BPC NEWS BRIEF
Wednesday,
May 18 2022
mailing address:  Balmoral Presbyterian Church, P.O. Box 17309, Memphis, TN 38187
NEWS THIS WEEK

  • WORSHIP for SUNDAY, May 22

  • SUNDAY STUDIES for SPRING

  • POTLUCK LUNCH after WORSHIP Sunday, May 22
  • Have you let us know if you are planning to attend?

  • VOLUNTEERS for CLEANUP AFTER the POTLUCK LUNCH

  • MID-SOUTH PRESBYTERY EDUCATION DAY June 4

  • PENTECOST OFFERING to SUPPORT YOUNG PEOPLE

  • DONATED BOOKS WANTED for the VA!

  • Why Do We Keep Doing These Prayers of Confession?

  • BOOK CLUB for SUMMER

  • BPC Photos
  • Worship Sunday May 15

WEEKLY INFORMATION
  • Birthdays
  • Calendar of Events
  • CONTACT INFORMATION

OUTREACH OPPORTUNITIES
  • BRING FOOD for the FOOD CART
  • Give out Hospitality bags
  • SIGN UP to be a WORSHIP LITURGIST!
  • SOUP KITCHEN VOLUNTEERS ARE NEEDED for May 29




BPC WORSHIP

Sunday,
May 22, 2022

11:00am IN BPC's SANCTUARY

Scripture: Psalm 27 & Luke 24:13-34

We will still send an email on FRIDAY
with the LiveStream YouTube link & Sunday Worship Guide. 
Previous Worship Services at Balmoral are still available on the 
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.

SPRING 2022,
through May 22
9:30am
The Book of Forgiveness
by Desmond and Mpho Tutu
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize winner, Chair of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, along with his daughter, the Reverend Mpho Tutu, offer a manual on the art of forgiveness—helping us to realize that we are all capable of healing and transformation.

Leaders: Glenda Ellis & Beverly Hooker
Interrupting Silence
Silence is a complex matter. It can refer to awe before unutterable holiness, but it can also refer to the coercion where some voices are silenced in the interest of control by the dominant voices. It is the latter silence that Walter Brueggemann explores, urging us to speak up in situations of injustice.
    
Leaders: Frank Carney & Sherry Wilkins
AFTER WORSHIP
SUNDAY, MAY 22
Bring a dish of your choice & join us for a Potluck Luncheon
after Worship!

It's been 2 years since we could do this and we know you are as excited about getting together as we are!
After lunch, Rev. Mary Gale will lead us in a time in Transitional Visioning discussions
as we create a vision that imagines the future for our congregation.
Dishes for lunch can be brought before worship/Sunday studies and placed in the kitchen area.
WILL YOU BE JOINING US for LUNCH?
We would like to get a number of people who will be there so we know how many tables to set up. If you haven't yet indicated that you will attend, please by let the church office know by contacting the church office and leaving a message!
THANK YOU!
CAN YOU STAY
a FEW MINUTES AFTER the POTLUCK LUNCHEON?
CLEANUP VOLUNTEERS are NEEDED!

We will be asking everyone to clean off their tables and taking everything to the kitchen window after lunch.

We need a few people to put the kitchen area back in ship-shape.

If you are willing to stick around to put the kitchen area back in ship-shape, please contact Fran Shannon by email pfshannon@comcast.net or by signed text to 901.482.6103
OR call the Church Office and leave a message!
Casey Gurlen will be graduating this month! Cards of Congratulations can be placed for her on the table at the entry of the sanctuary or can be mailed to her home at 6735 Aberfoyle Cv., Memphis, TN 38119-7806
REGISTER NOW BELOW!!!
Dear Friends,
"Everything has changed." "Things will never be the same." Over the course of the last two years, we have heard these or similar words spoken around our churches. These words are true. The pandemic has fundamentally shifted how we have to think and "do" church. Some of these changes have been hard, and some may have actually provided new life and new energy. 
 
On Pentecost weekend we will celebrate the gift of the Spirit, the giver and re-newer of life. In that same Spirit, we invite you to join us on June 4th, 2022 from 9:00-1:00 for the Presbytery of Mid-South Education day. We will be exploring how to be a vital church in a post pandemic world. We are excited to have the Reverend Dr. Jan Edmiston, former co-moderator of the 222nd General Assembly as our keynoter. Jan has a passion for thinking about new and creative ways to do church ministry. 
I hope you will join us. Please feel free to share this event with others around your church. Registration and brochure information is attached to this email.
In Christ,
Rev James L Gale Jr
Executive Presbyter
PENTECOST OFFERING
June 5

The Pentecost Offering unites us in a church-wide effort to support young people and inspire them to share their faith, ideas, and unique gifts with the church and the world.
investing in our greatest resource
Help youth begin life with a solid foundation of faith.
Psalm 71 testifies that a foundation of faith established during childhood helps ensure lifelong faith and service. The patterns and lessons established during these formative years continue to bear fruit throughout a person's life. By receiving the Pentecost Offering, you are nurturing the faith of those who are the church to come — children, youth, and young adults.
Balmoral will be collecting Pentecost offering gifts through Pentecost Sunday, June 5. Envelopes are provided on the sanctuary table. Or you may put a check marked for PENTECOST in the offering plates.
THE VA WANTS YOUR BOOKS!
GENTLY USED BOOKS WANTED!
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!! Karen Pilkington will be collecting the books – 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.
Why Do We Keep Doing These Prayers of Confession?
Two theologians join the Presbyterian Association of Musicians to talk about the why and how of weekly confession
by Mike Ferguson | Presbyterian News Service
LOUISVILLE — Two thoughtful theologians — Dr. Martha Moore-Keish, the J.B. Green Professor of Theology at Columbia Theological Seminary, and the Rev. Dr. David Gambrell, Associate for Worship in the Office of Theology & Worship — put their brains and their hearts on display Thursday during the Presbyterian Association of Musicians’ town hall, “Why do we Keep Doing these Prayers of Confession?”

The webinar, attended by more than 50 people, was especially timely in that Moore-Keish published an article by the same name in the journal Call to Worship. She’s been speaking to colleagues wondering about the efficacy of calls and prayers of confession and assurance of pardon in most PC(USA) congregations. “They don’t necessarily seem to change us,” her colleagues said. “Why are we doing it if it doesn’t actually change us?”

We confess each week because we’re human, she said, and the human condition has at least four complexities, which Moore-Keish learned years ago from the Rev. Dr. Serene Jones, the president of Union Theological Seminary:
  • We are created good in the image of God
  • We are distorted (individually and collectively) by sin
  • We are forgiven and redeemed
  • We are drawn toward the future in hope for a day when all Creation will be made new.
“When we confess our sin, it is confession of one aspect of our truth, but it’s not the only thing,” Moore-Keish said. “Sin is framed by grace. Grace precedes and follows our confession of sin. It tells the truth about the way we fail to love one another, God and this world that God has entrusted to our care.”
LEFT: Dr. Martha Moore-Keish

"Handled rightly,” she said, “confession can be a genuine opening to grace — not an opportunity to wallow in shame or despair.”
Sometimes we fall in the trap of believing that “if we just get the contrition right and say, ‘I’m sorry’ enough times, then God will forgive us,” Moore-Keish said. It’s not an “if-then” proposition, but a “because-therefore” situation. “Because God has already offered to forgive us,” she said, “therefore we are free to confess our sins.”
When Gambrell asked her if we can really know whether we are changed by confessing our sin and then reminding ourselves that our sins are indeed forgiven, Moore-Keish drew from a story a pastor friend once shared with her.

A member came to this pastor to say he and his family were in terrible debt. He’d maxed out credit cards and declared bankruptcy, then maxed out his daughter’s credit cards so that she too had to file for bankruptcy. The man told the pastor he was crippled by guilt and had contemplated suicide.

What saved him was coming to church week after week “to confess his sin and tell the truth about his dishonesty and the harm he had done to others — and to do this in the company of others,” Moore-Keish wrote in her article. “Telling the hard truth about our sin, and doing so with other people, was for him literally life-saving.”
“Confession,” Gambrell said, “can be a life-saving gift.”
Confession “is not perpetuating shame or saying, ‘You are a terrible person,’” Moore-Keish said. “It’s about freedom that can come from acknowledging what we know can be true — the harm that we have done to other people. That is in itself freeing — particularly if it’s framed by ‘God loves you anyway.’”
RIGHT: The Rev. Dr. David Gambrell

Gambrell introduced Aja Romano’s article from Vox, “Everyone wants forgiveness, but no one is being forgiven.” Is confession and forgiveness, he wondered, “a gift the church has to share with society? Confession is something that’s seen as a stodgy old churchy thing, but what if it’s a gift the church has to offer the world?”

Later he strapped on his guitar to lead participants through confessional hymns found in Glory to God, including “Jesus Knows the Inmost Heart” from Pakistan and “Search Me, O God,” originally from Psalm 139 and written by the Taiwanese composer I-to Loh.
“There are beautiful ways,” Gambrell said, “to sing our confession.”
The act of confession, according to Moore-Keish, is done each week during worship “not to beat us up or say we are just worms.” Rather, it’s done so worshipers can confess “what is true about the world in which we live and about our own lives.”

“But the good news is that God is always already there. It’s important that we recognize it’s a gift, not something we’re entitled to. We receive it precisely because we don’t deserve it.”

“There it is,” Gambrell said, “and thanks be to God.”

BOOK CLUB
THIS SUMMER
Balmoral Book Club is taking a summer break in June,
but plans to meet again Tuesday, July 11, at 1:30 p.m. in classroom A.
We will be discussing the book Moloka'i, by Alan Brennert,
to be led by Jane Rousseau.
This is the story of a 7-year-old girl sent to a leprosy settlement on the island of Moloka'i, who found a sense of family and belonging there. "Brimming with warmth, humor, compassion and a vibrant cast of vividly realized characters, Moloka'i is a masterpiece of storytelling about a people who embraced life in the face of death."
SOUP KITCHEN
SIGN-UPS
for Sunday, May 29
The Soup Kitchen at First Presbyterian is back in business and Balmoral will be participating again! Our turn to serve as hosts is Sunday, May 29, and we need volunteers!

We'll leave a little early from Worship, leaving the parking lot at 11:50am and carpool downtown for lunch together at Westy's on Main Street. We will be working at 1st Pres from 1:30 until about 3:00, then return to BPC.

If you are interested in signing up, send a signed text to Scott Dawson 901.849.1685.
OPPORTUNITIES for OUTREACH
FILL UP
the
FOOD CART!
DONATIONS! DONATIONS! LET'S FILL IT UP!
Now that we can donate food again to the
St. Luke Methodist Food Pantry, let's fill it up!

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!
COLONIAL PARK FOOD DRIVE
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
LITURGIST SIGNUPS
We have LOTS of open slots for Worship Liturgist volunteers. Use the button here to sign-up!
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.)

BIRTHDAYS
Clinton Bailey (23); Casey Gurlen (26);
Janet Smith (26); Shirley Vosburg (29);
Phil Shannon (30); Noah Mercer (31)
 
Every Monday
2:00pm Writer's Group CLASSROOM A and/or on Zoom

EVERY TUESDAY & THURSDAY
12:30pm CHAIR YOGA in CLASSROOM B

1st Wednesday of the Month
BIBLE STUDY 10:30am in Classroom A

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

2nd Tuesday of the Month
1:30pm BOOK CLUB in Classroom A

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, May 22, 2022
8:30 AM Circle of Faith Worship in the Fellowship Hall
9:30 AM SUNDAY STUDIES for Spring Begin:
  • "The Book of Forgiveness" by Desmond Tutu and Mpho
  • "Interrupting Silence" by Walter Brueggeman
11:00 AM BPC Worship in the Sanctuary
& on LiveStream

Sunday, May 22, 2022
POTLUCK LUNCHEON after Worship
TRANSITIONAL VISIONING DISCUSSION

Sunday, May 29, 2022
8:30 AM Circle of Faith Worship in the Fellowship Hall
(SUNDAY STUDIES will take off for the SUMMER – see you in the FALL!)
11:00 AM BPC Worship in the Sanctuary & on LiveStream

Sunday, May 29, 2022
1:30 PM Soup Kitchen at First Presbyterian
(Contact Scott Dawson to sign up to volunteer)

Sunday, June 5, 2022
PENTECOST SUNDAY
8:30 AM Circle of Faith Worship in the Fellowship Hall
11:00 AM BPC Worship & Communion in the Sanctuary
& on LiveStream

BPC PHOTOS
Worship from Sunday, May 15
Rev. Mary Newberg Gale
Call to Worship
Lorie Blackwelder
Liturgist & Youth Leader
Choir
Congratulations to Casey Gurlen on her Graduation!"
Casey collects quarters for the
Goat sticks
CLOTHES DRIVE
for
JOHNSON AUXILIARY
Men’s Clothing:
  • Men’s Casual Shoes (athletic-type shoes) /Slippers (with backs) (All sizes needed)
  • Men’s Jackets and Hoodies (all sizes) & gloves
  • Men’s Casual Pants—Waist Sizes (All sizes needed, but particularly need sizes 30-36 waist and sizes 44 and up waist)
  • Men’s Casual Pants—Sweatpants (All sizes)
  • Men’s Casual Shirts—long sleeve (All sizes needed, but particularly need sizes XL and up particularly big and tall sizes); button down the front and pullover
  • Men’s underwear and socks (Must be new)—(All sizes)

Women’s Clothing:
  • Women’s sweatpants—all sizes needed
  • Women’s underwear and socks (must be new); all sizes needed
  • Women’s hoodies/casual outerwear (all sizes needed, particularly plus sizes); gloves
  • Women’s casual shoes (athletic-type) /slippers (with backs)—Sizes 9 and up

Other Clothing Related Needs:
  • Umbrellas
  • Rainwear such as ponchos (unisex, preferred)

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.)
VOLUNTEERS are also needed!
Contact Beverley Hooker for more information!

CONTACT INFORMATION
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 
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. 
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.
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!)
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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
MAY 2022
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 2021-2022 calendar is available to you.