Remaining Activities for Joćo Batista and Rosangela's Visit
Thursday, April 21	Joćo Batista will attend the Men's Bible Study.
Sunday, April 24	During the Sunday School hour, Joćo Batista and Rosangela will update us on our partners in Brazil: the church, school, and their life in Felipe Camarćo. Joćo Batista will preach at Marthina Chapel. Participate in Youth Group Sunday night
Monday, April 25	Joćo Batista will attend the Session.
Tuesday, April 26	Joćo Batista and Rosangela will visit and pray with the Tuesday Morning Prayer Group. Rosangela will provide the program at the Heart to Heart gathering.
Wednesday, April 27	On their final night in Bristol, Joćo Batista and Rosangela will be treated to the music of Slim Pickins during our Wednesday Night Fellowship.

The Marsh Bloodmobile will be in our front parking lot from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 4. Come out and donate blood to your community, deprive a few mosquitoes of their evening meal, and enjoy the fellowship of other folks who are willing to give blood in a good cause. The T-shirt you'll take home this time is perfect for a Southern summer. Sign up at the church, call the church office, or just walk in!

It's time to mark your calendar for Vacation Bible School! First Presbyterian will hold VBS for ages 4 years through sixth grade on the mornings of July 11-13 (Monday through Wednesday) from 9:00 to 11:30. Children, volunteers, and staff always have such a wonderful and illuminating time that we urge you to plan now to register your young friends when the time comes!

David Moore will mow the church lawn during the final week of the cruelest month, and Aaron Brooks will take over for the first week of the merriest. How strange the times, how oddly juxtaposed the seasons. Shouldn't you do something about it?

It is never too late to join the folks fighting the good fight in the tall grass. If you would like to pitch in, Randy Cook will be happy to train you on our Scag Tiger Cat. We welcome adults and teens, men and women for what we hope will be regular duty. If you can help for even a single morning or afternoon, please email Randy at npolecook@aol.com or call his cell at 423-956-1541. Thank you!

Sunday's music participants: King University Symphonic Choir; Pat Flannagan, conductor; Rebekah Triska, student conductor; Lauren Castor, flute.

Sunday's music: We have a long tradition of hosting the King University Symphonic Choir in worship in late spring, prior to graduation. They will offer three anthems as part of our 11:00 worship. They will open with a portion of "Yonder Come Day," a setting of a traditional Georgia Sea Island song, arranged by Craig Carnahan. Carnahan was educated and is based in Minnesota, although his compositions, particularly choral, are widely sung. This vigorous song rejoices in the new day.

Next they will sing "Promised Land," a new setting of familiar words by Samuel Stennett (1727-1795), an English Baptist minister best remembered for this text. It gained wide popularity in 19th century revivals, as it speaks clearly of a hope for eternal life. The musical setting by Sheldon Curry, a Texas native now living and working in Arizona, builds from a quiet beginning to reflect the hope and joy in the text.

The choir's final anthem will be "Christ in the Stranger's Guise," a Gaelic text recovered by Kenneth MacLeod (1871-1955). The words are an echo of Matthew 25:35-40 ("For I was hungry ..."). The musical setting is by David Ashley White (b. 1944), a seventh-generation Texan whose career has been spent at the University of Houston, where he was educated.

Programs of Note: The Symphony of the Mountains will close its 2015-2016 season Saturday, April 23, at 7:30 p.m., with Stories of Freedom, a concert commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. Included on the program at the Eastman Employee Center's Toy F. Reid Auditorium will be Randall Thompson's Testament of Freedom, set to words by Thomas Jefferson and written for chorus and orchestra. The chorus will include Voices of the Mountains and the King University Choirs, directed by Pat Flannagan, and the Civic Chorale. Veterans will be honored, and all students will be admitted at no charge.

Also this weekend is the spring concert by the Highlands Youth Ensemble, which includes our own Bella Bane, Annie Osborne, Daniel Osborne, and Madison Ratliff. Concert time is 7:00 p.m. Sunday, April 24, at Christ the King Catholic Church in Abingdon.

Arts Series: To close our 2015-16 Arts Series, pianist and organist Carl Angelo will present a program on both instruments Sunday, May 1, at 3:00 p.m., in our sanctuary. The first half of the program will be downstairs on our wonderful Steinway piano. He will play works of Bach, Mozart, Brahms, and Liszt. For the second half of the program, he will play works of the same composers on the organ! A screen will be set up in the front so that the audience can watch him at the organ console.

Thank you to our donors for your support this year! When we reschedule the recital by Cheryl Parrish, you will receive tickets for that program.

To facilitate and more closely coordinate our congregation's prayer energies, we are making slight changes to the way we compile and maintain "In Our Prayers," the list of prayer concerns that appears in each issue of this newsletter. You will still make prayer requests by calling the church office at 423-764-7176 or emailing Diana Mattison at dmattison@fpcbristol.org. We will publish each name for three weeks from the initial request, then remove it. Requests to continue prayers can be made in the same way as the initial request. In this way, Windows will carry the most recent and timely prayer needs of the congregation. If you have any questions, please contact Dave Welch at dwelch@fpcbristol.org.

Recognizing that prayer has both individual and communal aspects and that it is a high calling to bring to God the needs of brothers and sisters in the faith, we invite the members of First Presbyterian to share together in this rich ministry.

 

8:30 a.m.       Worship, Fellowship Hall

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

9:45 a.m.       Combined Sunday School, Fellowship Hall

11:00 a.m.     Worship, Sanctuary

12:15 p.m.     King Choir Luncheon, Chapel

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

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

7:00 p.m.       Session of Elders, Room 123

9:00 a.m.       Staff Meeting, Room 123

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

7:00 p.m.       Heart to Heart Event with Rosangela Silva de Oliviera, Chapel & Parlor

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

9:30 a.m.       Lorri Looney's DVD Bible Study, Coffee Klatch Classroom

4:30 p.m.       Children's Handbells, Room 212

5:00 p.m.       Savior's Singers Children's Choir, Room 209

5:15 p.m.       Baby & Toddler Care, Rooms 34 & 35

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

6:00 p.m.       Wednesday Night Kids

6:00 p.m.       Student Small Groups

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

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

7:30 p.m.       8:30 Worship Team Rehearsal, Fellowship Hall

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

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