Worship this Sunday, April 7, 2019
Theme: Lent 5: Blessed Hunger, Holy Feast
Worship Leader: Brendon Derstine
Song Leader: Matt Hunsberger
Prelude/Offertory: Jacinda and Isaac Stahly Dahl
Scripture: Chris and Eileen Gingrich, Lydia Haggard
Children’s Time: Dayna Olson-Getty
Preacher: Jennifer Davis Sensenig
Pastoral Prayer: Dayna Olson-Getty
Scripture: Isaiah 43:16-21; John 12:1-8
Bulletin: 040719-Bulletin
Upcoming CMC Events
Sun, Apr 7 Monthly Potluck, 11:45 am, Fellowship Hall
Wed, Apr 10 Women’s Bible Study, 8:30 am, Room 109
Kids’ Club, 6 pm, Basement
Thurs, Apr 11 Lent Contemplative Prayer, 8-8:30 am, Fellowship Hall
Fri, Apr 12 Venture Club, 6-10 pm, Fellowship Hall
Thurs, Apr 18 Maundy Thursday Meal, 6 pm, Fellowship Hall
Fri, Apr 19 Good Friday Service, 7 pm, Sanctuary
Sun, Apr 21 Easter Breads, 8:30 am, Fellowship Hall
Worship at 10 am, no Sunday School or Adult Ed.
CMC Events and Announcements
Visitation and Memorial Service for Wilma Miller. In memory of Wilma Miller, CMC will host a visitation this evening, Fri, April 5th from 6-8pm in the Community Mennonite Church fellowship hall. In celebration of Wilma's life we will also hold a memorial service at Community Mennonite Church on Sat, April 6th at 11am followed by a light lunch. –Pastoral Team
Monthly Potluck. CMC’s Monthly Potluck is this Sunday, April 7, after Sunday School. Please bring food to share as well as plates, cups, and silverware. We will need help with clean up, including dish washing and putting tables and chairs away. –Jennifer Ulrich
You are welcome to join the Contemplative Worship Service weekly on Sunday at 8 pm at CMC. This service is an invitation to deepening our everyday connection to God, ourselves and the community through healing, action and contemplation for the sake of the world. The service will be a time for contemplative silence, embodied practice and a space that welcomes and affirms everyone. Please note children are welcome, however, there will be no childcare provided during the service. Contact Adam Yoder (yodera@yahoo.com) on behalf of the Contemplative Service Discernment Group for additional information.
Lent Contemplative Prayer. Join others in a time of contemplative prayer, Thursday mornings from 8-8:30 am in the Fellowship Hall of CMC (through April 18). Consider this an opportunity to begin your day by listening and consenting to the Spirit of God within you in the company and presence of brothers and sisters. We will begin by listening to one of the Lenten scripture texts, followed by 15-20 minutes of silence. Instruction will be included for those who are new to Centering prayer. Please join us – entering by the ramp door on the North side of the building. Jane Peifer (from Shalom) and Keaton Shenk (from CMC) will share leadership.
Easter Vigil. Each year Community Mennonite Church collaborates with Park View Mennonite Church to sponsor an Easter Vigil–a rich service that begins at an outdoor fire, includes scriptures of our sacred history, offers an opportunity to renew our baptismal covenant and leads to a joyful transformation of the visual environment in celebration of resurrection. If you would like to participate this year as a scripture reader or in some other way (vigil begins at 10pm on Sat, April 20) please contact Pastor Jennifer. jennifer.davis.sensenig@cmcva.org
Conference Affiliation Discernment Survey. The Leadership Taskforce requests input from CMC members and regular attenders on our conference affiliation discernment. Please use this link to take a brief survey. The survey will close April 10. –Aili Huber, Council Chair
Faith and Finances (Adult Ed Class). This week, the Faith and Finances for All Ages and Stages class will hear from Teresa Boshart Yoder about “Financing College, Young Adults and Money.“ Please feel free to join us in Room 109!
Children’s Faith Formation Workshop. Youth Commission invites you to take part in an interactive workshop focusing on children’s faith formation on Tuesday, April 9 at 7 pm at CMC. Joyce Peachey Lind will provide input about faith development of children and guide discussion to help us think creatively about ways to include children in the life of the congregation and nurture their spiritual lives. Joyce is pursuing an M.Div. in Christian Faith Formation at AMBS, and this workshop is part of a ministry practicum. Following the workshop, dessert will be served! Childcare provided.
TIME TO FILL THE BOXES! On April 7 and April 14 we will have boxes to fill for the post-high, young adults in the Fellowship Hall. Please consider putting some little treats, snacks, messages, office supplies, etc., in the boxes to remind them how much CMC cares and prays for them. The 5 years after high school are a very important time in our young adults’ lives! There are 28 boxes this year! Thank you! –Sheri Smucker
Another Young Adult. Andrew Stoltzfus was inadvertently left off the Young Adult list, and we have added a box for him. Following is his information: “Andrew is a first year student at EMU, majoring in nursing and pursuing his interested in theater and music. He has appeared in two productions this year, most recently as the Beast in Beauty and the Beast. He is also a part of EMU choirs. In his free time, he keeps up with his brothers in Indiana, Kenya, and Ethiopia through online gaming.”
Pastoral Gifts? Do you know someone who is spiritually sensitive and demonstrates good discernment in their lives? Do you know CMCers who care about the life of our congregation and have leadership gifts? Gifts discernment is receiving names of members who might serve on Pastoral Team beginning in 2020. Our continuing pastoral elders are Veva Mumaw and Matthew Hunsberger, so please consider CMCer's who might serve well in a 3-year term on our team of pastors and pastoral elders. A job description for the pastoral elder can be found on the CMC website. Please share names with Brendon Derstine, chair of gifts discernment committee. brendon.derstine@gmail.com
Update from Timothy Jost. Timothy Jost was told on Thursday morning that his leukemia is in remission. He will be hospitalized for a week on Friday, April 5, for consolidation chemotherapy. He will likely then try for a stem cell transplant, which would likely mean he would spend the summer at or near the U.Va. hospital, but could result in a cure. Praise God for answered prayers.
Update from Millard and Joyce Osborne: Millard and Joyce Osborne have now moved to a senior living facility in their community. Note their new address: Orchard Park – Rm 112, 14789 Burns Valley Rd, Clearlake CA 95422. On June 20, 2019 they plan to celebrate 65 years of marriage!
Ride Needed. Reta Finger is looking for a ride from Dulles Airport back to Harrisonburg on April 20. Her plane comes in at 9:52 pm that Saturday evening (the night before Easter). She will pay for gas and all the time involved for the round trip. If interested, contact Reta at laretafinger@gmail.com.
Place to stay during SPI in May. My friend Laura Loewen, from Abbottsford, BC, is trying to help their associate pastor, Chris Lenshyn, find an inexpensive place to stay near EMU campus while he is here for SPI from May 12-June 1. He will take care of his own meals. If open, please contact Nancy Heisey at 540-421-5941. Thanks!
The Mennonite Subscription. CMCers can subscribe to a print copy of The Mennonite magazine at a discounted group rate of $37/year. If you would like to subscribe, please contact Joyce in the church office (cmc_office@cmcva.org) by April 15.
Meals for Kids’ Club. Thank you so much to all of the small groups who have brought food to Kids’ Club so far! We are in need of more simple Wednesday meals for the spring if it works for your small group or family. Generally we have 10-15 kids a week (sometimes more). Please email Hannah Hall, hannahdmhall@gmail.com if there’s a Wednesday that works for you!
Outreach Commission Funding for Imelda Cano Perez. On March 14, Outreach Commission voted to give $1,000 in discretionary funds to Shalom Mennonite Fellowship in Tucson, Arizona, for the purpose of helping with the detention bond for Imelda Cano Perez. Imelda is a Nicaraguan pastora and University professor, who had been jailed and tortured by the Nicaraguan government, and fled to the U.S. She passed her credible fear interview and is being held at the Eloy detention center on a $12,500 detention bond. The goal is for 12 congregations to each give $1,000 toward her bail. For more details, see the letter from Melissa Florer-Bixler on the “CMCers in Mission" bulletin board in the fellowship hall. –Dennis Showalter, Chair of Outreach Commission
From Mary Jo Bowman: A movie worth seeing. As a Lenten exercise of open minds/open hearts, I recommend going to see the new film Unplanned, based on the memoir of former Planned Parenthood clinic director Abby Johnson, who made national news 10 years ago when she became a pro-life advocate. Showing at Regal in Harrisonburg now through Thurs, April 11 (or perhaps longer–it's been a box-office hit!). Rated R for "some disturbing/bloody images.” If you can't see the movie, consider checking out various interviews with Johnson on the internet and her book Unplanned, published in 2011. –Submitted by Mary Jo Bowman
It is time for Community Preschool’s Spring Flower Fundraiser. If you want to order flowers in hanging baskets, please visit the sign up board in the fellowship hall. Baskets are $16 and orders are due by April 10th. You can pick up flowers at CMC on April 17th after 11:00 am. Flowers will be located in the memory garden lawn. Please pay for flowers when you place your order. Thank You!
12th Annual 5K Walk/Run. The Shenandoah Valley Autism Partnership will host the 12th annual 5K Walk/Run for Autism on Saturday morning, Apr. 20, at Eastern Mennonite University. This event is being sponsored by community organizations around the Shenandoah Valley to help support the ever-growing number of families affected by autism. The event has chip timing and has drawn more than 1,000 participants in the past. All funds raised are used locally. CMC's Jim Bishop will again emcee and deejay. Would love to have more CMC people participate! Register on line to walk or run before Apr. 9 for a free t-shirt: https://valleyautism.wordpress.com/ –Jim Bishop
LAUNCH-ING INTO LENT – The latest photo collage on the "CMC Today" bulletin board at the south end of the fellowship hall is featuring worship services and other activities from mid-February (theme: "Beauty in Brokenness") to the start of the Lenten series, "Blessed Hunger, Holy Feast."
To the right, you'll find a Lenten reflection from the 3/26/2019 Daily News-Record, a "Bishop's Mantle" column, "Resurrecting Easter Memories With a Passion" from the 3/3/2010 Daily News- Record and a 'congregational report' for Jan.-Feb. 2019 from the 3/18/19 MWR. Stop and savor! Jim Bishop
SPRING-ING TOWARD EASTER – Turn back the hands of time and cast ye corporate gaze eastward to the "CMC Yesterday" bulletin board on the east wall of the fellowship hall. There you'll find photo collages fraught with Lenten-to Easter images from March-April 2012 and from the Easter season 2016 worship series, "Standing at the Crossroads." Check 'em out! Jim Bishop
Greening CMC : Getting personal. As spring slowly arrives, the Easter narrative of resurrection is mirrored in our local forests. Forests may look like they’re still in winter, but early spring is a good time to appreciate the unique denizens such as the beautiful but short-lived flowers of spring ephemeral plants which you can see on a JMU arboretum wildflower walk. Look for salamanders who are especially active now, and in April watch for spring warblers to start migrating through.
Announcements from Virginia Mennonite Conference, Harrisonburg area and beyond
Read Menno Snapshots stories this month from church planters throughout MC USA, including a story from the archives highlighting urban church planting in the 1980s: mennoniteusa.org/tag/churchplanting.
Now is the time to register for MennoCon19. Join us July 2-6 for an engaging experience suited for everyone! Register here: convention.mennoniteusa.org/registration.
Make plans to come to convention early for a large selection of pre-convention training opportunities: mennoniteusa.org/pre-con-training.
International Dinner Fundraiser. As many of you know, our sheriff has an agreement with ICE or immigration, whereby an individual can end up being deported and separated from his/her family because of a minor traffic violation or other infraction. The main organization fighting this locally is Virginia Organizing. We also have defended DACA for those brought here as children, TPS to maintain legal status for refugees from El Salvador, Honduras, Haiti, Sudan, etc. We won a battle to end 287(g) in Harrisonburg and Rockingham Co, which had authorized our police officers to act as immigration agents. We also won a policy change to create more diversity on the predominantly white police force, better reflecting the rich diversity of our city. We need funds to continue our work, so we are holding an INTERNATIONAL DINNER FUNDRAISER on Saturday, April 13, at Emmanuel Episcopal Church (660 S. Main St, H’burg) from 6-9:00 p.m. Share a night of fellowship with friends to support a good cause, and enjoy a dinner of international foods from local restaurants! Tickets are only $15 online or $20 at the door. PLEASE COME and support this great cause! What we REALLY NEED are VOLUNTEERS to help make this event a success—folks to pick up food from local restaurants, set up tables and chairs, set up food buffet, do some music, buffet line servers, help clean up afterwards (tables, chairs, dishes, whatever). Volunteers pay only $10 for the dinner. Sign up on line for tickets or to volunteer here: https://virginia-organizing.org/harrisonburg-international-dinner-fundraiser/ or contact Carol Snell-Feikema. Thanks so much for every way you can help out this cause!
Bridge of Hope Harrisonburg-Rockingham is currently looking for a Neighboring Volunteer group of 6-10 committed people that would like to walk alongside and encourage a family in our program. Bridge of Hope works with single-parent families (children under 18) facing homelessness in our community. The program lasts 12-24 months. Initial training, ongoing relational support, and planned monthly gatherings will be provided. If you have questions, you can ask any of CMC’s former neighboring group which included Sue Swartz, Andrea Wenger, and Shirley Showalter. Please contact Chris Hoover Seidel, Director, at director@hr.bridgeofhopeinc.org or cell: 717-602-0871 if you are interested.
Join Eastern Mennonite School Discovery this summer! Students currently in 10th, 11th or 12th grade who are interested in a month-long, cross-country group learning experience about land and water resources are invited to apply to join the 2019 Eastern Mennonite High School Discovery trip June 4 to 29. Led by Lee Good, science teacher, and other faculty and staff, participants will travel by bus coach, sleep in tents, eat, laugh, learn, play and pray together. Contact goodl@easternmennonite.org for more info or to apply. Details at emhs.net/about/applicants-for-discovery/
Eastern Mennonite School welcomes applications for a new Leadership Scholarship for students grades 9-12. Recipients will receive up to 50% off of the regular high school tuition rate. Applicants must be new students who have a GPA of 3.5 or higher, and who wish to develop their leadership skills through contributions to the school. An interview and essay are required. Contact Marsha Thomas at 540-236-6021 or go to emhs.net/admissions/leadership-scholarship.cfm
The EMU Orchestra will present its spring concert at 7 p.m. Friday, April 5, in Lehman Auditorium. Admissions is free, with donations welcomed for EMU's music scholarship fund. Includes the winners of the 2019 Concerto/Aria Competition. For more info, visit emu.edu/music.
Choral Evensong, a contemplative service of sung prayers, hymns, and anthems, will be celebrated at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Harrisonburg on Sunday, April 7, at 5 p.m. This month we will celebrate the ministry of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The guest choir will be Cantore, a men's a cappella ensemble. Dr. Bradley Lehman will play harpsichord and piano. There is no charge for admission, with donations gratefully accepted. A reception will follow the Evensong.
ACRS Meeting on April 8th 7:30 am, at Park View Mennonite Church. Speaker: Nancy Heisey, Associate Dean Professor, Seminary, Bible & Religion Department, “Usable History.” “I’ve always felt that my primary calling is teaching, although it took me a long time to get to it.” Heisey is former president of Mennonite World Conference and spent 15 years in leadership at Mennonite Central Committee. She also served three years as undergraduate dean at EMU.
Stand in solidarity with persons experiencing homelessness at the City Council meeting on Tuesday, April 9. On Monday, Open Doors ceases operation until next November. Many homeless people will have nowhere to sleep and nowhere to use the bathroom at night. An anti-panhandling ordinance disguised as a “public safety” measure is coming up in the Harrisonburg City Council on April 23. The April 9 meeting will be a chance to speak against this misguided effort to further criminalize homelessness and to push the homeless out of sight instead of taking action to address the crisis. Meet at the Court House Gazebo between 5 – 6:00 PM to march to the Council Chambers and speak to the Council during the Community Forum period. Come whenever you can and stay as long as you wish. Wrap yourself in a blanket as a silent witness to the Council and the community of the hardship persons experiencing homelessness face and our solidarity with them. FMI <michaelfeikema@gmail.com>
The Valley Antiwar Coalition will show the award winning documentary film, “Chavez: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” on Thursday, April 11, at 7:00 PM, at CMC in the Sanctuary. Discussion will follow. In 2002, an Irish film crew doing a documentary on former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez unexpectedly finds themselves in the middle of an attempted military coup by the opposition to Chavez’s Bolivarian revolution. It is a rare glimpse into the social and political dynamics of the Bolivarian revolution from a non-corporate media perspective. We will use it as a springboard for discussing the current US intervention in Venezuela. FMI <michaelfeikema@gmail.com>
Elder Exchange. You are invited to attend the next Elder Exchange on Thursday, April 11 from 6:30-8 pm at VMRC Detwiler Auditorium. Emory and Idella Otto,Counselors will present on “Make the Rest of Your Days the Best of Your Days.”
Music Faculty Artist Series: Terra Voce – The EMU Department of Music is proud to present Terra Voce (Elizabeth Brightbill, flute, and Andrew Gabbert, cello) in concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 12 in Martin Chapel. Admission is free, with donations accepted for EMU's music scholarship fund. Guest artists include pianist David Berry and violinist David McCormick. For more info, visit emu.edu/music.
The Shenandoah Valley Choral Society, under the direction of Curtis Nolley, will present its 49th annual spring concert titled "Spiritual Songs" on Friday, April 12th at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, April 14th at 3:00 p.m. at Bridgewater Church of the Brethren. The concert will feature Antonin Dvorak's Mass in D in the first half, followed by contemporary and traditional arrangements of African American Spirituals. CMC members in the SVCS are Dave and Sue Cockley and Dorothy Jean Weaver. Tickets are available at the door, Red Front Supermarket(Harrisonburg), Bridgewater Foods (Bridgewater), and on-line at www.singshenandoah.org. Admission is $15 for adults/$12 for seniors and students.
The Harrisonburg-Rockingham County NAACP Branch 7132 is encouraging attendance at the forum "Let's Talk…Race" on Monday, April 15 from 6:00 -8:00 pm. at Simms School. The forum will be facilitated by Chanda McGuffin and Sharon Fitz, co-founders of "RISE", a dynamic organization from Staunton, VA, that has held many successful racial conversations within the Shenandoah Valley. She will focus on the recognition of racial friction in our area. Many Valley residents do not understand how past and continuing racism hinder honest communication among peoples of different backgrounds. McGuffin has a unique way of bridging that gap. Her workshops are packed with difficult but honest conversations that acknowledge an array of emotions. People leave with a sense of being overpowered yet also empowered, tired yet revived, and with a plan in hand to change the inequality in our communities. As McGuffin says, “You may even be frustrated or uncomfortable but if you're not, then you're not growing and this process is designed to promote growth in the knowledge of racism.”
Pleasant View Homes is participating in the #GREATCOMMUNITYGIVE Community Giving Day on Wednesday, April 17 from sunrise to sunset (6:30am to 8:30pm) with many other area nonprofits. If you want to give to Pleasant View or any other participating organization go to https://hrgcg.givebig.org/c/HRGCG/a/50118 for more information.
The 32nd annual Harrisonburg downtown ecumenical Good Friday prayer walk, based on the "Stations of the Cross," will be held Friday, April 19, from noon to 1:00. The walk begins at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, and ends at St. Stephens United Church of Christ, stopping at a total of 10 downtown churches and public buildings. Led by someone carrying a large cross, the group stops at each station where a member of the "Biblical Storytellers Guild" tells the appropriate passage from the Gospel of Luke and a local pastor responds with a prayer. This is a contemplative, communal, and spiritual practice of shared ecumenical worship and witness that has been going on every year in downtown Harrisonburg for 32 years. Please join us! The walking route is accessible for wheelchairs and strollers.
The Shenandoah Valley Scholars Latino Initiative (SLI) is a Harrisonburg-based nonprofit organization that creates college opportunities for first-generation Latino high school students through rigorous academic challenge, leadership development, supportive mentorships and scholarship awards. SLI has served more than 80 scholars since 2012 at Harrisonburg High School and John Handley High School in Winchester, awarding $116,000 in SLI college scholarship awards and $24,000 in SLI computer awards. It has also paid more than $9,000 in tuition support for students to enroll in college dual enrollment courses while in high school. For more information, please visit www.svsli.org or contact Christopher Clymer Kurtz (director of development) at christopher@svsli.org or 434-299-2549.
Love Crosses Borders: A Mennonite Men immersion experience with immigrants. Love is the greatest of all virtues. But what does love look like in times of cynicism and polarization? Borders are not only social constructs, they’re also spiritual ones. Who’s included? Who’s excluded? How do we reconcile God’s call to welcome the stranger with so much fear-filled rhetoric and policies? What can unwelcomed immigrants teach the Church about love? How can the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement inform and inspire us to a love that crosses borders? July 28 to August 3, Mennonite Men will provide a week-long immersion experience with immigrants to engage these issues. To register or for more information, visit MennoniteMen.org or contact Steve Thomas at SteveT@Mennonites.org.
Travel to Ethiopia and learn about the impact of MCC’s partnerships in the region that bring food security, watershed rehabilitation, conservation agriculture and peace to many communities. Included are stops at Blue Nile Falls, Lake Tana, and Lalibela, a UNESCO World Heritage site. This two week learning tour is scheduled for Jan or Feb 2020. See the flier on the bulletin board near the coat racks for more information.