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Wednesday,
December 7, 2022
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mailing address: Balmoral Presbyterian Church, P.O. Box 17309, Memphis, TN 38187
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NEWS THIS WEEK
- WORSHIP for THIS SUNDAY
- Circle of Faith Worship at 8:30
- Advent Sunday Studies 9:30
- BPC Worship at 11
- BRING FOOD for the FOOD TREE
- "SUBS" for MEAL on WHEELS
- BOOK CLUB POTLUCK Dec. 13th
- CHRISTMAS CANTATA DEC. 18th
- CHRISTMAS EVE CANDLELIGHT SERVICE 5:00pm
- IN MEMORY of and TRIBUTES to LOVED ONES at CHRISTMAS with MLGW/Plus1
- This Advent, Take Time to Breathe
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BPC Photos
- Worship Sunday, Dec 4
- DICK & SHIRLEY at Christmas Party
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WEEKLY INFORMATION
- Birthdays
- Calendar of Events
- CONTACT INFORMATION
OUTREACH OPPORTUNITIES
- BRING FOOD for the FOOD CART
- Give out Hospitality bags
- DONATED BOOKS for the VA
- SIGN UP to be a WORSHIP LITURGIST!
- Johnson Auxiliary Fall Clothes Drive - UPDATED
REMINDERS:
- PINECREST EVENTS
- NaCoMe NEWSLETTER LINK
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BPC WORSHIP
Sunday,
December 11, 2022
11:00am
IN BPC's SANCTUARY
Scriptures: Isaiah 35:1-10 & Luke 1:46b-55
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ADVENT SUNDAY STUDIES
9:30am Classroom A
A Christmas Story - see below
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CIRCLE of FAITH WORSHIP 8:30am
IN BPC's Fellowship Hall
Everyone is invited to join Circle of Faith's worship service!
To enter the building, use Office door to the Fellowship Hall.
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We will still send an email on FRIDAY
with the LiveStream YouTube link & Sunday Worship Guide.
Previous Worship Services at Balmoral are also still available on the
Balmoral YouTube channel
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For our Sunday Studies for Advent, we share Christmas books, read by BPC family members. Come join this Classic Christmas story! | |
December 11
The Gift of the Magi
by O. Henry
read by Beverly & Bill Hooker
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(NOTE: There will be no Advent Studies on December. 18, December 25, or January 1. Winter Studies will begin on Sunday, January 8. 2023.) | |
FOOD for the ADVENT TREE
Fill up the food tree
in the sanctuary!
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We're collecting food for those in need over the holidays! Bring pasta, canned meats and soups, canned fruit & veggies, mac & cheese, stuffing mix, peanut butter... anything that would help families fill their tables over the holidays. And don't forget about some special treats - cake mixes, brownie mix.
Let’s fill it up again this year!
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The MITTEN TREE needs HELP!
If you have eagle eyes, you may have noticed the Mitten Tree has once again graced the Narthex! This year we're collecting mittens, gloves, hats, scarves, and socks for those in our community without warm clothing or warm spaces this winter. All items collected will be donated to the First Presbyterian Clothes Closet and shared with their guests and clients.
Let's fill those boughs with warmth as we share our blessings and our prayers.
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"SUBS" NEEDED!
WANT to HELP DELIVER MEALS but CAN'T TAKE a REGULAR ROUTE?
VOLUNTEER to FILL IN as an OCCASIONAL SUBSTITUTE!
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People who would be willing to 'fill in' and sub for the regular Meals on Wheels volunteers are needed! You would be partnered with a "regular" route volunteer when someone is unavailable.
Contact Kay Dawson if you are interested in being on the "sub" list.
Email kaydawson@gmail.com or call/text her at (901) 409-4938
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BOOK CLUB
Tuesday, December 13
11:30 am
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Food, fellowship and favorite poems are the focus of the Holiday Book Club on Tuesday, December 13, at the home of Ted and Janie Pearson,
(9625 Spring Hollow Cove Germantown, TN 38139-5639) beginning at 11:30 a.m. Please bring a dish to share.
And bring one (or two) of your favorite poems to read! (They can be nursery rhymes, Haiku, Shakespeare Sonnets, the work of U.S. Poet Laurette Billy Collins, or anything between or beyond.)
We will enjoy lunch together and savor the company and the poetry.
All are welcome!
(We also will further discuss books for 2023,
so please bring your ideas.)
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Balmoral Presbyterian Church Choir and Chamber Orchestra
presents
"Christmas Carol Celebration"
SUNDAY, December 18, 2022
11:00am
Join us as we usher in the Christmas season with a Christmas Cantata, "Christmas Carol Celebration". Fresh, new arrangements of favorite carols reflecting moments both triumphant and tender in the Christmas story, this cantata for choir, instrumental arrangements, congregational singing and narration will be a special worship experience.
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CHRISTMAS EVE
CANDLELIGHT SERVICE
Saturday, December 24
5:00pm
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Join us as we share scriptures and favorite carols in our traditional Christmas Eve Candlelight Worship Service.
Come early for music of the season (and to get a good seat!)
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MERRY CHRISTMAS
from UKirk
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CLICK on the IMAGE of the Newsletter to open a larger version. | |
TRIBUTES TO and IN MEMORY OF
LOVED ONES at CHRISTMAS
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The MIFA PLUS ONE offering allows you to pay tribute to, or honor the memory of, the people who have been special in your lives.
For a $12.00 contribution to MIFA's PLUS ONE program, you can name a special person and donate to the PLUS ONE fund that keeps utilities on during winter months for people on the margins of our society.
The names will be published in the worship bulletins for Christmas Eve service, December 24 and Sunday, December 25.
Make checks payable to Balmoral with a note indicating that it is for Plus1 and who you will Honor or In Memory of and place it into the offering plate or send it to:
Balmoral Presbyterian
PO Box 17309
Memphis, TN 38187
Tuesday, December 20, is the deadline for receiving tributes/memorials for this year.
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The Christmas Joy Offering is one of four annual special offerings. The church-wide Special Offerings of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) play an important role in defining what it means to be a connectional church in the 21st century, bringing together the diversity of the PC (USA) to focus and take faith-based action on shared concerns. BPC will be collecting your donations through Sunday, December 25. Make checks payable to Balmoral Presbyterian and note that it is for "Joy Gift."
Envelopes are also available on the back table in the sanctuary.
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This Advent, Take Time to Breathe
Presbyterians Today December 2, 2022
A simple spiritual practice can connect us to the sacredness of the season
by Wanda M. Lundy | Presbyterians Today
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Breathing is something so taken for granted that we rarely see it full of sacrality. It is breath that allows us to speak, sing, cry and laugh. It is breath that connects us to all of Creation.
The sacredness of breath is throughout the Bible. In the beginning, the Spirit of God breathes Creation into being. Later, the Spirit breathes life into Jesus’ followers, giving them a Pentecost faith.
But it’s not just in Christianity where breath is seen as sacred. In Islam, there is a spiritual practice that follows breathing rhythms. Buddhist tradition also teaches “the mindfulness of breathing.”
Among Native Americans, the Apache, a nation of six Southern Plains tribes, believe that when people tell the stories of their ancestors, they must choose their words carefully. Rosalyn LaPier, a professor of history at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Tribe of Montana and Métis, explains that is because “when you’re saying those words, you are actually breathing the breath of the ancestors.”
Since I was 2, I’ve experienced near-death asthmatic events that required intubation. It is with these life and death experiences that I identify breathing as the most important of the spiritual disciplines — especially in the season of Advent.
Breathing as a spiritual discipline can help us through Advent. Just as breathing brings oxygen to every cell of the body to get rid of carbon dioxide, Advent breathes in the hope, peace, joy and love of Christ to rid the negativity and despair of this world.
The beauty of breathing as a spiritual practice is that it does not require anything except the consciousness of breath. The very acknowledgement of breathing in and out deeply is simply the practice. Try it now. Breathe in and out slowly. Repeat. What do you feel? Peace? Recentering? A sense of the Divine?
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In this season of Advent, where we are often rushing around and out of breath, I invite you to breathe. And as you do, ponder the first breath the Christ child took in the world. Ponder the life that breath gave us. It is in the practice of breathing that we can see more clearly the purpose of Advent and our need to breathe in deeply God’s goodness and grace.
Wanda M. Lundy is the moderator of the Presbytery of Northeast New Jersey. She is currently working on a book titled “Creating ACTS Communities – A Way to Congregational Transformation.”
PHOTO: Wanda M. Lundy (Contributed photo)
https://www.presbyterianmission.org/story/a-presbytery-moderators-advice-this-advent-take-time-to-breathe/
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MARK YOUR CALENDAR!!!
CHRISTMAS CAMP
December 18-19 ... 2p-5p (27 hours of fun!)
3rd-8th graders ... $125/camper
You finish up your Christmas prep.
Our same, great staff has got the kids.
Register by December 10 HERE
Find these events & more on Pinecrest's website
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For information about NaCoMe events and plans, read their November newsletter at this link! Summer camps, summer staff applications, ways you can support NaCoMe - all can be found here! | |
LITURGIST SIGNUPS
We have LOTS of open slots for Worship Liturgist volunteers. Use the button here to sign-up!
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Choose the Sunday(s) you are available to serve. All materials you need will be sent to you for that week!
(Contact Rev. Mary Gale if you have questions or need help signing up.)
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OPPORTUNITIES for OUTREACH | |
STEWS & MEATY CHILI
are on the MENU FOR THE
FOOD CART!
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St. Luke Methodist Food Pantry needs stews or Chili with meat! Add a can or two to your grocery list this week for the
Food Cart!
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HOSPITALITY BAGS
ARE AVAILABLE NEXT to the FOOD CART -
PICK SOME UP!
You can also pick up Hospitality Bags to donate to those you pass along the road who are in need.
(And bring donations for more bags - bring bottles of water,
And bring donations for more bags - bring bottles of water, boxes of raisins or other dried fruit, granola bars, cheese crackers (NO PEANUT BUTTER!!), clean socks - when you see someone asking for a handout, hand them a Hospitality bag!
URGENT NEED: WE ARE OUT of BOTTLED WATER and SOCKS for the HOSPITALITY BAGS! Please bring what you can!
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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
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UPDATED NEEDS for
JOHNSON AUXILIARY
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With cool weather arriving, Regional One needs the following items for our Clothes Closet for men & women:
Clothing:
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Men’s and women’s underwear—must be new, preferably in a package or tags still on them (all sizes needed)
- Men’s and women’s sweatpants, sweatshirts, etc.--all sizes needed (can be new or gently used)
- Men’s and women’s outerwear—all sizes needed (can be new or gently used); outerwear includes items such as jackets, caps, gloves, umbrellas
- Men’s pajama pants (all sizes needed)
- Men’s athletic shoes and house shoes (with backs)—all sizes needed (new or gently used)
- Women’s athletic shoes and house shoes (with backs)—sizes 8 and up (new or gently used)
Other Needs:
- Adult coloring and puzzle books; crayons and colored pencils (must be new)
- Magazines (New or gently used; no more than 6 months old)
- Paperback Books (including large print); new or gently used for both men and women
Hygiene Items -- must be new, unused and not beyond expiration date—
- Men’s and women’s deodorant (unscented preferred)
- Toothbrushes, toothpaste, dental floss, mouthwash (small travel size preferred)
- Disposable razors and shaving cream
- Large Combs (particularly those for detangling hair) and Brushes
If items have been previously worn, they must be clean, odor-free, stain-free and not in need of repair.
Your contributions really help and are greatly appreciated!
(Place items near the Food Cart in the narthex hallway.)
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THE VA WANTS YOUR BOOKS!
GENTLY USED BOOKS WANTED!
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The VA has a need, a big one, that won’t cost you any money! We need books!! Books in good condition! BUT we need to be a bit picky….
No books that smell of cigarette smoke, no books that have been sitting in open boxes in someone’s garage or attic gathering dust and/or bugs. We need books of many genres, fiction & non-fiction: histories, mysteries, DIY, westerns, biographies, cookbooks, etc. We’ll take some romances, but most of the folks here aren’t big on the Harlequin variety!!
The VA ALSO NEEDS:
We are in desperate need of the following items:
- T-shirts, sizes M and 2XL
- Sleep pants/lounge pants, summer weight, sizes 2XL and 3X
- Deodorant, men’s
Of course, we always need all sizes of underwear, t-shirts, sleep pants, but we are either out of or down to just a few of the items listed above. And we get requests daily!
Anything you can do to help is greatly appreciated.
Karen Pilkington will be collecting the books & clothes – bring them to church in bags or boxes and leave them next to the Food Cart and her DAR chapter will see that they get to the VA.
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Ted Pearson (7); Richard Vosburg (9);
Jerry Francisco (18); Kay Dawson (21);
Carol Mitchell (23); Mary Nell Easum (29);
Stephanie Brigman (30);
Janice Carney (30)
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Sunday, December 11, 2022
3rd Sunday in Advent
8:30 AM Circle of Faith Worship in the Fellowship Hall
9:30 AM ADVENT Sunday Studies BEGIN in Classroom A with
The Gift of the Magi, read by Beverly and Bill Hooker
11:00 AM BPC Worship in the Sanctuary & on LiveStream
Tuesday, December 13, 2022
11:30pm BOOK CLUB at the Pearson's
9625 Spring Hollow Cove Germantown, TN
Christmas Potluck!
Sunday, December 18, 2022
4th Sunday in Advent
8:30 AM Circle of Faith Worship in the Fellowship Hall
NO SUNDAY STUDIES
11:00 AM BPC Service of Christmas Music Worship
in the Sanctuary & on LiveStream
Saturday, December 24, 2022
Christmas Eve Candlelight Service
5:00pm in the sanctuary & on LiveStream
Sunday, December 25, 2022
Christmas Morning
8:30 AM Circle of Faith Worship in the Fellowship Hall
NO SUNDAY STUDIES
11:00 AM BPC Worship in the Sanctuary & on LiveStream
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LEFT: Eli, Casey, Cliff & Kristen Gurlen
light the Advent Candles
RIGHT: Liturgist Clinton Bailey
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Choir and John Gilmer & Fran Addicott on cellos | |
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COMMUNION
Rev. Mary Newburg Gale
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Dick & Shirley Vosburg
at
The Village Christmas Party
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Pastoral Care is supplied by Pastoral Care Intern Rev. Elizabeth Dick 314.330.0506
or email elizabethdick2@gmail.com
and our Transitional Pastor
Rev. Mary Newberg Gale 913.481.7427
or email mngale@balmoralpc.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
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
Karen Pilkington......(901) 262-5810 ............karenlpilkington@gmail.com
Erich Shultz ..............(901) 268-4951 ...................emshultz@bellsouth.net
Linda Warren............(901) 573-2654..............emighwarren1947@gmail.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.
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POLICIES for WORSHIP & BUILDING USE
- Wearing a mask in the church building is optional.
- Social distancing is still encouraged.
- Individuals exhibiting symptoms of illness are asked to not enter the building.
- Unvaccinated individuals are asked to wear a mask, including members of community organizations that use the building.
- Should a surge in Covid-19 infections prompt the Shelby County Health Department to recommend indoor mask-wearing and social distancing, the task force will convene to decide how to react.
- Members who test positive for Covid-19 are asked to notify Rev. Elizabeth Dick, who will notify the congregation so members can decide how to respond.
- To keep the SEED children as safe as possible, the procedures controlling the old end of the building will remain unchanged, except when there is a need for someone to pass through the SEED area.
- Individuals may bring only water into the sanctuary; food and drink is permitted elsewhere.
- Passing plates to collect the offering is permitted.
- The SEED children and staff are allowed to use the new hallway to access the playground and the main bathrooms.
- The drinking fountains are no longer off limits.
- The kitchen is no longer off limits.
- Collections for the Food Cart may resume.
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Small Group Meetings in Classrooms A & B must be scheduled with Barry Dotson, barry.dotson@yahoo.com or signed text/cell: 901. 277.1596 | |
THIS ISN'T ENTIRELY OVER YET, HOWEVER!
PLEASE, FOR THE SAFETY OF YOURSELF and ALL THOSE YOU LOVE AND CARE FOR:
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.
To contact the Chair of the BPC COVID-19 Task Force:
Scott Hill - signed text: 901.277.9794
email: sphill1946@gmail.com (NOTE his new email!)
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IF YOU ARE EXPOSED TO OR HAVE BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH COVID
Contact: The Reverend Elizabeth Dick 314.330.0506 or elizabethdick2@gmail.com
Let Elizabeth know when you were last in church; Give permission for notification to the congregation; Get Tested, if you have not already been; Contact any person or persons you have been with and follow with your doctor's advice.
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- 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. Mary Gale, with a copy to Kathy Singleton, no later than Monday noon the week before the Sunday you want the information to appear.
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Prayer Concerns should be submitted via email to Rev. Mary Gale (mngale@balmoralpc.com) and/or Rev. Elizabeth Dick (elizabethdick2@gmail.com) with a copy to Kathy Singleton at ksingle2@bellsouth.net.
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DECEMBER 2022
online church calendar
Click HERE for the BPC 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 2021-2022 calendar is available to you.
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