Windows

April 5th, 2024

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!

Spring Cleaning Day

Spring cleaning help is on the way! Volunteers from the church will gather at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 20 in the church parking lot and disperse to help members of the congregation clean gutters, change smoke alarm batteries and light bulbs, clear yard debris, and perform other rites of spring. It won't be fun without you! Volunteers are asked to bring ladders, gloves, rakes, and other tools they might need. To volunteer or to request assistance, please contact Dave Welch at dwelch@fpcbristol.org.

We are collecting letters for our Confirmands and would love for you to be part of their great cloud of witnesses!

Since September 2022, these confirmation students have participated in weekly classes that have taught, informed, encouraged and challenged their faith. Watching them grow over the past two years and take ownership of their faith has been a joy and an inspiration!

On Sunday, May 5, 2024, the confirmation students will have the opportunity to proclaim their faith to our church family and become members of First Presbyterian Church. As we prepare for this special day, we are asking friends and family to send in cards and letters of spiritual encouragement to our confirmands. Letters are not limited to, but could include a story or memory, something about your own faith or ways your life has been impacted by knowing this student. We invited you to speak love and truth that will spur them on in their faith. The kind words you share will not only encourage them as they prepare to be confirmed but also be kept for years as a reminder that they are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses that will love, guide, and encourage them as they continue to run the race. (Hebrews 12:1-2).

Confirmation Class of 2024

Josh Galliher

Joel Galliher

Mollee McClain

Charlotte Osborne

Marissa Smith

Penn Story

If you would like to participate, please mail, email or deliver all cards and letters by May 1st to:

First Presbyterian Church

Attn.: Katie Arnold          

701 Florida Avenue

Bristol, TN 37620

or email karnold@fpcbristol.org

Thank you for joining us as we celebrate this important and exciting time in the lives of our students! Contact Katie Arnold with any questions.

Women of FPC and Friends: Come enjoy a time of fellowship, soup & salad, and sharing from two of our own very special ladies who will tell of how they have been fed and nurtured in their own spiritual journeys! Join us on Saturday, April 13th from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM at Sarah Gannaway’s home. Please email stgannaway@yahoo.com for address, directions, and parking details. Please RSVP by April 9th, so plans can be well made, and if inclement weather parking plans need to be communicated.

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. Visit here 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.

Gifts to the Church

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:

Julie King: to the Minister’s Discretionary Fund from Charles & Barbara Allen, from

Doris Maiden, and from Nancy McCracken. To the Shabach Well Fund from Tom &

Leigh King. To the Student Ministries Fund from Jack & Emily Hyder.

Organist's Footnotes

On this second Sunday of Easter we delve into the music of David N. Johnson (1922–1987). Johnson studied organ and composition at Curtis Institute of Music (1940–1942). Between 1942 and 1946 he served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps/Air Corps in India, Burma, and China, receiving a Meritorious Service Award and campaign ribbons. He continued his music studies at Trinity University (Texas) (BMus 1950) and Syracuse University (MMus 1951, PhD 1956). From 1960–1967, he was college organist and organ instructor at St Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota. In 1967, he succeeded Arthur Poister as professor of music and university organist at Syracuse University. He moved to Arizona in 1969, where he taught at Arizona State University, Tempe. He was married to Margaret S. Teal, and was the father of six children. Johnson published well over 300 compositions. Johnson’s best-known vocal/choral work is “The Lone, Wild Bird, (our second hymn). Inspired in part by his seeing a solitary white bird while in route by ship (in the early 1940s) from Los Angeles to Bombay, India – hundreds of miles from the nearest land in the middle of the South Pacific. Haunted by the image of that bird, Johnson later paired an American folk tune, PROSPECT from Walkers’ Southern Harmony 1835, with a 1925 poem by the Rev. Richard McFayden. Our first hymn, “Alleluia! Jesus Is Risen” was written by Herbert F. Brokering as an alternate text to his “Earth and All Stars”, which he wrote for the 90 th anniversary of St. Olaf College, for which Johnson composed his exuberant tune. Johnson also composed more sensitive hymn settings, such as “Deck Thyself with Joy and Gladness” which I will play during Communion. Johnson’s “Trumpet Tune in D” (1962, Closing Voluntary) was played by a string quartet for the wedding of Richard Nixon’s daughter, Tricia, in the White House Rose Garden in 1971. The organ version is heard every week as the opening and closing theme for the radio show “With Heart and Voice”, with host Peter DuBois. In 2019 I composed my own “Trumpet Tune in D Major” as an homage to David N. Johnson, who wrote many such trumpet tunes. It serves as our Opening Voluntary. -Bob Greene

We want to pray for and celebrate with you! Send us your prayer requests and glad tidings.



To the Church Triumphant

Peggy Faucette Rutherford 

March 22, 2024 in Houston Texas.

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.

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.

701 Florida Avenue | Bristol, TN 37620 | 423-764-7176 | fpcbristol.org