The Cairo Christian Fellowship held a special Choral Cantata and Benevolence Offering at their regular meeting location, the St. Andrews Church's Guild Hall, on Sunday evening, April 8.
This service marked the first time the CCF had been back in the Hall for worship in many months after an extensive renovation of bathrooms, floors, electrical, woodwork, new chairs, piano repair, curtains and more. Though the CCF do not own this building, they have been meeting there since their inception in the late 1950's, and therefore have a great deal of ownership and pride even though the facility is shared with UN projects for refugees and other congregations. The CCF spent 46,000 LE (nearly $8,000 USD); they lack another 12-15,000 LE to add the desired air conditioners to complete the renovations they have been working toward.
Many of the CCF members are involved in various churches and groups; several of them used to sing in the Heliopolis Evangelical Community Church choir through the years. The choir still has a couple current CCF members in participation, including Soad who is the director. This choir that performed the Easter Cantata, "The Journey", for us last night. Soad arranged the music and wrote the narration for this production, and another CCF member, Zizet, was the narrator. What makes this choir even more impressive is that they learn all of this in English and in Arabic--they have an upcoming Arabic production on Saturday, April 14.
The Hall was further decorated with Palm leaves (it was Orthodox Palm Sunday), red rugs (that we're tempted to keep), banners, and a variety of other flowers. The Cantata was attended by at least 100 individuals in addition to the choir; not just members of the CCF, but also several from the St. Andrews Church, at least one from a local French speaking congregation, and many members of the Heliopolis Church also made the trip to participate.
Ken gave a brief meditation about going beyond faith in the resurrection of Christ, to also living out a resurrection faith that brings hope to the world. The distinction between declaration and demonstration was given application in a special offering to provide a financial gift for the local Fowler orphanage. Fowler provides shelter, clothing, food and help for 90 girls; 42 of those also attend a special Christian school where they find education and affirmation. The school previously provided scholarships for these orphan girls; but in these difficult financial times, the scholarships were ceased. As a result, Fowler now has to raise an additional 12,000 LE per month to pay for the tuition for these 42 girls. The CCF have twice met that monthly need in recent months. Those in the attendance at last nights Cantata were challenged to not only give a financial gift, but to also consider volunteering with some of the CCF--to be the physical presence of love, kindness and hope to these girls. Last night's offering raised 2,000 LE for the orphanage, and more may be given by others at a later date.
The CCF takes off next Sunday as it is Orthodox Easter and many will be participating in Coptic or Catholic churches before spending the day in family gatherings. The CCF next meets for Sham el-Nissim (the smell of the breeze), on Monday, April 15--everyone comes to the garden at the villas for sharing food, laughter, and just enjoying everyone's company. [This is a Pharonic celebration of Spring--we've been told that this day is the spring of the year, and marks the day when you exchange your long sleeve shirts for your short sleeves! We broke with tradition on that as we have had several days in the mid to high 90 degree (F) in the past week; it's cooling off this week, back to the upper 70's to mid 80's.]
Here's some pictures from last night's Easter Cantata and Benevolence...
This service marked the first time the CCF had been back in the Hall for worship in many months after an extensive renovation of bathrooms, floors, electrical, woodwork, new chairs, piano repair, curtains and more. Though the CCF do not own this building, they have been meeting there since their inception in the late 1950's, and therefore have a great deal of ownership and pride even though the facility is shared with UN projects for refugees and other congregations. The CCF spent 46,000 LE (nearly $8,000 USD); they lack another 12-15,000 LE to add the desired air conditioners to complete the renovations they have been working toward.
Many of the CCF members are involved in various churches and groups; several of them used to sing in the Heliopolis Evangelical Community Church choir through the years. The choir still has a couple current CCF members in participation, including Soad who is the director. This choir that performed the Easter Cantata, "The Journey", for us last night. Soad arranged the music and wrote the narration for this production, and another CCF member, Zizet, was the narrator. What makes this choir even more impressive is that they learn all of this in English and in Arabic--they have an upcoming Arabic production on Saturday, April 14.
The Hall was further decorated with Palm leaves (it was Orthodox Palm Sunday), red rugs (that we're tempted to keep), banners, and a variety of other flowers. The Cantata was attended by at least 100 individuals in addition to the choir; not just members of the CCF, but also several from the St. Andrews Church, at least one from a local French speaking congregation, and many members of the Heliopolis Church also made the trip to participate.
Ken gave a brief meditation about going beyond faith in the resurrection of Christ, to also living out a resurrection faith that brings hope to the world. The distinction between declaration and demonstration was given application in a special offering to provide a financial gift for the local Fowler orphanage. Fowler provides shelter, clothing, food and help for 90 girls; 42 of those also attend a special Christian school where they find education and affirmation. The school previously provided scholarships for these orphan girls; but in these difficult financial times, the scholarships were ceased. As a result, Fowler now has to raise an additional 12,000 LE per month to pay for the tuition for these 42 girls. The CCF have twice met that monthly need in recent months. Those in the attendance at last nights Cantata were challenged to not only give a financial gift, but to also consider volunteering with some of the CCF--to be the physical presence of love, kindness and hope to these girls. Last night's offering raised 2,000 LE for the orphanage, and more may be given by others at a later date.
The CCF takes off next Sunday as it is Orthodox Easter and many will be participating in Coptic or Catholic churches before spending the day in family gatherings. The CCF next meets for Sham el-Nissim (the smell of the breeze), on Monday, April 15--everyone comes to the garden at the villas for sharing food, laughter, and just enjoying everyone's company. [This is a Pharonic celebration of Spring--we've been told that this day is the spring of the year, and marks the day when you exchange your long sleeve shirts for your short sleeves! We broke with tradition on that as we have had several days in the mid to high 90 degree (F) in the past week; it's cooling off this week, back to the upper 70's to mid 80's.]
Here's some pictures from last night's Easter Cantata and Benevolence...
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