Carroll Café

The Second Fridays Coffeehouse

David Roth

David Roth's songs have found their way to Carnegie Hall, the United Nations, several Chicken Soup for the Soul books, the Kennedy Center, NASA's Space Shuttle "Atlantis", and Peter, Paul, & Mary concerts. Poignant to improbable, holistic to hilarious, David joins us from his home on Cape Cod.

Opening by Soul Pajamas

Join us for an evening to remember. To make reservations, visit tne new Carroll Cafe website at: www.carrollcafe.org,

Watch for announcements about the rest of our 2011-2012 season:

March 9 -- MSG: The Acoustic Blues Trio

April 13 -- Scott Ainslie, with Eleanor Ellis

May 11 -- Blue Moon Cowgirls, with the Harley String Band

Friday, February 10th

at Seekers Church

276 Carroll Street, NW

Across from Takoma METRO

7:30 - 10:00 p.m.

Doors open at 7:00

$15 donation (Students $10)

Info: 301-562-4147

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Sign up now for classes in the School of Christian Living, Spring Semester, Term 1, which begins on Tuesday February 7 and continues through March 13.
 

Prayer: Why and How We Pray
Led by David Novello and Elizabeth Gelfeld

Why and how do we pray? The class will examine these questions and other aspects of prayer. We will disciuss how we learned to pray, what we do in the way of prayer now, and types of prayer with which some of us may not be familiar. Participants will be asked to bring teir favorite prayers, which we will discuss. We will also take a close look at the Lord's Prayer.

Seekers as a Welcoming Community
Led by Denise LeClair, Roy Barber and David Lloyd

 Our gender and sexuality empower and limit our experience of the world and of the Holy Spirit. Similarly, our mental health status, including addictions, affects how we interact in both secular and spiritual dimensions. We will explore how all of these affect each of our interactions with others daily, in our worship and in our Christian servanthood, and how we can support each other in promoting full participation and healing of old wounds of discrimination, including wounds inflicted by the Church.

Classes begin at 7:45. 
Join us for a simple before-class dinner at 7:00 ($4 donation)

To register, use the sign-up sheet at Seekers or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Recently Seekers Church joined with 40 other faith communities to shift to more green electricity. Through an initiative coordinated by Greater Interfaith Power and Light (GWIPL) we have increased the demand for wind-generated electricity, reduced the rate we pay for electricity and opened the door to lower rates for our members.

After worship on December 11 there will be an information session in the Skylight Room for any Pepco customers in Maryland and DC interested in considering purchasing 50 percent wind power for their residential electricity.  The green electricity supplier Clean Currents is offering a very good one-year rate ($0.0793/kWh) for members of churches – including Seekers – that recently purchased wind power through the Washington Interfaith Network.  Seekers can reduce their carbon footprint in this way, and need not worry about reduced reliability of electricity – Pepco will continue to deliver electricity regardless of whether the wind blows, and you still will receive a single bill from Pepco.

Forty-One Members

Part of our spiritual practice as a community is to listen to the prophets among us in ways that make the reality of the Realm of God more evident to us, and to the world around us, the world God is calling us to care for.

Each year we renew our commitment to Christ and to the Seekers Church in a conscious and intentional way. In Seekers, God's call and our commitments are linked together. Every choice you make, every call you answer changes all of us! Annual recommitment is a key element in the life of Seekers Church, maintaining a tradition of the Church of the Saviour begun with the initial commitment of founding members in 1947. This year "Recommitment Sunday" was the third Sunday of October, the 16th.

This year 41 of us renewed our commitment. Of those, 18 made the commitment as Stewards.

The time before Recommitment Sunday is an opportunity for all of us – recent arrivals, attenders, Members, and Stewards – to review our commitment to God and to Seekers Church. This year the Servant Leadership Team invited all Seekers to reflect on the call of Seekers Church and our commitment statements, and consider:

     † What is God's call on Seekers Church as one small part of the Body of Christ?

     † What am I being called to offer to God and God's creation?

     † How can being a part of Seekers Church support my response to God's call?

     † What do I need from and through this community to deepen my commitment to Christ?

Part of our traditional preparation includes a silent hour of prayer in the sanctuary before signing the Seekers membership log, the record of all Seekers members since our beginning in 1976.

On Recommitment Sunday all those who attend worship and other Seekers community activities regularly, who identify themselves as Seekers, Used the Member's Commitment Statement to renew their commitment to Christ as Members of Seekers Church. The Stewards made their commitment to support the missions and ministries of Seekers Church using the Stewrard's Commitment Statemnent.

To mark the occasion, each of us was invited to come forward an take a stone from the rocky path on the altar table, to remind us of our commitment to help open the Way.

Celebrating the Gift of Her Life

September 24, 2011

This morning we welcomed an overflow gathering to celebrate Kate's life. The altar table had a wonderful image of Kate taken by Keith Seat, a votive candle to mark each of the seven decades of her life, a magnificent bouquet from Senator Ron Wyden, and an unfired clay urn with Kate's ashes. The urn was made by Marjory Bankson and selected several years ago by Kate.

Kate's spouse Carole had selected some for their favorite music to share with us as we reflected on Kate's life. As we listened many of us wrote a reflection or memory to be placed in the memory book that is being gathered for Carole. An individual who had been part of Kates life in each decade lit a memorial candle for that period and shared from the richness of their experience with Kate. 

Five individuals who had known Kate well offered their reflections on the gift of her life. You can read their reflections by clicking on their names:

     Marjory Bankson

     Kate Lang

     Diann Neu

     Bill Cudlipp

     Carole Grunberg

Following the memorial, Koinonia Mission Group offered us an opportunity to share further reflections and some of Kate's favorite cookies which had been baked for the occasion by many Seekers.

One of the reflections offered included this core wisdom that Kate had found in Love and Death by Forrest Church:

Want what you have,

do what you can,

and be who you are. 

Do these things with reverence, humbled by awe, and your cup will overflow.

Kate and Carole were married at Seekers Church in June, 2010. Details of their wedding ceremony are available by clicking here. An earlier article remembering Kate is available here.

...Peace ...

Peter Bankson

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   August 19, 2011 

 As one way to remember Kate Cudlipp and honor her commitment to social justice, a scholarship fund is being established at Wesley Theological Seminary. Kate received the degree of Master of Divinity from Wesley Seminary in 2002. She served on the Servant Leadership Team at Seekers Church from 1993 until her death.
 
The Kate Cudlipp Social Justice Scholarship fund is designed to help students whose focus is social justice, particularly those who are following the Urban Ministry track at Wesley. Those who wish to make a contribution in Kate's memory can do so immediately by sending a check made out to Wesley Theological Seminary with "Kate Cudlipp Memorial scholarship fund" in the memo line. Gifts to the fund may be left at Seekers Church or mailed to the seminary:
          Wesley Theological Seminary
          ATTN: Development Department
          4500 Massachusetts Ave NW
          Washington, DC 20016

Peter Bankson

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