mailing address:  Balmoral Presbyterian Church, P.O. Box 17309, Memphis, TN 38187
NEWS THIS WEEK
  • WORSHIP for SUNDAY JANUARY 24

  • ANNUAL CONGREGATIONAL MEETING January 31, 2021
  • Committee Reports
  • Link to the Zoom Mtg

  • SUNDAY STUDIES for WINTER QUARTER
  • CHANGE of TIME for Sunday Studies

  • REMINDER: COLONIAL PARK FOOD DRIVE, Thur 1/21

  • TAPESTRY 2021 LEADERSHIP CLASS Saturday, January 30 on Zoom

  • BOOK CLUB
  • February Meeting
  • Plans for the rest of 2021

  • House Chaplain Calmed Besieged Capitol with Prayers for ‘God’s Covering’

  • WHERE to GET GIRL SCOUT COOKIES this year

  • What Community Means to Me by Becky DeLoach

  • AROUND MEMPHIS & TN
  • VACCINE NEWS


ONLINE on YouTube at 11:00 am 
 The BUILDING is CLOSED
BUT  
BALMORAL is OPEN !
Worship with us on our YouTube Channel Sunday morning at 11:00am
 and check our website at www.balmoralpc.com/ 
Our Session is committed to providing worship during the pandemic that reaches everyone. Those of you who do not have computer access or SmartPhone access, Idlewild will continue to broadcast  all of the worship services on the radio 96.1 FM.
Stay at home! Stay Safe!
REMINDER: Everyone who comes onto the BPC property MUST WEAR A MASK, including those who are only in the parking lot. NO ONE is allowed in the building without authorization.
We must help to keep our Worship team and the SEED children safe!

Requests for use of the property (including the parking lot) MUST prepare a proposal to the BPC COVID-19 Task Force (Scott Hill and Mary Schmitz, co-chairs) for review; the task force will review the proposal, then make a recommendation to the Session for consideration.

Worship

Balmoral Presbyterian Church
Sunday, January 24, 2021

 

                                  
WORSHIP at 11:00 AM on YouTube
aScriptures: Jonah 3:15, 10 & Mark 1:14-20
a aSermon: "A New Way of Thinking"


SUNDAY STUDIES at 10:00am on Zoom
NOTE the NEW TIME!
aTTwo classes are available (see details below):
  • Christ in Crisis? by Jim Wallis
  • BIBLE STUDY of Paul's letters
aaaaaaaaPlease read 1st Corinthians chapters 8 to 10 for this Sunday.
(A full schedule for the Winter quarter is available
at the end of this Newsletter under Document Links.)

You will receive emails on FRIDAY & again on SUNDAY with a link to the YouTube site for Worship & a downloadable Sunday Worship Guide and links to the Sunday Studies classes on Zoom. 

The Idlewild service will also still be available at 11:00 am on the radio at 96.1 FM or you can go online to the Idlewild Livestream broadcast at

Previous Worship Services at Balmoral are still available on the 
ANNUAL CONGREGATIONAL MEETING

SUNDAY,
JANUARY 31, 2021
12:00 noon on Zoom
Mark your calendar for Sunday, January 31, 2021 for our Annual Congregational Meeting on Zoom at 12:00 pm.

The purpose of the meeting is to elect members to serve on the Nominating Committee that will present a slate of Elders for the Session Class 2024; there will also be a brief update on the 2021 plans, including budget and the Pastor's Call. The meeting is planned to be very brief. Materials for the meeting for your review, along with the link to the Zoom meeting and tips on how to join a Zoom meeting, are below.

If you will be unavailable to attend the meeting, you may submit any nominations to Rev. Carla Meisterman before the meeting by text or email and your nomination will be added to the list of nominations.
Here are the plans for the Congregational Meeting on 1/31/2021:
  1. Will be via Zoom (meeting details below)
  2. Rev. Carla Meisterman will be the Moderator, and John VanNortwick, Clerk of Session, will record the minutes.
  3. We will vote to the affirmative by show of hands
  4. We will ask people to unmute for discussion/objections
  5. Cliff Gurlen will serve as Sgt at Arms to count votes
HOW to JOIN a ZOOM MEETING
Never used ZOOM before?
Click here to pull up instructions:
2020 COMMITTEE REPORTS
2021 PLANS
OPERATIONS
2020 Accomplishments

·        Established Guidelines/Policies for use of the building during COVID. Were able to welcome SEED back into the building, where their program is continuing successfully. We were able to host two elections that were planned before the pandemic.
·        Virtual worship established that has brought worship into homes of congregants and also brought new viewers. In the past 90 days, we’ve had 150 views a week. On a single day in December, we had 213 views.
·        Conducted joint Worship Service with Circle of Faith in parking lot on November 14.
·        Total revenues achieved at 98% of budgetne in a pandemic environment, where many other churches have struggled.
·        Scott Dawson obtained a forgivable PPP loan for $31,750 to help pay our employees.
·        Hired Thomas Bergstig, creative video producer for virtual worship services.
·        Completed repairs on HVAC and roof at a cost of $38,857.
2021 Plans
·        Upgrade security system.
·        Pave/Seal parking lot.
·        Create policies for and return to full use of building, as vaccines/easing pandemic permit.

·        Determine how we can apply what we have learned from virtual worship to worship in the sanctuary once we return.
FORMATION
2020 Actions:
·        Hired Thomas Bergstig’s virtual video production coordinator
·        Maintained salaries for two nursery attendants
·        Offered Sunday Studies options for all months except June, July and August
·        Offered Zoom training for congregation
·        Sponsored a Wednesday night all-church Zoom meeting to stay connected
·        Maintained contact with all church members as assigned to Session members
·        Supported weekly zoom meetings for the following groups: Writers’ Group, Book Club, Glenda Ellis’ Group, and “Trouble I’ve Seen” group.

2021 Goals:
·        Continue to offer Sunday Studies classes
·        Continue connectional Session contact lists
·        Maintain Sunday Studies and Sunday Worship services virtually
·        Pray for our physical reunion at church 
OUTREACH
2020 Actions:
·        Increased cash donations to the Memphis Food Bank and MIFA
·        Switched from staffing a monthly food sort to a bi-monthly mobile food pantry
·        Mexico Cistern Ministry
·        Served as a voting location
·        Home for seed ministry
·        Continuation of weekly meals on wheel

2021 Goals
           We pray for an end to the pandemic and return to “normal”. We long for the time we can open our building to the community and return to helping people on the margins of society. These ministries include, but are not limited to our prison ministry, serving at the soup kitchen, collecting food, and building cisterns in Mexico
COVID-19 TASK FORCE
The BPC Operations Committee established the task force in the spring to respond to the outbreak of the infectious coronavirus that causes Covid-19. Members are Mary Schmitz and Scott Hill (co-chairs), Barry Dotson, Kathy Singleton, Frank Carney, Scott Dawson, and Rev. Carla Meisterman (ex officio).

After the session closed the building to all uses, the task force developed a policy and protocols defining who could use the building once it reopened. They were, and remain limited to, continuing use by The SEED Program, the virtual-worship recording team and the cleaning crew.

One-time events were allowed on a case-by-case basis. They included precinct voting, a parking lot worship service and a good-bye ceremony for Bob and Do Kaiser. The task force did approve several proposals, but the session denied them. No proposals have reached the task force since mid-November.

Additionally, the task force surveyed the membership for their feelings about how and when to return to worship in the building.
WINTER SUNDAY STUDIES
Sunday Classes
10:00-11:00am on Zoom
NOTE the change in time!
The time change was recommended by the Formation Committee and approved by the Session in order to accommodate Circle of Faith’s members in attending classes after their worship service.
Christ in Crisis ?
by Jim Wallis

Writing in response to our current "constitutional crisis," New York Times bestselling author and Christian activist Jim Wallis urges America to return to the tenets of Jesus once again as the means to save us from the polarizing bitterness and anger of our tribal nation.

The author provides a path of spiritual healing and solidarity to help us heal the divide separating Americans today.  
                        
Leaders: 
Cliff Gurlen and Renee Mitchell 
Bible Study
This class continues to the next 2 New Testament books, Pauls' letters to the Corinthians and Galatians.


Leaders: 
Clinton Bailey, Stanley Gates,
Cliff Stockton and William Warren
COLONIAL PARK FOOD DRIVE
COLONIAL PARK FOOD DRIVE EARLIER LAST SUMMER

Today, January 7, 2021….cold and rainy day….. Barry Dotson, Fran Shannon, Janice Hill, William Warren and Scott Dawson all worked the Colonial Park food drive. We served about 500 families. During our prayer it was noted that funding to this worthwhile project will be different this year.

The bottom line is it will cost about $450 more per drive….QUITE THE BARGAIN!!

I polled our group and we offered $900 (2 dates). The funds will come out of Outreach MISC. Very worthwhile and our dollars will be following our hands!!

On a side note, THEY HAD 15 SLOTS filled by the end of the day.

Scott Dawson

IF ANYONE IS CALLED TO SERVE....
We work every 1st and 3rd Thursday. 
See ya Thursday 1/21!!

CONTACT SCOTT DAWSON for more INFORMATION
Brennan Breed is Associate Professor of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary and Theologian-in-Residence at First Presbyterian Church in Marietta, Ga. He is author of the monograph Nomadic Text (Indiana University Press, 2014) and co-author of Daniel: A Commentary (Westminster John Knox, 2014) with Carol Newsom. Brennan is currently writing on Ecclesiastes and the early Hellenistic era in the Levant. He lives in Decatur, Georgia with his wife, Catherine, his children, Freddie and Margaret Ann, and his miniature schnauzer, Winnie.
GIRL SCOUT COOKIES ONLINE! lling headline
Our own
AMELIA LUCAS
has been supplying many of us Girl Scout cookies in the past.....
This year, she isn't letting the Pandemic stop her!

This year, Amelia is ONLINE!
All of your favorites can be ordered and shipped directly to you OR delivered by Amelia which she and her mom Lori would love to do. 
QUESTIONS? Contact Lori Lucas at lorilucas@gmail.com
BOOK CLUB
Tuesday February 9, 2021 1:30pm
Book Club had a great zoom visit and discussion of "Their Eyes Were Watching God", led by Ted Pearson, this week. 
Everyone is welcome to join us for our next Book Club Tuesday, February 9. We will discuss the book 
The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larsen.
Cynthia Stanley will lead the discussion.
This book was named one of the best books of the year (2020) by The New York Times Book Review, Time, Vogue, NPR and The Washington Post. Larson shows, in cinematic detail, how Churchill taught the British people “the art of being fearless” in the first year of WWII, the height of the air war over Britain. 

Drawing on diaries, original archival documents, and once-secret intelligence reports—some released only recently—Larson provides a new lens on London’s darkest year through the day-to-day experience of Churchill and his family and his closest advisers.
BOOK CLUB SELECTIONS
for the REMAINDER of the YEAR

Queen of the Desert: Gertrude Bell by Janet Wallace
Nonfiction/Biography • The daughter of a wealthy British industrialist, Gertrude Bell comes of age in Victorian England. Intelligent and eager to escape society’s narrow confines, Bell goes off to college and eventually becomes enamored with the Middle East. Her fluency in Arabic facilitates travel on the dessert where she encounters Saudi tribes as she makes archaeological discoveries. The knowledge she gains proves valuable to the British military once WWI arrives. A fascinating life and story. ~ Recommended by Jane Rousseau (Memphis library - 3 copies; Germantown library - o copies)

The Overstory by Richard Powers
Fiction • Author Richard Powers, whose books have examined such complex topics as virtual reality and genetic engineering, creates a compelling story that tries to make sense of the world’s destruction by man. Trees play a pivotal role in the telling of this tale, as the cast of nine characters try various means to save the forests. Eye-opening, startling, and for some, the best read they’ve encountered in the last decade. Winner of 2019 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. - Recommended by Jane Rousseau (Memphis library - 6 copies; Germantown library - 3 copies)

The Library Book by Susan Orlean
Nonfiction • The history and present life of the Los Angeles Public Library. Orlean examines the 1986 fire that nearly destroyed the main library, the search for the arsonist, and the ways in which books were saved. She also explores the myriad of questions librarians routinely field, and reveals some of L.A. Library’s more compelling staff members. A masterful tribute to libraries. ~ Recommended by Katherine Getske
(Memphis library - 9 copies; Germantown library - 4 copies)

From Ireland to India on a Bicycle by Dervla Murphy 
Fiction. An epic journey taken by a single, adventurous Irish woman in 1964. Stories of the Arabian Nights read to her by her father when Dervla was a child planted the audacious dream she had that take her on a bike ride through nine countries at a time when women were often not seen traveling alone, particularly through countries like Iran and Afghanistan (where she notes the U.S. had just gotten into a war against the U.S.S.R.) She finally made her trek at age 30 and encountered beautiful landscapes and fascinating people. It became the first of many fascinating travel books Murphy went on to pen. Recommended by Jane Schneider

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
Fiction • Based on the real story of a reform school in Florida that operated for 111 years and whose cruel practices warped the lives of thousands of boys who were sent there. A devastating, driven narrative that showcases a great American novelist writing at the height of his powers. - Recommended by Bob and Do Kaiser
(Memphis library - 10+ copies; Germantown library - 10+ copies)

At Home by Bill Bryson
Nonfiction. An examination of 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 (it took him 30 years to build Monticello, which he meticulously oversaw), to wallpaper, lawns, plumbing, even cemeteries. You'll learn a little about a lot of interesting stuff. Recommended by Jane Schneider

The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes
Fiction. From the author of Me Before You, set in Depression-era America, a breathtaking story of five extraordinary women and their remarkable journey through the mountains of Kentucky and beyond. NY Times Bestseller, Reese Witherspoon selection, and soon to be made a motion picture. 

Jack by Marilynne Robinson
Fiction. Named a best book of 2020 by the Australian Book Review, Esquire, the Financial Times, Good Housekeeping (UK), The Guardian, the New Statesman, the New York Public Library, NPR and TIME. Jack is Robinson’s fourth novel in the now-classic series of mythical world of Gilead, Iowa―(her earlier novels were Gilead, Home, and Lila.) In it, Robinson tells the story of John Ames Boughton, the prodigal son of Gilead’s Presbyterian minister, and his romance with Della Miles, a high school teacher who is also the child of a preacher. Their deeply felt, tormented, star-crossed interracial romance resonates with all the paradoxes of American life, then and now. Recommended by Janice Hill

The Last Castle by Denise Kiernan
Non-fiction. A New York Times bestseller with an "engaging narrative and array of detail” (The Wall Street Journal), the “intimate and sweeping” (Raleigh News & Observer) untold, true story behind the Biltmore Estate—the largest, grandest private residence in North America, which has seen more than 120 years of history pass by its front door. The story of Biltmore spans World Wars, the Jazz Age, the Depression, and generations of the famous Vanderbilt family, and features a captivating cast of real-life characters including F. Scott Fitzgerald, Thomas Wolfe, Teddy Roosevelt, John Singer Sargent, James Whistler, Henry James, and Edith Wharton. Recommended by Kathrine Getske.

Consideration for December: Poems from Mary Oliver Devotions or another of her poem collections. Idea: Everyone comes to the meeting with one poem that particularly touched them, and be willing to read it and explain why they chose it. If Mary Oliver is not your cup of tea – just come with a poem that is meaningful for you. Recommended by Janice Hill

How House Chaplain Calmed Tense Hours in Besieged Capitol with Prayers for
‘God’s Covering’
As a mob overtook the Capitol and the work of lawmakers ground to a halt, Rear Adm. Margaret Grun Kibben's work began in earnest.
U.S. Capitol Police try to hold back protesters outside the east doors to the House side of the U.S. Capitol, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
The Rev. Margaret Grun Kibben, the new Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives, is the 16th Presbyterian and first woman to serve
As Rear Adm. Margaret Grun Kibben, the chaplain to the U.S. House of Representatives, made her way through the echoing halls of the U.S. Capitol Wednesday (Jan. 6), she could feel a charge of anticipation in the air. It was an auspicious day: Lawmakers were meeting in joint session to formally approve President-elect Joe Biden’s victory, a historic moment — and, thanks to the outgoing president’s refusal to concede, an atypically contentious one.

But Kibben had her own reason for feeling an unaccustomed excitement: It was her third day on the job.

As she walked through the Capitol, Kibben, 60, a Presbyterian Church (USA) minister who had been sworn in Sunday, peeked out a window and saw a swelling crowd of Trump supporters massing at the East front of the building. She thought little more about it than what she’d said in her prayer before the House that morning: America is enduring a time of “great discord, uncertainty and unrest.”

She hurried on to the House Chamber for the joint session, where she found a seat on the right side of the main aisle.
Her placement didn’t represent any particular political leaning. “When I go to church, that’s where I usually sit,” she told Religion News Service on Friday (Jan. 8). She wasn’t even supposed to be sitting there: She was so new, no one had told her that she and her Senate counterpart, the Rev. Barry Black, have designated seats during joint sessions of Congress.

It was from there, about an hour later, she observed a “flurry of activity” around House leadership as House members, now separated from their Senate colleagues into their respective chambers, debated the election results. Within seconds, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others on the dais were whisked away.

Then, word came: The crowds outside had turned into a violent mob. The Trump-supporting extremists had overpowered police and were storming into the U.S. Capitol. It was time to evacuate.
As the work of lawmakers ground to a halt, Kibben’s began in earnest: A House clerk looked over at the chaplain and asked if she could offer a prayer.

“I thought: ‘Well, I’ve been praying all along,’” she said.
For Kibben, who previously served as the U.S. Navy’s chief chaplain before becoming the first female chaplain to serve the House, it was an opportunity to do what she does best: offer comfort to those in crisis.

Kibben told RNS she doesn’t remember the exact details of her initial prayer. The room, she said, was buzzing with a “great sense of alarm” as lawmakers scrambled in preparation to leave.
She was made keenly aware of the looming danger as she approached the microphone: An aide handed her an “escape hood” — a protective mask developed as a precaution in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Kibben, who has served in combat, was not rattled. Instead, she set the mask aside, gathered herself and prayed.

“It was a matter of asking for God’s covering and a hedge of protection around us,” she said, remembering the House recorder was diligently documenting her words as she prayed. “And that in the chaos, the spirit would descend in the room to offer us peace and order. That we would look to care for each other, even as we are under stress.”

Capitol police began swiftly escorting lawmakers and House staff out of the room shortly thereafter. As others concentrated on getting out, Kibben concentrated on them: She began working the column of evacuees, offering what comfort she could to anyone who needed it.

“There were people of varying abilities, health conditions and emotional states,” she said. “My concern was to keep an eye on who was frightened, who was struggling, so that I could come alongside them — and there were a few under duress.”
The group eventually reached a secure location, but tensions continued to run high. As security personnel offered status updates, those sequestered with Kibben were increasingly aware of the chaos swarming outside the door. Insurrectionists were breaking into the offices of lawmakers and engaging in violent clashes with law enforcement that would leave at least five dead — including one police officer.

Kibben was asked to pray once again. She began by reading from the Bible’s Psalm 46, the same passage she had included in her scheduled prayer before the House that morning. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea.”

She then prayed for a “covering of peace and shelter” and lifted up prayers for those ransacking the Capitol — that those “who felt so strongly against us” might come to understand that the lawmakers they decry ultimately want precisely what the attackers insist they were denied: “That our legislative process is appropriate and legal and representative.”

As she finished, the room was quiet.

Kibben then engaged in what she called a “ministry of walking around,” talking to members of Congress, staff and Capitol police who appeared to be in distress. She said it helped that she wore a clerical collar; having not even completed her first week, she was meeting many in the room for the first time.

In another secure location on the Senate side, Black reportedly led Senators who were gathered in prayer. He was aided by Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, who called it a “calming moment.”

Through it all, Kibben said she worried little about her own safety. Instead, she felt something she hadn’t experienced since her time in combat: a sort of spiritual “covering” that allows her to be present for others.

“It’s a sense of ‘God’s got this,’ and I am but an instrument of bringing God into this moment,” she said. “Ministry in crisis was not new to me. This idea of engaging people at a level where you’re just taking them where they are and what they’re willing to share at that moment — I mean, that’s what we do.”

After law enforcement finally cleared the mob from the building at about 6 p.m., Kibben returned to her office where she reunited with her executive assistant. Two hours later, as Congress reconvened to continue their work, she joined them once again.
“I will tell you, the tenor in the room changed significantly,” she said. “There was clearly a sense of, ‘Our lives are important. Our business is important. The welfare of the country is important.’”
When the joint session finally concluded around 4 a.m., it was Black who offered the closing prayer.

“Lord of our lives and sovereign of our beloved nation, we deplore the desecration of the United States Capitol building, the shedding of innocent blood, the loss of life and the quagmire of dysfunction that threaten our democracy,” he said. “These tragedies have reminded us that words matter and that the power of life and death is in the tongue. We have been warned that eternal vigilance continues to be freedom’s price.”

Even with the crisis behind them, Kibben said her work continues. After taking a day to rest, she returned to the Capitol to be available to those in the building — something she noted is offered irrespective of one’s faith, assuming they claim any tradition.

Emotional and spiritual wounds from the attack will take time to heal, and many are in mourning. She has been especially attentive to Capitol police, who lost one of their own, and has “deputized” those who insist they are “fine” to keep a lookout for others who are struggling.

“I feel very privileged to be here in this time and that it is my first week,” she said. “It doesn’t faze me but instead actually confirms why there is a chaplain here in the House and why that’s so important. It’s not related to a particular faith tradition, it’s that there is somebody here who comes alongside in this moment.”
For Kibben, the experience of this Wednesday only strengthens her belief in the value of chaplaincy.

“It’s important because … our daily lives are not separate from God’s involvement in them,” she said. “God is very much present and very much has come alongside each and every one of us as we labor in the vineyard. And if that labor is tedious, God understands the tedium. If the labor is under siege, God understands the crisis and walks beside us in still waters — as well as in the shadows of danger.”

She added: “Faith matters. It mattered on Wednesday, it matters today and it’ll matter tomorrow.”
Lyon College asked Becky DeLoach to contribute an article to the Piper, the alumni magazine.


IN THE NEWS AROUND MEMPHIS
VACCINE UPDATE:
Heads up!
Second-dose vaccine notices coming this week
By Thursday, Jan. 21, the Shelby County Health Department will announce the vaccine site for nearly 10,000 people who got doses the last week of December or early in January and for weeks have wondered where and when they would get the second shot.

Lately, as national reports have said vaccine supply has been turned loose, they’ve wondered if they would even get a second dose.

Many now are within a week of queuing up again.

“We are currently in negotiations to pick the best site to be able to administer those vaccines,” Health Department Director Alisa Haushalter said Tuesday, Jan. 19.

The challenge is finding a site big enough to allow the Health Department to deliver more than 9,500 shots in a week.

“I encourage people to continue to go to Shelby.community for information. We will also make announcements, do our daily updates, and they can call (901) 222-SHOT (7468),” Haushalter said.

Fewer restrictions
After a new daily coronavirus case load of less than 400, the Shelby County Health Department said it would issue a new health directive, due out today. Though it hasn’t been officially released, Health Directive No. 17 should ease some restrictions on businesses, including capacity and live entertainment rules at area restaurants.
Restaurateurs may not be ready for it, in terms of staffing up and prepping, but they are definitely ready for it.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Family & friends visiting? Going to visit a gathering? How safe will you be? Click the link here: https://covid19risk.biosci.gatech.edu/
Janie Pearson (21), Dorothy Stockdale (21), Janice Hill (23), Amber Baldwin (23), Glenda Ellis (29), Bob Kaiser (29)
ONLINE 
EVENTS 
 

Every Monday
2:00pm Writer's Group via Zoom

1st Wednesday of the Month
Bible Study with Presbyterian Women 10:30 am

1st & 3rd Thursday of the Month
Ellis Small Group 10:15 am

2nd Tuesday of the Month
BOOK CLUB meets via Zoom


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
Sunday, January 24, 2021
10:00 - 11:00 AM Sunday Study on Zoom
11:00 AM Worship Service via YouTube

Sunday, January 31, 2021
10:00 - 11:00 AM Sunday Study on Zoom
11:00 AM Worship Service via YouTube

Sunday, January 31, 2021
12:00 noon on Zoom
Annual Congregational Meeting

CONTACT INFORMATION

Pastoral Care will be supplied by Rev. Carla Meisterman
       and by Rev. Anne Hagler as a backup.
Rev. Carla Meisterman 901.235.1014 
       or email carlam@balmoralpc.com
Rev. Anne Hagler 901.628.2104 or anneh6616@gmail.com
    
The current Session members have been re-aligned to be your primary contact for ongoing communication. Here's the new contact list:
Lori Blackwelder .... (901) 262-8282 ............... LORIEB1165@yahoo.com
Cathy Bailey ........... (901) 481-6395 .............. catbailey2017@gmail.com
Frank Carney ...........(901) 337-4917 ............. fcarney@evanspetree.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
Don Lamb ............... (901) 754-5530 ............................ fbslamb@aol.com
Ted Pearson home: (901) 754-9796 ...................  pearsonteda@aol.com 
...........................cell: (901) 486-6117
John Van Nortwick (901) 605-2907 ............ jvnortwick@cornerstone-
systems.com

(NOTE: Many of these Session members are working 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. 
BPC PHOTOS
BPC Worship 
Sunday, January 17, 2021
Prelude and Postlude "Unity"
Guest Musicians Alexis Grace & Thomas Berstig
Hymn 29 "O God, You Search Me"
Confessional Assurance "O Go, You Are My God"
John Gilmer, Fran Addicott, Pete Addicott, William Warren
Musical Offering "You Have Searched Me"
Alexis Grace & Thomas Bergstig



"The Consequences of Language"
"It’s time to check our words.
We can quote Bible verses but do we ACT in accordance with our words?"
Hymn 372 "O For a World"
---------------------------------------------------------------
LINKS to DOCUMENTS
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.
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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. 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)
 JANUARY 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.