First Presbyterian Church  |  701 Florida Avenue  |  Bristol, TN 37620  |  423-764-7176  |  fpcbristol.org

In This Issue
Worship
About Windows
Season of Prayer Ponders Choices
The Season of Lent
In the Pulpit
Holy Week 2018
Easter Offering Will Go to One Great Hour of Sharing
Dembi Dollo Urgently Requests Prayers
Dan Kreiss Ordination March 26 at King University
No Fellowship Programs Wednesday Night
Will Graham Celebration Opportunities
Pretzels for Pupils
Music Notes
Pray for One Another
Gifts to the Church
Elders and Deacons of FPC
Church Calendar
Worship
March 25
Palm Sunday
Lessons
Isaiah 50:4-9a
Philippians 2:5-11
Sermon
The Mind of Christ
Dr. Brian Alderman
Hymns (11:00)
All Glory, Laud, and Honor
Hosanna, Loud Hosanna
Ride On! Ride On in Majesty!
Anthem (11:00)
When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
Last Sunday's Attendance
8:30: 84; 11:00: 94
About  
Windows
Deadline for contributions to Windows is the Monday of the week of publication. The newsletter is emailed a minute after midnight on Thursday morning.

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

Windows

on First Presbyterian Church

March 22, 2018
Season of Prayer Ponders Choices
Members of the FPC congregation and Session met again in the chapel Sunday for a Season of Prayer. Elders reviewed the steps taken to develop the proposed operational budget. Benevolences and missions were listed as priorities. The funds available for the budget are based largely on the pledges from the membership.
Under the proposed 2018 budget, at least one staff position will be cut in addition to several program reductions. That position is the Minister of Discipleship. It is anticipated that the new head pastor position will remain vacant until at least June.
Everyone expressed their hope that pledges will increase enough to prevent the loss of the Minister of Discipleship position. There were expressions about moving forward on faith that the Lord will provide funding as needed and also that, as good stewards, we should make decisions as needed to provide a balanced budget.
There are concerns that having two worship services with our lower attendance numbers divides our church into two congregations. The Worship Committee is mindful of these concerns and seeks input into solutions that will bring unity to our congregation while maintaining the two worship services.
There were reports of members who are planning to increase their pledges to the 2018 operational budget as well as to the outstanding capital debt. In addition, there are members of the community who want to join FPC because of the welcoming and serving climate they feel here.
Season of Prayer will again meet in the chapel this Sunday from 5:00 until 6:00 p.m. In the meantime, please be in prayer for unity in our congregation and for a solution regarding our church finances. Please consider increasing your pledges toward the 2018 operational budget as well as to the capital indebtedness. To make changes to your pledges, contact Betsy Galliher, Church Business Administrator, at 423-764-7176. The Session will meet Monday, March 26, to address the proposed 2018 budget.
Participants were appreciative of the opportunity to share their thoughts and concerns and to gain a better understanding about the budgetary process. Please plan to take part in the next gathering of a Season of Prayer.
The Season of Lent
Our worship on Palm Sunday continues to observe the season of Lent, the seven weeks of the church year preceding Easter. Recalling Jesus' 40-day temptation in the wilderness, Lent invites us through introspection and penitence to consider the costliness of Christ's sacrifice for our sin. Lenten worship is hence more subdued, signified by the purple liturgical color as well as by the temporary absence of flowers and "alleluias."
In the Pulpit

Dr. Brian Alderman , an ordained Teaching Elder in the Presbyterian Church (USA), serves as Chaplain and Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religion at King University. A native of Galax, Virginia, Brian pastored Madisonville Presbyterian Church and served as Chaplain at Hiwassee College in Madisonville, Tennessee, before joining the faculty of King. He also taught Biblical Studies and Religion at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee, for six years. He and his wife, Monica Cooley Alderman, have one daughter, Ella Kate.
Holy Week 2018

Please plan to worship with us during Holy Week, which begins this Sunday. Here is the schedule of the week's six worship services:
 
March 25, Palm Sunday
8:30 a.m.
Worship, Fellowship Hall
9:45 a.m.
Sunday School
11:00 a.m.
Worship, Sanctuary
March 29, Maundy Thursday
7:00 p.m.
Worship, Sanctuary
March 30, Good Friday
7:00 p.m.
Worship, Sanctuary
April 1, Easter Sunday
7:30 a.m.
Sunrise Service, Courtyard
8:00 a.m.
Breakfast, Hallway & Chapel
9:30 a.m.
Sunday School
10:30 a.m.
Worship, Sanctuary
 
Easter Offering Will Go to One Great Hour of Sharing
OGHS ministries around the world.

On Easter Sunday, April 1, the offering we collect in ONE Worship will go to the PCUSA's One Great Hour of Sharing program, enabling us to share God's love with our neighbors in need around the world. The many ministries and projects in this program provide relief to those affected by natural disasters, food to the hungry, and empowerment to the poor and oppressed. More information, including the map's extensive legend, is available at http://specialofferings.pcusa.org/oghs.html.
Dembi Dollo Urgently Requests Prayers
Children at our partner school in Dembi Dollo in 2013.
In the wake of continuing political unrest and subsequent violence in different parts of Ethiopia, our mission partners in Dembi Dollo have contacted our church and requested prayers for peace and safety. A state of emergency throughout the country was declared in recent weeks upon the resignation of the country's Prime Minister and will remain in effect until another is selected. Of most recent and significant concern has been the movement of 20,000 government troops into Dembi Dollo, where our brothers and sisters in Christ reside. Our prayers are urgently needed.
Dan Kreiss Ordination March 26 at King University
Dan Kreiss
Members of the congregation are invited to a Service of Worship this Monday, March 26, at 9:00 a.m. in the King University chapel. The service will include the ordination of Dan Kreiss to the office of Teaching Elder after several years of theological study, ordination examinations, and care offered through both First Presbyterian Church and Holston Presbytery. Participating in the Order of Service will be Brian Alderman (King University Chaplain), Mickensie Neely (former student), Mikaela Carter (former student), Elizabeth Patrick (Teaching Elder), Shannan Miller (musician), Anne Aichinger (Pastor, Central Presbyterian), Dave Welch (Stated Supply), and Dick Ray (our Pastor Emeritus). For more information, please contact Dave Welch at dwelch@fpcbristol.org.
No Fellowship Programs Wednesday Night
Next Wednesday night's fellowship gatherings are suspended while we observe Holy Week. We will meet again April 4.
Will Graham Celebration Opportunities
A major Will Graham Celebration, sponsored by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, has been scheduled for April 27 -29 at Freedom Hall in Johnson City. Admission to each event is free, and no ticket is required. Four big events have been planned:
  • Adults & Families: 7:00 p.m. Friday, April 27
  • KidzFest: 10:30 a.m. Saturday, April 28
  • Youth Night: 7:00 p.m. Saturday, April 28 (Adults & families welcome!)
  • Adults & Families: 4:00 p.m. Sunday, April 29
FPC's Evangelism & Outreach Committee wants to encourage you to prayerfully consider how you can become involved in this wonderful evangelistic effort, which is devoted to leading the unchurched in our community to the saving grace of Jesus Christ and to connecting them with a church in their local community.
You can still participate by serving as an usher. Minimum age is 16. Enrollment forms are available online at www.tcrcelebration.org or at the Celebration office, located at 207 N. Boone Street, Suite 600, Johnson City. All usher volunteers must participate in one of the following training sessions:
  • Tuesday, April 10, 7:00-8:30 p.m., Cornerstone Church, Johnson City
  • Thursday, April 12, 7:00-8:30 p.m., Indian Springs Baptist Church, Hill Road Campus, Kingsport
For more information, see the Celebration website at www.tcrcelebration.org, email tcrcelebration@billygraham.org, or call the Celebration office at 423-461-0057.
Pretzels for Pupils
We are collecting small pretzels or pretzel sticks for the students of our neighborhood school. The families of most of the children at Fairmount Elementary cannot afford to send snacks to school with them. That's why we collect donated snacks from our generous church family and our Christian Hands Ministry folks make sure they get to the school. Please bring your offerings of small pretzels to the Little Red House in the Fellowship Hallway to help the youngsters at Fairmount stay alert through the long afternoons. Thank you!
Music Notes
Sunday's music participants: Pat Flannagan, Bob Greene, Sanctuary Choir, Sanctuary Handbells.
Sunday's music: Sunday's anthem is the familiar hymn "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" in an arrangement by Gilbert Martin (b. 1941). Martin is currently a free-lance
Gilbert Martin
composer and an editor of choral music. For more than 40 years, organists, pianists, schools, and churches have performed and enjoyed his many and varied original compositions and arrangements. He received a B.Mus. from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, and was recently honored at Westminster as a distinguished composer and graduate. Martin now lives in Dayton, Ohio.
Organist's footnotes: In the spring of 1980, my parents and I were driving to Lititz, Pennsylvania, to attend the baptism of my brother's infant daughter. Just six miles from our destination, we had a horrible accident that sent all three of us to the hospital. To help pass the time, I purchased a book of piano music, The Complete Lyric Pieces of Edvard Grieg, and spent those days working and playing through all sixty-six pieces. By the end of the three weeks, I had fallen in love with the music of this most celebrated of Norwegian composers. Grieg (1843-1907) incorporated native Norwegian folk music into his compositions. The range of expression between each of these miniature musical gems is enormous. The mood of "Ballad" (our prelude) is one of the darkest in the collection. My transcription for handbells makes use of some our lowest bells to help capture that mood.
William Billings (1746-1800) is regarded as the first American choral composer. "When Jesus Wept" (our offertory) appears in his earliest published collection, The New-England Psalm-Singer (1770). The entire text reads: "When Jesus wept, the falling tear In mercy flowed beyond all bound; When Jesus groaned, a trembling fear Seized all the guilty world around." Sung as a four-part round, the haunting melody with its moving text has made this one of Billings's most enduring compositions. This handbell transcription plays the entire melody once, then as a four-part round.
We conclude this Sixth Sunday of Lent with the last of our selections from Elf Choralvorspiele für die Orgel ( Eleven Chorale Preludes for the Organ), Op. 122, by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897). Brahms wrote these short pieces in 1896 near the end of his life; they were published posthumously in 1902. They are based on verses of nine Lutheran chorales, and this is the second of the two settings of "Herzlich tut mich verlangen." In 1611 Christoph Knoll wrote the lyrics, a prayer for a blessed death, beginning "Herzlich tut mich verlangen nach einem sel'gen End" ("I do desire dearly a blessed end"). The melody, which we know as the Passion Chorale, was adapted from a secular song by Hans Leo Hassler. Unlike most of the pieces in this collection, the melody in this setting can actually be heard clearly! It is played in long notes (quarter and half notes) in the pedals, while the manuals engage in a quicker continuo-like accompaniment (sixteenth and eighth notes).
Pray for One Another
An extensive list of prayer concerns, "Pray for One Another," is available for pickup at the church each week.
 
In Our Prayers
DeeDee Galliher
Ron Grubbs
Don Moneyhun
Joan Sams (mother of Scott Sams)
Chuck Thompson

Condolences
Our love and sympathy are with Jeff Looney and his family in the death of his mother, Eleanor Sue Evans Looney, in Bristol, March 7; and with Betsy Galliher and her family in the death of her mother, Betty Ann Birdwell Mott, of Cookeville, March 18.
 
Birthday Prayer Fellowship
March 28     Betty Barger, Jay Regan, Bill Ward
March 30     AnnaLee Adams, Don Evans, Ann McAllister
Gifts to the Church
Memorials and honoraria are published in the newsletter only after the family has been personally notified by our business office. Today we gratefully acknowledge gifts made to the church in memory of the following individuals:
Graham Barr: to the Capital Fund/MEP from Bob Millard; to the Minister's Discretionary Fund from Pat & Beth Flannagan and from Richard & Margaret Myers
Amy Sumerell Elmore: to the Memorial Fund from Richard & Lila Ray
Betty Millard: to the Minister's Discretionary Fund from Barbara Duncan; Charles & Lynn Hodges; Holston Presbytery; John & Ellen Manney; Richard & Lila Ray
Sam Samuel: to the Minister's Discretionary Fund from Ralph, Anna & Ralphie Booher; Jackie Dolpp; Nancy Garretson; Stephen Hanson & Vicki Guthrie; Highlands Physicians, Inc.; Dallas & Donnie Hurt; Nancy Johnson; Julie King; Lisa May; Sara Reece; John & Jackie Summers; Barbara Thomas; Douglas & Laraine Williams; Susan Yates
Elders and Deacons of FPC
PCUSA seal small
Church Officers
ELDERS
Class of 2018
Class of 2019
Class of 2020
Aaron Brooks
Anna Booher
Nancy Allerton
Randy Cook
Lee Galliher
Rebecca Beck
Debbie McMillin
Pete Holler
David Hyde
Stuart Parker
Han Ong
Jordan Pennington
Chuck Thompson
Pete Stigers
Jerry Poteat
DEACONS
Class of 2018
Class of 2019
Class of 2020
Adam Abel
Sujean Bradley
Blake Bassett
Nancy Butterworth
George Linke
Rhonda Comer
David Ginn
Greg Roberts
Brenda Lawson
Rett Stocstill
Nate Sproles
Barbara Thompson
Ann Woods
Bill Whisnant
 

Church Calendar
Sunday, March 25
8:30 a.m.       Worship, Fellowship Hall
9:45 a.m.       Sunday School
11:00 a.m.     Worship, Sanctuary
5:00 p.m.       Season of Prayer, Chapel
5:00 p.m.       Middle School Fellowship
6:00 p.m.       High School Fellowship
Monday, March 26
9:00 a.m.       Ordination of Dan Kreiss, King University Chapel
5:30 p.m.       Sanctuary Handbells
7:00 p.m.       Session of Elders, Room 123
Tuesday, March 27
9:30 a.m.       Staff Meeting, Room 117
10:00 a.m.     Morning Prayer Group, Conference Room
6:00 p.m.       Venture Crew 3, Room 165
7:00 p.m.       Boy Scout Troop 3, Scout Wing
Wednesday, March 28
6:00 a.m.       10th Grade Girls' Bible Study, Blackbird Bakery
6:00 p.m.       Middle School Gathering
6:00 p.m.       Pastor Nominating Comm., Room 117
7:15 p.m.       Sanctuary Choir
7:30 p.m.       8:30 Worship Team, Fellowship Hall
Thursday, March 29
6:00 a.m.       9th Grade Girls' Bible Study, Blackbird Bakery
7:00 a.m.        Men's Bible Study, Parlor
12:00 p.m.     Noon Bible Study, Room 117
7:00 p.m.       Maundy Thursday Worship, Sanctuary
Friday, March 30
7:00 p.m.       Good Friday Worship, Sanctuary