|
|
|
Windows
on First Presbyterian Church
February 2, 2012 |
Got Fruit? Women's Retreat Bears Looking Into |
 Join the women of FPC for a weekend of Bible-based sharing and exploring led by your faithful sisters in Christ. Refresh your whole person at the 2012 Women's Retreat at Blowing Rock Conference Center March 16-18. The planning committee has devised a schedule that allows group discussions as well as quiet time, contemplation as well as outings. There will be time for fellowship and for shopping, hiking, or napping. Scholarship assistance is available, and registration forms can be found at the church.
This year we will explore the characteristics of a fruit-bearing life. Each of our gatherings will be bounded by worship and prayer; key passages for the weekend will be taken from Galatians, Luke, and John. We'll learn how bearing fruit differs from works righteousness and how it derives directly from abiding in Christ and walking by the Spirit. Several women will offer their experiences with faithfully striving to bear fruit in their lives. After each group session, we will break into smaller groups to share more deeply about our own fruit-bearing lives. We hope you will join us! |
Onsite Mission Opportunity: Help Start Boys & Girls Bible Club |
 When you see our mission teams coming back from Brazil and Ethiopia, do you feel a twinge? Do you wish you could serve in the mission field?
Well, we have a mission opportunity right here in Bristol. Right here at church, in fact. It's a mission to the children of the Boys & Girls Club, which meets each weekday in our children's wing. Our church's Neighborhood Initiatives Steering Committee wants to start a Bible club for the kids. And we need you to join this vital mission.
The purpose of the Boys & Girls Club Outreach is to share the love of God with these children and their families by connecting with them in Bible class and social events, and to build their knowledge of the Bible. We'll do this by having Bible classes every couple of weeks; the exact schedule will be determined by the availability of the volunteers. The vision is that it will include a brief Bible lesson supplemented by fellowship and activities, like an ongoing Vacation Bible School. And we'll have family gatherings a couple of times each year.
There are lots of levels of opportunity. First, we need two coordinators to act as liaisons with the Boys & Girls Club staff and schedule volunteers to teach the Bible classes and lead activities. Next, we need shepherds, one for each age group. These shepherds will come to every session and be the "friend" to the kids, the one who knows their names and loves them.
We also need Bible teachers and activity leaders; you could fill both roles, or only one, and as often as you want. You might teach one age group for two sessions. Or you might lead games for six months. Or you might lead one craft (such as making bracelets) and rotate among all age levels in a week. We want to work with your schedule!
These are the words the Steering Committee used to describe the atmosphere we want to create: fun, inspiring, active, easy, scriptural, loving, accepting, varied, hands-on, respectful. If these words speak to your heart, maybe it's a gentle Spirit tug. To learn more about this important new outreach, contact Peggy Hill (423-652-1732 or hillp@btes.tv) or Gordon Turnbull (423-764-7176 or gturnbull@fpcbristol.org).-Dottie Havlik |
Heart to Heart Event Come to Read and Feed This Saturday | |
 Come to Heart to Heart's Read and Feed, a book review session and soup smorgasbord, this Saturday, February 4, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., at Jennifer Kennedy's home. Enjoy great food and fellowship as you hear about books that can encourage and challenge you in your life of faith. Please call 423-764-7176 or email Jeni Hunt in the church office (jhunt@fpcbristol.org) to let the group know you can come. Child care is available for this event; just let the church office know of your need. Also at this event, registration will open for our annual Women's Retreat, to be held at Blowing Rock Conference Center in Blowing Rock, NC, March 16-18.
|
|
Men of the Church Gather Saturday Morning | |
 All men of the church are invited to breakfast in the Fellowship Hall Saturday morning, February 4, from 8:00 to 10:30, to feast figuratively and literally. For more information, contact Dave Welch at dwelch@fpcbristol.org or 423-764-7176.
|
For Wednesday: Comfort Food and Love |
 We are looking forward to the Adult Learning program after the Fellowship Dinner next Wednesday, February 8. Dave Welch will talk to us about the Epistles of John, or in Dave's words, "Love, Love, Love." Don't miss it!
Fellowship Dinner
Menu
Meatloaf
Mashed Potatoes
Peas
Cornbread
Dessert
Volunteers
Morning: Service Opportunity!
Server/Cleanup: Linda Welch & Brian Miller |
|
FPC Youth Thank Congregation for Successful Fundraiser | |
 Our senior and junior high youth groups' pizza fundraiser last Sunday was a great success, for which they thank everyone who ordered their take-out pies. The two groups raised well over $500 toward their summer mission and camp trips. The senior high group is preparing for a mission trip to Urban Promise, in Trenton, NJ, and the junior high group for camp at Great Escape.
|
Library News from Bill Wade Is Courage a Christian Virtue? | |
 Senator John McCain is a man of courage. I've not always agreed with his political views, but when it comes to personal courage, as the old saying goes, he wrote the book. And he really did, for today we are reviewing the book he has written on the subject, Why Courage Matters: The Way to a Braver Life.
It's not a long book, for McCain is known for his direct, matter-of-fact style. Rather than attempting to explain courage in a theoretical way, he provides specific examples from history that display courage in action. Given his military background, you might expect that these would be drawn from heroism in war, and some are. Here is the account of Sergeant Ray P. Benavidez, who received the Medal of Honor for service in Vietnam. But McCain knows that courage comes in many other forms than that of the battlefield. He tells of Angela Dawson, who confronted the drug dealers who were bringing ruin to her East Baltimore neighborhood. She had courage, fought back, and paid for it with a horrible death. Civil War veteran John Wesley Powell, maimed at the Battle of Shiloh, went on to lead the first exploration of the rapids of the lower Colorado River, a harrowing trip through the Grand Canyon.
African American leader John Lewis led the civil rights march on the Edmund Pettis bridge at Selma, Alabama, in 1965, fully expecting that he would not live through the encounter. Hannah Senesh was a young Jewish girl growing up in Budapest, Hungary. Most of her family escaped to Palestine before World War II, but in 1943 Senesh decided to return to Nazi-occupied Europe to join the resistance. Captured, brutally tortured, she refused to ask for clemency, replying to the authorities, "Clemency-from you? Do you think I'm going to plead with hangmen and murderers? I shall never ask for mercy." Many other examples abound in McCain's book.
But to return to our heading: Is courage a Christian virtue? The word does not appear in the New Testament, nor is it included among the "seven golden" virtues. But surely Paul's admonitions for inner strength and fortitude in Ephesians and First Thessalonians speak to the importance of courage. And certainly the early Christian martyrs, who died at the hands of Roman authorities, well knew the necessity of courage to sustain their faith, and we might also cite heroism during the Reformation. There have been contemporary examples of Christian courage displayed by recent missionaries. More importantly for us, we need to know that the necessity for personal courage can arise among any of us-in our professional responsibilities, in financial affairs, even in our social life.
McCain's book is a good read, encouraging, to use that word. It can stiffen your resolve to do what is Christian and just. As the subtitle suggests, it can help you to a braver life. McCain concludes, "No one is born a coward. We were meant to love. And we were meant to have the courage for it. So be brave. The rest is easy." |
|
Music Notes | |
Music Participants: February 5: Sanctuary Choir; Tinsley Long, soloist.
Sunday's Music: The Sanctuary Choir anthem, "O taste and see," is a brief but lovely setting of Psalm 34:8 in the words of the Myles Coverdale translation of 1535. His translations of the psalms remained (and remain) popular, even as the King James translation in the next century became the standard. The setting by Ralph Vaughan Williams was written for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. The text of the psalm is very personal, as its tactile imagery reminds us how close God is to us, and the words of the psalmist anticipate the joy and peace that come through the celebration of the Lord's Supper. Vaughan Williams set these moving words with lyrical music that is "unfussy" but has a powerful inner emotion.
 | | Mark Davis |
Program of Note: The Paramount Chamber Players will present three programs this month, two of them identical. On Friday, February 17, at 7:30, baritone Mark Davis will present Franz Schubert's complete song cycle Winterreise (Winter Journey), accompanied by Craig Combs on the piano. This program will take place in the sanctuary of First Presbyterian Church, Kingsport, where Davis is Director of Music Ministries. The Players will continue their "Winter Journey" with a program featuring the great Piano Quartet in C Minor, op. 45, by Gabriel Fauré and ancient music by Gottfried Finger, Music for the Humors of the Age, a rarely heard but historically significant work. Virginia Intermont's Harrison-Jones auditorium will be the first setting for this program on Saturday, February 18, at 7:30 p.m. On Sunday, February 19, at 3:00 p.m., the same program will be presented at Sinking Spring Presbyterian Church in Abingdon, as part of the Spencer-Miller Memorial Concert Series. Ticket prices for the February 17 concert are (suggested donation) $12 for adults and $10 for seniors; for the February 18 concert, $12 for adults, $10 for seniors, and no charge for faculty and students; for the February 19 concert, $10 for adults and $5 for students.-Steve & Vicki Fey |
|
| |
In Our Prayers
Jim Bowdoin
Becky Busler
Jane Crewey
Bill Goforth
Mary Nell Harris
Sharon Hatcher
Carolyn King
Ruth Musser
Bill Ward
An extensive list of prayer concerns, "Pray for One Another," is available for pickup at the church each week.
Congratulations
We rejoice with Stuart and Kathryn Parker in the birth of a son, Samuel Holston Parker, on January 27.
Birthday Prayer Fellowship
February 5 Hanna Burnett, Harriette Massengill
February 6 Pat Galliher, Amanda Wilder
February 7 Mack Calcote, Chad Carpenter
February 9 Alan Hunter, Lorri Looney, Pat Tippner
February 10 Amy Oblinger, Lensey Richardson
February 11 Patti Hagerty, Deborah Stevenson |
|
Sunday Worship | |
February 5: Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lessons: Isaiah 40:21-31; Mark 1:29-39
Sermon: Jesus' Territory, Gordon Turnbull
Anthem: O Taste and See, Sanctuary Choir
Hymns: Praise Ye the Lord, the Almighty; Precious Lord, Take My Hand; Live into Hope
By the Numbers: January 29: 8:30: 160; 11:00: 164 |
|
| |
Sunday, February 5
8:30 a.m. Worship, Fellowship Hall
9:00 a.m. Cherub Choir
9:45 a.m. Sunday School
11:00 a.m. Worship, Sanctuary
1:00 p.m. Junior High Youth Group/Lunch & Bowling
3:15 p.m. Youth Choir
6:00 p.m. Senior High Youth Group/Super Bowl Party
Monday, February 6
5:30 p.m. Sanctuary Handbell Choir
7:00 p.m. Building & Grounds Committee
7:00 p.m. Board of Deacons
Tuesday, February 7
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. Heart to Heart Bible Study
Wednesday, February 8
9:30 a.m. Ladies' Bible Study
1:00 p.m. Women's Bible Study
4:15 p.m. Children's Handbells
4:30 p.m. Finance Committee
4:45 p.m. Youth Handbells
4:45 p.m. Savior's Singers Children's Choir
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, February 9
7:00 a.m. Men's Bible Study
9:00 a.m. Meals on Wheels
12:00 p.m. Thursday Noon Bible Study, Java J's
Save the Date:
Friday-Sunday, March 16-18
Annual Women's Retreat, Blowing Rock Conference Center |
|
|
|
|
