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Worship | |
January 27
3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lessons
Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10
1 Corinthians 12:12-31a
Sermon
Body of Believers
Dave Welch
Hymns
Open Now Thy Gates of Beauty
The Church's One Foundation
Blest Be the Tie That Binds
Anthem
Come, Sing Unto the Lord
By the Numbers
January 20: 8:30: 178; 11:00: 134 |
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Windows
on First Presbyterian Church
January 24, 2013 |
Wednesday Program Update
From the Past, More Than We're Used to Hearing | |
We continue to learn from the Wisdom Literature of the Old Testament as Dave Welch leads our Wednesday evening adult program. We are studying the Psalms, Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes, and may even reach the Song of Solomon, as we discern parallels to our own lives and hear echoes of our own questions. The Israelites faced similar questions and grappled with them rationally from the perspective of experience and community wisdom. They may have more to say to us today than modern Christians are used to hearing. Please join us on Wednesday evenings, from 6:15 to 7:00.
Fellowship Dinner
Wednesday's Fellowship Dinner will warm us with tacos and enchiladas. Please join us at 5:30 in the Fellowship Hall, then stay for the program.
Wednesday Night Kids
Chef Emerald and Chowdown will return to the kitchen at 6:00 p.m. this Wednesday to bake bread for a taping of Chef Emerald's cooking show. Our lesson for the next two weeks is based on the parable of the leaven (yeast) from Matthew 13:33. In the parable, a small bit of dough that contained a leavening agent was mixed into a large amount of flour. The little bit permeated through the entire dough, changing it. In the same way, God's Kingdom works both throughout the world and in our own individual lives. Join us in the studio kitchen, taste different types of bread, and learn how our small steps of faith will influence those we meet every day. |
Special Meeting to Receive New Members Feb. 3 | |
There will be a special Session meeting to receive new members next Sunday, February 3, at 10:15 a.m., in the chapel. All who wish to join FPC are encouraged to attend. |
Bible Basics
Young Couples' Study, Fellowship Group Begins Next Sunday | |
 Bible Basics, a new Sunday School class for young adult couples, begins Sunday, February 3, in the conference room (across from the copier room in the office hallway). Thomas and Jennifer Covington will lead the class, which is open to anyone interested in understanding how the Bible fits together, what its purpose is, and what it means for us today. Participants will become familiar with the themes of individual books and with the authorship and organization of the entire Bible. Class members will be encouraged to apply what they learn each week to their daily lives. We also intend to have regular fellowship activities in addition to the Sunday morning meetings. If you are looking for a place to be fed and grow in fellowship, come give us a look!
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Warmed by Work and Fellowship, FPC Men Return from Retreat | |
The Men's Service Retreat took place, coincidentally, on the National Day of Service. Despite the snow dumped on our area the day before they left, the group managed to get out of town safely and up to Washington, D. C., where the skies were blue and temperatures in the 50s over the weekend. As they worked on Saturday, the men of FPC appreciated the new state-of-the-art Capital Area Food Bank. They worshiped together at National Presbyterian Church on Sunday. In the midst of all this activity and the hundreds of thousands of people in the capital for the inaugural events, they found three hours to tour the National Mall, seeing the Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., World War II, and Korean memorials.
"Great service, better fellowship. We had a wonderful time!" Dave Welch reports.
 | | Left, Pete Stigers; right, Kevin Buck. |
 | | Left, John Graham; center, Pete Stigers; right, Con Sauls. |
 | | Front, JB Madison. |
 | | Left, John Graham; right, Curtis Vann. |
 | | Standing, from left: John Vann, Curtis Vann, Dave Welch, John Graham, Kevin Buck. Seated, from left: Pete Stigers, Dan Gross, Con Sauls (in yellow), JB Madison. |
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Heads Up! Heart to Heart's Annual Read and Feed Coming Soon! | |
 Date: Saturday, February 9
Time: 11:00 a.m.- 1:00 p.m.
Place: 134 Trammel Road
Plan on joining us for this annual book review session and soup smorgasbord. We promise you great food and fellowship as we gather at Jennifer Kennedy's home for this popular event. Four women will share their thoughts on books that can encourage and challenge us in our lives of faith. We'll feed our bodies along with our minds as we enjoy delicious soups and salads.
Please call the church office (423-764-7176) or email Jane Prater at jprater@fpcbristol.org to let us know you can attend. Don't forget to invite a friend!
In case of inclement weather, this event will be cancelled or moved to the Fellowship Hall at First Presbyterian Church. Check our Facebook page or call Betsy Turnbull at 423-878-9523, if you're unsure of the plans!
Need Child Care?
We are happy to provide child care for this event! Please call the church office or email Jane as above to let us know how many children to expect and what ages they are. Please pack a lunch for your children. |
Women's Retreat 2013
The Power of Encouragement: Letting God Love You |
 | | Joan Spitz |
Please join us March 1-3 at Blowing Rock Conference Center in Blowing Rock, NC, as we enjoy a weekend of sharing and exploring led by Christian speaker Joan Spitz.
This year we will explore "The Power of Encouragement," as Joan inspires us to know God more fully. Since the beginning of time, God has sent encouragement to His people in the midst of their lives. In times of uncertainty, we can learn from Old and New Testament patterns and recognize God's assurance in our lives today.
Have you ever wanted a stronger faith in God? Have you observed other people and wondered how they got to that level of strength? Have you felt like asking God, "I'm a Christian, but where is this power for living I'm supposed to have?"
If so, you will not want to miss Joan's teaching. She will remind us that the Kingdom of God is not just a matter of talk, but of power (1 Cor. 4:20). Lasting joy in our daily lives can be a reality. Hard times will still come our way, but the peace and presence of Christ will be our steady strength.
The price of the retreat includes two nights' lodging and five meals. A deposit of $25 should accompany your registration form. Single rooms are $165, double are $128, and triple are $110. Handicapped-accessible rooms are available on request, and scholarship assistance is available. Registration forms and more information can be found in the retreat brochures. |
Open Heart to Heart Bible Studies | |
 A new year of fellowship and shared learning is under way with the following opportunities for all women of FPC and their friends.
Weekly Bible Studies
Lynette Wallen has begun a weekly study focusing on prayer and guided by the book Longing to Pray, by J. Ellsworth Kalas. This approach to prayer relies on the Psalmsto teach us how to commune with the Father. The study group meets each Wednesday morning from 9:30 to 11:00 in the New Mothers' Room across from the nursery, and child care is provided. We plan to meet weekly until summer, taking time for fellowship, study, and prayer. For more information, email Lynette at lynette.wallen@gmail.com or call her at 423-360-7488.
Lorri Looney is facilitating a DVD Bible study through February 27 that uses Priscilla Shirer's Jonah: Navigating a Life Interrupted. What do we do when God interrupts our lives? Often, like Jonah, we run! In this Bible study, Priscilla redefines interruption and shows that it is actually God's invitation to do something beyond our wildest dreams. This group meets every Wednesday morning from 9:30 to 11:30 in the church parlor. Child care is available. For more information, email Lorri at jeffandlorri@msn.com or call her at 423-573-1676.
Twice-Monthly Bible Study
Betsy Turnbull's inductive Bible study resumes its normal schedule in February, meeting at the church on the first and third Tuesdays of each month, from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. The group is studying Revelation. Consider joining us to learn and grow through the shared study of God's Word. For more information, email Betsy at gbturnbull@btes.tv. |
Library News from Bill Wade
Spiritual Explorer Kathleen Norris to Speak at FPC Saturday |
 | | Kathleen Norris |
This week we honor Kathleen Norris, the 2013 Frederick Buechner Lecturer for King College. This Saturday she will be at FPC to give an onstage interview at 4:00 p.m. and the Buechner lecture at 7:00 p.m. She will also sign books. Admission is free. Many of you will be interested in hearing this well-known speaker, and the purpose of this article is to give you a brief account of her life and of the several books she has written about her Christian faith. These books are in our church library, and you may be interested in checking them out.
Kathleen Norris was born in 1947 and grew up in Hawaii. An excellent student, although often alienated from her classmates, she had one academic failing, mathematics. Consequently, she chose to attend Bennington College in Vermont because it was one of the few schools not requiring courses in that subject for a degree. But her experience at Bennington was a shock, for she was in no way prepared for the loose living style that prevailed on the campus during the 1960s. Later she described the experience in her first book, The Virgin of Bennington. After graduation, she moved to New York, taking a position with the Academy of American Poets, and for a few years she enjoyed a rather hedonistic life in that cosmopolitan city. But in time she came to realize that she was on a downhill path spiritually, and when her grandparents died and left her their farm in South Dakota, she and her husband moved there to chart a new course for their lives.
In her book Dakota: A Spiritual Geography she describes the spiritual awakening that came to them on the barren Great Plains. She became a committed Christian, joined the Presbyterian Church, and began to write about her new experiences. In time she began going to a Catholic retreat and became a Benedictine oblate at Assumption Abbey in Richardson, North Dakota, later spending considerable time at Saint John's Abbey in Minnesota. These experiences are chronicled in two books, The Cloister Walk and Benedict and Scholastica. In recent years, following the death of her husband, she has divided her time between Hawaii and South Dakota. In The Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy, and Women's Work (quotidian means necessary and commonplace), she writes, "Laundry, liturgy, and women's work all serve to ground us in the world, and they need not grind us down. Our daily tasks, whether ... drudgery or essential ... do not define who we are as women or as human beings." In Acedia and Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer's Life, she takes the ancient Latin expression acedia, which describes a spiritual gloom, and writes of how she has had to contend with it over the years in keeping her faith vibrant and strong.
Ms. Norris is not only a gifted writer, but she is also in great demand as a speaker known for her personal honesty in describing her life and the ups and downs with which she, as a committed Christian, has often had to deal. She says, "One prayer that I treasure, no matter what I am engaged in, comes from the great lyricist Isaac Watts in his rendition of Psalm 23¸ entitled, 'My Shepherd Will Supply My Need.'" Be sure to come to FPC on Saturday evening to hear her! |
Cheer Our Fairmount Children |
 Everyone needs a lift in the afternoon, but not everyone can afford an afternoon snack. For that reason, the Neighborhood Initiatives Steering Committee is collecting snacks for children at Fairmount Elementary School who would otherwise go without when snack time comes. The committee is asking us to bring in boxes of Cheerios, plain or multigrain, and 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.
Kay Ward, the community outreach liaison at Fairmount, has discovered that there are at least two children in each of 23 classrooms whose parents cannot give them snacks. That adds up to a need for 46 snack portions every day, a total of 230 snacks per week, or 920 snacks each month.
Your loving contribution will give dignity to children from low-income families by allowing them to enjoy snacks with their classmates, and tide them over until the end of the school day. Say a prayer of blessing as you send them on their way! |
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 Bristol Faith in Action urgently needs more flu season care kits to distribute to families in need. Many items that promote health and cleanliness cannot be purchased with food stamps. Among these are disinfectant wipes, hand sanitizer, germ-killing sprays, and tissues. The Evangelism & Outreach Committee asks the FPC family to collect such care kits, or items for them, over the next several weeks. Please bring your donations to the church and place them in the gray bin under the steps in the Music Wing. Thank you!
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From Steve & Vicki Fey Music Notes | |
Sunday's music participants: Sanctuary Choir.
 | | Hans Leo Hassler |
Sunday's music: Hans Leo Hassler (1653-1612) is considered the bridge in German music between the Renaissance and the Baroque. Born in Nuremberg and trained in Venice, he made his career in Augsburg, Nuremberg, and Dresden. A Protestant, he wrote music for both the Lutheran and the Roman Catholic Churches. The Sanctuary Choir anthem, "Come, Sing Unto the Lord," is a setting of the first two verses of Psalm 96. Hassler was influenced by the popular polychoral style of the Venetians, in which ensembles echoed musical ideas back and forth. In the second half of this anthem, where the text states, "declare his glory," the men and women of the choir alternate the musical ideas then come together to proclaim, "declare his glory among all the nations." The music effectively illuminates the joyous nature of the text.
Ash Wednesday: Parents, just a reminder that the Savior's Singers Children's Choir and Children's Handbells will participate in our Ash Wednesday service, February 13, immediately following the Fellowship Dinner. |
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In Our Prayers
Cathy Andersen
Mack Blevins
Becky Busler
Mack Calcote
Sue Cannon
Dorothy Dollar
Mary Nell Harris
Sharon Hatcher
Carolyn King
Mary Landrum
Ruth Musser
Mary Rice
Chuck Thompson
Deborah Whitaker
An extensive list of prayer concerns, "Pray for One Another," is available for pickup at the church each week.
Birthday Prayer Fellowship
January 27 Bambi Akard, David Akard III, Ann Galliher, Phillip Hoffer, Sam Parker
January 28 Kaemon Nelson, Byron Schiesz, Lea Utsman
January 29 Travis Burt, Betty Millard
January 30 Karen McDonald, Herb VanNostrand
January 31 Andrea Hyde, Craig McDonald
February 1 Kristy Davis
February 2 Genny Lou King, Isabelle Ladd |
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Sunday, January 27
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
5:00 p.m. Jubilate Youth Choir
6:00 p.m. Student Ministries Fellowship
Monday, January 28
5:30 p.m. Sanctuary Handbells
7:00 p.m. Session Meeting
Tuesday, January 29
9:00 a.m. Staff Meeting
10:00 a.m. Morning Prayer Group
6:00 p.m. Cub Scout Pack 3, Scout Wing
7:00 p.m. Boy Scout Troop 3, Scout Wing
Wednesday, January 30
9:30 a.m. Heart to Heart DVD Bible Study, Parlor
9:30 a.m. Heart to Heart Bible Study, New Mothers' Room
4:15 p.m. Children's Handbells
4:45 p.m. Youth Handbells
4:45 p.m. Savior's Singers Children's Choir
5:15 p.m. Baby & Toddler Nursery
5:30 p.m. Fellowship Dinner
6:00 p.m. Wednesday Night Kids
6:00 p.m. Student Ministries Small Groups
6:15 p.m. Adult Learning
7:15 p.m. Sanctuary Choir Rehearsal
Thursday, January 31
7:00 a.m. Men's Bible Study
12:00 p.m. Noon Bible Study, Bristol Grind House
8:15 p.m. Praise Team, Fellowship Hall |
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