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| Christian Spirituality Book Group
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Pastor Elane leads a Christian Spirituality Book Group at Barnes & Noble on Almaden Expwy (at Blossom Hill). It meets the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of each month at 7 p.m.
In April the group reads a classic of Xn spirituality: Mere Christianity, by CS Lewis (and you thought he just did Narnia!)
Buy the book at Barnes & Noble, or through the Amazon link on our website.
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 I was browsing t-shirts for infants the other day (has anyone else noticed how many clothing options there are for people who can reasonably expect to wear an outfit once before growing out of it?) when I came across one I wanted to get, not only for the kid, but the adults in our little family.
 If one thing is clear in this life, it is that we are strangers and sojourners on this earth. Though connected by some piece of a strand of DNA, we can hardly call each other "brother" or "sister" without metaphorically speaking. Or laughing. Or weeping.
But one day, the son of God reached out both arms on a cross and embraced the whole world. You. Me. The Islamic militant hiding in London. The Christian extremist hiding in commerce. By virtue of His embracing us -- the son of God embracing us -- we are part of His family. Because of Christ, we need not speak and act "as if". We who have chosen to be adopted by Jesus are His brothers, His sisters. Hence brothers and sisters to each other. Really. There are papers to prove it.
The living questions of our faith, then, are all about adoption. To wit: Having been chosen by God for adoption,
- Will you allow yourself to be adopted -- to no longer be an orphan, a stranger in a world to which you do not belong -- to accept God as your parent, making you a sibling to Jesus and everyone else who has so chosen?
- And, will you be adopted in name only -- taking "Christian" as your surname, so to speak, while clinging to the superficial relationships of nationality, consumption, and cause -- or are you willing to stop being a stranger and a sojourner, to live as a pilgrim and a disciple in communion with the One who made it possible, and with all the other pilgrims and disciples?
There's room in the RF4RL course, and in the membership orientation. There's room in the small groups, and prayer triads are waiting to be formed. There's room for apologies, forgiveness, and deliverance. There's room for building the kin-dom together.
There is room in this family, and we're asking you to become part of it. No t-shirt required.
Your sister in Christ,
Pastor Elane |
Current Stories and Upcoming Events
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No More Christians
Jesus wasn't a Christian.
He never asked anyone to become a Christian.
He just said: Follow me.
If you're a Christian, it's time to rethink what that means.
If you're not a Christian, don't become one. Follow Him instead.
Sundays, March 30 - May 11, 10 a.m. Bring a friend. |
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Real Faith 4 Real Life: The 6 Marks
 We believe that faith is lived out in real life.
We know we can be faithful and still be real.
Since we began offering it two years ago, RF4RL: The 6 Marks has become the foundational course for spiritual practice here at Campbell. We will be offering it through our existing small groups beginning the week of April 13.
In this course, you will learn six of Jesus' primary spiritual practices -- prayer, worship, reading Scripture, serving, relating, and giving -- and work with others to develop your own practices.
RF4RL: The 6 Marks will be offered at the following times:
Sunday evenings, 6-8 p.m., in Fireside (with Faithful Followers)(women)
Sunday evenings, 6-8 p.m., location TBA (men)
Monday evenings, time TBA, City Espresso, 630 Blossom Hill Rd, San Jose (all)
Thursday afternoons, 3:30-5 p.m., in Fireside (with Real Faith women)
Child care is available on Sunday evenings and Thursday afternoons.
Whether you've taken it before, or are new to Campbell, we strongly encourage you to sign up. RF4RL: The Six Marks will help you make Jesus' spiritual practices part of your life, and will help prepare you for membership in this community and our annual recommitment. To sign up, contact Pastor Bran, or use the sign-up sheets at Sunday Worship.
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Dive - April 2nd
 Join your brothers and sisters in another first Wednesday deep Worship service of music, prayer, and contemplation. This is
an opportunity to dive deep into the heart of God with your brothers
and sisters in Christ and
spend quality time with the God who spent quality time with us in the
incarnation of Jesus.
Starting at 7:00 PM, we
will hang out together, sing together, pray together, hear God's Word
together, and enjoy space and time for individual prayer at the cross.
Bring all of you, to be refreshed by all of Him
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Taking the Next Step: Community
 What's your next step in following Jesus? Where is He taking you?
If
you're considering committing to following Christ with this church
community, please come to the first half of the Prospective Member Orientation, on April 12, 9 a.m. to noon.
We'll meet, pray, and have a meal. You'll learn more about our church,
where we think He's leading us as a community, and how you might find
your place.
The second half of the orientation will take place
on Saturday, May 10, also from 9 to noon, and will focus on our church's
relationship to the wider church, and on making a commitment using the
6 Marks of discipleship.
If you've become a part of our community
here, we'd love to have you join us on the journey, because we get
closer to Christ when we get closer to people getting closer to Christ.
To sign up, contact Pastor Elane.
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Greening the Church, Restoring Creation
Community and creek cleanup
On Saturday, April 12th, from 8 a.m. to noon, join the Growing Green Ministry team participating in the City of Campbell Community Cleanup. Spend your morning working side-by-side with your brothers and sisters to make our wider community clean and safe for all God's people. Materials and refreshments will be provided, so sign up and show up! Contact Larry Edson for more information. Recycling
E-Waste Recycling has been rescheduled to Saturday May 31. If you were counting on dropping things off on Saturday, April 19th, you still can and get your car washed too! CREATE, our youth group, will be washing cars (using biodegradeable soap!) from 9 a.m. to noon. Collection boxes for hard to recycle, re-use items and e-waste will be available. To find out more about what items can be recycled, click here
To
expand your creation care, invite your friends, neighbors and
co-workers to recycle their waste, too. Email information and paper
reminders for the May 31st E-waste Recycling event date to forward to friends will come your
way soon. In addition, you can always bring your
old batteries (up to size 'D'), CDs, DVDs, cell phones, printer cartridges, and laptop and cell phone Batteries to the church office for recycling.
Walking the talk on our campus
What would it take to make our facility more energy efficient?
New windows for a start! Come to the next Growing Green Ministry
meeting after church on April 20th to learn about plans for new energy
efficient windows and other facility upgrades that enable us to care
for God's creation by using less energy.
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Praise Reports!
Church Work Day
The
Church Work Day was a great success thanks to Don Clinton, Deb Cosentino, Larry Edson, Mary Alice
Edson, Ross Fuller, Julia Holloway, Sandy Holloway, Angie Jaggars, Faith King,
Bob O'Connor, Ed Pansullo, John Rodgers, Boyce Sanders, Alan
Saucedo, Pastor Bran Scott, Laura Thapa, and Rusty Winzenread. The courtyard restrooms and serving area were painted, 4 dead trees were removed and new ones planted, weeds were
pulled, doors were washed, the Nelson Hall leak was fixed, and trees and shrubs were
trimmed. A lot of fun and
fellowship was had by all. Thank you to all participants for helping fix up and beautify our campus!
Maintaining the property God has loaned us is ongoing stewardship. Join us for the next work day and help keep our campus welcoming!
Earth Hour 2008 On March 29, over 30 people shut off their lights at home and gathered on campus for Earth Hour 2008, joining thousands all over the world. Through turning off our lights at home and on campus, we helped demonstrate the tremendous energy savings that are possible. Growing Green Ministry member Angie Jaggars organized the event, echoing the original Earth Hour in Sydney, Australia last year. We prayed and sang, ate popcorn and other goodies, watched the stars, and enjoyed both the night quiet and the fellowship of friends. So pleasant was the events that many people suggested we gather every Saturday evening in the courtyard!
Music Recital
Young and old, new and practiced, on piano and violin and guitar and bass and drums: our church community members demonstrated their God-given musical talent in a recital after Worship on March 30. Director of Music Ministries Cheryl Forest Morganson has been giving worship-piano lessons to our kids and adults for about a year, and all their hard work is paying off. Musicians included Cameron and Glenn Whitaker, Laura and Linda Israel, mom Melissa Israel, Sarah and Michelle Berg, mom Janeth Berg, Logan and Caleb Sanders, Noah Newberry, Jenna Mennen, Kaylee Allen, Ed Pansullo, plus ringers from our praise band Jeff King and Donald Clinton, and Amanda Faris on flute.
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Save the dates -- church picnic & campout!
Our all-church picnic is going to be Saturday, June 21st in the afternoon and early evening. Bring yourselves, your families, your neighbors, and your pets. It
will be at John D. Morgan Park, and more details will be available the closer we get to the day. Contact Teresa Lewis for more information.
The family campout is scheduled for the weekend of August 22. We'll cook, play, and worship together in the woods and under the stars. RV sites are available near the campsite.
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Ongoing Ministries and Opportunities
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CREATE-ing Strong Youth
Calling all junior high and high school youth! You are hereby encouraged to CREATE -- by meeting Sunday evenings from 6-8 p.m. for food, fellowship, faith and fun! Please contact Larry Edson at 379-4158 for more information.
From Larry's keyboard: A couple of
weeks ago the youth group cooked dinner for the Sunday men's and women's groups and
came through with a great meal enjoyed by all. I think it was good experience
for an all-church dinner in the future. Saturday, April 19 the youth group will be holding a car wash from 9-12. We're
still trying to fit in a campout near the end of school so the carwash will go,
in part, to pay for that.
Look for the new youth group web page to premier soon
thanks to the efforts of Laurita Arney, one of our volunteers. If you're an adult and would like to volunteer, please contact me: we're already planning for next year!. P.S. from Pastor Elane: I am meeting with parents this coming Sunday, April 6 from 5:30-6:30 in Fireside to talk about spiritual formation for youth, and the bright future of our program. If you're a youth parent, or are staring your kid's teenage years in the face, please come!
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Women's Ongoing Connectional Ministries
Faithful Followers
Leadership rotates for this group, but it always meets on Sunday evenings at 6 p.m. in the Fireside Room. All women are welcome. Theyll begin RF4RL: The 6 Marks on April 13, so it's a great time to join. For more information, contact Teresa Lewis (Keeper of the Book). Members describe the group as "often irreverent, never blasphemous"! Faithful Followers plan to do the
Relay for Life for breast cancer in Campbell in July. They are putting together a cookbook
to help raise funds as part of our contribution, and are seeking your best
recipes to fill the cookbook! Ideally, all the recipes will be in hand by April 30th in order to have time to
assemble the book. Contact Mary Alice Edson at 655-9405 if you can provide a favorite recipe!
Real Faith Women This group began as a study group for the 6 Marks, and members continue to support each other's walk with Christ. The Real Faith Women meet on Thursday afternoons from 3:30-5 in the Fireside Room. Child care is provided; Nora Menke is the group leader. They begin RF4RL: The 6 Marks on April 17. Isabel CircleIsabel Circle is our longstanding ministry for sage and seasoned
women. The ladies will meet on Tuesday, April 8th, at 1 p.m. in the
Fireside Room. Please contact Jo Mary Keith at 378-8110 or Evelyn
Brooks at 252-6668 for information.
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March Shelter Dinner Report
From the pen of Angie Jaggers: The beautiful red camellias from the church grounds decorated all of the dining room
tables. Many of the women took the flowers back to their rooms at the
end of the meal.
Juices from Carolyn McNaughton & garlic bread from Audrey
Pecsok complimented the wonderful main courses provided by Deborah
Carpenter, Mary Alice Edson, Sandy Holloway & Theresa Albers. The
18 women & 10 children enjoyed enchilada casserole,
chicken-broccoli casserole, veggie penne pasta as well as ham, corn
& scalloped potatoes. Debbie Weber provided the salad, bottles of
dressing & croutons.
There were special gifts of costume jewelery given by Sheila
Mollett's friend, Faye Donner. Our notions basket was filled to
the brim with lotions, toothpaste, shampoos, etc. from Tracey Hamilton;
Evelyn Brooks; Sandy's friend, Margaret & Faith's neighbor,
Dorothy. These little gifts so please the women - I thank you for
remembering them in this way.
The sign-up calendar for Shelter Dinners is filling up
rapidly. Choir members & our bible study group will be hosting the
dinners soon.
To assist in the monthly Shelter Dinner, contact Angie Jaggers at
sicilyangel@yahoo.com or at 408-292-4063.
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Tuesday Night Bible Study Our Bible study meets Tuesdays from 6:30-7:45 at Pastors Elane and Bran's home in Willow Glen. Right now they're reading the books of the Apocrypha -- the ones that may not be in your Bible at home. It's food for the body and the soul! Contact Pastor Elane or Pastor Bran for location and info. |
Come join the Music Ministry!
Lift your voices and hands in praise of God! Instrumentalists and vocalists - regardless of skill or experience - are welcome to join Campbell UCC's Music Ministry. For details, please contact Cheryl at music@campbellucc.org.
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Real Faith for Real Life What is essential "in heaven and on earth" seems to be, to say it once more, that there should be a long obedience in the same direction: given that,
something always develops, and has developed, for whose sake it is
worthwhile to live on earth... something transfiguring, subtle, mad, and divine.
Friedrich Nietzsche
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