We warmly encourage you to join us Sunday and Christmas Eve for holiday worship services filled with special music. Be sure to take advantage of one or more of the other opportunities below for holiday worship, service, and cheer!

 

Date	Time	Event	Place
Sun., Dec. 23	8:30 a.m. 11:00 a.m. 3:00 p.m. 7:00 p.m. 8:30 p.m.	Bluegrass Service Worship Christmas Caroling Night of Worship Student Ministries Alumni Party	Fellowship Hall Sanctuary Off Campus Fellowship Hall Katie Arnold's Home
Mon., Dec. 24	10:00 a.m. 7:00 p.m.	Cookie Delivery Candlelight Communion	Fellowship Hall Sanctuary

 

Come to early worship December 23 for an all-bluegrass service! We will sing Christmas carols to the music of fiddle, banjo, mandolin, guitar, dobro, bass, and percussion. If you're having trouble getting into the Christmas spirit, come to the Fellowship Hall at 8:30 Sunday morning: problem solved!

In the hustle and bustle of Christmas, we invite you to pause for an hour, come to the Fellowship Hall, and renew yourself in a night of music led by Annie Osborne and Aidan Moore. They will provide a space on Sunday, December 23, at 7:00 p.m. where you can be still and rejoice in the hope we have in our Savior! Enjoy Christmas refreshments and allow your heart to be refreshed by the joy of this season. Child care will be available, so you can bring the whole family.

Please join us for our annual Christmas Eve Candlelight Communion service at 7:00 p.m. in the sanctuary. Pastor Sam Weddington will bring the message, and the evening's special offering will go to the Minister's Discretionary Fund. Please join us Monday, December 24, for this beautiful worship experience. Bring the whole family; our nursery will be open!

• Pledges & Offerings through November 30 outpaced expectations by $49,472.
• Other Gifts, Income & Reimbursements are ahead of budget $2,004, getting a boost from special offerings.
• Expense Notes:
  • Evangelism & Outreach's benevolences were paid in October. Just as the income exceeds the budget, the expenses exceed budget because of the distribution of the special offerings.
  • Programming and ministry areas of Worship & Music and Christian Education & Nurture continue to track favorably year-to-date. These program areas typically expend their full budget by year-end.
  • Administrative expenses continue to be below budget through November. This trend should continue to be seen through fiscal year-end.
  • Building & Grounds expenditures continue to track favorably to budget through eleven months. However, with some expected expenditures related to security enhancements in the Children's Wing entries, B&G should come in at or slightly over budget for the year.
  • Capital Loan: The balance with Eastman Credit Union November 30 was $496,215. This represents a year-over-year principal reduction of $62,540. Interest expense on the loan (which flows through our Operating Budget) was $18,162 for the ten months ending November 30. For the same period last year, interest was $20,271.

Christmas is upon us, and amidst our long shopping and to-do lists, you may be planning your year-end benevolences. We thank you for your support of the church in 2018, and we want to encourage you to consider First Presbyterian of Bristol in any other year-end planned giving you hope to do. Every dollar you share with us goes to support the ministry and mission of your church. If you have a specific project in mind, like debt elimination, music, children or youth ministry, or some other element of our congregational witness, please specify that on the memo line of your check. Your generosity is greatly appreciated.

Sunday's music participants: Pat Flannagan, Bob Greene, Sanctuary Choir.

	Kenton Coe

Sunday's music: Our anthem, "Advent Hymn," was composed by a friend, Kenton Coe, a native of Johnson City. Coe studied at Sewanee Academy, then Hobart College in upstate New York for two years, before entering Yale University, from which he graduated as a History of Music major. He studied composition at Yale with Paul Hindemith. He worked privately for three years in Paris with Nadia Boulanger, at both the Paris Conservatory and the Fontainebleau School, and received two French Government scholarships at her request. Sponsored by Aaron Copland, Coe received two fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, where he began his first full-length opera, South, which was premiered in 1965 by the Opera of Marseilles. An active member of the Episcopal Church, he has been commissioned to write numerous anthems for various parishes. The Tennessee Music Teachers' Association named him Composer of the Year and commissioned the cantata Handwriting on the Wall for the 25th anniversary concert in Nashville in 1978. Tusculum College awarded him its highest honor, the Samuel Doak Award. Our anthem is based loosely on a familiar hymn tune, STUTTGART, which has been used throughout our Advent season as a processional hymn.

Organist's footnotes: Heathcote Statham's arrangement of VENI EMMANUEL, better known as "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" (prelude), seems to take into account the meaning of the somewhat somber text. There is an underlying sense of restlessness, as the music constantly shifts tonality, building in volume and intensity. Finally, near the end, the music of the refrain can be heard quietly and clearly, "Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel." Heathcote Dicken Statham, CBE (1889 -1973), was a British conductor, composer, and organist of international repute.

	Aaron David Miller

In contrast is Aaron David Miller's (b. 1972) charming setting of the African-American spiritual GO, TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN (offertory). Here, the Good News of Christ's coming is expressed with pure, unabashed joy, as the music dances from beginning to end in a playful gigue. Miller is the Director of Music and organist at House of Hope Presbyterian Church in St. Paul, Minnesota.

English organist David Blackwell (b. 1961) has created a setting of ADESTE FIDELIS (postlude) for "O Come, All Ye Faithful." His setting can be described as a toccata (meaning "to touch"), where the hands move quickly, lightly touching the keys, while the pedals carry the melody. Blackwell is co-editor (with American Rebecca Groom te Velde) of the popular series Oxford Hymn Settings for Organ.

Christmas Eve music participants: Pat Flannagan, Bob Greene, Sanctuary Choir, Sanctuary Handbell Choir, Michael Long.

Christmas Eve music: Most of the music for Christmas Eve consists of familiar carols to be sung by the congregation. The text of the anthem for Christmas Eve, "A Child Is Born in Bethlehem," is an English translation of a traditional Latin hymn, "Hodie Christus natus est," and dates back to the 14th century. Philip Stopford composed our setting. Until recently, Stopford was the Director of Music at Belfast Cathedral in Northern Ireland. He is now the Director of Music at Christ Church in Bronxville, New York, and will be the clinician at a workshop in Kingsport in the spring.

	Erik Routley

Music for Dec. 30: Martin Luther (1483-1546) composed both text and music for today's anthem, "From Heaven High." He wrote the poem as a Christmas gift to his children to teach them about the incarnation of Christ. A shorter version is #111 in our hymnal. This arrangement was prepared by the prominent British hymnologist Erik Routley (1917-1982), who taught for many years at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey.

Organist's footnotes for Dec. 30: Christmas is a wonderful time to enjoy many traditions, including the singing of beloved carols. Today we will hear arrangements of three such carols: "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" (prelude), "Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming" (offertory), and "God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen" (postlude). All three arrangements are found in the Oxford Hymn Settings for Organists. I have taken these wonderful arrangements for organ, composed by three wonderful contemporary American composers, and incorporated a solo violin part for our wonderful guest violinist, Michael Long. We hope you have a wonderful experience listening to them!

Sunday, December 23

8:30 a.m.       Bluegrass Worship, Fellowship Hall

9:45 a.m.       Sunday School

11:00 a.m.     Worship, Sanctuary

3:00 p.m.       Caroling, Fellowship Hall & Off Campus

7:00 p.m.        Night of Worship, Fellowship Hall

8:30 p.m.        Student Ministries Alumni Christmas Party, Katie Arnold's Home

Monday, December 24

8:30 a.m.       Staff Meeting, Off Campus

10:00 a.m.      Cookie Delivery, Fellowship Hall & Off Campus

7:00 p.m.        Candlelight Communion, Sanctuary

Tuesday, December 25

Church office closed

Wednesday, December 26

Church office closed

7:15 p.m.       Worship Team, Fellowship Hall

Thursday, December 27

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

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

Sunday, December 30

8:30 a.m.       Worship, Fellowship Hall

9:45 a.m.       Sunday School

11:00 a.m.     Worship, Sanctuary

Monday, December 31

10:00 a.m.     Staff Meeting, Room 117

Tuesday, January 1

Church office closed

Wednesday, January 2

7:15 p.m.       Worship Team, Fellowship Hall

Thursday, January 3

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

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

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
TRUSTEES
Class of 2018	Class of 2019	Class of 2020
Charles Webb	Nancy Cook	Peggy Hill