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Compassion Weekend 2010 was
April 24-25
What is Compassion Weekend?
The congregation of Faith Presbyterian Church is no stranger to serving its community and the world. It's a missional, globally aware place. But it's also filled with busy people inundated with demands on them. So how could the call to servanthood be something more than one added demand?
A group at Faith started praying about this and, with inspiration from Menlo Park Presbyterian Church, we got a crazy idea: What if we cancelled our regular worship services, shut down all church programs for a weekend, and invited everyone to worship God through Service in the community?
"Compassion Weekend" was born! On April 19 and 20, 2008, Faith Church members and volunteers from all over the city participated in an awesome time of Christian Service to our community, where folks of all ages joined together in service activities that were chosen by our congregation.
In choosing our service projects, we followed these core principles:
The service projects must address actual needs
There must be ample opportunity for broad scale volunteer involvement
Those doing the serving actively engage with those being served
There must be activities for all age groups
There must be opportunities for long-term support and involvement
“Don’t just go to church…be the church” is the message that Faith is trying to spread. While it’s important to go into our building to worship, it’s just as important to be the church, meaning out of the church building, serving the community. After all, James 1:27 states, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress…”
While our efforts will be initially concentrated on one weekend, it’s important that people realize that Faith Presbyterian Church is in the community, for the community, 365 days of the year.
Previous Compassion Weekend Projects:
2009
1. Knitting for Maryhouse, WIND clients
2. Clothing giveaway (through the Sacramento Food Bank)
3. Collect clothes and blankets for Afghanistan (Trust in Education)
4. Prepare craft items for Very Special Arts festival
5. Assemble school kits for Sacramento START
6. Trash clean up at Garcia Bend park
7. Prepare lunch for clients of Diogenes Youth Center
8. Food prep for Loaves & Fishes
9. Assemble waiting room bags for Shriner’s Hospital
10. Assemble “grace bags” for homeless
11. Assemble Spanish language waiting room books for Shriner’s Hospital
12. Plant flowers and clean up patio at William Land School
13. Make fleece blankets for Shriner’s Hospital
14. Visit seniors, provide entertainment at Eskaton
15. Prepare “Celebration Meal” at Faith after completion of projects
16. Prayer vigil in the Sanctuary
17. Rebuilding Together house repair (held one week prior to CW)
18. Carwash to benefit SPCA (rained out)
19. Pull invasive weeds, California Native Plant Society (rained out)
20. Provide food & games for youth in Seavey Circle (rained out)
21. Vehicle safety inspection (rained out)
2008
1. Assemble education kits for World Vision
2. Plant flowers at William Land School, prepare school kits
3. American River Parkway clean-up
4. Trash pick up, Sacramento Northern Bike Trail
5. Pull invasive weeds, California Native Plant Society
6. Tree planting, Sacramento Tree Foundation
7. Visit and entertain Eskaton seniors, paint and plant
8. Provide food & games for youth in Seavey Circle
9. Knit blanket squares
10. Cook for cancer patients
11. Rebuilding Together house repair
12. Gather supplies for military families
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