Word from the Pastor: Moving With Hope | |
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died. -1 Thessalonians 4:13-14
Last week my mom reminded us over the dinner table that dad had died on that particular day seventeen years ago. I knew it had been seventeen years, but I had forgotten the exact date. A flood of memories soon began to wash over me. I remembered dad. I held close others I had lost over the years. My grandfather. My grandmother. My best friend over twenty-eight years ago. So many others (both people and emotions) intruded once more upon my heart. I was both grateful for the life I shared with them all, and I also found myself grieving again. The next day, my Bible fell open to my grandmother’s laminated funeral announcement from last year. Last week was difficult.
Then God sent a poem my way that I would like to share:
“Grief is the voice of what is gone. Not only the people we lose, but dreams unmade, dignity frayed, pictures with emptied frames.
You can try to bury that sort of thing. I get it. I’ve tried it. Seems a lot easier to sever or jettison it, or shove it all into a box and force it shut. But the more you try to bury grief, the more it demands to be heard. The more you deny what the loss meant to you, the more you disappear yourself. The voice of grief makes its way through the seams, bursting at every clasp. The voice of everyone and everything buried runs up your throat, demanding to shout itself into being again.
Grief is a story gasping to be told.
I’m telling you this because nobody else told me.
There is no such thing as closure.
There is no final stitch, no last loop.
We do not move on. We move with.”
As Long As You Need by J.S. Park
We move with, not on. Indeed. That was my experience. I think that if we are honest, this is true for all of us if we have the courage to confront the reality of loss.
However, there is only one thing I would add to Park’s profound insight. While we move with, we do not move with alone. As Christians, our hearts and our memories move with a promise we have been given. Enter St. Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4.
Paul reminds us that we, like everyone else, do, in fact, grieve. Contrary to many well-meaning Christians who read this passage as biblical proof that grief and mourning are not appropriate for believers, Paul nowhere here denies the reality of loss and grief. Instead, he says what he says “so that you may not grieve AS others who have NO hope.” Our grief is similar and dissimilar. We mourn, but our tears are shed in light of a glory we have known and we long to see. Our mourning is shaded by the brilliant hues of resurrection found in Jesus Christ. What was true of Him that third day will someday be true of us. As He has been raised, we, too, shall be raised.
So, we (our life, our faith, our wounds, our tears) move with the tide of God’s redeeming purposes. We do not walk alone.
In Christ,
Pastor Sam
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The Lenten Devotional
The 2024 Lenten Devotional is 40 Days with Jesus by Sarah Young. The devotionals are available in the narthex and the Fellowship Hallway. Please take only one per family.
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Worship
March 24
Palm Sunday, 43rd Sunday after Pentecost
Scripture
Mark 11:1-11 & Ephesians 5:1-2 Liturgy: Psalm 118:1-2
Sermon
“Contradictions and Confusion”
Rev. Dr. David Welch
Last Sunday's Attendance
9:00: In person: 143
11:00: In person: 108
9:00: Online: 113
11:00: Online: 75
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Calendar
Sunday, March 24
11:00 a.m.
One Worship, Palm Sunday, Sanctuary
3:00 p.m.
Children’s Musical Rehearsal, Chapel
6:00 p.m.
Student Fellowship, Fellowship Hall
6:00 p.m.
KU International Worship and Food Festival, Fellowship Hall
Monday, March 25
10:00 a.m.
Staff Meeting, Room 123
7:00 p.m.
Session of Elders, Fellowship Hall
Tuesday, March 26
7:00 p.m.
Troop 3, Scout Hall
Wednesday, March 27
7:15 p.m.
Adult Choir Practice, Room 202
7:15 p.m.
Praise Team Practice, Fellowship Hall
Thursday, March 28
7:00 a.m.
Men’s Bible Study, Parlor
1:00 p.m.
Women’s Bible Study, Room 123
7:00 p.m.
Maundy Thursday Communion Service, Sanctuary
Friday, March 29
7:00 p.m.
Good Friday Tenebrae Service, Sanctuary
Saturday, March 30
4:00 p.m.
Easter Egg Hunt and Barbeque
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We will shout Hosanna together at the Palm Sunday ONE Worship. The service will take place on March 24th at 11:00am in the sanctuary. | Easter service will begin March 31st, 7:30am at East Hill Cemetery, 9:00am in the fellowship hall and 11:00am in the sanctuary. | |
Church Request
Friends, a member of the church (Gil Bailey) is needing to secure rides to attend the Sunday, 11:00 am service each week. His lives close to the church on Old Jonesboro Rd. We have a ride calendar (MealTrain) for folks to signup and drive. If you would be interested in helping please click here. Please note this is not to bring a meal, but to pick Gil up and return him home on a given Sunday morning. Thanks!
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Last Call for Lilies for Resurrection | |
On March 31 we will celebrate the Resurrection of the Lord. Let us do so in worship spaces adorned with Easter lilies in honor or in memory of those we love and appreciate. To order one or more lily plants, either click on the link below, fill in the form you will find at the church and return it to the office, or order online by clicking on Give Now on our homepage, then choosing “Easter Lily” from the drop-down Fund menu. Each plant costs $20. The deadline for ordering is next Monday, March 25. To access the form, click here. | |
Maundy Thursday service will begin March 28th at 7:00pm. | |
Good Friday service will begin March 29th at 7:00pm. | |
Embark on a cultural journey at the International Food & Worship Festival this Thursday, March 28th! Enjoy delicious food and celebrate faith from 7:00pm to 8:00pm. | |
Calling all egg hunters and BBQ lovers! Join the fun next Saturday, March 30th, from 4:00pm to 5:55pm for the Easter Egg Hunt & BBQ. Don’t forget to bake and bring your delicious desserts to share! | | |
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We Need YOU...The Facilities Improvement Group has partnered with BurWil
Construction to survey members and anyone who attends our worship and programs. The survey, which is totally anonymous, is to identify strengths and areas of need in our church building and grounds. The information we gather will provide information about our worship and fellowship spaces that will guide us as we plan for the next 30-40 years of life in this building. The Facilities Survey will be available for completion (both online and via paper copies) beginning Friday, March 22 and run through Sunday, April 7. As part of the survey, you will have the option to request to be included in a Discovery Session, a 2-3 hour workshop (date to be determined) which will provide the opportunity to discuss your ideas in detail with others from our church family as well as the BurWil team. Scan the QR code below to go directly to the Survey, or pick up a paper copy in the church office or on the table outside the worship service you attend. Paper copies may be delivered anonymously to the Facilities Survey mailbox in the stairwell leading to the choir area.
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Memorials and honoraria are published in the newsletter only after the family has been personally notified by our business office. Today we gratefully acknowledge the following gifts in memory of:
Lousie Bowdoin: to the Minister’s Discretionary Fund from Alison Schultz
Cora Lee Raccioppo: to the Minister’s Discretionary Fund from Peggy Peters, to the
Mission & Outreach Fund from John Peters, and to the Bethel Tumula Fund from an
anonymous donor
Julie King: to the Minister’s Discretionary Fund from Ann Abel and to the A Place to
Be Fund from an anonymous donor
Teresa Ridout, mother of Karen Haaser: to the FPC BSA Troop 3 Fund from an
anonymous donor
Lee North: to the Bethel Tumula Fund from an anonymous donor
Claire Farina, mother of Nancy Allerton: to the Bethel Tumula Fund from an
anonymous donor
George McCulloch, father of Leigh King: to the Family Promise Fund from an
anonymous donor
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 |  | For our Palm Sunday celebration we are singing two familiar hymns “All Glory, Laud, and Honor” and “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name”. The tune name of the first hymn is VALET WILL ICH DIR GEBEN, and I am playing for the Opening Voluntary Emma Lou Diemer’s (b. 1927) lively arrangement of this tune, though the middle section is quite lovely. The tune for the second hymn is CORONATION, and I am playing Jean Langlais’(1907-1991) arrangement, which is very different from most settings of this hymn, more introspective and reflective on the tune. For Maundy Thursday we will hear music of Nicolas de Grigny (1672-1703) from his one and only publication Premier Livre d- Orgue published in 1699. I am playing three settings of the Latin hymn “Pange lingua gloriosi corporis mysterium” (“Of the Glorious Body Telling”) which is traditionally sung for Maundy Thursday. De Grigny’s music was composed at the pinnacle of the French baroque era, and it is full of ornaments which the performer may add to at his or her discretion. The Opening Voluntary is “Pange Lingua en taille à 4” (melody in the tenor voice with 4-part accompaniment). For Communion I will play “Fugue à 5” and “Récit du Chant de ‘Hyme precedent”. Finally for the Closing Voluntary I will play his “Point d’Orgue sur les Grands Jeux” which feature a long pedal tone on “A” then finally on “E”. For Good Friday the organ will be given the night off, and the piano will be used to accompany the entire service. Tenor, Aaron Blake will sing two African American spirituals arranged by Moses Hogan (1957- 2003): “Were You There” and “He Never Said a Mumbalin’ Word”. Hogan was an amazing composer and arranger of choral music. He was best known for his settings of spirituals. Hogan was a pianist, conductor, and arranger of international renown. Over his lifetime, he published 88 arrangements for voice, eight of which were solo pieces. And we were fellow piano majors at Oberlin College, before he became so famous! -Bob Greene
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Congratulations
Congratulations to Ann Kelley Holler. Her musical march for piano won third place in a national music composition contest that was sponsored and adjudicated by the D.A.R.
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In Our Prayers
We have several unnamed or private requests. Please pray for the members of our community who wish to remain anonymous.
Bill and Patsy Ward
Dot Mattison
Lou Hebb
Bud & Marg Branscomb
Rachel & Ben Cherry and Dean Millard
Ricky Adams
Mardia Long
John Graham, Sr
Harold Rutherford
Barbara Daniel
Frances Emerson
Fitz Anderson
Ginger & George Alvarado
Debbie Garritson
Bill Coleman
Patsy Adams
Billie Peterson
Nelson Pyle
Phyllis Phares
Loretta Thomas
Dale Bechtold
Sarah Ferguson
Martha Mueller
Jon Eakes
Betsy Tate Kegley
Lillian Rhoades
Al Smith
Shane Rollins
Lois Smith
Peggy Peters
Jack Wooley
Mark Byington
Lisa Cronin
Ron Fox
George Price
Betty Linke
Male leadership for Student Ministries
Nick and Christy Booher
Baby Charlie
Tracy Clark
Grieving
Family of Charlie Cauthen
Family of Samuel Kurah
Family of Bill Woods
Region/Nation/Special
Schools, Colleges, & Universities
Ukraine
Israel & hostages
Those suffering with addiction
Mission & Ministry
Young People in Detention Center
Marthina Chapel/Phil Blevins
Ethiopian brothers and sisters/Dembi Dollo
Onesimus Ministry/Addis Ababa
Christians in Nigeria/ECWA
Felipe Camarão & Cidade Nova Churches
Joao & Roseangela
Gil & Adailza
Rui & Ariel Damasceno
Lawrence and Courtney Sharrett
Kate Hill
Goddards (Paraguay Missionaries)
Chris & Phoebe Chanda in Zambia
Paul Htay in Myanmar
BCCR/Gray House & Harmony & Hope House/Steven & Ann Davis
Montana Indian Ministries/Bruce Plummer
Serve Orlando
Younglife
Male leadership for Student Ministries
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Given the recent resurgence in COVID cases in our area, the session encourages everyone to consult their medical professional about appropriate safety measures, especially those who are at higher risk of complications from COVID-19 or who are not fully vaccinated. | |
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Wednesday of the week of publication is the deadline for contributions to Windows. Subscribe to our free e-newsletter by sending your name and preferred email address to the editor. Livestream our worship services and other activities at FPC Bristol on YouTube. Click on the link and hit Subscribe to receive notifications of new videos. Find us on Facebook at FPC Bristol. Several accounts will show up. “Like” the page or ask to join a group.
We encourage you to use text, mail, or our website to safely continue your faithful support of our ministries. Give online here; choose a fund from the drop-down menu. Text fpcbristol to 73256 to send your pledge, offering, or special gift to the church. Messages and data rates may apply. Message varies frequency. Text HELP to 73256 for help. Text STOP to 73256 to cancel. If you prefer, you may mail your contribution to the church.
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701 Florida Avenue | Bristol, TN 37620 | 423-764-7176 | fpcbristol.org | | | | |
