TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2021 |
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Your email may require you to CLICK MORE at the bottom of this page to continue reading. We could write less, but there's no joy in that!
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Share The Good News
Why not share your church with family and friends? Invite others to participate in the life of Piedmont Community Church by sending them our weekly newsletter.
Just copy the link below and send to any email address.
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This Week's Highlights
- Ash Wednesday
- From the Pulpit
- Lenten Study Group
- Kail Courtyard Chat
- COVID Update
- Brigid's Circle
- Easter Baskets
- Malawi News
- Virtual Fellowship
- Bible Study
- Harbor House Tool Drive
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On Demand Beginning 6 AM
On Wednesday, February 17, Dr. Steve Schibsted and Dr. Don Ashburn will host a brief online Ash Wednesday service. You can observe this first day of Lent with Piedmont Church beginning at 6 am, On Our Website and YouTube Channel.
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Listen to Dr. Schibsted's sermon from the February 14 online worship program. |
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We are finalizing our 2021 campaign and preparing our budget based on pledges received.
To date, we have reached 69% of our goal.
If you have returned your pledge card, pledged online or called our business office to make your pledge, thank you!
If you have prayerfully considered your pledge and are ready to do so now, please click the link below or contact Toni Fisher in our business office at (510) 547-5700 ext 102.
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Piedmont, Kafita Team Up To Help Hospital
On Saturday, Rev. Tembo of Kafita Church and some members from the social welfare committee presented Oxygen tanks and gauges to Nkhoma Mission Hospital on behalf of Piedmont Church. According to Kafita, the hospital is treating thousands of COVID-19 patients using just a few tanks.
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'Balm In Giliad'
Dr. Stephen Main teams up with Becca Burrington to deliver this week's anthem, There is a Balm in Giliad.
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Welcome 200 Subscribers!
Subscribe to our YouTube channel to be the first to see worship services and special video features. As a subscriber, you'll be notified the minute new content is available. PLEASE HIT THAT SUBSCRIBE BUTTON!
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Watch Worship On Your TV
It’s easy to watch church videos on your big screen television. If you have a SmartTV, ROKU, AppleTV or Amazon Fire TV, simply:
1 - Go to the YouTube app on your SmartTV (or attached device)
2 - Search ‘piedmont community church.’
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Piedmont Church Media Time
(Last 28 Days)
YouTube & Website
338 hours
Facebook
30 Hours
Vimeo
14 Hours
382 HOURS VIEWED
1,072 AUDIO DOWNLOADS
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Kail Courtyard Chat
Youth Pastor Rev. Scott Kail delivers inspiring words from our courtyard.
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Sunday School
We are learning what it means to be a Christian. We will explore what the Bible reveals about who God is and how God sees us, how we fit in God’s family, and how we live the Christian life. As we study core concepts of Christianity, we will gain a solid framework for our own relationship with Jesus.
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Ash Wednesday Activity
Below is an activity page for the 40 days of Lent, which starts tomorrow with Ash Wednesday. Color or sticker each heart as you complete it. It doesn’t matter the order, just as long as all the hearts get filled at the end of the 40 days. I’m hoping these activities will fill your children’s hearts.
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Study Group For Lent
This year, "giving things up” for Lent has taken on a new meaning, as COVID has forced us to give up so many parts of what was “normal” in our lives.
This season, in addition to your own Lenten practice, we invite you you to pick something up — namely, an excellent book by Philip Yancey called, Vanishing Grace. Join Dr. Steve Schibsted and Dr. Don Ashburn as they co-lead a 5-week series of online discussions on the book.
The focus is on defining God’s grace in Jesus Christ, unpacking what it means for our daily lives and reclaiming it as central to our faith in a time when the Good News has lost meaning for so many people.
You can participate in the study with or without reading the book, though it’d be helpful to have your own copy. You can order it at a local bookstore or online (Amazon, Cokesbury, Barnes and Noble). For our first session, please read the Preface and Chapter 1. We will meet by Zoom on Thursday nights from 7 - 8 pm, beginning February 25 through March 25.
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NEW - 'Brigid’s Circle'
Thursdays, 10:30 am
By Rev. Dottie Hutch
Brigid of Kildare, c.450-523, founded communities of women to live a spiritual life but also to engage in good works in the world. Fifteen hundred years later it is still important for women to gather together.
To this end I will be hosting a women’s Zoom gathering each Thursday morning at 10:30 a.m. I am hoping this will be a time of support and friendship, and that our conversations will be guided by the spiritual values of grace, gratitude and generosity.
These gatherings will be un-structured: we will talk about whatever comes to mind and you are free to come and go as your feelings and schedule demand.
The Zoom link for Brigid’s Circle is below. Simply click on this link at 10:29 on Thursday and I will let you into the Circle. See you then!
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Sunday, 10:30AM
You can connect to Zoom using your computer, tablet or smartphone. The Virtual Fellowship Time is also open to call-in participants using the following phone number and access code: 1-669-900-6833; Access Code: 81952726275#.
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Wednesday Morning Bible Study
Join Dr. Don Ashburn for a study of Paul’s Letter to the Philippians We’ll meet weekly online from 10 - 11am. We’ll be using the Zoom online platform.
In the study, we’ll read the text out loud and then discuss its meaning, its original context as well as how it relates to our lives today.
To participate, you’ll need access to a computer or mobile device with audio and visual capabilities. You can have your own copy of the Bible, or read the text as it’s shared onscreen. There’s no homework, and no expectation that you’ve studied the Bible before.
It’ll be the same link each week.
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Morning Prayer
Dr. Don Ashburn will lead a brief service of prayer at 9am each
Friday. There will be scripture readings, a time of meditation and prayer. Communion is celebrated at each service. So, please have a cup of wine or juice and a piece of bread available.This meeting is by Zoom, and is open to everyone.
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Reopening Task Force Update
The Task Force has continued to follow the latest COVID public health orders from the state and Alameda County public health departments.
The good news is that after the December surge, there were sufficient declines with stabilization in COVID cases and improvements in hospital capacity to enable the lifting of the statewide stay at home orders on January 25, 2021.
As a result, Alameda County entered the Purple Tier category which now allows outdoor gatherings including those associated with places of worship, and gatherings are limited to 3 households. But, the fact that our COVID rates are still at the highest since the beginning of the pandemic means that we must still protect families, friends and neighbors from this debilitating and deadly virus.
We must continue to wear masks whenever leaving home, keep at least six feet of distance from anyone they don’t live with, wash hands frequently and stay home if they don’t feel well.
Finally, while we’re in the Purple Tier, and until further notice, the use of any indoor part of the church facility is restricted to Staff Members, or people who have explicit permission to be on site from a Staff Member. This is all part of our efforts to keep everyone safe, and to have some control over a very complicated set of circumstances.
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Needed: Volunteer To Collect Information
Economic Victims of COVID-19 Seek Help
A number of members and friends of Piedmont Church have, or will have, experienced severe negative economic impacts from the COVID-19 shutdowns, including loss of employment and potential loss of shelter when current eviction moratoriums are ended.
In light of that, as a congregation, we’d like to help by collecting information about people who:
1) have extra rooms or housing they are willing to make available for congregants who have fallen on hard times;
2) know of part, or full-time employment opportunities. Examples of housing arrangements include; people who have extra rooms, Accessory Dwelling Units, or other housing they could make available in exchange for services (such as errands, minor maintenance, and transportation), or who can provide housing on a reduced rent basis until the renter’s economic circumstances improve.
If you would like to volunteer to collect this information, and share it with those in need, please contact Dr. Don Ashburn at: [email protected]
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Easter Baskets For Elizabeth House
Put together an Easter Basket for a child at Elizabeth House, a transitional home for mothers and their children in Oakland. The Deacons’ Outreach Committee provides the baskets, and you provide the contents. The Outreach Committee seeks donors for seventeen children, ages 2 to 10.
We ask you to fill and arrange your baskets in the church courtyard on March 28. Church health guidelines will be followed. If you prefer, we can also pick up donated materials from your home.
To sign up and learn more click here or contact Katrina Bergen at [email protected] or (510) 866-4575 (text or call).
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HARBOR HOUSE NEEDS REPLACEMENT TOOLS
Harbor House, a Christian based community support organization in Oakland, recently suffered a burglary of the tools it uses to keep its facility running and to help local families. You can find a list of the needed tools at:
If you are willing to donate one or more of the needed items, or to provide funding to replace an item, please add your name, under "donor name", along with your contact information, to show it is being donated so that others won't duplicate your donation.
You can bring the donated items to the home of David Birnbaum, one of our Deacons, at 64 Sandringham Road, Piedmont. You can reach David to make drop-off arrangements by phone or text at 510-504-9334.
Please arrange to drop off your donations by April 1.
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Please consider making an online offering by clicking below, or give while watching Sunday services on our website. |
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Hello, Piedmont Church!
The church office is open weekdays from
10 am to 12 noon, and Jean Leahy is available
to receive your phone calls in person.
Otherwise, voicemail is available at all times and is checked throughout the day. Call (510) 547-5700
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