First Presbyterian Church | 701 Florida Avenue | Bristol, TN 37620 | www.fpcbristol.org

Worship

December 22

4th Sunday of Advent

Lessons

Isaiah 7:10-16

Matthew 2:13-23

Sermon

Jesus the Refugee

Gordon A. Turnbull

Hymns

Angels, from the Realms of Glory

Once in Royal David's City

What Child Is This

Anthem

Coventry Carol

Worship Count

December 15: 8:30: 144; 11:00: 175

December 24

Christmas Eve

Lessons

Isaiah 9:2-7

Luke 2:1-20

Meditation

Gordon A. Turnbull

Anthems

Away in a Manger

Sanctuary Choir; Daniel Osborne, soloist

Let Our Gladness Have No End

Sanctuary Choir; Michael Long, violinist

Mary, Where Is Your Baby?

Jubilate Youth Choir

African Noel

Young Adult Ensemble

December 29

1st Sunday after Christmas

Lessons

Jeremiah 31:7-14

John 1:1-18

Sermon

Christmas Too

Dave Welch

Hymns

O Come, All Ye Faithful

Away in a Manger

Good Christian Friends, Rejoice

In This Issue

Come All Ye Faithful: Christmas Eve Candlelight Communion Service

Finishing Strong in 2013

December 29th Offering to Relieve Hunger

Next Wednesday Program Will Be Held January 15

Help FPC Plan Strategically for Missions

Lynette Wallen's Bible Study to Resume January 15

Sunday Night Student Fellowship Resumes January 12

Memorials to Be Published in 2014

If the Weather Outside Is Frightful

Parking Lot Break-Ins

Music Notes

Pray for One Another

Church Calendar

Windows

on First Presbyterian Church

December 19 & 26, 2013

Come All Ye Faithful: Christmas Eve Candlelight Communion Service

Please join us for a candlelight communion service at 8:00 on Christmas Eve in the sanctuary. We will hear well-loved Christmas lessons and old and new carols as well as a Christmas meditation. For details of the music, please see "Music Notes," below.

Finishing Strong in 2013

The end of the year is close at hand, and our leaders and staff are working hard to complete our work for the year and plan for the year ahead. As we finish this year, here are things that each of us can do to strengthen the church's ministry.

Fulfill your 2013 commitment

Have you fulfilled your pledge for 2013? If you are not sure, feel free to call Betsy Galliher at the church for an update on your pledge status.

Consider extra giving

Many people choose to remember or honor loved ones with special gifts to the church at Christmas. Others plan significant donations to worthy causes at year's end. Some seek to maximize their tax savings by making sizable gifts. This kind of giving makes a big difference to our ministry. Please consider First Presbyterian Church with this kind of year-end, above-and-beyond giving. And remember the convenient option of online giving from the homepage of our website, www.fpcbristol.org.

Pledge for 2014

Our budget depends mainly upon pledged offerings; we cannot plan responsibly for ministry without these commitments. If you know that you want to support Christ's ministry through our church, please communicate that desire by submitting a pledge toward our work together.

Pray for our church

The financial work of our church serves and equips the greater, spiritual work to which we are called. Please join in asking God to enrich our life and direct our work together so that every aspect of our ministry glorifies the Lord we serve.

Thank you for your continued commitment to the ministry of Jesus Christ through our church.

December 29th Offering to Relieve Hunger

In worship services on Sunday, December 29, we will collect for the Five-Cents-a-Meal hunger relief program. This quarterly offering takes its name from its simple system of operation: each of us sets aside five cents for each meal we eat. By the end of three months, we have painlessly accumulated our personal offering, and together we make a hearty contribution toward feeding the hungry.

Next Wednesday Program Will Be Held January 15

There will be no Wednesday evening program on Christmas, New Year's Day, or January 8. Our regular schedule will resume January 15 with an intergenerational Bible experience led by Dan Kreiss. This will be an opportunity for dialogue and activity with the full church body. Come prepared to share, listen, and create together, as we gain a fuller understanding of what it means to be the body of Christ.

Help FPC Plan Strategically for Missions

PCUSA seal small In January, our Evangelism & Outreach Committee will begin strategic planning for missions. The initial planning session will be on Sunday, January 19, at 1:30 p.m. Any interested member of the congregation is warmly invited and encouraged to join this process. If you would like more information, please contact Peggy Hill at peggyhill145@gmail.com or 423-956-0209.

Lynette Wallen's Bible Study to Resume January 15

Lynette Wallen's Heart to Heart Bible study has finished meeting for the fall and will begin the new semester January 15. We plan to finish our study of the book of John. We meet on Wednesday mornings, from 9:30 to 11:00, in the New Mothers' Room.

Child care is available, and new members are always welcome. About once a month we have a sack lunch together after our study and include any of our children who wish to join in. Please feel free to join us at any point in our schedule.

Sunday Night Student Fellowship Resumes January 12

The Sunday Night Student Fellowship group has wrapped for the year. Have a merry Christmas and a happy New Year! We will resume our sessions January 12.

Memorials to Be Published in 2014

In 2014, look here for notice of memorial and honorary gifts to the church. We hope that this newsletter provides a timely and efficient means of letting people see the generosity of our supporters. If you would prefer to remain anonymous in your giving, please signal that intent as you make your gifts. Thank you for your generosity!

If the Weather Outside Is Frightful

If inclement weather shows its messy face here, FPC will follow the Bristol, Tennessee, city schools' lead. Please tune in to a local radio or television broadcast to learn what that may be. We will make every effort to gather for worship, even in the unlikely event of extremely severe weather.

Parking Lot Break-Ins

Remember to lock your doors!

There has been a rash of break-ins to vehicles parked in our lot on Sunday mornings this month. Please remember to lock your car, and be sure not to leave valuables in view. Let us not lead anyone into temptation, or lose anything we prefer to keep!

From Steve & Vicki Fey

Music Notes

Participants in upcoming music: For December 22: Sanctuary Choir. For Christmas Eve: Sanctuary Choir, soloist Daniel Osborne; Jubilate Youth Choir; Young Adult Ensemble; Instrumental Ensemble. For December 29: Alan Hunter, organist. The Feys will take a few days off after Christmas.

Upcoming music: This Sunday's Sanctuary Choir anthem, "Coventry Carol," has its origins in a 16th-century Bethlehem play presented by the guild of shearmen and tailors in Coventry, England. In the story, the carol is sung by the mothers of Bethlehem. We sing it today as we hear the story of Herod's anger and fear as told by Matthew's gospel, knowing that such cruelty survives and that Jesus came to show a better way. The arrangement of the carol is by Martin Shaw (1875-1958). The Englishman had a wide-ranging career as a composer and a conductor; he assisted in the influential compilation The Oxford Book of Carols in 1928.

A variety of ensembles will offer music for the Christmas Eve service. The Jubilate Youth Choir will sing "Mary, Where Is Your Baby?" This song tells the story of the angels' message to the shepherds and their visit to Bethlehem. With words and music by Dan Edwards (b. 1951), it is written in a call-and-response style inspired by spirituals.

Mark Sedio

The Sanctuary Choir will sing two anthems. "Let Our Gladness Have No End" is an anonymous 15th-century Bohemian carol in an arrangement by Mark Sedio (b. 1954). One source writes of this carol that the composer was so filled with joy that each phrase of the text is interrupted with "Hallelujah!" Sedio has provided an appropriately joyful arrangement, enriching the accompaniment with the voice of the violin. The second anthem is an arrangement by Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo (b. 1978) of "Away in a Manger," using what is thought of as the second tune. Composed by an American, this tune was introduced into Great Britain by an American evangelist and is thus best known there. Gjeilo, who studied at Juilliard and lives and works in the US, is fast becoming one of the most respected composers of his generation. This arrangement has the choir providing an evocative accompaniment to a solo voice singing the melody.

An alumni choir of former youth singers will offer "African Noel." This arrangement by Benjamin Harlan is of a traditional spiritual; the full text of the song is "Sing we all noel!" The driving rhythm of the music matches the simple joy of the words. The Christmas Eve prelude will begin at 7:50 p.m.

Cherub Choir schedule: Children will be asked to sit with their parents December 29 and January 5. Rehearsals will resume Sunday, January 12.

Pray for One Another

In Our Prayers

Mack Blevins

Frances Caldwell

Sue Cannon

Bill Darnell

DeeDee Galliher

Mary Nell Harris

Sharon Hatcher

Ann Holler

Carolyn King

Mary Landrum

Ruth Musser

Nancy Preston

Mary Rice

Virginia Rutherford

Changsub Shim

Lenita Thibault

Bob Vann

Janet Wright

An extensive list of prayer concerns, "Pray for One Another," is available for pickup at the church each week.

Birthday Prayer Fellowship

December 22 Anna Comer

December 23 Tom Carter, Lynette Wallen

December 24 David Ratcliff

December 25 Pat Flannagan

December 28 Nathan Singleton

December 29 P.J. Stigers

December 30 Jason Kreiss, Teddy Testerman

December 31 Dave Ginn

January 1 Patsy Frizzell, Dee Ginn

January 2 Leigh Beth Phipps

January 4 Scott Sams, Whitney Singleton

Church Calendar

Sunday, December 22

8:30 a.m. Worship, Fellowship Hall

9:00 a.m. Cherub Choir, Room 209

9:45 a.m. Sunday School

11:00 a.m. Worship, Sanctuary

5:00 p.m. Jubilate Youth Choir, Music Wing

Tuesday, December 24

10:00 a.m. Morning Prayer Group, Conference Room

1:00 p.m. Church office closes for Christmas holiday

8:00 p.m. Christmas Eve Worship, Sanctuary

Wednesday, December 25

Church office closed for Christmas holiday

Thursday, December 26

Church office closed for Christmas holiday

Sunday, December 29

8:30 a.m. Worship, Fellowship Hall

9:45 a.m. Sunday School

11:00 a.m. Worship, Sanctuary

Tuesday, December 31

10:00 a.m. Morning Prayer Group, Conference Room

1:00 p.m. Church office closes for New Year's holiday

Wednesday, January 1

Church office closed for New Year's holiday

Thursday, January 2

8:15 p.m. Praise Team, Fellowship Hall

Saturday, January 4

8:00 a.m. Men's Breakfast, Fellowship Hall

Windows is a publication of First Presbyterian Church, Bristol, TN. Please direct questions and suggestions to the editor, Kathy Acuff, kacuff@fpcbristol.org.