Officer Ordination and Installation This Sunday 

After a time of training, our recently elected church officers have been confirmed by the Session for their ministries. This Sunday, each of our worship services will include the Service of Ordination and Installation for these new officers. Please plan to join us this Sunday in celebration and support of these brothers and sisters in their ministries.

To be ordained to the office of Ruling Elder and installed on the Session of Elders, Class of 2017:

Ernie Pennington

To be installed on the Session of Elders, Class of 2017:

Ann Abel

Beth Flannagan

Con Sauls

John Vann

To be ordained to the office of Deacon and installed on the Board of Deacons, Class of 2017:

Nathan Heacock

Jim Mayden

Mark Mervis

Robin North

Byron Schiesz

To be installed on the Board of Trustees, Class of 2017:

Alice Moore

The next story in our churchwide study series, EPIC: Through the Bible with Jesus, is "The Present." Please join us this Sunday, February 22, as we unwrap the tale of Abraham and his only son, Isaac, taken from Genesis 22 and retold in the children's book we are using in our study, The Jesus Storybook Bible. Sermon texts throughout this series are being taken from the same source.

ACTS of Prayer Series Continues 

Please join us at 5:30 for dinner in the Fellowship Hall and stay for the adult learning program at 6:20. Student Small Groups and Wednesday Night Kids will meet as usual at 6:00.

Parents: Please keep your children with you or within sight until they are called to their groups at 6:00. We want to keep our children safe and adults unworried!

If you want to attend our annual Heart to Heart women's retreat, scheduled for February 27 through March 1, but have yet to register, please contact Scottie Bales (Scottie@rtherapeutics.com) as soon as possible. Our speaker this year is Lindsay Fooshee, Christian thinker, blogger, and mom, and her theme is joy. You will not want to miss this wonderful weekend at Blowing Rock Conference Center! Forms and flyers are available throughout the church.

Put Your Used Stamps to Work 

There is an easy way to help provide Sunday School materials for Latin American churches: just bring your canceled stamps to FPC! Presbyterian Women are working with the Alliance Stamp Ministry in Fort Myers, Florida, to turn used stamps into money for mission work. This group accepts all stamps, and by so doing were able to raise $36,000 last year, enough to equip students in nearly 40 denominations in 19 countries.

Winter Retreat for Middle School and High School Students 

If you register before March 1, your total cost for the retreat will be $80. After March 1, your cost will be $100. All participants must have a notarized FPC medical release form, which can be found here. We will soon post a list of what you will need to take with you. Register today by sending your money and form to Katie Arnold or the church office.

Fusion of Pins and Pizza Sunday Evening

All FPC fifth and sixth graders are invited to an evening of pins and pizza this Sunday, February 22, from 6:00 to 8:00 at Bass Pro Shops. Bring $5 to score two hours of bowling, pizza, drinks, and dessert! For more information about this Fusion event, contact Lilly Osborne at 423-383-5476 or losborne@fpcbristol.org.

It's Crunchtime for Fairmount Students 

We are collecting cookies for our young friends at Fairmount Elementary School. The Neighborhood Initiatives Steering Committee is asking us to fill the Little Red House in the Fellowship Hallway with boxes of vanilla wafers. The committee will take them to Fairmount, where teachers will divide them into portions for the youngsters whose parents cannot afford to send snacks to school with them. Let's make sure all students get a midafternoon energy boost!

C.S. Lewis, A Life: Eccentric Genius, Reluctant Prophet

A half-century has passed since the death of C.S. Lewis in 1963, but his charm for Christian readers seems as strong as ever. Perhaps it is because there is both magic and mystery attached to his life and writings. A serious scholar of English literature, he also wrote delightful fantasies of Narnia for children and adults alike. Early in life a confirmed atheist, he underwent a gradual conversion to Christ and became a major spokesman for the faith; his books on Christian theology and ethics have become classics. Who has not heard of The Screwtape Letters or Mere Christianity? But there are also mysteries to his career: the relationship to Mrs. Moore, the mother of his World War I buddy; the exact nature of those inner forces that propelled him to Christianity; the refusal of Oxford University, where he taught for so many years, to award him the coveted status of a professorship; his love affair and marriage to Joy Davidman, the American divorcée. Many have attempted to write about Lewis, including those who knew him personally, but perhaps the best effort is the recent C.S. Lewis, A Life: Eccentric Genius, Reluctant Prophet, by Alister McGrath, Professor of Theology at King's College, London. Author of more than fifty books, McGrath tells the story simply and clearly. It's a fine combination of the best scholarship with a style that is charming, as was Lewis's life.

The Parables of Peanuts

On a simpler note, there are some of us who don't quite come alive until we have had our morning coffee. For me it is something else; my day begins after I have had a chance to get my philosophy lesson from viewing the Peanuts cartoon in the daily paper. With a light touch of humor, I learn from Charlie Brown that the world does make sense even if it doesn't always seem to. If you are like me, you will appreciate Robert L. Short's The Parables of Peanuts, a charming series of essays on theology and ethical values illustrated by the cartoon characters. The genius of Short (1932-2009), a Presbyterian minister, was his ability to blend the cartoons and his narrative so seamlessly. You'll find yourself learning theology and ethics while chuckling at the doings of Charlie, Snoopy, Lucy, and all the rest. You may think that kind of blending can't work. But it does. Read the book and you'll agree.

Sunday's music participants: Sanctuary Choir.

John Leavitt

Sunday's music: Recognizing that this week's Storybook Bible narrative, in telling of God's testing of Abraham, makes reference to Christ as the Lamb of God offered as the perfect sacrifice, the Sanctuary Choir anthem is a setting of the Latin liturgical text "Agnus Dei" (Lamb of God), which is drawn from John 1:29 ("Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world."). Innumerable settings have been made of this text; the choir anthem was composed in 1990 by John Leavitt (b. 1956). Leavitt's education and career has centered primarily in Kansas; he currently is on the faculty of MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe, Kansas, as professor of music and director of choirs. The rich nature of his music captures the quiet comfort that these words offer.

Lenten Organ Meditations: Central Presbyterian Church in Bristol, VA, presents its 2015 Lenten Organ Meditations at noon each Wednesday, February 25 through March 25. Joy Smith-Briggs, Central's organist, will perform February 25. Jane LaPella, retired organist of Munsey Memorial United Methodist Church in Johnson City, will play March 4. There is no admission charge for these 30-minute programs, but donations to the music program will be gratefully accepted. 

In Our Prayers

Becky Busler

Jane Crewey

Dorothy Dollar

Fred Frazier

Ann Galliher

DeeDee Galliher

Dorothy Giesler

Juanita Goforth

Ron Grubbs

Will Hankins

Mary Nell Harris

Sharon Hatcher

Hawley Heglar

Carolyn King

Nancy King

Sue Olsen

Nancy Preston

Mary Rice

Brenda Rogers

Virginia Rutherford

Katy Sikorski

Faye VanNostrand

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

To the Church Triumphant

Carolyn Ruth Musser

February 12, 2015

Birthday Prayer Fellowship

February 22        Mary Lynn Connor, Emily Patton, Dillon Pendley

February 23        Jean Addison

February 24        Rebekah Heacock, Sara Reuning, Chris Shaw

February 25        John Connor, Bart McMillin

February 26        Amy McCracken

February 27        Lee North, Chris Phipps, Colt Stocstill

We recently received gifts in memory of the following individuals:

The Reverend Jeanette Baggs (sister of Al Thomas): by Dean & Diane Cloyd, to the Music Projects Fund

Presley Taggart Downs (sister of Kaye Crutchfield): by Vivian Calcote and by Tom & Leigh King, each to the Capital Campaign Fund/MEP

Opal Johnson: by Don Moneyhun, to the Minister's Discretionary Fund; by Vivian Calcote, by Ann Johnson, and by Peggy B. Peters, each to the Capital Campaign Fund/MEP

Gwen Necessary (mother of Nancy Butterworth): by Ernie & Karen Pennington, to the Minister's Discretionary Fund

Sunday, February 22

8:30 a.m.     Worship with Service of Ordination & Installation, Fellowship Hall

9:00 a.m.     Cherub Choir, Room 209

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

11:00 a.m.   Worship with Service of Ordination & Installation, Sanctuary

5:15 p.m.     Jubilate Youth Choir, Music Wing

6:00 p.m.     Student Fellowship, Youth Wing

Monday, February 23

5:30 p.m.     Sanctuary Handbells, Handbell Room

7:00 p.m.     Session Meeting, Room 123

Tuesday, February 24

9:00 a.m.     Staff Meeting, Room 123

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

1:00 p.m.     Jackie Burt's Bible Study, Burt Home

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

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

Wednesday, February 25

9:30 a.m.     Lorri Looney's DVD Bible Study, Parlor

10:00 a.m.   Elizabeth Patrick's Women's Bible Study, New Mothers' Room

4:15 p.m.     Children's Handbells, Room 212

4:45 p.m.     Youth Handbells, Room 212

4:45 p.m.     Savior's Singers Children's Choir, Room 209

5:15 p.m.     Baby & Toddler Care, Rooms 34-37

5:30 p.m.     Fellowship Dinner, Fellowship Hall

6:00 p.m.     Wednesday Night Kids, Rooms 11 &31

6:00 p.m.     Student Small Groups, Youth Wing

6:20 p.m.     Adult Learning, Fellowship Hall

7:15 p.m.     Sanctuary Choir, Room 202

7:30 p.m.     Praise Team, Fellowship Hall

Thursday, February 26

7:00 a.m.      Men's Bible Study, Parlor

12:00 p.m.   Noon Bible Study, Room 117

Friday, February 27

Women's Retreat, Blowing Rock Conference Center