The Good News November 2020 In This Issue... From the desk of….Pastor Nancy Pearson Thanksgiving and Beyond! From the Desk... 1 The holidays look different this year. Our plans to gather our extended families together for a sumptuous dinner on Thanksgiving Day may have to be postponed. Christmas gatherings and large groups of friends and families gathering around the Christmas tree may not happen in the same Youth News 2 way. I wonder if this necessity to rethink our holiday plans gives us an opportunity to reconsider what our Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations are really Christian Ministries 3 all about. What if we used these days and hours when we’d be preparing for a houseful of guests and massive cooking events in the kitchen, to focus on what we’re thankful for. Maybe it’s a good time to have a basket on your Session News 4 kitchen table and some autumn colored papers…to write something every day that you are grateful for. Maybe you’ll find an item or a picture to put in your “Thankful Basket” that reminds you to give thanks to God for a person Treasures News or event. 5 And maybe as the pandemic has required us to think more carefully about how we shop and even how we spend, we could think about others who Upcoming Sermons 6 don’t have the resources that we have, for those in our community and beyond who have been impacted by unemployment, illness, and natural disaster. Christmas time is a great opportunity for us to take our focus off Our Gratitude 7 ourselves and think of how Jesus would have us reach into the lives of others. Yes, the holidays may be different this year! But Praise God: our thankfulness and joy continues through every season. Blessings to you, Community Presbyterian Church Pastor Nancy 2279 N Wedgewood Ln Cedar City, UT 84721 Cedarpres.org The Good News —October 2020 Community Presbyterian Church Youth Newsletter November 2020 November Lineup (Youth Group is from 11:30-1:00 on Sundays) Sunday 10/25 Youth Group: Halloween theme Sunday 11/1 Youth Group: Jesus and the Supernatural Tuesday 11/3 HS Girls Group Sunday 11/8 Youth Group: Jesus as Sacrifice Sunday 11/15 Youth Group: Thanksgiving when life goes “wrong” Tuesday 11/17 HS Girls Group Saturday 11/21 Sub For Santa Service Event and Friendsgiving Dinner Sunday 11/22 Youth Group: Thanksgiving when you think you’re poor Sunday 11/29 NO Youth Group, have a great Thanksgiving Break! High School Girls Group! 1st & 3rd Tuesdays, 6:30pm-7:30pm No boys allowed (although we’ll probably talk about boys…) Every 1st and 3rd Tuesday evening from 6:30-7:30pm. At Bristlecone Coffee & Yoga, 67 W Center St. This will be a “Word, Share, Prayer” format with a more High School focus dealing with topics that are on your mind, digging into the Bible to listen for how God’s Word can speak into our daily lives. Sub for Santa Service & Friendsgiving potluck Dinner! Saturday, Nov 21 RSVP by Sunday, 11/15 Cost: $10 donation for gifts Starting and Ending at Community Pres. 4:00-6:00 Service Project 6:00-7:30 Friendsgiving Dinner and Games Join us on a shopping spree service project to benefit the Iron County Holiday Assistance! We will head to Walmart to buy gifts for kids whose families can’t afford Christmas presents. When we’ve spent all our dough, we’ll return to church for Friendsgiving dinner and games. Bring $10, a dessert or side dish to share (or we can make some food ourselves), the permission form on the back of this newsletter, and a few friends! (CPC will provide turkey, ham and drinks) It’ll be fun! ***PARENTS! We need help with transportation! All students will wear face coverings and sanitize hands before getting in vehicles (and throughout the event). Please let Pr Robyn know if you can help drive!!! The Good News —October 2020 Children’s Ministry November 2020 CPC Moms Gather with other moms for an evening of conversation, hot drinks and supportive fellowship. BYO drinks and we’ll meet in the CPC Youth Room or Welcome Center—whichever has the comfy-er couches! We will practice COVID precautions by staying 6 feet apart and wearing masks as much as possible while still sipping our lattes. Join our Facebook Group CPCMoms by friending Robyn Eddy (Pastor Robyn). We’re trying to set up our first gathering for the end of October or early November. Children’s Christmas Program! Sunday, December 13 during the 10am worship service. Rehearsals on Saturday, December 5 and December 12. We are still working out the details, but please mark your calendars for this year’s Children’s Christmas program. It will definitely be simpler than in the past, taking COVID precautions into consideration, but we want our kiddos to shine like the Christmas Star as they help re-tell the story of Jesus’ birth. Inquirers/New Members Class…on Zoom! Interested in learning more about the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA)? Interested in what Community Presbyterian Church is all about here in Cedar City? Our Inquirer’s class is for you! Though the format is different during this season, we want to join together to explore our faith and our church and what it looks like to be a Presbyterian follower of Jesus Christ. At the end of the class, you may want to make a commitment to become a member of CPC. Pastor Nancy will lead this group on ZOOM. Materials will be provided in notebook form to be picked up at the church office. We’re considering a one hour class for 4 weeks beginning in mid November. If you are interested in being a part of this unique class, please contact Pastor Nancy at [email protected] or the church office at [email protected] John 15:12-13 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. Dearest Church Family, As your shepherds we reach out to you. We continue to look for ways to stay connected and let you know that you are loved and cared for as family. We have sent cards, emails, texts, and phone calls. Best of all face to face of course paying heed to being safe with masks and distancing. If we are not connected to you we do our best to support those you feel close to and assist them in meeting your needs. It is with great joy that we respond to the blessings in our lives by sharing our love and concern to our church family. We thank God for the opportunity to serve our church with His guidance. You may contact any of us! Rita Osborn 590-8520 Cathy Ewert 559-3553 Jeff Smith (310) 612-4331 Marilyn Smith 590-4331 Gen Phelps 559-6822 The Good News —October 2020 Session News Session met on Oct. 21. 2020 on the patio of Dana Covey. Excused were Jane McCoy and Linda Stetzenbach. Word, Share, Prayer was a devotional by Stan Ott, Building One Another. The minutes of the previous meeting were approved. Reports: • Pastor Nancy will be taking a study leave Nov. 2-6.The Stewardship campaign this year will be Abundance and Scarcity. Stewardship Sundays are Nov 8, 15 and 22. Pastor Nancy would like to produce our own Advent Booklet. • Pastor Robyn-the youth group numbers are small, Robyn is intentionally seeking each person individually to make sure they are feeling supported and grow in their faith. • Youth-the youth group was kicked off for this year with frisbee golf and dinner out at 3 peaks. A bit windy, but fun. The youth led the Oct 4 service, and the high school girls group has met twice. The annual Pumpkin patch event was quite successful with about 30 people in attendance. • Finance-budgets will be due soon. The September finance report was approved. A motion was approved to purchase a projection version of the Glory to God hymnal, with music and lyrics. • Worship and Music-Ruth Fotheringham will lead W/M during Linda’s absence. • Congregational Life-a nice retirement celebration was held honoring Marci on Oct 11. • Mission- A motion was approved to allocate more funds from Treasures to the charities that Treasures supports. • Personnel- An Admin Asst. job description was approved to be announced. • Presbytery-Presbytery met virtually on Oct. 10 with about 58 people in attendance by Zoom. It was a very successfully conducted meeting. A new Executive Presbyter was approved, Rev. Mirjam Hass-Melchior. She will be starting at least by Jan 1, 2021. Rev Jeff Silliman was honored for his many years of dedication to the ministry in Utah. The next meeting of session will be at 3pm on Nov. 18th. The meeting was adjourned with prayer by Pastor Nancy. Worship and Music We are pleased to be able to continue to meet for in person worship on Sunday mornings. Our Session el- ders continue to monitor closely the rising numbers of people in Utah infected with the virus so that we can make sure we are both complying with the state restrictions and providing a safe experience for our people. Case counts in Iron County remain lower that the state average, but of course that could change at any time. We appreciate your continued adherence to the restrictions including social distance, face coverings and no gatherings for fellowship.