Worship
Join us for worship Sunday mornings at 10:30 in person and on Zoom
Worship, April 21, 2024 – Pastor Gary continues his sermon series on We are the Church with a message titled “In the Hard Times”.
Watch archived lessons by visiting our Worship Page
Tuesday Message From Pastor Gary – April 23
Hello CPC-Fairfax!
In the Old Testament it is written, “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope” (Jeremiah 29:11). Some 600 years later, these words were written, “. . . let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1).
While these verses express different messages, there is a similarity. God has a plan for our lives. There is a race marked out for us – for each of us. God’s plan is for our welfare, not for our harm. That should give us hope, as we can be assured that God sees us, God values us, and God loves us. However, there is no assurance that the race marked out for us is going to be easy. We are called to “run with perseverance.” There will be obstacles, but, with God’s help, we can overcome those obstacles and continue the run.
Lastly, we are called to “run” together; Hebrews 12 says, “let US run.” We are called to run together – helping each other, encouraging each other, completing the race together. And that is the calling of the church; that is, to be that group of people who commit to running through life together. Let us endeavor, with God’s help, to be such a church!
Have a great week,
Gary
P.S. It takes a number people each week to make our Sunday worship run smoothly. Please take a moment and scroll down toward the bottom of the long email message and Sign-Up for one of our volunteer roles for worship over the next few weeks.
Study Program continues
Wednesday, May 15 at noon.
Women are cordially invited to participate in a Bible Study. The study is the 2023-2024 PW/Horizons Bible Study which is Sacred Encounters – The Power and Presence of Jesus Christ in Luke – Acts. The participants will meet the 3rd Wednesday of each month. The Horizons studies provide a wonderful opportunity to discuss and converse about scriptures and how they relate to us today. Study books are available.
Please contact, Mary Ellen Absetz at meabsetz@verizon.net or phone at (703)789-6691 and leave a message, I’ll return your call.
Pledges and Per-Capita
Please remember to keep your church tithes and offerings up to date. The rate for per capita for 2024, is $48.56/per confirmed member. You can choose to pay this in Realm or by noting “Per Capita” in the memo line of your check.
HAVE YOU PLEDGED FOR 2024? If you would like to pledge to support the mission and life of Christ Presbyterian Church, please contact Mary Ellen Absetz (meabsetz@verizon.net) or Jay Lough (jnj.lo@verizon.net).
Flowers for Worship
Our flowers each Sunday are placed in the Sanctuary to praise God and give thanks for all his gifts. Should you like to provide flowers for an arrangement to Him , or for an event in your life such as an anniversary, graduation, birth, etc., please sign your name and date on the chart on the easel in the Narthex.
There are several ways you can donate an arrangement:
- You may call Deacon Betsy Stagno at 703-328-0574 to take your order which she will give to the florist. Your cost for this is $30.
- You can call Shirley Moore at 703-830-2769 and she can do one of the following:
- Purchase flowers at a cost of no more than $20 to create an arrangement.
- Make a design for you with flowers from her garden and other sources.
- Use flowers from your garden which Shirley will come and collect in order to create a design.
If you desire to let the congregation know that the flowers are dedicated specifically, tell Shirley or Betsy or let Office Manager Lindsey Smith (admin@cpcfairfax.org) know before 2 p.m. on Monday after your design was at the Sunday service and he will include the information in the Tuesday Newsletter.
Mission and Outreach
(Relationship Outside Church Community)
VOLUNTEER SIGN UP BOARD
Continue to look on the board for any updates. The following schedules seek your time.
Children – After receiving instructions, any child over the age of 4, may join in with ringing the hour before our church service. We generally practice our ringing on the third Sunday each month after the children’s message.
Ms. Lois will continue to lead the children to learn the song, Jesus Loves Me, along with playing the chimes uniformly. As we plan to play on Mother’s Day, we will continue to practice each Sunday after their teacher provides a message from our Lord.
Adults – Providence Elem School – Providence Elem School – Two volunteers are needed each week to help bag lunches on Fridays 2:30-3:30. See posted calendar for upcoming months.
Backpacks: We made a commitment to provide 100 packs again this year to Providence Elementary School and money from our budget will help purchase food for the school’s refrigerators.
During April, Fairfax County Public Libraries are collecting food donations for several local food pantries. You can drop off food donations for WFCM at the Centreville and Chantilly Regional Library locations during their regular hours. Thank you for helping to stock our shelves with the most needed items listed below!
CPC Food Pantry.
Thank you for your continued contributions to help feed those in need.
Most needed items in the food pantry for this month:
- Cereal (low sugar preferred)
- Hot Cereal (Oatmeal, Grits)
- Maseca Corn Flour
- Sugar (1 or 2 lb. bags)
- Red Beans (low salt preferred)
- Black Beans (low salt preferred)
- Canned Pasta
- Pasta Sauce
- Flavored Pasta (Pasta Helpers)
- Risotto
- Flavored Rice (Rice A Roni)
- Canned Tomatoes (stewed, crushed, diced, paste)
- Pancake Mix
- Peanut Butter
- Coffee (ground, no k-cups)
- Family Sized Snacks (pretzels, crackers, etc.)
- Canned Mixed Vegetables (low salt preferred)
- Individual Juice Boxes (100% fruit juice preferred)
- Toiletries: body lotion, body wash, toothpaste, hair shampoo, hair conditioner, toilet paper, and lotion (NOTE: we are not currently in need of diapers size 0-5 due to our partnership with Greater DC Diaper Bank. Please only donate larger size pull ups size 4T/5T for toddlers, size 6 diapers, or baby wipes if you want to donate items for babies.)
As a reminder, we accept food and toiletry donations Monday – Friday 8-10 am at 4511 Daly Drive Suite H (Back Door) and on the second Saturday monthly 9-11 am.
Empty egg cartons are appreciated also as WFCM purchases eggs by the cases and separates them into smaller portions for their clients.
Presbyterian Church USA Special Offering:
One Great Hour of Sharing
Thank you for all who donated to this worthy international effort!
This year our congregation donated almost $900. Thank you.
Organizations That CPC Supports
Ronald McDonald’s House – Aluminum pop top tabs
Lion’s Club – Eyeglasses
FACETS – Supports FFx communities with hot meals, per permanent supportive housing, food equity, hypothermia preventions & shelter, emergency pantries, and much more.
Shelter House – Supports the FFx County communities with hot meals, operates five shelter facilities and several housing programs to support our homeless neighbors.
Shepherd’s Center of Fairfax-Burke – Provides educational and enrichment programs for older adults in the community. Volunteers are needed to drive clients to various appointments or grocery shopping. Volunteers are needed in their Fairfax office also to take phone calls, add info to database for the drivers to select who and when they can assist.
Panel members are Elders Lois Wenzell and Nancy Jones.
Coffee in the Narthex
Thanks to Janet and Jay Lough, we again have coffee in the Narthex! Please join us at 10:00 a.m. and after the service for this wonderful fellowship.
Christ Presbyterian Church Mission Statement
God calls us to be a people who:
Live in the reconciling Spirit of Christ;
Joyfully praise God and grow together in faith and knowledge;
Care for one another in His Spirit;
Nurture each other through teaching, fellowship, and prayer;
Reach out into our community, witnessing for Jesus Christ,
and sharing His hope, faith and love.
Christ Presbyterian Church Statement on Racism
October 2, 2020
The Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA) consists of two parts: The Book of Confessions and The Book of Order. Within The Book of Confessions is The Confession of 1967, Inclusive Language Text, Art. 9.44a, which states:
God has created the peoples of the earth to be one universal family. In his reconciling love, God overcomes the barriers between sisters and brothers and breaks down every form of discrimination based on racial or ethnic difference, real or imaginary. The church is called to bring all people to receive and uphold one another as persons in all relationships of life: in employment, housing, education, leisure, marriage, family, church, and the exercise of political rights. Therefore, the church labors for the abolition of all racial discrimination and ministers to those injured by it. Congregations, individuals, or groups of Christians who exclude, dominate, or patronize others, however subtly, resist the Spirit of God and bring contempt on the faith which they profess.
Similarly, the Mission Statement of the Presbytery states that we will “bear public witness to the love, truth, and justice of God in Jesus Christ specifically in the areas of racism and reconciliation.”
We, the community of Christ Presbyterian Church (CPC) of Fairfax, VA, a diverse Christian congregation, condemn the systemic racism and related violence in the United States that has oppressed and taken the lives of so many of our human family. We condemn the persistent inequities in wealth, health, and opportunity between blacks, along with other peoples of color, and whites despite the economic prosperity of recent years. These disparities exist because of a long history of policies that have excluded and exploited Americans of color. Racial inequality has become so normalized in our society that it has become an expectation. This inequality could be considered a part of American culture. And when there are protests against this culture, some even consider it a protest against America. That’s the way it’s been for more than 400 years. It has gone on, unchecked, for far too long. It has to end!
“Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced.“ James Baldwin
We, the CPC community, cannot be silent. We pledge to the greater community to listen with empathy, to learn with open minds, and to act with purpose. We value and encourage diversity, and are united in our opposition to racism and bigotry wherever they exist. We commit to acting with intent to achieve justice, equality, and inclusivity for all. We further commit to protecting the civil rights of all individuals, without regard to race or ethnicity. We stand in solidarity with those actively working to end racial injustice, systemic or otherwise, with a vision of building a better America and world in general.
