We gather in grace, connected by a sense of place and purpose with generations of faithful servant-leaders who journeyed before us. We seek to open our hearts as we open our doors – with room for everyone – and to open all our senses to God’s life-affirming, life-changing presence through creative and diverse worship.

We grow in grace, not because we know all the answers – or even all the questions – but because we are drawn to God’s word and Christ’s example. We seek to be Christ’s family here and now – to embrace each other as we are, to nurture who we might become, to celebrate with one another in good times and encourage one another in hard times, to listen and learn and lead.

We go in grace, challenged and strengthened by the Spirit to do God’s work and show God’s love in the world. We seek to look beyond our walls and beyond ourselves – to see God’s image in every face, and to serve God’s people in every place life leads us.

The journey continues in an ever-widening circle of grace.

Souper Bowl Sunday!

It’s time for the Super Bowl. . . which means it’s also time for the Souper Bowl, when we remember that as we have our parties and stuff ourselves with junk food and watch a game that costs millions of dollars to put on, there are people who have nowhere to go, little or nothing to eat, and need our help. Please bring your donations of canned food and money for the Crystal Lake Food Pantry on Sunday! Our youth will be collecting these donations. We hope to beat last year’s RCLPC record of $1460 and 354 canned goods. Don’t know what to bring? Check out the Food Pantry’s website for a list of their 20 most needed items. Thanks!

Bake Sale!

Want some post-valentine goodies for your sweetheart?
Want some for yourself?!?
The High School Youth can help!
Look for the Valentine Bake Sale on Sunday, February 15th! This is always a great selection of home-baked yumminess, from cookies to muffins to cupcakes to pies. Indulge your sweet tooth and help the youth get to Montreat this summer!

MISSION FOCUS at RCLPC

February	Homeless: Souper Bowl of Caring Home of the Sparrow PADS
March	Illinois Migrant Council
April	Hunger: One Great Hour of Sharing Offering of Letters Home of the Sparrow - Easter project
May	Children: Youth Service Bureau Pentecost Offering
June	Children: Fairhaven in Alexandria, Egypt VBS - Care Packages for Kids
July	Faith in Action of McHenry County
August	Native American Connection
September	Poverty: CROP Walk
October	Peacemaking Offering
November	Fair Trade: Global Gift Shop
December	Alternative Giving: Christmas Joy Offering Giving Tree Heifer Project
January	The Good Samaritan

Meet-n-Eat

Mark your calendars for a Meet-n-Eat at Pirro’s in Woodstock on Friday, February 20th! Good food, good conversation, good times! Hope to see you there!

Food Pantry Update

We served 20,600 people, gave out 32,891 bags of food, received 230,903 pounds in food donations and 43 percent went to children.

The people of RCLPC and Crystal Lake made all this possible. Many thanks go to you and our wonderful volunteers, you know who you are. Nancy Vazzano

WEAVE Needs Your Help!

We love WEAVE! We love the time to share table fellowship, to eat good food, to converse with friends, to sing and learn and play. But we need some help: each week the cleanup after dinner has been falling on just one or two people while the rest of us go on to different things. But many hands make light work! If you can help clean up after dinner, please do! We start cleaning up around 6:50, and the work begins in earnest at 7pm. If lots of us are helping, it will only take a few minutes. Please pitch in! Thanks!

Save the date for a McHenry County Housing Crisis Forum:

Friday, February 13, 2009 – 8:30am – 11:30am
McHenry County Administration Building, 667 Ware Road, Woodstock

Do you work or volunteer for a public or private social service agency, hospital, church, shelter, food pantry, government in public safety, parks, or facilities – or any organization that gets questions from people looking for help with a housing problem? If you want to learn about the many resources available to help individuals and families during the current housing crisis, please plan to attend this half day program. And, we are interested in learning what resources your program or facility has to offer.

Experts from various social service, government, and businesses will share information on the services and opportunities available today, plus there will be a discussion of solutions that can be applied to avoid a similar situation in the future. Resource materials will be available to help people working on the front lines provide the best information to the people they serve.

Refreshments will be served. While there is no charge for the program, reservations are suggested to ensure that there will be enough space for attendees. Please call 815-334-4564 or email plandev@co.mchenry.il.us to reserve your spot. We encourage you to bring as many individuals from your program to this Forum as possible. Hearing these important messages together as a team will help you turn the information shared into specific action steps within your program and create collaborative opportunities with colleagues.

Program sponsored by McHenry County Government and
Imagine McHenry County.

Inquirer’s Class—
Sundays: Feb. 15, 22, & March 1

Interested in exploring membership here at RCLPC? An Inquirer’s class has been scheduled to begin on Sunday, February 15, from noon-1:30pm and will run for three consecutive weeks (Feb. 15, Feb. 22 & March 1). This class will meet in the Lounge. We will explore what it means to be a Christian, what it means to be a Presbyterian, and what it means to be a member of RCLPC. Light refreshments will be served and childcare will be provided upon request. Please RSVP to the church office (815-459-1132 or email at office@rclpc.org) or sign up in the Connecting Link. Questions?? Please see Teri Peterson.

Get Your Act Together!
The RCLPC Talent-Optional Show
is coming!

Sunday, March 1st, from 5-7pm, come to RCLPC for an evening of performance fun! Have an act you want to do? Email or leave Teri a note about your act and how long it is (so we don’t have duplicate acts and so we don’t end up with 8 hours of fun—it’s a school night after all!). Our youth will be displaying their talents, their non-talents, and their senses of humor—will you display yours too? Skits, music, stand-up comedy, and many other acts welcome! Come one, come all—talent optional! Tickets to the show will be by donation to the summer high school youth trip to the Montreat Youth Conference!

Girl Scout Cookies for the Troops!

It's that wonderful time of the year when Brownies and Girl Scouts take orders for their famous cookies. Please consider buying a box, taping a brief note to it ("We are thinking of you" or "This is from a Cubs fan in McHenry County"), and bringing it to RCLPC when the cookies are delivered. We will give a box to each of the 54 families of the National Guard soldiers, and we will send boxes to RCLPC's troops and the 56 soldiers in the Woodstock National Guard stationed in Afghanistan. Did you know that our National Guard troops increased from 54 to 56 because our soldiers adopted two soldiers who were not getting any care packages? Questions - please contact Mary Moltmann or Ed Bennett

Shoes and Socks for Afghan Children

1st Sgt. Andrew Fowles with the Woodstock National Guard Delta Company, 1-178th Infantry Regiment that deployed to Afghanistan has asked for our help: could we send children’s gently-used shoes and socks so that his soldiers can distribute them to the many bare-footed children who live near his base. The average mid-January temperature in Kabul is 30 degrees Fahrenheit. Please bring children’s shoes and socks to RCLPC from Monday – Friday from 9:00AM – 3:00PM or on Sunday from 8:30AM – Noon – no deadline – we will continue to ship as we receive them.

Drink a Cup of Brew
and Donate a Dollar or Two

Whether you are enjoying a pastry from the 2nd Sunday Cookie Lift bakers, or spending time between services visiting with new or long-term church friends, a cup of coffee or tea may be just the thing. You’ll notice our donation basket has returned in order to help us keep church expenses trimmed. By all means, share a cup of coffee or tea, whether or not you have coins for the basket. You may also spot a cart for coffee cups. If you’d like to bring a spare cup from home, just label it with your name. Rinse and return it to the cart for your reuse next time. It’s win-win -- we can save money on disposables and produce less waste at the same time.

Coffee Cart

The ongoing sale of bags of fair trade coffee has had a steady stream of buyers. Be sure to check for your favorite coffee, tea, or chocolate! Purchases support small farmers and their families around the world.

Help Send St. Patrick’s Day Greetings to the Troops!

Please come to Fellowship Hall on Sunday, Feb. 8 between 9:15 AM and Noon to enjoy pastries with a Valentine's Day theme. Donations are welcome and we will send care packages to RCLPC's troops and the 56 soldiers of the Woodstock National Guard. Also, please gather after the 9:30am service and pick up an 8-1/2 by 11 sheet of white paper with an assigned letter so that we can make a sign that will say:

RIDGEFIELD CRYSTAL LAKE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
WISHES YOU A HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

Each person will take one letter of the above message, write it very large and decorate it, and then about 10:45am we will line up so that each person holds the letter they designed - we will be photographed, and we will send the photo to the troops. No artistic ability required! Questions? Please contact Mary Moltmann or Ed Bennett

Mission Outreach Ministry 2008 Thank You

The Annual Report for mission giving in 2008 gives us impressive dollars generously contributed by the members of RCLPC. What it does not give us is the number of people involved in our mission program which is even more impressive.

We wish to humbly thank the leaders of Designated Missions:

Jim Bauman for the Spare Change for a Big Change
Nancy Blakely, her team and the many hands that have continued the Cookie Walk on behalf of six missions
Rebecca Floyd who shops so faithfully for PADS lunches every month as well as the individuals, families, High School and Middle School Groups who have prepared and delivered lunches twice a month to two PADS sites for the homeless.
Lois Johnson for bringing a global gift shop to us to help those in third world countries as well as showing us the value in Fair Trade purchases.
Rick Johnson for promoting Fairhaven School in Alexandria Egypt student scholarships and the Bread for the World initiative.
Ann Legg for raising our consciousness in El Salvadorian and Colombian advocacy opportunities.
Joy Martin and the volunteers for Faith in Action of McHenry County and Home of the Sparrow.
Mary Moltmann for the Cookie Lift project for our troops that has attracted media attention for RCLPC and presented diverse volunteer opportunities.
Wayne Prindiville and the Build a Dream project in Mexico
MJ Towne for CROP Walk for Hunger and the Illinois Migrant Council
Nancy Vazzano for the Crystal Lake Food Pantry addressing the needs of local hungry
Dorothy Vick and her team for Share the Bounty helping the homeless and hungry
The Native American Connection with Oglala Lakota Indians in South Dakota and the White Buffalo Calf Woman’s Shelter. And the 2008 RCLPC Reservation visitors, Dawn Condill, Gloria Thorson, Joy Martin, Ann Legg.

From the youngest in our Sunday School who give every Easter and at Jesus birthday party to Home of the Sparrow to those who give of themselves to these and other missions, those on the MOM committee, to those who provide for the needy through the Christmas Giving Tree and all of you who offer daily prayers for those who are hurting here and around the world, we offer a RCLPC THANK YOU! ~ The Deacons Mission Leaders - Ann, Rick and Joy

Ann Legg on Mission in El Salvador

Ann has added two new posts to her El Salvador blog and a number of photos. A press release regarding the election of Sunday, January 20 appears first followed by her reflections on her experience in a different post. The link to the website is wwwjustice-for-elsalvador-ann.blogspot.com. Ann Legg

Free Musical Matinee for Senior Citizens

Please call Andi Miller at Central High School at 815-459-2505 x267 for play/dinner reservations to this year’s musical “Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” The matinee performance will be on Wednesday, March 11, 2009 at 2:00pm in the CLC auditorium. Please note the later start time than past years. This is due to the short run time of the show. A free dinner will also be provided beginning around 4:00pm. Cast members and senior class mentors serve this meal. Dinner reservations are necessary, as seating is limited. Extra parking will be available across the street from Bethany Lutheran Church at 76 W. Crystal Lake Ave. A shuttle bus will be there to transport guests between the high school and the parking lot. Other performances will be offered on Thursday, March 12th at 7pm, Friday, March 13th at 7pm, Saturday, March 14 t 7pm, or Sunday, March 15 at 2pm. Tickets are available at the door for $7.00

Free Performance and Dinner

Prairie Ridge would like to invite you to attend this year’ spring musical All Shook Up. They are hosting a free senior citizens performance and dinner on Thursday, February 26th at 1:30pm. Please call ahead to reserve your spot so PR knows in advance how many will be attending the show and how many will be staying for the dinner. A shuttle bus will be running from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to the high school starting at 12:30pm up until show time (the church is located on Walkup, directly across from Veteran Acres Park. The Ticket Hotline number is 815-479-0404. Press the number 9 for information regarding the senior citizen performance, and leave a message after the tone. David Jensen, Musical Director

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Save the Date! March 1st, 5-7pm, The RCLPCVariety Show--talent optional!

The Spirit

of Ridgefield Crystal Lake Presbyterian Church

Mission Statement