Worship
Join us for worship Sunday mornings at 10:30 in person and on Zoom
Worship, May 5, 2024 – Pastor Gary starts his new series on Encounters with Christ with a message titled, “The Temptation of Christ”.
Watch archived lessons by visiting our Worship Page
Tuesday Message From Pastor Gary – May 7
Hello CPC-Fairfax!
Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, after a 40-day fast. In human terms his willpower would have been low, he should have been susceptible to temptation, scripture says he was “famished” (Matthew 4:2). Yet, he did not fall to temptation. Adam & Eve, on the other hand, were living in Eden. They had all the food they could want, whenever they wanted it. Yet, they did fall to temptation when tempted with a piece of fruit.
Temptation is a powerful force. God’s laws, the commandments that we are called to follow are not arbitrary. They are not in place for God’s benefit. They are in place for our benefit, but there are times when we fail to lead the lives we are called to live. We can be tempted to compromise our values, our faith, all kinds of things – and there are certainly times when we succumb. It happens and it is going to happen.
The good news is, we serve an eternally loving, graceful God. So, when we stumble, when we fail to lead the lives we are called to lead, we are forgiven. Let us not wallow in shame or self-pity. Let us not rationalize our behavior, as somehow okay. Likewise, let us not be so quick to criticize others when they stumble. Instead, let us look forward to that next opportunity to serve God, that next opportunity to show our love for our neighbor. Let us go forward giving thanks and worshiping our living God!
Have a great week,
Gary
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 lead the children in song and playing chimes, accompanied by adult ringers as a tribute to mothers .
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 will begin our campaign for funding and purchasing 100 backpacks in June. PES would like delivery mid-August.
Their May newsletter tells us they were able to serve 48% more families in need at their client choice food pantries in April 2024 compared to April 2023. Two hundred eight (208) families were served at their Centreville Client Food Pantry. Forty-one (41) families used their pantries for the first time in April. During April, WFCM was able to connect more than 700 families with groceries at the Centreville and Chantilly pantries.
CPC Food Pantry.
Thank you for your continued contributions to help feed those in need. We missed bringing our pantry items in on this past Sunday. We emphasize this day of sharing as it is our day of Communion also (easy to remember?) Please bring your items in all during the month. Though the items appear to be the same, they are staples to these families and much appreciated.
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.
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.
