|
|
|
Windows
on First Presbyterian Church
November 24, 2011 |
Heart to Heart Advent Worship and Luncheon This Friday |
 Begin your Christmas celebrations this Friday, December 2, with Heart to Heart. We will gather at 11:30 a.m. and worship together at 11:45 with music, prayer, and a message from Jessica Stollings Strang, "Living Light: How the Meaning of Advent Illumines Our Lives," inspired by Galatians 5:22-23: "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control; against such things there is no law."
At 12:30 we will enjoy lunch together, or you can take a lunch back to work with you. Please let us know if you need child care (lunch included). We're happy to provide it, but we need to know how many children to expect. Call the church office or email the church at sreuning@fpcbristol.org to let us know you can come (423) 764-7176.
Make it a point to invite a friend! |
Special Thanksgiving Offering to Benefit
Bristol Faith in Action |
 What better way to express our thanks to God than to share our blessings with others? Our Session has designated our special Thanksgiving Offering to the work of Bristol Faith in Action, the cooperative ministry of more than sixty churches in our community. First Presbyterian Church has been one of BFIA's strongest supporters through the years, and this offering allows us to deepen our support of this crucial work in Christ's name for our neighbors in need.
Look for special envelopes in worship this Sunday, or send a contribution to the church office. Make checks payable to First Presbyterian Church, with the memo line "Thanksgiving." Your generosity will strengthen the care we express to those who need our help. Thanks very much! |
Work It Off by Sharing Christ |
Work off your Thanksgiving feast at the Sharing Christ Worship Center next Saturday! The center will hold a dinner for the hungry in our community on November 26. Volunteers are needed for roughly the hours of 1:00 to 8:30 p.m. For more information or to volunteer, please contact organizer Ruthie Blair at blairrb@charter.net or (423) 217-1224. |
|
|
 It's that time again! For $15 per plant, you can order poinsettias to adorn the sanctuary during Advent and on Christmas Day. The deadline for orders is Monday, December 12. Order forms are available in the church office and in your Sunday bulletin. You may pick up your plants after the Christmas service.
|
Calling All Cooks: Meal Ministry for FPC Families |
We are beginning a new ministry to those in our congregation who are temporarily unable to prepare their own meals. If you are interested in helping to provide meals for new mothers, surgery patients, and others, please email Lensey Richardson at lasinjc@yahoo.com. We are collecting email addresses of people interested in such a ministry, and will send out more details and information when we get your info! |
|
|
 
In January, our Ethiopia mission team, Trudy McFerrin and Peggy Hill, will visit Berhane Yesus Elementary School in Dembi Dollo and other missional programs that FPC supports.
In preparation for the trip, they earnestly request your prayers for God's guidance, discernment, and grace for meeting the needs of our missional partners. Trudy and Peggy would also like to carry an abundance of pens (ballpoint or gel), pencils (No. 2 lead), and playground and soccer balls (all sizes) for the 600 schoolchildren at Berhane Yesus. If you would like to donate any of these items, you are welcome to deposit them in the little red house outside the Fellowship Hall anytime during the month of November. |
 Kid Connection News
Ins and Outs of Sunday School |
Help us keep our children safe! Please remember to sign your child in and out of Sunday School. Sign-in sheets are located at the Children's Ministries' registration table before Sunday School and will be in the classrooms afterwards. If you have not registered your child for Sunday School, you will find the necessary form at the registration table. |
|
|
Our nursery needs volunteers to care for our babies during the 8:30 a.m. Sunday service. Volunteers may serve once only or as often as they like. For more information or to volunteer, please contact Cathy Newton or Debbie Pfeifer. |
Cheer Them On with Cheerios! |
 Our participation in the Fairmount Elementary School snack program is making a difference in the lives of children whose parents cannot afford to buy them an afternoon snack. Members of our congregation are now helping the Neighborhood Initiatives Steering Committee stock up on multigrain and honey-nut Cheerios for the next two months. We can't slacken our pace, though, because we need at least 34 boxes to see the children through December and January.
We're asking folks who bring boxes of Cheerios to the church to put them in the Little Red House in the Fellowship Hallway. The committee will take them to the school, and the teachers will divide them into snack portions as needed. Your loving contribution gives a boost in both energy and dignity to children from low-income families by allowing them to enjoy snacks with their classmates. Say a prayer of blessing as you send them on their way! |
|
Music Notes | |
Music Participants: November 27: Sanctuary Choir; Jesse Strang, cantor. December 4: Sanctuary Choir, Sanctuary Bells.
Sunday's Music: Sunday's anthem, "Wake, Awake," was composed by John Horman. Horman taught for 27 years in the Montgomery County, Maryland, school system prior to his retirement in 1995. He has also served as director of music at Warner Memorial Presbyterian Church in Kensington, Maryland for 34 years. He has published numerous hymns, anthems, and musicals with many national publishers, and he is in constant demand as a workshop clinician for major national denominational conferences in the areas of children's and youth music, choral composition, and worship planning techniques. John is also on the editorial boards of two magazines, Church Music Workshop and The Chorister.
About this anthem, John shares the following: "I wrote 'Wake, Awake' at a point when I had a very 'innovative' pastor. I played the anthem for him and he asked me if we could use the canon section [at the end] as an introit on the first Sunday in Advent. His idea was, when all voices were on the dominant tone at the end of the canon ... 6 to 10 alarm clocks would be placed with various members of the congregation and they would set them off randomly to alert the congregation that 'something was coming and it was ADVENT!' All this would lead into an appropriate Call to Worship."There won't be any alarm clocks in worship this week, but the anthem does end with a sense of anticipation. Following the Old Testament lesson, the Sanctuary Choir will sing the first of four Advent canticles (or hymns) with music written by Ann Holler. Each of these uses the same melody, but the texts are appropriate for that day's scripture passages. This first week, the choir will sing it alone, but in the following weeks, the congregation will be invited to join. The text this first week is also by Ann, inspired by the Isaiah and Mark passages for the day.
Christmas Pageant: Only two more rehearsals until the children's Christmas pageant! Wednesday, November 30, and Wednesday, December 7, at 4:30 p.m. in the sanctuary, we will gather for our final run-throughs. Children ages 4 through grade 5 are invited to participate. Even if you weren't able to attend the first rehearsal, feel free to join us. There will be a regular Wednesday evening meal following both rehearsals, because the Advent Workshop will now take place Wednesday, December 7.
Sanctuary Choir Music: If you attended last Wednesday's adult program given by Craig McDonald, you heard him speak about the medieval English poetry used in Benjamin Britten's choral work Ceremony of Carols. The Sanctuary Choir will present this beautiful work during the 11:00 service on Sunday, December 11. Accompanied by harp, the choir will be joined by the Savior's Singers Children's Choir with soloist Daniel Osborne, and the sixth through eighth grade members of the Jubilate Youth Choir. ~ Vicki & Steve Fey |
|
| |
In Our Prayers
Becky Busler
Sharon Hatcher
Ruth Musser
An extensive list of prayer concerns, "Pray for One Another," is available for pickup at the church each week.
Birthday Prayer Fellowship
November 27 Jean Eller, Larry Pennington, Dana Robinette, Cindy Samuel
November 28 Doug Williams, Bob Wright
November 29 Carolyn Moore
November 30 Tim Davis, Corey Greear
December 1 Charles Burrows, Deidre Pendley
December 2 Ryan Hite |
|
Sunday Worship | |
November 27: First Sunday in Advent
Lessons: Isaiah 64:1-9; Mark 13:24- 37
Sermon: Hoping in the End, at the Beginning, Dave Welch
Hymns: Come, Thou Long-expected Jesus; O Come, O Come, Emmanuel;
Prepare the Way, O Zion
Anthems: Wake, Awake, Sanctuary Choir By the Numbers for November 20: 8:30: 202; 11:00: 150 |
|
| |
Sunday, November 27
8:30 a.m. Worship, Fellowship Hall
9:45 a.m. Sunday School
11:00 a.m. Worship, Sanctuary
Monday, November 28
5:30 p.m. Sanctuary Handbell Choir
7:00 p.m. Session Meeting
Tuesday, November 29
9:00 a.m. Staff Meeting
10:00 a.m. Morning Prayer Group
6:30 p.m. Cub Scout Pack 3
7:00 p.m. Boy Scout Troop 3
7:00 p.m. Boy Scout Troop 3 Court of Honor
7:00 p.m. Heart to Heart/HeartsBurn Bible Study
Wednesday, November 30
9:30 a.m. Ladies' Bible Study
1:00 p.m. Women's Bible Study
4:00 p.m. Blood Drive
4:15 p.m. Youth Handbells
4:30 p.m. Christmas Pageant Rehearsal
5:30 p.m. Fellowship Dinner
6:15 p.m. Adult Program
6:15 p.m. Kid Connection
6:15 p.m. Junior High Bible Study
6:45 p.m. Senior High Bible Study
7:15 p.m. Sanctuary Choir
Thursday, December 1
7:00 a.m. Men's Bible Study
12:00 p.m. HeartsBurn Bible Study, Java J's
Friday, December 2
11:30 a.m. Heart to Heart Advent Worship & Luncheon
Saturday, December 3
8:00 a.m. Men's Breakfast |
|
|
|
|
