Blog

Sign up for our next Family Promise host week! Mark your calendars: our 2020 Family Promise volunteer weeks are: January 19-26; April 26-May 3; June 21-28; August 16-23; December 13-30. We will have a sign up table after morning worship on Dec. 29, Jan. 5, and Jan. 12. We have volunteer spots like driving the van, bringing dinner (evening host), overnight host, and laundry, just to name a few! We even have opportunities to donate supplies if you are unable to volunteer during the host week! Email your new FP Coordinators Denise Wylde (wyldecamp@msn.com) and Debbie Honeker (d@pancanvolunteer.org) if you have any questions!

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Tags: Missions, Top Story

December 15 – 6:30 p.m. – The Gathering Community Meal & Worship– Youth Lounge. This is a special Gathering service since we will be in the Youth Lounge. Everyone is invited to bring some sort of side dish; Alice will provide the main dish and drinks. Join us for Calvary’s contemporary worship; Pastor Anne is preaching.
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Tags: Top Story, Worship

Ezra 1:1-4; 3:1-4, 8-13 (NRSV)

On this third Sunday of Advent, we meet Cyrus, the king of Persia. He arrives in Babylon with a very different concept of empire; he gives great freedom to his vassals. His policies were welcomed by the exiled Judeans, who, according to the first part of Ezra, were eager to return home, to restore their community, and to rebuild.

And – believe it or not - Cyrus makes the proclamation they’ve all been waiting for! He tells them to go home (with great blessings) and to rebuild; this is something refugees don’t even dare to dream about! Has Christmas come early? Is this too good to be true? Well, no – it’s not too good to be true. It’s real. But with reality comes complexity, of course.

As the people return home and begin to rebuild the Temple it is an emotional scene. It’s a joyous festival of celebration, quite fitting on this Sunday of JOY in Advent. And yet, along with the people who are rejoicing at what has come to pass, there are people who are mourning too – those who remember and grieve what was lost. It is a very human moment that we can relate too. Often we simplify joy as happiness and celebration, but it can be an ambiguous emotion at times – holding both hope and grief in the same moment.

Join us on Sunday as explore the complex emotions of what it means to be a people of Joy during Advent; we’ll honor the pain of what has been lost in the past year even as we await the fulfillment of the Messiah with Joy and Hope. Read More…

Tags: Worship, Enews

Sun. Jan. 12 - 11:45 a.m. – Baby Shower for Morgan & Ian Fletcher – Fellowship Hall. Let’s gather to celebrate the coming arrival of baby Fletcher with soon-to-be parents, Morgan and Ian! Morgan and Ian offer their thanks and gratitude for wanting to celebrate with them, and while they have stated it would be lovely if folks just celebrate with them, and that they do not need nor expect gifts, we know many of you will want to celebrate them in that way. If you feel so led, here are some ideas: Please look them up under the gift registries Target or Buy Buy Baby. Morgan and Ian have also set up a 529 account. If you would like to make a tax deductible contribution to Baby Fletcher’s 529, please email Brenda Goodman at brenjgoody@gmail.com so she can send you the information. Please know Morgan and Ian are welcoming to all colors of clothing and gifts: pink, blue, yellow and green, and everything in between! We look forward to your presence at this celebration of a new life to come, and the new parenting journey Morgan and Ian will soon be embarking upon. Read More…

Tags: Top Story, Enews

Tues. Dec. 24 – 4:00 p.m. – Storytelling & Candlelight Christmas Eve Service. Celebrate the season with us at this kid-friendly service featuring traditional Christmas carols, interactive reading of Luke 2, and candlelight. Join us as we worship the newborn King and bring the whole family!

Tues. Dec. 24 – 10:00 p.m. – Young Adult Ensemble – Music Room. All Youth, College Students & Young Adults are invited to the Music Room to learn an anthem to sing at the 11pm service. E-mail David Farwig to RSVP.

Tues. Dec. 24 – 11:00 p.m. – Candlelight & Communion Christmas Eve Service. Featuring a mix of contemporary and traditional Christmas carols, this contemplative service will include musical instruments like guitar, piano, drums, organ, and even marimba! We will proclaim the Christmas story from Luke, partake in the Lord’s Supper, and light candles together representing the light of Christ born to the world.
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Tags: Top Story, Worship, Music Ministry, Intergenerational, Children; Youth

“I’m IN!” Stewardship Update (as of Dec. 11, 2019)
• 131 Commitment Cards received, representing 199 people at Calvary
• 83 increases in total pledge amounts from last year, totaling $42,180
• 10 new Commitment Cards received (new from last year), totaling $14,148
• $592,406 pledged to date
• $876,379 is our 2020 budget goal (potential of 100+ Cards yet to be received)


“Gratitude begins with a profound awareness of abundance and builds communities of well-being and generosity. Gratitude opens toward grace.” (Diana Butler Bass)

Thank you for your generosity! We are deeply grateful to those who have made financial commitments to Calvary for 2020. We are a congregation-supported church. We do not receive outside funding for our operating budget. Your commitment for 2020 is essential for our ministries and vision as laid out in our Narrative Budget. (Copies are available on the kiosk or at calvarydenver.org.)

Our budget reconciliation team has begun meeting to modify the 2020 proposed budget to present to the congregation in January. It is not too late to turn in a 2020 Commitment Card or to email your pledge directly to Church Accountant Luwan Jones (ljones@calvarydenver.org). We are still short of our budget goal; every commitment counts!


Friendly Reminders:
• Even if you give online or through Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT), we still need your updated pledge information for 2020.
• If are moved this holiday season to make an increase to your pledge, we welcome your additional generosity. Pledge adjustments may be made by turning in a new Commitment Card, emailing Luwan Jones (ljones@calvarydenver.org), or calling the church office on Wednesdays at 303-757-8421.
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Tags: Enews, Enews; Stewardship

Check out the finished Habitat House that Calvary folks helped build! Read More…

Tags: Top Story; Missions

Sun. Dec. 22 – 11:45 a.m. – Tamales & Christmas Caroling – Fellowship Hall & Neighborhood. Don’t miss this delicious and fun event, hosted by the Calvary Choir! Following the service, come and enjoy a quick tamale lunch. Immediately after eating, we will head to three nursing homes to sing Christmas carols. Please RSVP to dfarwig@calvarydenver.org to let us know you are coming so we can organize the singing and order enough tamales. Read More…

Tags: Enews, Intergenerational, Music Ministry, Children; Youth

From John Kron, Chair of the Stewardship Committee



If you were in the congregation on November 17, or watched the live stream, you heard me exhort you to be "IN" with our stewardship campaign. It's coming up on the ninth inning, and we need your pledges, your increased pledges, your financial commitments for the coming year. There is a difference between being "IN," and being "ALL IN." It is not too late to increase your pledge, or increase it more. I hope, if you are not tithing already, that you will at least make a percentage step toward that goal, to be ALL IN.



“I’m IN!” Stewardship Update (as of Dec. 4, 2019) 

  

·         118 Commitment Cards received, representing 181 people at Calvary 

·         77 increases in total pledge amounts from last year, totaling $41,006

·         9 new Commitment Cards received (new from last year), totaling $14,028

·         $548,552 pledged to date

·         $327,827 remaining to meet our 2020 budget goal  

·         Potential of 125+ Commitment Cards yet to be received





Calvary is a congregation-supported church. We do not receive outside funding for our operating budget. Your commitment for 2020 is essential for our ministries and vision. Robert Emmons says,  “Gratitude takes us outside ourselves, where we see ourselves as part of a larger, intricate network of sustaining relationships, relationships that are mutually reciprocal.”  Thank you for IN-vesting in Calvary and in the ministries and relationships that give our lives meaning!
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Tags: Enews, Top Story, Enews; Stewardship

The Calvary Art Show has a new exhibit installed with the themes of Advent, Christmas, and Winter. The current show features artist, Jason Ramay who grew up at Calvary. He has created an Advent Visio Divina project called, "Noel" including a simple sketch for each day of Advent with references to read and ponder (so bring your Bible or Bible app while you view)! The art show ministry team hopes this exhibit invites reflection and brings meaning to you this season. The current show runs December through January. Please be checking emails for upcoming show information and ways you can participate. We also need volunteers to join the art ministry team, so be thinking if this is a calling for you! Read More…

Tags: Spiritual Practices, Top Story, Enews