be Sunday, December 6th. The last minute deadline will be Thursday, December 10th.

The Advent Meditations are coming…
As part of our tradition at Clarendon Hill, we will be producing another booklet of Advent Meditations from members and friends of the church, based on the Advent season lectionary. We hope to have the printed versions on Sunday, November 29th.

Bringing Christmas to local families
For several years, CHPC has partnered with the Riverside (Somerville) Early Head Start to sponsor families for Christmas, purchasing presents for them. This year we will be once again helping two families and their children to experience a happy Christmas. Starting on November 22nd, please look for the mini-tree in the back of the sanctuary and choose one or more slips of paper with gift requests/suggestions. The gifts do not need to be wrapped, but they must be NEW. If possible, gift receipts should be enclosed with the gifts. Gift cards would also be welcomed, either for the items listed, or for local grocery stores. Please return your gifts no later than Sunday, December 20th. Please be sure to attach the tag to the item so that we know who it is for. We will collect the gifts at church and have a wrapping party during coffee hour on December 20th. If you have questions or would like more information, please contact Rachel Huggins (rachelh8@vt.edu ). Thank you!

Pastor Allen Regular Office Hours
He will be in the church office during the following times unless called away:
Mondays and Thursdays: 10:30 a.m. -12:30 p.m.
1st and 3rd Monday evenings: 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Wednesday afternoons: 3:00 – 5:00 p.m.

Rev. Fairfax is generally available for pastoral concerns or other church business at most other times as well, so don’t hesitate to contact him outside of these office hours.
Please drop by the church or contact him: 508-801-7294 (cell)/617-625-4823 (office), pastor@clarendonhillchurch.org.

 

– – – Upcoming Events – – –

CHPC Bible Study
Bible study meets at Porter Square Panera Bread every other Wednesday. For details on dates, time, place, and more information, please contact Kevin. (kevin.sungwon@gmail.com)

CHPC Fellowship: Christmas Caroling
Our December fellowship event will be caroling, on Sunday, December 13th, after coffee hour. We will visit local members and friends, and warm up with some hot chocolate afterwards!

Christmas Joy Offering
On Sunday, December 20th, we will be collecting the Christmas Joy Offering. The theme for this year is: A Season of Faith. A Gift of Promise. The text is from Hebrews 10:23 – “For God who has promised is faithful.” God promised salvation – a promise kept with the birth of Jesus. The Christmas Joy Offering honors that promise with two faithful commitments: supporting church workers through assistance in their time of need and developing and educating racial ethnic leadership for the future of the church. But we can only keep these promises with your generosity. Please give as generously as you are able. You will hear more about how your gifts help others during the Mission Focus on the Sundays leading up to December 20th.

Christmas Eve Service
Please plan to join us on Thursday, December 24th for our Christmas Eve Service. Further details will be coming shortly!

 

– – – Deacons News – – –

Prayer Request Email
The Deacons are in the process of setting up an online prayer request list. This will be a closed group (to insure privacy.) If you would like to be a member of the group so that you can ask for prayers, and have others pray for you, please send an email to Ellen (ellends1313@gmail.com). Once we have everything set up, we will share information about the group with the congregation, so that others can join.

 

Guest Preacher: Dennis Sullivan
Sermon:”There’s No Place Like Home: The Syrian Refugee Crisis”
Scriptures: Isaiah 58:6-12 and Matthew 25

Join us for Worship at 10:30 a.m., and for coffee and fellowship after the service. All are welcome!

Denis J. Sullivan (Ph.D., University of Michigan) is a Professor of Political Science and the Co-Director of the Middle East Center at Northeastern University. Prof. Sullivan is the founding Director of BCARS, the Boston Consortium for Arab Region Studies, supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Prof. Sullivan is founding Director of the Dialogue of Civilizations program at Northeastern. The Dialogue programs send over 1,500 students around the world each summer on 55-60 different faculty-led academic programs; each program is at least 5 weeks in length and some are 8-weeks long. These programs enable students to engage with host communities, learn languages, dialogue with peers in various cultures, conduct research, or otherwise train and learn new skills.
Dr. Sullivan is the author of many journal articles, book chapters, and encyclopedia entries and a number of books. He has been a consultant to the World Bank, USAID, U.S. State Department, U.S. Department of Defense, Council on Foreign Relations, human rights organizations, and academic institutions in Europe, the U.S., and the Middle East.
We will be collecting items to send to Syrian mothers and infants/children via a container on a ship, through the local organization NuDay Syria. (http://www.nudaysyria.net/home.html). At the website, under projects, you can find more information about containers. Examples of much needed items are clothes, coats, shoes, boots, new underwear and socks, female hygiene products, diapers, soap, powdered detergent, sleeping bags, blankets, soccer balls, stuffed animals, non-battery operated toys.
Food items needed include rice, flour, cooking oil, sugar, cans or bags of tuna, food high in protein such as peanut butter or nutella, energy bars, protein drinks, powdered and liquid milk and *always* infant milk in any form. All food items must be unexpired and in non-breakable packaging.
You can also get online and order items for containers from Amazon where you get free shipping and great pricing. We have a wish list there and it is very straight-forward to order from them.
Financial donations or full or partial sponsorships of containers are always appreciated. If you are interested in a financial donation, or have questions, please contact Ellen (ellends1313@gmail.com). We don’t have an exact deadline date yet, but feel free to start collecting and bringing in items to church.

“Embracing Differences” – Church Nave Gallery
Once a year, the Nave Gallery collaborates with the Clarendon Hill Presbyterian Church to create a social justice gallery show, underscoring the assertion that art is a vehicle through which conversations on social change can be held, compelling people to action. The exhibition will be part of the Learn to Talk Social Justice Series organized by the CHPC from September through November, including opportunities for action, education and reflection. The show will be up from October 4th through October 31st.

Pastor Allen Regular Office Hours
He will be in the church office during the following times unless called away:
Mondays and Thursdays: 10:30 a.m. -12:30 p.m.
1st and 3rd Monday evenings: 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Wednesday afternoons: 3:00 – 5:00 p.m.

Rev. Fairfax is generally available for pastoral concerns or other church business at most other times as well, so don’t hesitate to contact him outside of these office hours.
Please drop by the church or contact him: 508-801-7294 (cell)/617-625-4823 (office), pastor@clarendonhillchurch.org.

 

– – – Upcoming Events – – –

CHPC Bible Study
Bible study meets at Porter Square Panera Bread every other Wednesday. For details on dates, time, place, and more information, please contact Kevin. (kevin.sungwon@gmail.com)

Somerville’s Early Head Start Program
We will helping to bring Christmas to several Somerville families this year through Somerville’s Early Head Start program. If you’d like to help coordinate a portion of this effort, please contact Ellen (ellends1313@gmail.com). The tree with gift suggestions will be at the back of sanctuary on the Sunday before Thanksgiving; look for it on November 22nd.

The Advent Meditations
As part of our tradition at Clarendon Hill, we will be producing another booklet of Advent Meditations from members and friends of the church, based on the Advent season lectionary. Craig Milanesi and Jaja Kumpa will be seeking volunteers to sign up for a 1 – 3 paragraph reflection or some creative artwork (painting, song, poetry, photograph) relative to the reading, this Sunday, November 8th, during fellowship. If you won’t be at church, but would like to participate, please contact Craig (craze@mit.edu). The deadline for submissions will be Sunday, 22nd (and last minute submissions no later than Wednesday, November 25th). We hope to have the printed versions on Sunday, November 29th.

CHPC Fellowship: Christmas Caroling
Our December fellowship event will be caroling, on Sunday, December 13th, after coffee hour. We will visit local members and friends, and warm up with some hot chocolate afterwards!

 

– – – Deacons News – – –

Prayer Request Email
The Deacons are in the process of setting up an online prayer request list. This will be a closed group (to insure privacy.) If you would like to be a member of the group so that you can ask for prayers, and have others pray for you, please send an email to Ellen (ellends1313@gmail.com). Once we have everything set up, we will share information about the group with the congregation, so that others can join.

 

Sermon:”Giving Your Two Cents Worth”
Scripture: Mark 12:38-44

Join us for Worship at 10:30 a.m., and for coffee and fellowship after the service. All are welcome!

“Embracing Differences” – Church Nave Gallery
Once a year, the Nave Gallery collaborates with the Clarendon Hill Presbyterian Church to create a social justice gallery show, underscoring the assertion that art is a vehicle through which conversations on social change can be held, compelling people to action. The exhibition will be part of the Learn to Talk Social Justice Series organized by the CHPC from September through November, including opportunities for action, education and reflection. The show will be up from October 4th through October 31st.

Pastor Allen Regular Office Hours
He will be in the church office during the following times unless called away:
Mondays and Thursdays: 10:30 a.m. -12:30 p.m.
1st and 3rd Monday evenings: 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Wednesday afternoons: 3:00 – 5:00 p.m.

Rev. Fairfax is generally available for pastoral concerns or other church business at most other times as well, so don’t hesitate to contact him outside of these office hours.
Please drop by the church or contact him: 508-801-7294 (cell)/617-625-4823 (office), pastor@clarendonhillchurch.org.

 

– – – Upcoming Events – – –

CHPC Bible Study
Bible study meets at Porter Square Panera Bread every other Wednesday. For details on dates, time, place, and more information, please contact Kevin. (kevin.sungwon@gmail.com)

CHPC Fellowship: All Saints Dinner
Saturday, November 7th, 5:00 p.m., Salvatore’s Restaurant, 55 High Street, Medford, MA. In honor of former “saint” Sal Fazzolari, we will meet at the Italian restaurant, where we can talk about the people in our lives who helped us on our faith journey – whether it is relatives, friends, fellow church members, pastors, youth group leaders, Sunday school teachers, etc. That will be the starting point for our conversation, but certainly not the only topic! We’d like to make reservations, so please RSVP by Friday, November 6th at 3:00 p.m., to Ellen (ellends1313@gmail.com). If you have questions, or need a ride, please get in touch with Ellen. Everyone is welcome!

Guest Preacher – Denis Sullivan
Sunday, November 15th. Denis will be speaking on the refugee crisis. We will be collecting items to send to Syrian mothers and infants/children via a container on a ship, through the local organization NuDay Syria. (http://www.nudaysyria.net/home.html). Under projects, you can find more information about containers. Examples of much needed items are clothes, coats, shoes, boots, new underwear and socks, female hygiene products, diapers, soap, powdered detergent, sleeping bags, blankets, soccer balls, stuffed animals, non-battery operated toys.
Food items needed include rice, flour, cooking oil, sugar, cans or bags of tuna, food high in protein such as peanut butter or nutella, energy bars, protein drinks, powdered and liquid milk and *always* infant milk in any form. All food items must be unexpired and in non-breakable packaging.
You can also get online and order items for containers from Amazon where you get free shipping and great pricing. We have a wish list there and it is very straight-forward to order from them.
Financial donations or full or partial sponsorships of containers are always appreciated. If you are interested in a financial donation, or have questions, please contact Ellen (ellends1313@gmail.com). We don’t have an exact deadline date yet, but feel free to start collecting and bringing in items to church.

CHPC Fellowship: After Church Potluck
Our next fellowship event will be on Sunday, November 15th after the service, with a Thanksgiving potluck. Please bring an appetizer, soup, salad, side dish, main dish or dessert (NO NUTS, PLEASE!) If you have a favorite Thanksgiving dish, consider this an invitation to bring it. Come celebrate Thanksgiving with your church family!

Somerville’s Early Head Start Program
We will helping to bring Christmas to several Somerville families this year through Somerville’s Early Head Start program. If you’d like to help coordinate a portion of this effort, please contact Ellen (ellends1313@gmail.com). The tree with gift suggestions will be at the back of sanctuary on the Sunday before Thanksgiving; look for it on November 22nd.

The Advent Meditations
As part of our tradition at Clarendon Hill, we will be producing another booklet of Advent Meditations from members and friends of the church, based on the Advent season lectionary. Craig Milanesi and Jaja Kumpa will be seeking volunteers to sign up for a 1 – 3 paragraph reflection or some creative artwork (painting, song, poetry, photograph) relative to the reading, this Sunday, November 8th, during fellowship. If you won’t be at church, but would like to participate, please contact Craig (craze@mit.edu). The deadline for submissions will be Sunday, 22nd (and last minute submissions no later than Wednesday, November 25th). We hope to have the printed versions on Sunday, November 29th.

CHPC Fellowship: Christmas Caroling
Our December fellowship event will be caroling, on Sunday, December 13th, after coffee hour. We will visit local members and friends, and warm up with some hot chocolate afterwards!

 

– – – Deacons News – – –

Prayer Request Email
The Deacons are in the process of setting up an online prayer request list. This will be a closed group (to insure privacy.) If you would like to be a member of the group so that you can ask for prayers, and have others pray for you, please send an email to Ellen (ellends1313@gmail.com). Once we have everything set up, we will share information about the group with the congregation, so that others can join.