|
|
Balmoral Presbyterian Church
Where the Spirit Takes Flight
BPC NEWS BRIEF
Wednesday, August 4, 2021
|
|
mailing address: Balmoral Presbyterian Church, P.O. Box 17309, Memphis, TN 38187
|
|
NEWS THIS WEEK
- WORSHIP for SUNDAY AUGUST 8
- CHANGES to WORSHIP IN-PERSON POLICIES/PROCEDURES
- "WE’RE SO QUICK TO JUDGE"
- BPC Photos
- Last Sunday's photos
- Clara Jordan's 90th Birthday
- Ian Mercer Hiking at Philmont
- Leiza & Robin Kayaking
|
|
WEEKLY INFORMATION
- Birthdays
- Calendar of Events
- OUTREACH OPPORTUNITIES
- CONTACT INFORMATION
- HELPFUL COVID-19 LINKS
LINKS to DOCUMENTS
REMINDERS:
- Procedures for Booking a Meeting Room at BPC
- PW Bible Study Fall Preview Information
|
|
SUNDAY
WORSHIP
Balmoral Presbyterian Church
Sunday, August 8, 2021
BALMORAL WORSHIP 11:00am
IN BPC's SANCTUARY
Scriptures: Psalm 34:1-8
& Ephesians 6:10-17
Sermon: "Preparation"
Rev. Elizabeth Dick
|
|
BACK TO WORSHIP
We returned to the sanctuary last Sunday for in-person worship. Due to the new CDC Recommendations issued Tuesday, July 27, EVERYONE WILL BE REQUIRED to WEAR MASKS, whether vaccinated or not.
SEE BELOW for the NEW POLICIES and PROCEDURES.
You will also receive our regular worship email, with the bulletin and link for livestream worship, if you plan to worship at home.
|
|
CIRCLE of FAITH WORSHIP at 8:30am
IN BPC's Fellowship Hall
Everyone is also invited to join the Circle of Faith's return to In-Person worship service! To enter the building, use Office door to the Fellowship Hall.
|
|
You will still receive emails on FRIDAY & again on SUNDAY with links to the the services online access for Worship & a downloadable Sunday Worship Guide.
Previous Worship Services at Balmoral are still available on the
|
|
LIVE STREAM ONLINE WORSHIP |
|
Balmoral's service will ALSO be LiveStreamed online for those who want to "be there" but still need to be able to worship remotely. You will receive an email on Friday and again on Sunday morning with a copy of the bulletin and a link to the LiveStream online service. |
|
Rev. Carla Meisterman will be the out of the office through Saturday, August 14, 2021 completing the worship plans for the Fall quarter and 2 weeks of vacation spending time with her mother in Wisconsin.
Rev. Elizabeth Dick, our Pastoral Care Resident, will be the Pastor on call while Carla is out.
You can reach Elizabeth by phone or signed text
at 314.330.0506 or by email at elizabethdick2@gmail.com
|
|
NOTICE of NEW WORSHIP PROCEDURES |
|
Due to New CDC Recommendations
effective Tuesday, July 27, 2021
regarding the Delta Variant
the following will be observed:
- Masks will be worn in the building at all times
- Social Distancing of 6 feet will be observed at all times
- Passing of the Peace is eliminated from the worship service
- Pastor will be masked at all times except at the pulpit when she is preaching and leading worship
- Choral leaders will be masked at all times except when they sing or lead liturgy
- Musicians will be masked at all times, except those who play brass or wind instruments
- The congregation will not sing on Sunday, August 1, 2021
- Communion is canceled in worship August 1, 2021
The BPC COVID Task Force will be meeting the first week of August to review CDC guidelines and continue to discern and provide guidance for safety for all who enter our building.
PLEASE, FOR THE SAFETY OF
YOURSELF,
ALL THOSE YOU LOVE AND CARE FOR,
UNVACCINATED CHILDREN,
AND PEOPLE WHO WILL COME INTO CONTACT
WITH PEOPLE YOU COME INTO CONTACT WITH:
Anyone who is experiencing symptoms of illness (EG: sinus infection; flu like symptoms; sore throat; fever or chills; cough; shortness of breath or difficulty breathing; fatigue; muscle or body aches; headache; new loss of taste or smell; congestion or runny nose; nausea or vomiting; diarrhea) should consider contacting your Healthcare Provider and let them know you may have been exposed to a breakthrough case of COVID-19 to a fully vaccinated person.
PLEASE DO NOT COME TO THE CHURCH
IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCING ANY OF THESE SYMPTOMS
Thank you for continuing to observe
the ever-changing policies
as we navigate the pandemic together.
BPC COVID-19 Task Force
Scott Hill - Chair
Mary Schmitz, Clerk
Kathy Singleton, Barry Dotson, Beverly Hooker,
Scott Dawson, Frank Carney
To contact the Chair of the BPC COVID-19 Task Force:
Scott Hill - signed text: 901.277.9794
email: hill8910@bellsouth.net
|
|
|
|
At Home
by Bill Bryson
AUGUST 10, 1:30pm
|
Nonfiction - An examination of how the house evolved. Going from the kitchen to the bedroom, the dining room and beyond, Bryson examines the evolution of almost everything— from Thomas Jefferson's contribution to home architecture, to wallpaper, lawns, plumbing, even cemeteries. You'll learn a little about a lot of interesting stuff.
– Led by Janice Hill
|
|
(NOTE: The Book Club will NOT meet in-person this month, and will only be on Zoom.
|
|
Instead, take a cue from Jesus, who confounded the Pharisees by allowing a sinful, crying woman to wash and dry his feet.
by Mike Ferguson | Presbyterian News Service
|
|
LOUISVILLE — For Friday’s final convocation during this week’s Synod of Lakes and Prairies’ Synod School being held at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa, the Rev. Dr. Jill Duffield selected the biblical account of the woman pouring an alabaster jar of ointment on the feet of Jesus, which she washed with her tears and dried with her hair.
In the story, Simon the Pharisee thinks to himself that a true prophet would have known “who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him — that she is a sinner.”
“Simon saw a sinner. Jesus saw someone in need of grace,” Duffield said. “Whom do we see?”
Many of us are quick to judge. Duffield read a handful of Yelp and Google reviews of people’s various church experiences. Most, she noted, are short and to the point, in the “Great church! Great people!” category.
But not all of them.
One reviewer was angry over the service and long lines at a Greek festival hosted by a church. Exasperated, the family decided “to go home and make our own cookies.” It didn’t help, the reviewer added, that a 90-year-old woman was their first point of contact at the festival. “It did little to improve efficiency,” the reviewer sniffed.
Another reviewer wrote a glowing review of a church in Richmond, Virginia. The very next review was this: “The spaghetti was undercooked.”
“This is what we do as a culture,” Duffield said. “We assess and review everything and everyone … We are constantly looking in order to pass judgment, and so we aren’t really seeing anything.”
It turns out the Pharisees were ahead of their time, she said. “They would have loved Twitter,” Duffield said. “They would have loved Yelp reviews.”
She even wrote the Pharisees a sample review: “This Jesus knows how to draw a crowd, but you don’t want to rub elbows with the people clamoring to get close to him. #WhatWouldMosesDo?”
“We look to judge rather than to see,” Duffield said. “Jesus calls us … to be proximate to people, particularly those on the margins. Thanks be to God, Jesus meets us exactly where we are. He welcomes that woman, weeping and vulnerable. He knows she needs God’s mercy, and she holds nothing back from Jesus.”
|
|
Duffield spoke of the last few days of Lamekia Dockery, who died three years ago in an Indiana community corrections center after crying out at least a half-dozen times for medical help and not receiving the care she needed. The mother of five had been given a one-year sentence for violating her parole by shoplifting.
“Her family believes her cries were dismissed because of who she was: a Black woman on drugs,” Duffield said, quoting Dockery’s aunt: “They didn’t think she was worth nothing, but she was worth a lot to us.”
“Ms. Dockery was watched, but she was not seen, because there is a big value gap in our culture,” Duffield said. God sees those many of us don’t see “as sinners in need of grace, beloved children of God for whom Christ died, people for whom transformation is possible.”
Jesus told the Pharisees that he is “much more interested in those who understand at the core of their being how much they need God’s grace,” Duffield said. “This person in the pew who is hurting, the cashier at the grocery store, the ones sitting around your dinner table and the people who are invisible in our culture.”
That’s why Duffield called her final talk “Called out to be ambassadors of Christ.”
“Far too many people right now feel crushed and defeated,” Duffield said. She was talking to a young adult working as a server at an upscale restaurant who described his work as “soul-crushing.”
Why, Duffield asked.
The hardest part, the server told her, is “when people treat you as if you aren’t human, snapping their fingers, tapping the table, threatening to leave a scathing Yelp review if their food doesn’t come faster.”
“It is soul-crushing,” the server said, “not to be seen as a human being.”
“My friends,” Duffield said, “what if we thought first and foremost about how we are the ambassadors of Jesus Christ,” how we are to “embody the love that has been shown us.
“There is no gap so wide,” Duffield said, “the cross of Christ can’t bridge.”
“When you go back to your communities as ambassadors of Jesus Christ,” Duffield said, “how can you be the hands and feet of our savior who gave himself up for the sake of the world that God so loves?”
“Be courageous. Be overjoyed that we have been saved by grace and are able to share that grace with others in a world that really, really needs it. Thank you for having me this week.”
Image at top: Danique Photography via Unsplash
|
|
BPC and CofFCC MEMBERS WHO NEED A MEETING ROOM? |
|
Classrooms A and B are available for meetings of Balmoral small groups including the Book Club, Writers Circle, Trouble I've Seen, Glenda Ellis Small Group, Bailey Small Group, and groups coordinated by Pastoral Care Resident, Rev. Elizabeth Dick.
Reservations for Classrooms A and B are required.
Please contact Calendar Coordinator Barry Dotson
barry.dotson@yahoo.com
signed text/cell: 901. 277.1596
to schedule the use of Classrooms A and B
|
|
BPC COVID-19 Task Force
Scott Hill - Chair
Mary Schmitz, Clerk
Kathy Singleton, Barry Dotson, Beverly Hooker,
Scott Dawson, Frank Carney
To contact the Chair of the BPC COVID-19 Task Force:
Scott Hill - signed text: 901.277.9794
email: hill8910@bellsouth.net
We ask that anyone who is experiencing symptoms of illness (EG: sore throat; fever or chills; cough; shortness of breath or difficulty breathing; fatigue; muscle or body aches; headache; new loss of taste or smell; congestion or runny nose; nausea or vomiting; diarrhea) not enter the building at any time.
|
|
PLEASE ALSO NOTE: The Church Office will NOT be staffed. Please continue to use your contact lists to reach us! |
|
Jan Kaplan (4);
Margaret Mullins (9);
Lori Lucas (14);
Ruby Jean Powell (15);
Beverly Hooker (19);
Donna Lamb (23);
Barry Dotson (26)
|
|
Every Monday
2:00pm Writer's Group CLASSROOM A and/or on Zoom
1st & 3rd Thursday of the Month
Ellis Small Group 10:15 am
2nd Tuesday of the Month
BOOK CLUB meets in person in Classroom A and/or on Zoom
The August meeting will ONLY be on Zoom.
(Bible Study and the Bailey Small Group will not be meeting over the summer)
2nd Thursday Evening of the Month
7:00 pm Trouble I've Seen Small Group
1st & 3rd Thursday of the Month
COLONIAL PARK FOOD DRIVE
|
|
Now Thru Saturday, August 14, 2021
Rev. Elizabeth Dick will be the Pastor on Call
while Rev. Carla Meisterman spends time in Fall worship planning
and 2 weeks of vacation
TO REACH ELIZABETH: phone or signed text to 314.330.0506
or email elizabethdick2@gmail.com
Sunday August 8, 2021
8:30 AM Circle of Faith Worship in the Fellowship Hall
NO SUNDAY STUDIES - NEW CLASSES BEGIN in SEPTEMBER
11:00 AM BPC Worship Service in the Sanctuary & on LiveStream
Tuesday, August 10, 2021
1:30 pm BOOK CLUB
in-person at BPC in Classroom A
(AND on Zoom for those who cannot be there in person)
Sunday August 15, 2021
8:30 AM Circle of Faith Worship in the Fellowship Hall
NO SUNDAY STUDIES - NEW CLASSES BEGIN in SEPTEMBER
11:00 AM BPC Worship Service in the Sanctuary & on LiveStream
|
|
REMINDERS: We must help to keep the SEED children safe!
Please do not enter the SEED area of the building without authorization and be sure to wear masks around the children.
Small Group Meetings in Classrooms A & B must be scheduled with Barry Dotson, barry.dotson@yahoo.com or signed text/cell: 901. 277.1596
Requests for other uses of the property (including the parking lot) MUST prepare a proposal to the BPC COVID-19 Task Force (Scott Hill, chairperson) for review; the task force will review the proposal, then make a recommendation to the Session for consideration.
|
|
INTROIT "Gathered in God's Name"
Choral Leaders John Gilmer, Erich Shultz, Robin Ashworth, William Warren, Linda Warren.
Guest musicians Ken Spain, Russ Clements, Bill Flores
|
|
|
|
Rev. Elizabeth Dick
Pastoral Care Resident
|
|
PRELUDE "Canzon I a 4 CH.194"
Brass Quartet John Gilmer, Ken Spain, Russ Clements, Bill Flores
|
|
The Brass Quartet also played with the hymns and
“Every Time I Feel The Spirit,"
"On A Hymnsong of Philip Bliss (It Is Well),” and
“Achieved is the Glorious Work” from "The Creation"
|
|
Standing ovation after the Postlude |
|
Clara Jordan's 90th Birthday |
|
An Awesome Birthday Party! |
|
Ian Mercer Hiking at Philmont |
|
Ian completed a 12 day hike at Philmont Boy Scout Camp in New Mexico with Troop 331.
He loved it and said he’d do it again!
|
|
Leiza Collins & Robin Ashworth Kayaking
at Fall Creek Falls
|
|
If you have photos or items for the calendar, please be sure to send them by email to Kathy Singleton by email ksingle2@bellsouth.net or by text 901-734-7193! |
|
Click the link below to get current locations for VACCINES:
For COVID-19 TESTING information, go to this link:
NOTE: Several CVS and Walgreen's locations are now currently on the updated list at the link above.
|
|
|
|
IF ANYONE IS CALLED TO SERVE....
We work every 1st and 3rd Thursday.
Colonial Park UMC
5330 Park Ave
CONTACT SCOTT DAWSON for more INFORMATION
|
|
Pastoral Care this week will be supplied by
Rev. Carla Meisterman 901.235.1014
or email carlam@balmoralpc.com
Rev. Elizabeth Dick 314.330.0506
or email elizabethdick2@gmail.com
Session members are your primary contact for ongoing communication. Here's the current contact list:
Lori Blackwelder .... (901) 262-8282 ............... LORIEB1165@yahoo.com
Leiza Collins ........... (901) 246-5031 ..................... leiza1016@gmail.com
Becky DeLoach ...... (901) 489-3369 ............. BeckyMD2905@gmail.com
Barry Dotson .......... (901) 277-1596 ............... barry.dotson@yahoo.com
Janice Hill ............... (901) 826-9747 ................... janicehill81@gmail.com
Beverly Hooker.........(901) 496-1241 ......................... bev.h@earthlink.net
Ted Pearson home: (901) 754-9796 ................... pearsonteda@aol.com
...........................cell: (901) 486-6117
Erich Shultz .............(901) 268-4951 ...................emshultz@bellsouth.net
John Van Nortwick (901) 605-2907 ............ jvnortwick@cornerstone-
systems.com
(NOTE: Many of these Session members work during the day, so you may want to text them or email them.)
Keep in mind that ANY Balmoral member who is healthy will most likely be happy to help you in case of need as well!
To contact other members, the most-current contact information is available by requesting a copy of the BPC PHONE DIRECTORY from Kathy Singleton by email ksingle2@bellsouth.net or by phone or text to (901) 734-7193.
|
|
We have been keeping reference articles in the Newsletter each week throughout the summer. It's time to take them out, BUT some of these may still be helpful, so we will store them and give you links to them, but eliminate them from the body of the newsletter itself. |
|
|
To access a document, simply click on the link name. The document will then open in your browser as a PDF file!
|
|
- Newsletter Articles & Photos should be emailed to Kathy Singleton at ksingle2@bellsouth.net no later than Monday at noon for the week you want the article in the news.
- Bulletin Information should be emailed to Rev. Carla Meisterman, with a copy to Kathy Singleton, no later than Monday noon the week before the Sunday you want the information to appear.
-
Prayer Concerns should continue to be submitted via email to Rev. Carla Meisterman (carlam@balmoralpc.com)
|
|
AUGUST 2021
online church calendar
The calendar will take a few seconds to load and, once it opens, you will see the month that we are currently in. To see the next month's calendar, click on the arrow pointing down - it is just to the right of the name of the month. Once you click on that arrow, an icon will appear with all the months of the year listed. Click on the month that you want to see. To see a specific date, click on the number of the day you would like to see. The entire 2021 calendar is available to you.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
