Ridgefield-Crystal Lake Presbyterian Church
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July 11, 2007

The SPIRIT of Ridgefield-Crystal Lake Presbyterian Church
Click here to see the July calendar.

CONGREGATIONAL MEETING CALLED

The session has called a congregational meeting for August 5, 2007, at 10:30am for the purpose of electing deacons.

New Orleans Mission Trip Update

Very soon the Senior High Mission Trip participants will be leaving, on a jet plane. Monday, July 23, we fly out to the hot and humid New Orleans to help with Katrina Relief, to meet other youth from around the country, to study and worship, and to have fun! The group will be commissioned at the 9.30 service on Sunday, July 22. Come show your support! During the trip, please keep the group in your prayers as we learn, grow, and work together.

Our fundraising efforts have gone reasonably well, but we still have a gap to make up. If you are able to help by sponsoring some part of our cost, we’d be very grateful! Who knows, maybe we’ll even send you a postcard! Some things you can sponsor (or help sponsor) are:

a van (1 @ $300), a chaperone (4 @ $340), gas ($100), supplies fee ($100), lunch when we arrive ($100), sunscreen ($20), “stuff we forgot but really need” ($50), and laundry money ($20).

If you would like to sponsor an item, please make your check to RCLPC and put “youth mission” and your sponsored item in the memo line, and turn it in by July 22. Thanks!

Books, Books, Books!

The church library is a wonderful place to find all kinds of books, from children’s books to fiction to theology. Marge Hansen and Joyce Berube have been working hard to keep the library organized and well-stocked, and now the catalog has been fully transferred to a computer! If you’re wondering what’s in the library, you can just ask Kim to pull the catalog up for you. If there’s something you think we should have, just leave a note for Teri, as she’s overseeing the books we put in there. There will also be a place for you to leave suggestions in a box in the library. Come enjoy this wonderful resource!

RCLPC Sponsors Ice Cream Social in Woodstock

Come to the Ice Cream Social sponsored by RCLPC at the Woodstock City Summer Band Concert on Wednesday, August 15 from 7:00 - 8:00 PM on the Woodstock Square.

It will be old fashioned fun for the entire family! Bring a blanket or folding chair and enjoy music and dessert. Note: dogs are not allowed in the park. Our goals are to:

* Raise some money and publicity for the Christmas Stockings Project for the Marines in Iraq,
* Raise some publicity for RCLPC,
* Raise some publicity for the "Beyond the Cookie Walk" Cookbook because we will bake cookies and brownies from it, and we will have the cookbook for sale that night.

If you would like to publicize a program or activity that you do at RCLPC like the choir or youth group or the fellowship committee, please contact us. This event will give us the opportunity to let the community know about RCLPC and what we have to offer.

If you would like to bake cookies, or help set up that evening , sell cookies and brownies and cookbooks, or help with clean up, please contact Ed Bennett and Mary Moltmann.

Opportunities to Study and Create

* Lectionary Study group (LSG--Get High on the Bible!). The LSG meets every Tuesday at noon.
We invite everyone to bring a brownbag lunch and an open mind. We study the lectionary texts (the scripture readings) two months ahead of when they will be used in worship. Not only is this an opportunity for scripture study and spiritual growth, but it also helps to shape the theme for our worship.

* Worship Planning Group (WPG). The WPG meets every Thursday at 6:30 pm.
This group takes the theme for a given Sunday and helps develop creative ways to worship for each of our services. If you have an interest in helping to plan our worship, please come on Thursday at 6:30 pm. Open to everyone!

* RCLPC Worship Blog.
Have an idea for worship but can’t make the WPG meeting? The RCLPC Worship Blog is updated every week with scripture and themes for upcoming worship services. You are invited to read the text and the theme and then share whatever comments, suggestions, or ideas you have. We will do our best to incorporate these into the planning process. The Worship Blog is at rclpcworship.blogspot.com. It is also linked on our main website from the worship page.

Ice Cream Social! - August 12

We’re having an old-fashioned ice cream social here at church on August 12 after the 11:00 worship. Do you make home-made ice cream? Make some and bring it over! Do you have a favorite flavor or favorite brand? Bring it over! We’re looking for all kinds of ice cream. The fellowship team will provide bowls, spoons, and toppings! See you on the 12th!

Summer Sunday School Continues

Don’t forget we’ll be having summer Sunday school for grades K-5 in the Fellowship Hall each Sunday at 9:30! The new curriculum we’re using is designed to help kids connect more with what happens in worship, and it follows the same Scripture readings we use in worship to make the connections in the same day. We hope to see you there!

Children and Youth Leaders Needed

Do you enjoy learning? Growing? Mentoring? Do you feel called to work with children or youth? Please let Wendy Sanders or Teri Peterson know if you would be interested in helping out with Sunday School this coming school year.

Planning Ahead


We are preparing for next year’s confirmation class. If you will be in 8th grade or higher and are interested, please talk to Teri by July 15 so we can get information to you.

Adut Ed Classes Continue...

* Christianity and Other Religions
Please join us on Tuesday evenings at 7 pm as Richard leads us in conversation about Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, Christianity (an “outsider” perspective), and others. If you’ve ever wondered how the reality of religious pluralism might impact Christian faith, or if you’ve ever wanted to learn just a bit about the major religions of the world, this class is for you. Childcare is provided.

* Parenting on Prayers (POP)
This small group meets together on Sunday mornings at 9:30 am back in the education wing and they are reading the book “Parenting with Love and Logic” by Foster Cline and Jim Fay. If you have problems, questions, advice, experience, stories or just need to know you aren't the only one who feels like you do, this class is for you! They meet during the Education Hour on Sundays so you don't have to worry about childcare. This is a great opportunity for you to spend some time with other parents and grow together spiritually.

The Native American Connection

I just returned from a trip to Rosebud and Pine Ridge Reservations near the Badlands in South Dakota. As always, I feel most blessed to have been invited to return and was asked several times during this visit, “How many times have you been here?” When I responded that it was my sixth, there was always a thoughtful, affirmative nod by the Native American who asked the question as if to acknowledge my seriousness in continuing to be a part of the bridge of friendship being built with our Indian brothers and sisters in two of the most poverty stricken areas in the United States.

Our small group of 10 enjoyed the hospitality of our Indian hosts under the leadership of Dr. Claude Marie Barbour, the Presbyterian Minister without whose guidance this effort would never have survived. There was also a lot of sadness on this trip, the Rosebud Sioux tribal president having recently declared a state of emergency because of the suicides and attempted suicides among the Reservation youth. Since January 2006, there have been six suicides and more than 240 attempts.

As a result of their concern, a group of six women climbed a hill on the Reservation, fasting and praying for a full 24 hours on a hot, humid day (no food or water whatsoever). They spread themselves out over the hill praying constantly for the salvation of the children. As the period ended, we and many others met these women as they came down the hill exhausted, spent from the heat and lack of water but committed to their purpose. That night a healing ceremony was held to continue the prayer support. A powerful testimony to their concern.

Among the women who participated in this sacrificial demonstration of love was Tillie Black Bear, the Executive Director of the White Buffalo Calf Woman Society, Inc in Mission, DSD, the oldest shelter for women on an Indian reservation. She was recently instrumental in the creation of a DVD made on suicide among children to be circulated as widely as money permits. The story is simply but powerfully portrayed by children, one whose suicide attempt failed, two Mothers who each lost a child and therapists who are dedicated to help families so stricken. The prevailing message is that the children don’t really recognize the finality of committing suicide but are simply searching for a way to end their emotional pain. ~ Joy Martin

P. S. If you are interested in making a Reservation journey next year, please let me know your intentions now so that you can participate in the necessary classes.

Youth Exchange – What is that?

Do you ever want to live in Turkey, Italy or maybe in Africa? What would it be like to live with another family or go to a school in Australia or Norway? Rotary Youth exchange students do this and come home with memories of a lifetime, new skills and a better understanding of the world and their part in that world.

Your family might host a student from another country or you might decide to apply to study in another part of our world. Preliminary applications may be submitted by mid-September, 2007 for the outbound program. www.csrye.org for long form and hosting information or www.cldawnbreakers.org under Youth Exchange for preliminary application.

One more hosting opportunity is available for a Prairie Ridge family for April 15, 2008 through June for a darling Japanese girl. For more information, call Karen Hutchings, Youth Exchange Officer for the Rotary Club of Crystal Lake Dawnbreakers.

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