December 21

4th Sunday of Advent

Lessons

2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

The Lord Is with You

Gordon A. Turnbull

Prelude

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

Sanctuary Bells

Hymns

Love Has Come

Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming

Good Christian Friends, Rejoice

Anthem

The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came

Sanctuary Choir

Attendance on December 14

8:30: 128; 11:00: 175

December 28

1st Sunday after Christmas

Lessons

Isaiah 61:10-62:3

Luke 2:22-40

Sermon

Promises, Promises

Windows

Christmas Eve Candlelight Communion Service 

The light will shine in the darkness when we worship together in our annual Christmas Eve candlelight communion service. The service will begin at 8:00 p.m. in the poinsettia-bedecked sanctuary, but we will want to arrive ten minutes early to hear the special music that our violinists and youth choir have been preparing for us. Throughout the service, the Sanctuary Choir, the Jubilate Youth Choir, an instrumental ensemble, and others will punctuate the traditional Christmas Eve lessons with a variety of carols. The evening's special offering will go to the Minister's Discretionary Fund. Please join us December 24 for this beautiful worship experience. And bring the whole family; the nursery will be open!

The new year will be here in two weeks! Our New Year's resolution is to take on a new churchwide study series called EPIC: Through the Bible with Jesus. Sermon texts will be taken from The Jesus Storybook Bible, which will be available for pickup at the church beginning Sunday, January 4. We will start the series together Sunday, January 11. You may still order free copies of this book. Order forms are available at the church.

Next Sunday, December 28, we will collect for the Five-Cents-a-Meal hunger relief program. This offering takes its name from the way it works: each of us sets aside five cents for each meal we eat. By the end of three effortless months, we each have accumulated a personal offering of about $13.50, and together we make a hearty contribution toward feeding the hungry. If you'd rather not bring in a sack of coins, you may write a check payable to FPC, noting on the memo line that it is for Five-Cents-a-Meal. Many mouths will thank you!

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. To this end, we have so far received 139 pledge commitments for a total of $598,726 for the ministries that we are called to carry out in 2015. As we finish this year, here are things that each of us can do to strengthen the church's ministry.

Fulfill your 2014 commitment

Have you fulfilled your pledge for 2014? 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 sizeable 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 2015

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. 

We expect to feed about 80 people or more at lunch and 150 at dinner. We will need peanut butter, sandwich bread, sandwich baggies, lunch bags, fruit, and snack cakes for the lunches. We will need chicken casseroles, slaw, green beans, and rolls for dinner. We will provide the recipes, but all you have to do for the green beans is open a can!

Sign-up forms are available at the church. For more information, please contact Tammy Connolly at 423-968-3831 or lconn4691@btes.tv.

Session Welcomes Discussion on GA Actions 

Our Session is hosting another gathering for anyone interested in discussing recent actions by the PCUSA General Assembly or our church's response. The discussion is slated for Wednesday, January 7, at 6:00 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall.

Approximately 65 people met in the chapel on Sunday, November 23, to hear about the General Assembly's actions regarding same-sex marriage and divestment of PCUSA funds from three corporations whose products it believes contribute to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Church members have also communicated with the Session individually. Our Session meetings are open, and time is allotted for anyone who wishes to address the Session on any issue. Printed materials on these GA actions are available upon request through the church office.

Please note that the January 7 event does not include dinner! Our regular schedule for Wednesday evening supper and programs resumes the following week, on January 14. 

Stephen Paulus CREDIT: Sharolyn Hagen Photography

Music and participants on December 21: Sanctuary Bells and Sanctuary Choir. This Sunday, the Sanctuary Bells will play the well-loved "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" for our prelude. The Sanctuary Choir will sing "The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came," a Basque carol thought to have its origins in the 17th or 18th century but first written down and translated into English in the late 19th century. It is most appropriate for the last Sunday of Advent, as it is a retelling of the visit of the angel Gabriel to Mary, with a brief quote from Mary's song after her meeting with Elizabeth. Each stanza ends with a "Gloria," anticipating the song of the angels to the shepherds. This anthem is a setting of this carol by the American composer Stephen Paulus (1949-2014). Paulus, noted particularly for his choral music and operas, lived, was educated, and spent most of his successful career in Minnesota's Twin Cities. He died this past October of complications after a stroke. His setting, while faithfully using the carol's melody and basic harmonic structure, is both reflective when the text is introspective, and joyous when the text rejoices.

Music and participants on Christmas Eve: Sanctuary Choir, instrumental ensemble, Jubilate Youth Choir, and more. For the Christmas Eve service, there will be a variety of offerings by various ensembles. The Jubilate Youth Choir will present "Whisper! Whisper!" by Jay Althouse (b. 1951). An original composition, it is in the style of music from the Caribbean. It mixes quiet sections that honor the child in the manger with joyous outbursts that rejoice in the news of the birth of our savior. Althouse is an American composer trained at Indiana University and currently living and working in Raleigh, North Carolina.

The Sanctuary Choir will offer two anthems; "When Christ was born of Mary free" is a 15th century carol text whose original music has been lost. Several composers have made new settings; the version the choir sings is by the British musician Malcolm Archer (b. 1952). Archer has held several notable positions, including Director of Music of St. Paul's Cathedral in London. His spirited and lively setting recounts the visitation of the angels to the shepherds. "Whence Is That Goodly Fragrance Flowing" is a 17th century French Christmas carol. It revels in the wondrous thing that has happened in Bethlehem and in our being drawn there by the "goodly fragrance" and "light so brilliant." The arrangement is by Sir David Willcocks (b. 1919), who held a number of highly visible and significant positions in his career, most notably from 1957 to 1974 as Director of Music of King's College, Cambridge. It was during his tenure there that he made numerous carol arrangements that were heard internationally on their broadcasts of Lessons and Carols on Christmas Eve. This elegant arrangement is from 1970.

Music participants on December 28: Alan Hunter, organist; Daniel Osborne, soloist.

Cherub Choir schedule: Kids' Kirk will be offered during the 8:30 a.m. services December 21 and 28 and January 4. Rehearsals resume January 11.

In Our Prayers

Becky Busler

Jane Crewey

Barbara Daniel

Dorothy Dollar

Laura Francis

Fred Frazier

DeeDee Galliher

Dorothy Giesler

Juanita Goforth

Ron Grubbs

Will Hankins

Mary Nell Harris

Sharon Hatcher

Rebekah Heacock

Hawley Heglar

Opal Johnson

Carolyn King

Nancy King

Ruth Musser

Nancy Preston

Mary Rice

Brenda Rogers

Virginia Rutherford

Katy Sikorski

Faye VanNostrand

Ann Woods

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

Condolences

Our love and sympathy are with Jim Arnold in the death of his sister, Judy Icenhour, December 14 in Bristol.

Birthday Prayer Fellowship

December 21     Jack Butterworth, Jo Ann Hatcher, Dottie Havlik

December 22     Anna Comer

December 23     Tom Carter, Lynette Wallen

December 24     David Ratcliff

December 25     Pat Flannagan, Wesley Foster

December 28     Nathan Singleton

December 29     PJ Stigers

December 30     Jason Kreiss, Teddy Testerman

December 31     Dave Ginn

January 1            Patsy Frizzell, Dee Ginn

January 2            Charlotte Parker, Leigh Beth Phipps

The following recently made gifts to the funds listed below, in memory of Richard King:

Building & Grounds Fund: His family; Nicole Brundage; Rick & Lori Freel; Fred & Heidi Harkleroad; Debbie Harrison

Minister's Discretionary Fund: Don Moneyhun

Sunday, December 21

8:30 a.m.     Worship, Fellowship Hall

9:45 a.m.     Sunday School, Education Wing

11:00 a.m.   Worship, Sanctuary

5:00 p.m.     Jubilate Youth Choir Rehearsal & Pizza Party, Music Wing

7:00 p.m.     College-Age Christmas Party, Carter Home

Tuesday, December 23

9:00 a.m.     Staff Meeting, Room 123

1:00 p.m.     HeartsBurn Bible Study, Burt Home

6:00 p.m.     Venture Crew 3, Room 123

7:00 p.m.     Boy Scout Troop 3, Scout Wing

Wednesday, December 24

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

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

Thursday-Friday, December 25-26

Church office closed for Christmas holiday

Saturday, December 27

4:00 p.m.     Sharing Christ Mission, Downtown State Street

Sunday, December 28

8:30 a.m.     Worship, Fellowship Hall

9:45 a.m.     Sunday School, Education Wing

11:00 a.m.   Worship, Sanctuary

Tuesday, December 30

9:00 a.m.     Staff Meeting, Room 123

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

1:00 p.m.     HeartsBurn Bible Study, Burt Home

7:00 p.m.     Boy Scout Troop 3, Scout Wing

Thursday, January 1

Church office closed for New Year's Day