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.