Second Presbyterian Church
June 12, 2020
While we are not able to worship together in person, we are worshiping together virtually! Join us on Sunday morning at 11:00 a.m. for worship by clicking the tab above, or clicking on the "Sunday Live stream" button on the home page of our website,  www.2ndpres.org .

Also - if you click the blue button above you will be able to download the worship order so you can follow along at home!
Following the Assurance of God's Love, we will pass the peace by texting one another. Choose a fellow church member, family member, friend, relative, or loved one, have their number ready to go, and send them a text that says, “May the peace of Christ be with you!"
The Session of 2 nd Presbyterian Church has voted to slowly begin resuming in-person church activities as long as the City of Knoxville and Knox County joint phased reopening plan is moving forward. Committees, ministry units, Bible study groups, youth groups, and other groups of the church may resume in-person meetings beginning July 1st. We will return to in-person worship in the sanctuary on Sunday, August 2 nd . There will be one worship service at 11:00 a.m. with no numerical limits on attendance.

There are a number of guidelines that we are asking people to follow as we resume in-person activities. These guidelines are ones that we have chosen to impose upon ourselves in order to protect everyone and keep everyone as safe as possible. They will be communicated in a separate email and will be listed in July’s Second Edition . For now, we wanted you to have these dates so that you can begin to plan accordingly.

The Session would like to thank the Covid-19 Task Force for its hard work and dedication over the last few months. They will continue to meet and serve in an advisory capacity for the next several months, as we adapt to the reality of returning to in-person activities. The Session and the Covid-19 Task Force would both like to thank all of those who filled out the reopening survey. Your responses were very helpful in deciding when and how to return to in-person worship.
Join us after Worship for a Virtual Coffee Hour!

Continuing this Sunday, we will be having a virtual coffee hour immediately following worship. A Zoom link will be sent out in the same email with the worship link on Sunday morning. Following worship just click the link to join your brothers and sisters from 2 nd  Presbyterian for a time of fellowship. It’s BYOC and there’s no meeting agenda, no Bible study – just hanging out together and chatting about worship, life, whatever! You can stay and visit as long as you like, or leave after just saying hey. We hope this will be a good way to have virtual fellowship until we can have the real thing.
Starting June 17th, the topic for our study on Wednesday evenings will be racism. The study begins at 6:00 p.m. each week via Zoom and we will look at the different ways issues of race impact our society and our understanding of one another. Sessions will include:

Why is it so difficult to talk about racism?
Racism 101
The Bible and racism
A history of racism in the US
White Privilege
Is Affirmative Action still needed?
Do segregated churches imply racism?

Participants will be asked to read a short document before each session and come ready to discuss. The reading is available by clicking the link below, or by going to our website. It will also be sent out in the email each week with the link to join the Zoom study. The study will also be recorded each week and posted to our website for those that cannot join live.

We hope that you will plan on joining us on Wednesday nights at 6:00 p.m. for this important study.
Max Jones son of Taylor and Angela Jones graduated Tuesday from South Doyle High School!
Congratulations, Max!
Hello, church friends. I am Liz Peebles your traveling book lady during this social distancing period. I don’t know about you, but I am tired of being at home. I am offering to fill book/media wants and deliver them to your homes (porch) and pick them back up when you are finished. I can social distance in my car. I will be wiping the books and media down with alcohol before you receive them and after I retrieve them. 
 
Here is a taste of what our church library has to offer. In the DVD category I suggest the original PBS Anne of Green Gables, Faith Like Potatoes (a story of love and hope), I Can Only Imagine, Chariots of Fire, God’s Not Dead, Woodlawn The True Story, The Hiding Place (the story of a family that fought the Nazi madness with the only weapon they had – love), Heaven is for Real, Where the Red Fern Grows I & II, Fireproof, the PBS production of Our Town, featuring Paul Newman, Won’t You be my Neighbor, Grandma Gatewood’s Walk, Christy, Luther starring Joseph Fiennes, Gospels of Matthew and John enacted using the exact words from our Bible, also Acts Parts 1&2 also enacted using the exact words of the Bible. I also have several Veggie Tales.
 
Some books of light interest: The Maise Dobbs mysteries (9 books), Out to Pasture but Not Over the Hill by Effie Wilder, The Cherry Holler trilogy by Adrianna Trigiani (features Knoxville), Snapshot by Lis Wiehl based on real events and a photo taken by Lis’ own G-man father, Saint Maybe by Anne Tyler, books by Patricia Sprinkle (highly recommended), Alexander McCall Smith’s series centering around a dog (Corduroy) and other fun characters.
 
On a more serious note are The Collaborator of Bethlehem by former Middle East bureau chief Matt Rees and The Trial by Robert Whitlow. Becoming Mrs. Lewis is a novel about the wife of C. S. Lewis. There is a fun read about the Von Trapp family and also a devotional by Maria Von Trapp.
 
If you have any other requests, I will try to fill it. The library has a wonderful selection of children’s books. Just let me know a special interest.

In addition to books from the library , I have books not yet entered into the system. There is a complete set of Alan Furst’s books about ordinary people in different parts of Europe during World War II. Neal has donated these and they are excellent reading for both men and women.

Other donated books of interest are The Runaway Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini, Rainwater by Sandra Brown, Somebody Loves You by Helen Steiner Rice in an easy to read edition, two Sister Mary Helen mysteries, A Man Called Ove by Fredrik, Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts, and The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman.

Neal and I watched again “Chariots of Fire,” a movie about the 1924 Olympics and two outstanding runners from Britain, one a Christian and the other a Jew. The music by Vangelis, winner of the Academy Award for best sound track, is so exciting. The movie won Best Movie back in its day.

Remember, I will keep these books clean. Please contact Liz directly at 865-247-4503 or 865-660-9597 .
Join Dick Dodson this week for the Faith, Science, and the Future class by phone conference on Sunday morning! 

NFL Figures Apologize for Past Failures, Comments About Players' Protests Against Injustice and Violence:

With our final class before the summer break, this Sunday’s lesson begins with news of apologies by the National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell and New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees for past remarks they made regarding players who protested police brutality and systemic oppression of African-Americans. We take this opportunity to explore what constitutes genuine repentance, honest confession of sin and authentic apologies. 

THIS INVITATION IS OPEN TO ANYONE WHO WOULD LIKE TO PARTICIPATE! 

Instructions to access the class are below:   
 
Start time:  9:30 a.m.
 
Phone number to call:  712-775-8972 . Callers are asked to enter a conference code – it is  179021 .
 
Please be advised that this is a long distance call , for any who might be using a home phone with long distance charges. 
We update our blog several times a week during our hiatus from in-person activities. It may be a devotion, an interesting story, something uplifting, something silly, or anything else that we think might be helpful. You will continue to get an email alerting you whenever a new blog post is uploaded.

The address is  2ndpresknox.blogpsot.com  - or you can just click the link next to the picture above. 
With the recent passing of Nettie Downen, several folks have asked for her daughters addresses. So here is their contact information for anyone who may be interested in reaching out to them as they grieve the loss of their mother.

Donna Downen
209 Whitefield Lane
Maryville, TN 37804
865-320-4151

Jenny (Wallace) Downen Greene
415 Center St
Hershey, PA 17003
717-579-4786
Prayer List:

Please keep Rev. Al Pierson, the Downen Family, the Callaway family, Ed Carver, Patricia and Geoffrey Kennedy, Frances Johnson, Mary Johnson, Brice Gilmer, Betty McCollum, Emily Rose, Dee Snyder, and Jennifer Levy-Tatum in your prayers. 
 
Please contact the Church Office (523.2189 or ajohnson@2ndpres.org) with prayer concerns to be listed in the weekly email or bulletin.