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News & Updates from Your CPC Family
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In the Shadow of His Wing by Beau Ettestad
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Worship Service and Communion Online
9th Sunday after Pentecost
Sunday, August 2, 2020
Please note the time for Worship this week.
Worship
: 10:00 a.m.
Scripture Reading: Romans 9:1-5; Psalm 17:1-12
The Message: Listen to My Cry
, Dr. Hix
Online Service Participants - 10:00 a.m.
Ministers
: Dr. Duane Hix; Rev. Mitzi Lesher-Thomas
Music Director:
Ed Yasick
Special Music: Lori Greco, soloist
Time With Our Children:
VBS Video: Jen Pierce
Graphics
: Alan Bancroft
Tech:
Ken Worsham, Craig Anderson
Worship will be streamed to the internet
(You do not need a Facebook account to access this link.)
(Please, if you have Joys and Concerns, submit them by e-mail
to
Duane
or
Mitzi
by Saturday before the service. We will note them to publish
in the weekly Joys and Concerns update
and will include them
in our announcement during the service.)
NOTE: After Worship, we'll turn off Facebook Live
for a Town Hall Conversation
with the Regathering Task Force, on Zoom.
(See Zoom access information below.)
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CPC Welcomes Rev. Dr. Paul H. Lang!
With thanksgiving and joyful hearts, we welcome the Reverend Dr. Paul H. Lang as the next Pastor/Head of Staff for Cary Presbyterian Church.
In accordance with Presbytery guidelines, the call of our new pastor was approved and extended by the congregation on Sunday, July 26 during a congregational meeting.
Paul and his wife Sarah will be relocating from Fargo, North Dakota, where he has been pastor/head of staff at First Presbyterian Church since 2013. Prior to his call there, Paul was Pastor/Head of Staff at Peace Presbyterian Church in Winterville, North Carolina for 17 years. His first call was as a solo pastor for First Presbyterian Church in McGehee, Arkansas.
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Town Hall Conversation with the Regathering Task Force
This Sunday following worship all are invited
to join your Re-gathering Task Force for an open conversation.
In the past months we have spent a lot of time waiting: for numbers, opportunities, for internet connections and toilet paper. We've waited for mail and for test results, for a familiar face at the window or a voice on the phone. We've waited for something to buoy our hope and for something that looks, feels or sounds like 'normal.'
Even as we wait in our varied places of protective isolation, we are nevertheless the gathered body of Christ striving to be present, to support and listen to one another well.
This Sunday, following worship, your Regathering Task Force wants to listen: to your longings, your fears, your hunger and your hope.
Join us as we pray, ponder, and listen to one another.
Regathering Task Force:
Meredith Bullis, Julie Henry, Bob Johnson, Angie Keith, Jason Troiano,
Ken Worsham, Mitzi Lesher-Thomas (staff)
You can join via the Zoom link here or by calling in from any phone.
If you dial in, you will be prompted to enter the Meeting ID followed by the # sign.
You will also be prompted to enter a Passcode. (Both the Meeting ID and Passcode are shown in maroon bold type below.)
One tap mobile
+13017158592,,87815855617#
Dial by your location
+1 301 715 8592
Meeting ID: 878 1585 5617
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CPC Financial Update
We report with great joy and thanksgiving the following gifts received during the second quarter of 2020:
- Gifts of $19,918 to CPC Cares: COVID-19 Community Assistance Fund, including gifts in honor of Barbara Carew, our Faith Formation teachers, and in memory of Joe Leveille (Pauline's dad).
- Memorial gifts of $2,100 in memory of Ann Kurz and Mollie Ward (Lela Floyd's mom).
- One Great Hour of Sharing special offerings of $1,025.
- Gifts of $750 to Esperanza de Guatemala.
Thank you to all our CPC members and friends who have continued to give so generously and faithfully during this unprecedented time. Your gifts are a steady, sustaining stream of support during a time when so much is uncertain. Your gifts have allowed CPC to operate under our normal budget, and your generosity has been extended to our community and greater worldwide neighbors.
We are extremely grateful. All of your gifts are truly appreciated.
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Pastor's Discretionary Fund: Rent Assistance
The federal eviction moratorium has recently expired. If there are members or friends of the CPC family who are in need of assistance as a result of this situation, there are funds available in the Pastor's Discretionary Fund.
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Dialogues on Race
It's time to talk about race, folks, and to do so in the context of our Christian faith. To help facilitate that conversation, Mitzi Lesher-Thomas and Alan Bancroft are co-leading a seven week series entitled Dialogues on Race, which covers various issues of race in America.
We ask the following of all participants, so that the experience might be as rich and meaningful as possible:
- Attend most (if not all) sessions. (5 of 7 sessions are remaining.)
- Read the material in the Participants Book before we gather each week.
We will meet via Zoom on Sunday evenings at 7:00.
The limit of 25 participants has been reached for this series
if you are interested in participating in a future session.
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The Cool Books Club will meet via Zoom at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, August 25. We will read and discuss
The World's Greatest Book: The Story of How the Bible Came To Be by Lawrence H. Schiffman, Ph. D. and Jerry Pattengale, Ph. D.
If you are interested in retracing the intrigue and passion that went into the creation of our holy scriptures, this book may be for you. Copies of the book are available online in several different forms at reasonable prices.
if you would like to join the Zoom meeting.
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Adult Faith Formation
Bible and Beyond
The Bible & Beyond class
will take a break in the month of August and resume meeting on Thursday evenings in September.
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Friday Women's Study (August)
The only preparation required each week is to read the assigned biblical text.
Our discussions will be guided by Encountering God in Tyrannical Texts: Reflections on Paul, Women, and the Authority of Scripture by Frances Taylor Gench.
August 14: read: 1 Timothy 5:3-16
Ponder: What cautionary and constructive insights might emerge from wrestling with this text? How does it fit (or not) as you read it through the interpretive rule of love?
Texts for meeting on 8/21 will follow later.
Please note the Zoom link is recurring and has a password so save this information for future use!
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Upcoming Classes, Meetings, and Events
Due to the unique, open-ended nature of the current stay-at-home situation,
we will list upcoming scheduled classes and meetings below
in E-link each week (in place of making website calendar changes
and additions and listing them on the calendar grid below).
If you have group classes and meetings that need to be added
to those below, please e-mail all necessary information
CPC Calendar for August 2
through August 9
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Love and Good Cheer
"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."
John 15:12
We are looking for some CPC families to spread love and good cheer to members of our congregation who have been very isolated during the pandemic. Each family unit that signs up will be assigned a recipient and will coordinate a socially-distanced, outdoor visit to the recipient's front yard.
You can bring posters, cards, a song and a dance, a musical instrument, words of encouragement - be creative and loud!
It's important that the volunteer family unit consists of people who have isolated together and can travel together in a vehicle. You will be contacted via email or phone with additional details. Thanks so much!
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A STEP TOWARD RE-OPENING:
CPC OUTDOOR CHAPEL
WORSHIP and PRAYER MEETING OPPORTUNITIES
Members and Friends of CPC,
Recently, in an announcement about the Re-Opening Task Force, we mentioned our hope to offer in-person worship and prayer opportunities outdoors. We would like to invite you to participate in the first such events.
On the Sundays listed below, at 8:30 a.m., Rev. Hix will lead a 1/2 hour prayer and meditation time at our outdoor chapel for up to 25 people. That event will then repeat for a different group of up to 10 on the following Wednesday evening at 7:00 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall
Throughout the month of August, every other week, we intend to continue the Sunday/Wednesday cycle of outdoor prayer and meditation, led by staff and other interested persons. This remaining cycle includes:
- August 9 and 12,
- August 23 and 26.
The format for the gatherings will vary with the leader, but it will normally include time for prayer, silence, reflection, questions and discussion. Perhaps we will consider a particular scripture passage through the lectio divina method. Perhaps we will list world concerns and pray for God's guidance and intervention in them. Perhaps we will use the morning or evening prayer liturgies from our Book of Common Worship. We hope any and all of these will refresh you and enrich our relationship with God. We will not be singing together, due to the danger of COVID-19 transmission. We welcome your suggestions about how these events may assist your own spiritual growth.
We want to ensure that we do not have more in attendance than can properly be included at safe social distance in our outdoor chapel or in the Fellowship Hall.
(All upcoming dates as of this week are on SignUpGenius.)
Sign up as frequently as you wish, but we will not admit more than a total of 25 people on Sunday, or 10 on Wednesday, including the leader. In case of rain, we will observe socially-distanced seating indoors. We request that masks be worn at all times when you are not speaking.
All of us are feeling the need to see our church friends in person, and to sense the presence of the Holy Spirit move amongst us in real time and real space rather than through the mediation of electronics and screens. We hope this use of our outdoor chapel will engender that sense of the personal community and fellowship that enhances the work of Christ among us. We invite you to participate.
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Stephen Ministry Support
is Available
Efforts at being safe and attentive in order to avoid the spread of COVID-19 have caused both physical and emotional isolation for many people.
Important and helpful conversations can certainly take place via telephone and by computer (Zoom or FaceTime). CPC Stephen Ministers are congregation members who receive special training to provide confidential, one-to-one listening care to church and non-church members.
Stephen Ministers are trained to be present and to listen and can be a good resource if you are feeling isolated and lonely. Other times that Stephen Ministers can be helpful are if you are experiencing grief, divorce, hospitalization, disability, job loss, fertility issues and many other struggles of transition and change.
To learn how you or someone you know can receive care, please speak with a pastor or one of our Stephen Leader Referral Coordinators, Len Clark (919) 612-4302 or Linda Oglesby (919) 270-5980.
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Fair Trade
is coming to you!
The Fair Trade team has begun making deliveries, and is ready
to deliver coffee, tea,
and/or chocolate to your front door! (within 20 miles of CPC)
Here is how this will work.
- Email your order to Betty Boyd at elizabethgboyd4@gmail.com. (See inventory information below.) State the specific item(s), quantity desired, and total owed in your email. (We request a $10 minimum order.)
- Betty will check inventory and then send an email confirming the total amount due.
- Go to the CPC website. Click Online Giving at the top of the home page. Then click Give Online. Look for the Fair Trade Products line, enter the total amount due, and complete the transaction. (This transaction is a purchase and not actually a gift to CPC.)
- We will be notified when payment is received.
- Betty will email you with the date and approximate time of delivery.
Currently in Inventory
Whole bean regular coffee
: Mind, Body and Soul - $9.00/bag
Ground regular coffee
: Mind, Body and Soul; French Roast; Hazelnut Crème - $9.00/bag; Sisters Blend - $10.00/bag
Ground Decaf coffee
: Plain; Hazelnut Crème - $10.00/bag
Tea:
- Irish Breakfast; Green; Peppermint; Ginger - $4.00/box
Hot Cocoa Mix
: $7.00/can
Dark Chocolate Bars
: Caramel Crunch; Very Dark; Mint - $4.00/each
Milk Chocolate Bars
: Plain; Caramel Crunch - $4.00/each
6 Chocolate minis
: Dark Chocolate; Milk Chocolate; Mixed - $2/bag
15 Chocolate minis
: Dark Chocolate; Milk Chocolate - $5/bag
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CPC Reopening Task Force Link
At its June 1 meeting, the Session addressed the procedure for planning and implementing the gradual reopening of the church campus. The ruling Elders considered a document sent them by Dr. Hix that suggested key Principles to guide the process and the ongoing Problems we will face as we do so. Read about the plans and themes pertinent to reopening on the CPC website at this link.
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CPC Cares: A Local Response
to a Worldwide Emergency
Thank you very much for your continued gifts to our CPC Cares: COVID-19 Community Assistance Fund. As of June 3, we have received gifts of
$20,000! We have sent donations of $5,000 each to Dorcas Ministries and The Carying Place, and we made a $1,000 gift to our neighbor, A Place at the Table. We also have set aside $9,000 for CPC members, friends and neighbors who may need assistance in the weeks and months to come.
This fund was established in April to respond to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of the fund is to financially assist our members, friends and community partners during this time of crisis. Half of the offering received is immediately disbursed to Dorcas Ministries and The Carying Place, two local charities with large CPC financial support and volunteer involvement. The other half is retained to help with financial assistance for CPC members, friends and neighbors in need. Any funds remaining after the crisis has passed will be disbursed to The Carying Place, Dorcas Ministries and other charities.
If you wish to make gifts directly, here are links to Dorcas Ministries and The Carying Place.
We appreciate all of your gifts. During this time of severe worldwide crisis, we strive to remember all of those less fortunate, and help where we can, and if we are able.
If you have any questions, please contact elders Todd Crouse, Hal Drumheller, Craig Hofmeister or Barbara Carew (finance manager).
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Send Your News and Announcements
Bulletin and e-Link announcements
for an upcoming newsletter or bulletin
need to be received in office email
by 12:00 noon on Wednesday
prior to the first day they need to run.
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The CPC Church Directory is Online
For a link to instructions about using the directory
,
If you have not accessed the directory yet, an invitation will have to be sent to you by Servant Keeper. If you need this new invitation, email office@carypresbyterian.org with your name and an invitation will be requested for you. All invitations are good for only two weeks.
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The public CPC Facebook page is a great continuing source of information about what is upcoming and what has happened at CPC. Visit it frequently for news and pictures you won't see elsewhere, and share the posts with your friends and on your own Facebook page!
Follow the links to the public page and the CPC family page below:
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CPC Church Service Podcasts
CPC Service podcasts are added weekly to Soundcloud and to the website
on this page.
They appear with the most recent service at the top of the page, with the illustration from that week's bulletin as an identifier (Soundcloud page shown above).
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Did You Know?
Cary Presbyterian Church is a part of a larger family of churches comprising the New Hope Presbytery.
From Efland to the Outer Banks, spanning 33 counties, with 122 congregations representing 28,314 members, we are a Mid-Council of the Presbyterian Church (USA) serving eastern North Carolina.
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