Wallace Fridy was a United Methodist pastor who served in South Carolina during the last century. He was active in the civil rights movement and also wrote several devotional books. Here is one of his prayers:

-Wallace Fridy

Job has to do with universal human experiences of suffering and faith, loss and hope, despair and friendship, humanity and the vastness of Creation. It seems particularly important during a worldwide pandemic. Beginning on February 11 and going through March 27, each Thursday I plan to send a one or two page document by e-mail to the entire congregation which will invite us into this book. If you are not interested or don’t have time, simply delete the documents. At the end of February and again at the end of March, we will have evening Zoom forums on this study, and the link for the Zoom conversations will be sent in advance. Since Job is a bit daunting in its length and depth, a good commentary may be helpful. Here are a few, all of which are available from Amazon or any reliable bookseller:

     “Job” by Norman C. Habel, Knox Preaching Series, 1982  paperback version is $8.56 and used copies from $4.59  Habel’s commentary was also published in a couple of other series.

     “The Book of Job: When Bad Things Happened to a Good Person,” by Harold S. Kushner, 2012  The renowned rabbi reflects on his professional and personal life, with honesty and poignant wisdom.  $14.94 new, used from $3.47

     “Job” by J. Gerald Janzen, in the Interpretation commentary series—used from $4.03, paperback $24.99, Kindle $14.37  Janzen’s work is more scholarly and technical, but also gives many important historical and critical insights.

Just one item needed for soup bags for Coltrane Webb!

Due to the tremendous response to our request for food items for our Souper Bowl of Caring soup bags for Coltrane Webb Elementary School, we only need the following item:

Vegetable soup (14.5 oz. cans; with or without meat)

Thank you all so very much!

Please save the dates February 27th & 28th for a Mission Adventure right here in Concord!

The youth will host a drive through donation collection for the new Blessing Box, pack lunches for Opportunity House, create Easter cards for our VIPs, and fill care packages for our college students.

Watch for more information and sign-ups soon.

Adult volunteers will be needed. Please reach out to René Prager at r.prager@firstpresconcord.org if you are interested in taking part in this exciting weekend!

When the Will Young building was under construction, WBTV did a story on the man the building is named for: William Robert Young. Born on January 22, 1904, Will worked for First Presbyterian Church for 70 years, from 1929 until 1999. He passed away just a year later, on March 9, 2000. WIll knew many generations of church members and was dearly loved by all. Earlier this month WBTV returned to do a follow-up to that story. Click here for a link to their story, or type in the following Youtube link for the original story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3Tr4t2yXiU

Happy New Year to all our faithful food donation partners!

We have been SO blessed by our community partners over the past year! In 2020, our community donations (not counting what came from or through Second Harvest Food Bank) were up 39% from 2019! That was such a blessing, because we also served a record number of households through our Crisis Center Food Pantry. Thank you so much to all our church, organization, and business partners who found a way in the midst of very challenging times to collect and donate food.

We will continue to operate our drive-through pantries in the coming year, and we anticipate serving continued high numbers. We greatly appreciate your continued partnerships!

Our current big needs are:

        Cereal

        Peanut Butter

        Soup

        Canned carrots, peas, potatoes and mixed veggies

        Canned fruit

        Any dried beans

        Pasta Sauce

As always, we especially seek low sodium items, no-added-sugar items, and whole grain items.

Right now, we have plenty of the following:

       Canned chicken and tuna

       Canned green beans and corn

       Canned Pinto Beans

       Spaghetti noodles

       Macaroni & Cheese

Thank you for the continued support from our church partners. Our Crisis Center at 246 Country Club Drive NE in Concord serves as the warehouse for most of the food. We will gladly accept all donations at that site from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday. Bethel Baptist Helping Hands Food Pantry, located at 1209 1/4 Opal Street in Kannapolis, will gladly accept donations from 9 am to 1 pm on Monday and Thursday. The food pantry located at Westford UMC on Highway 49 and the Kannapolis Food Pantry at West Point Baptist Church can accept donations on Saturday morning from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. The Feeding Our Souls Food Pantry at Bethel UMC in Midland, North Kannapolis Baptist Church Food Pantry and the New Life Baptist Food Pantry will accept donations by calling the church in advance.

Please e-mail René Prager: r.prager@firstpresconcord.org with your student's name, shipping address, e-mail address, and final exam week (if known). If their address changes during the semester, please let us know!

Our pastoral staff continues to preach and teach through various means of technology. Please join us for all of our worship opportunities on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/firstpresconcordnc/),

YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfpzVUz-ZgaCJuogIMor8Iw) or our Sermon Archives (https://firstpresconcord.org/worship/sermon-archives/).

Worship is posted at 8:30 a.m.