Montclair Presbyterian Church

ASH WEDNESDAY SERVICE: We will mark the beginning of Lent, a season of introspection and reflection, by joining together for our Ash Wednesday Service on February 22nd at 7:00 pm in the Sanctuary. We will participate in the ritual of the imposition of ashes. Children are welcome.

The Montclair Presbyterian Church welcomes our newest staff member, the Rev. Katie Morrison.  Katie has been called as our full-time Coordinator for Children, Youth and Family Life.  We feel fortunate to have found Katie, who is an ordained UCC pastor.  Katie has tremendous depth of experience in children, youth and family ministry.  We invite you to join us in meeting and welcoming Katie!

This Sunday, January 29, family and friends of Serin Eggling and daughter Vanessa Hammack will gather to celebrate Serin‘s life.  The Celebration will be in the Sanctuary at 2:00 PM followed by a reception in the Family Room.  All are invited. If you would like to provide help for the reception, please contact Barbara Peters, 510-654-9677 or barbxpeters@gmail.com.  In lieu of flowers, donations in her name can be made to one of the following, or a cause of your choosing.

–Prescott Circus Theatre:

Online:  http://tinyurl.com/SerinPrescottCircus (Donate button on bottom of page)

Mail: Prescott Circus Theatre, 2425 East 28th Street, Oakland, CA, 94601.
–Montclair Presbyterian Church:

Online:  http://www.mpcfamily.org/ (Donate button on right of page).

Mail: MPC 5701 Thornhill Drive, Oakland, CA, 94611.

The Children of Uganda 2012 Tour of Light performed at MPC on Jan 15th at 7 PM. Children of Uganda is an organization that cares for hundreds of orphans and vulnerable children in Uganda, and the performers were their ambassadors, a select group of talented dancers, singers, and drummers from 10 years old through college students. They performed traditional music and dance, and sang Ugandan songs with our choir. A reception and party in the Family Room will followed the performance.
The performance was free to all thanks to MPC’s External Giving Grant which has supported Children of Uganda in the preparations for this tour.

Two videos from the performance have been posted to YouTube; the first is included here:

Photos of the event have been posted to the MPC Family Flickr page.

Get ready for a lot of activity in the next few weeks at MPC!

• December 4th: Major Work Sunday (Christmas music with children’s and adult choirs, pipe organ and string quartet), followed by Children’s Christmas Party. We will also thank Talitha for her time at MPC and commission her for her trip to Uganda. Celebration at 10 AM.
• December 7th: Christmas Carol Sing-Along and Dinner: 6 PM.
• December 10th: Susan Hunn’s Retirement Celebration and Dinner. 5 PM.
• December 11th: Celebration at 10 AM, continuing our celebration of Susan’s ministry…
• December 18th: Celebration at 10 AM. Beth and Rev. Mark Smith will share leadership, for the last time before Mark moves away.
• December 21st: Taizé meditation at 7 PM.
• December 24th: Christmas Eve Services! 5:30 PM Family Service with choir and children’s choir; 7:30 Candlelight service with carols. In between we have a fellowship hour with hot cider!
• December 25th: Yes, it’s a Sunday. We’ll gather at the regular 10 AM time for celebration. A special treat: hear our friend Leonard Nielson preach again, as a guest. No Family Hour following.

Happy Advent everyone!
Photo credit: Micah Taylor

On Sunday, December 4, at 10AM, the Montclair Presbyterian Church Choir will present Christmas music from the English choral tradition. Featured works include Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Fantasia on Christmas Carols” and Gustav Holst’s “Christmas Day.” Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams were members of the Royal College of Music and were quite prolific at the turn of the 20th century. They were close friends despite having very different musical styles. This year, MPC’s adult and children’s choirs will be joined by a string ensemble and pipe organ. Come celebrate the season with majestic music written for Gothic cathedrals!

For visitors: on other Sundays we have children leave partway through the service to go to classes. On this day, however, we will encourage all children to stay in and hear the choir. The “wiggle room” in the nursery is available for children up to age 6 who don’t want to stay in the service. For more about what to expect click here.

On Tuesday, Nov. 22nd, we join with Fruitvale Presbyterian Church and College Avenue Presbyterian Church to cook and serve a thanksgiving meal, offered to the homeless and hungry of the neighborhood as well as our friends, family, and neighbors – a true community meal!
Fruitvale Presbyterian will be hosting a day-long program for kids, during which the children will prepare some of the dishes and set up for the dinner. Our families are encouraged to send their children to take part in this fun program. Then the turkey dinner will be served at 6 PM.

Recreation is back for a day! Our fun-filled and meaningful week (“Re-creation”) during the summer will reappear for a day over the Thanksgiving holiday. The morning will begin with story and song, as the kids learn together about the important of sharing what we have, feeding those who need it, and be thankful for what we have. Jesus’ mandate to feed the hungry will frame the day. Then, the kids will rotate through art and cooking classes, where they will prepare a thanksgiving dinner for the neighborhood. Our art will decorate the event. Fun will fill the day, as the kids play games, learn a lot, and serve their community. As a grand finale celebration of their efforts, families, friends and the entire neighborhood will be invited to a Thanksgiving dinner at 6 pm at Fruitvale Presbyterian Church.

Kids can change the world. They have enough love and energy to make a difference to people who need those very things — people who are hungry. We will gather the energy of the kids of Oakland to feed people.

Email FVPC to register for the kids’ program ($10 registration fee): recreationvbs@gmail.com
Talk to Betsy King at MPC if you would like to cook a turkey, help set up, serve, or clean up.

Photo by sandrasalaskaphotographs

The congregation will gather next Sunday, 11/13, right after celebration, to take another step in engaging the Mission Study Process. The purpose is to ask, answer, and share about some questions regarding Montclair Presbyterian Church and our vision of the future. Everyone’s voice is important, whether you are an “old timer” or have just started attending MPC. These conversations will continue to inform decisions and direction for the church.
At the same time, and even if you cannot attend the meeting, we are asking all church members & friends to take a survey! The Mission Study Team mailed and emailed the 2011 Mission Study Survey. If you get Contact by mail or email, you should have already received your invitation to complete a survey. If not, you can go to http://www.mpcfamily.org/survey and get started. The team put together a thorough survey which will enable MPC to better articulate to a prospective pastor who we are and where we want to go. The survey is not short–it’ll take you about an hour. But, it’s a great way to let your MPC community know where you stand and what’s important to you.

As Beth reminded us earlier: “This is an exciting time for the Montclair Church Family as the reflecting and dreaming and planning for the future gets underway. Regardless of whether you have been a member for more than 50 years or you are just beginning here, your voice and experience and wisdom are so important in this process. Part of what it means to be Presbyterian is that we believe in the ‘priesthood of all believers.’ In other words, the Pastor (or Priest) is not the one who issues directions or commands from on high. The congregation, working with the pastor, embodies the wisdom, knowledge, faith and discernment that was once attributed only to the clergy. So, come on out and embody this Presbyterian value!”

The Harvest Dinner is an annual event celebrated by the Faith Trio partners (Montclair Presbyterian Church, Kehilla Community Synagogue & the ICCNC) in turn at each congregation’s locale. MPC is the host this year for the seventh anniversary of this lively occasion, Saturday Nov. 5th. The season and nutrition guide our menu choices. The host provides the main dish and the other two groups come with salad and dessert. We’ll begin at 5:30 in order to have plenty of time to gather and greet each other before the dinner. There will be music as well as great company and intriguing conversation topics. All church members and friends are welcome.

Faith Trio design from Wikimedia Commons and photo by Misscheivous

The time has come for MPC women to retreat to the hills of the East Bay! This year our retreat falls on Halloween Weekend, and so our focus will be (aptly) The Masks Women Wear, led by Rev. Beth Buckingham-Brown. Our gathering begins Friday evening, October 28th for dinner and continues through breakfast and celebration Sunday, October 30th. This is a time out from the hurry of our lives, a time for reflection, singing, sharing, laughing and community. The art muses will encourage us to get our hand dirty with clay and design meditation beads, and our resident scribe will tickle our imaginations. Retreating from the activities of “normal” life is a time-honored spiritual practice that can nourish, inspire, and rejuvenate your soul. Retreating into the beloved community of church friends is a favorite way to do so!

Photo by Xeni Jardin