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Last week we talked about sabbath rest, not just during vacation time away, but in every day. Taking the time to rest and be renewed in the knowledge that we are loved, created and wanted by God, can restore our vision which is easily corrupted by the dehumanizing messages that surround us and also resurrect us to the Way God calls us to live in Christ Jesus. Resistance first starts in the centering strength of sabbath rest.
I'm working on our church website to renovate it so that it's not just giving static information about our services and programs, but also an active and interactive forum for spiritual resources, calls to social action and a celebration of our community. If you have suggestions of what might be helpful there, please EMAIL ME - or talk with me in person - so that we can build the site into a discipleship tool for each and everyone of us.
If you desire to go farther in your reflection and spiritual growth about Keeping Sabbath you can find a fabulously helpful reading copied and left on the welcome table in the church entryway this Sunday, or read it online on the CAPC website at www.capcoakland.org/spiritual-practices
See you Sunday in worship,
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This coming Sunday
July 26, 2015
2 Samuel 11:1-15
Sunday's scripture is about power. King David thinks he has it, acts like he has it - believing that he is in control. And yet through his power-tripping he discovers that he is not in control, and is convicted through tragedy and personal downfall of his sin of thinking that he is God.
Rev. Lindsey Reed is our guest preacher in worship. She has preached and led worship with our community several times before. She currently serves as one of the full-time chaplains at Kaiser Hospital of Oakland.
Start the sermon today by wrestling with the texts via Monte's blog post online
at capcoakland.wordpress.com or
www.montemcclain.com
There is no Vocabulary of Faith
meeting this week
as Monte will be absent.
Ushers
Fredora Darmstadt,
Jeff Trowbridge
Liturgist
Monte is looking for help.
Fellowship
Elaine Price,
Chris Olson
Godly Play
Beth Beatty (ST),
Fredora Darmstadt (DK)
These updates could be incorrect if switches have been made between different people.
Be sure to update the office if you've done a switcheroo so that we can
have our publications as up to date as possible. Thanks!
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Check out our new Online Prayer Tools
Submit a prayer request for Sunday's service
You can share your prayer via the internet during the week. This is the same thing as filling out a prayer card during our weekly service, but it can be done in advance on our church blog at
http://capcoakland.wordpress.com/prayer-requests/
Join the electronic prayer chain
We use google groups to discreetly share urgent prayer needs during the week. Sign up on that same blog page.
Prayer Requests shared in worship on July 19, 2015
Prayers of praise and gratitude for:
- That we have a President who understands grace!
Prayers for God to intervene for:
- For our nephew, Jorge, who will be sentenced tomorrow in Guatemala.
- Elizabeth who broke her back in Lake Tahoe on Friday. No spinal injuries.
- For Kathryn Dernham, our office manager. Her mother died suddenly last Sunday.
- Pray for Marda and Lina who will drive to Los Angeles for 5 days of training.
- For a fruitful gathering of 3000 delegates from all around the at the Gideon’s International Convention, held this week in San Jose.
- Healing from leg cramps.
- Prayers for Jay – that God will help him out of a very difficult situation.
- Healing for my friend Ronnie who is having medical problems.
- Healing for Cecelia Jackson, Terry Joseph and Cecelia’s friend Jewel Sierra.
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Helping to Change the World One Person at a Time :
even without us really knowing it!
This week we’re housing a dozen high school students from
Community of Grace Presbyterian Church in Sandy, UT
as they spend a week in Oakland on their summer mission trip.
They’re working during the day at the St Vincent de Paul facility in Oakland
on San Pablo Avenue. And sleeping at the church at night from July 20-25
under the leadership of the Youth Director Tim Fluetsch,
who previously attended UC Berkeley.
They contacted CAPC as their pastor,
Jerrod Lowry, is in a pastor clergy group with Monte.
This is a great, hands-on way for our church community to be involved in missions and the work of sharing the good news of the gospel both near and far.
Look at what we're helping to make happen simply
by opening and using the resource of our church building!
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This Sunday in worship we're hearing a moment for mission about the work of the Gideons International. Gideons International is an evangelical Christian association founded 1899 in Janesville, Wisconsin. The Gideons' primary activity is distributing copies of the Bible free of charge. Learn more online at www.gideons.org
We have regularly supported Gideons International with financial gifts and prayer support. During the offering this Sunday in worship you can give financially to this powerfully concrete ministry. Be sure to use the special GI envelopes provided this Sunday to designate your gift. Then place it in the regular offering plate.
A big thank you to Bob and Ellen Brylawski, both of who are active with Gideons International. They're also attending the annual national Gideons convention this week - which is being held this year right here in San Jose.
You Can View The Gideons International
Convention through
Live Online Broadcasts July 21–25!
• New This Year: Free online broadcasts of The Gideons International Convention
• Enjoy Bible messages by Reverend Hugh Palmer (All Souls Church, London, and a chaplain to Queen Elizabeth), as well as inspiring testimonies, ministry updates, and more
• View the live broadcast starting on July 21. Click here and enter the following user name: convention@gideons.org. The password is “sanjose”
• If translation is needed, audio will be available in English, Spanish, and French
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A big thank you to Bill & Beth Beatty
with their help in leading worship last week and their hosting of last Sunday's Hymn Sing. We're grateful for the musical accompaniment of Bev Deale in worship.
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Help needed to water the garden this Weekend
Can you do it?
I planted some new drought-resistant flowers to help perk up the church garden and porch pots in view of the coming events this Fall in and around our campus. I can water and care for them this week to get them off to a good start. AND we need to have them watered on Sunday (before or after church). Would you be willing to do this? If so contact me today to let me know. I'll be gone this weekend as we celebrate the life of Kristy's father.
This involves water the line of alyssum plants (planted along the line of bricks adjoining the grass) and also the four large pots on the church steps.
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Contemplative Prayer Group
Continues Saturday - July 25th
Ever wondered about contemplative prayer or what some call “centering prayer”?
The Women’s Group is sponsoring a series of discussions and practice on the topic. We will meet from 8:30 am to 10:00 am and spend time discussing the practice and practicing! This series is for folks (men or women) who have no experience with contemplative prayer to those who want a refresher or a nudge or boost to hone their practice. We will read Martin Laird’s Into the Silent Land for our study and discussion.
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Mid Week Gathering at the Stothers
Are you looking for a smaller group or gathering in which you can practice your faith and/or connect with other people?
Welcoming, open and accessible. 7:30 pm to 9 pm.
Every Wednesday starting February 4th.
Thirty minutes exploring Celtic prayers and silence,
thirty minutes exploring God's Word,
thirty minutes sharing and praying
for one another, the church, community and the world.
Questions: call Marda 510.540.7173
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Pete Feltman will be gone on vacation
from Friday July 17th through Friday, August 7th.
Monte will be absent on Sunday, July 26th as his family
marks the celebration of life of Kristy's dad and spreads his ashes that day.
Rev. Lindsey Reed will be preaching.
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\ 
Our next Book Club gathering is Tuesday, August 4th at 12pm.
We're discussing the recent best-selling book Being Mortal which deals with end-of-life issues such as hospice care and how we accompany our loved ones facing terminal situations. The book is very good - thought-provoking, deep - a lot of process - and I think one of the most important reads I've done in the past few years.....even if I hadn't read it while facing the very situations he writes about.
There are some resources for processing the book that I posted to our "book club" page on the church website...should you find that helpful.
http://www.capcoakland.org/book-club/
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Upcoming District One Events
Monthly Newsletter Updates
from Mayor Libby Schaaf
LINK
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What's Going on with the Nestlé Parking Lot?
Some of you experienced first hand stress with the changing security at the Nestlé parking lot which we regularly use. Monte is in conversation with the Nestlé Chief Security Person. Unfortunately he's traveling this week so we're playing phone tag.
You are able to park in the lot. And to do so at night or the weekends, you'll need to enter the lot only from the Chabot side. The Claremont side is no longer the principal entryway, and is regularly closed. The exit doors are always closed, but will open as you approach them in your car, thanks to censors in the ground. So you shouldn't ever be "locked in" or trapped in the parking lot.
Nestlé also always has a minimum of 3 security people working on the premises. Most of them are very friendly with our church members. You can contact them at any time for help, to open the gate, or to help you get out of the parking lot. They all receive phone calls on one cell phone number which is : (510) 517-9131.
Monte is still working on ensuring that the access we were promised is what we actually receive. Look for more updates in this Sunday's bulletin, or next week.
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Contemplative Prayer Group
Saturdays
8:30-10am
in the Library
Deacons' Meeting
Sunday,
July 26th @ noon
right after worship
Session Meeting
Thursday,
August 6th @ 7:30pm
RECREATION VBS 2015
Sign up today!
August 17-21st in partnership with First Presbyterian.
More info online at www.recreationvbs.org
(Check out the new website!)
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Education :: Faith is a process not just an event
Are you looking for ways to grow in faith or to wrestle with life in community? Faith can't be lived in a vacuum. Like embers in a fire, it's in community - life together - that we become alive and shine. Here are some ways you might find a place and space to grow with others:
CAPC Women's Group
1st, 2nd, 3rd Saturdays at 8:30-10:00am in the Library
The Vocabulary of Faith
aka "Bible Study"
Sunday mornings
with Pastor Monte from 9:30-10:15am in the Front Lounge. We're currently reflecting and studying together the readings for the Sunday in worship. Look for them and study in advance on our blogs.
Reading through the Bible
Thursdays at 11:30am in the Library.
Ever read through the Bible or wanted to discover what it says? Here's your chance. The group always goes for lunch along the avenue afterwards.
Friday Night Meal
Friday from 6-7pm downstairs in the Light House Room
We feed roughly 100 people - homed and homeless - each Friday night. Help is always needed from cooking to cleaning, from serving to shopping. Contact Ellen Brylawski to select a date to serve or to get involved on a regular basis.
Godly Play
During worship each Sunday at 10:30am. We invite our children and families to worship as a full inter-generational community on our more kid-friendly 1st Sundays of the month.
Sunday Worship
Sundays at 10:30am
CAPC Choir
Sundays 12:00-1:00pm
upstairs in the Godly Play Room
&
Wednesday 6:00-7:00pm
in the Sanctuary
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July Birthdays
11 Ward Stothers
Dave Eagle
13 Alana 'Attilio
15 Chris Olson
17 Rachel Brylawski
21 Chickwendu Okereke
22 Kaya Ramirez Blake
24 Maya Patil
27 John Fonua
John LaMotte
Have we missed your birthday?
We probably don't have it in our records.
Please EMAIL us so that we can express our love on time !
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