First Presby’s Weekly News
November 19, 2017
Sunday Worship 10:30 a.m.
Worship is broadcast at 11:00 a.m. on WCHS-580AM
304-343-8961
Facebook: First Presbyterian Church Charleston, WV
Twitter: @firstpresbywv
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Want to Follow Up on Worship? Wait! Before you silence your phone, let your online community know that you’re at First Presby, and that latecomers are welcome. After the service, share something that was meaningful to you using #FirstPresbyWV.
Congratulations to:
-John Baldwin and Janice Flannery on the birth of their grandson, George William Baldwin. Proud parents are Beth and Scott Baldwin.
-Courtney and Suzanne Persinger on the birth of their daughter, Hazel Moses Persinger. Proud sister is Virginia Persinger, and proud grandparents are Bob and Nikki Moses and Howard Persinger.
Today we will receive a special Thanksgiving Offering to benefit Davis-Stuart, Inc., which is a Presbyterian Therapeutic Residential Center for Adolescents based in Lewisburg W.V. Your gifts to this offering supports the Chaplaincy Program offered at Davis Stuart. The Chaplaincy Program seeks to promote the awareness of our heritage of the Christian faith and that necessary knowledge which makes Christian choices and decision possible. Many youth who reside at Davis-Stuart have never been involved in spiritual teachings and through the Chaplaincy Program come to learn about, understand, and feel the love of Christ.
WHAT’S COMING UP?
Bring a Friend Sunday! On Sunday, December 10, everyone is encouraged to put on their Christmas sweater and bring a friend to church as we celebrate Advent with our Lessons and Carols service followed by carols and cookies in the Dining Room! Let’s show our neighbors the love of Christ by inviting them to experience the spirit of Christmas at First Presby!
Christmas Cookies? Yes please! Following Lessons and Carols on December 10 we are continuing the fun with a time of Christmas cookies and carols in the Dining Room. Our new Communications Director, Laura Hedrick, will be playing the piano for us to sing along. What do we need from you? We need donations of Christmas cookies for a “Cookie Table.” As you plan your holiday baking, please consider making a batch to share. All leftover cookies will be given out by our youth and children as they participate in various missions of the church in the Advent Season.
Light Up the Levee will take place on Friday, December 1 at 6:30 p.m. at Haddad River Front Park. Bring your friends and family for a night of caroling, hot chocolate, a lighted boat parade and an appearance by Santa Clause as we light up the levee for the Christmas season! We ask that you please bring donations of canned goods for the Covenant House Food Pantry.
Decorating for Christmas! The Worship Division invites you to stay for a few minutes after worship next Sunday, November 26 to help assemble the Christmas trees that adorn our chancel during Christmas and Advent. You’re also invited to help decorate the rest of the sanctuary after church supper on Wednesday evening, November 29 at 6:45pm. Everyone is welcome!
It’s beginning to look a lot like Advent! You are invited to our annual Advent Workshop, November 29, 2017 at 5:00 p.m.! While Advent Workshop is not a LOGOS night, we encourage all LOGOS attendees to come as there is Lessons and Carols rehearsal for the LOGOS groups. We are also accepting donations of quart size mason jars for the craft activity. If you plan to attend Advent Workshop, please make reservations for dinner by calling the church office at 304-343-8961 or emailing vannessa@firstpresby.com.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Left over candy? If you have any leftover candy please bring it to Payne’s office, right across from the elevator on the second floor of the Education Building. We will be using it for care packages to college students.
Godly Play Training: The Godly Play method of Sunday School teaching welcomes children into the stories and mysteries of the Bible through story-telling using simple objects for illumination. The stories leave room for “Wondering Questions” through which students explore the possibilities found in God’s Word. Students develop Biblical knowledge and expand their faith in the Godly Play room – a sacred space where they can pray, play, create, learn and simply be children of God. For both the students and the teachers, the experience is transformational! If the teacher in you is longing to come out or if you simply want to explore the possibilities for yourself found in the powerful act of sharing God’s Word through the ancient art of story-telling, training is being offered:
Saturday December 2, 2017
8:30 AM to 5:30 PM
Tuition is $45 – Thanks to a special gift this fee is waived for First Presby members.
Christ Episcopal Church
200 Duhring Street
Bluefield, WV 24701
For more information and to register, call Janet Chambers, Director of Child & Family Ministry at 304- 343-8961 or email janet@firstpresby.com
Tell us what you’re thankful for! Be sure to stop by the “I’m Thankful For” bulletin board in the hall to fill out a leaf stating what you’re thankful for. As Thanksgiving approaches, let’s take time to thank God for all the many blessings He has given us!
Help us Help Houston flood victims: First Presby has adopted a “Sister Church’, 1st Presbyterian Church of Dickinson, Texas, which was completely devastated by Hurricane Harvey. After much prayer and discernment, we are blessed with the opportunity to help them rebuild and refurbish! Currently, they are in need of new chairs for their sanctuary, and you have the opportunity to help by “sponsoring a chair”. See the bulletin board in the church hallway and/or make a donation to this outreach ministry by writing a check out to First Presby (notate Dickinson Chairs).
Open Dates for Flowers: If you would like to place flowers in the Sanctuary in memory or honor of a loved one, Sunday, November 19 and November 26, are both open dates. Please call the church office and speak with Nancy McLaughlin, 304-343-8961
Baskets needed to create beautiful Christmas gifts for Presbyterian Coffee Project goodies. Repurpose your gift size baskets for a good cause! Please bring baskets to the front office so Linda Elliot can pick them up.
St. Marks United Methodist Church’s Clothing Closet needs:
• Men’s pants and jeans – all sizes
• Men’s underwear – sizes 28-40
• Men’s socks both white and dark
• Men’s shoes sizes 9-13
• Women’s socks both white and dark
• Women’s underwear sizes 5-10
• Children’s socks and underwear for boys and girls
• Blankets, large towels and coats for all ages
There’s room in the choir for you! Music literacy and perfect attendance are not required, but a sense of humor is certainly helpful. The Geneva Choir does have a few people with great solo voices, but most of us are just regular folks like you. Because no one has perfect attendance, we’re a slightly different combination of people every week, but God needs all of us! Come to rehearsal this Thursday at 7:30pm in the Choir Room and join your voice with ours as often as you are able.
IN OTHER NEWS
There’s an app for that! Did you know you can access our hymnal from your mobile device using the free mobile edition? Versions of Glory to God: The Presbyterian Hymnal are available from Google Play and also from the App Store for your Apple device. The free versions will give you all the public domain hymns, including favorites such as “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling,” “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” and “Take My Life and Let It Be.” In-app purchases will give you copyrighted as well as public domain hymns. There are powerful search capabilities, sample piano recordings of hymns, interesting information about hymns and their authors, and the ability to access several different versions of hymns including pew, accompaniment, large print, lead sheet, and instrumental (strings, brass, and woodwinds). Check it out!
More about the music: Below is an excerpt from “Glory to God: A Companion” about this morning’s Response, “As the Deer”: “This worship chorus was created by the author/composer in July 1981 on the nineteenth day of a twenty-one-day, water-only fast. While playing the piano during a time of personal worship, with the Bible on the music rack open to Psalm 42, he began to sing as part of his devotions. In the early and some subsequent recordings and printings, the text used a mixture of archaic and modern pronouns and verbs that have gradually been smoothed into the present form. Various additional stanzas have also been published with the one given here.” For more tidbits about our music and hymn texts, visit a church copy of “Glory to God: A Companion” by Reverend Carl P. Daw, Jr. M.A., M.Div., Ph.D in our church library, or look through the copy on the piano at the front of the sanctuary after worship.
Many ways to support our ministries: In addition to traditional cash and checks in the offering plate, you can give on our website www.firstpresby.com via your computer or smart phone, through our mobile app “Church Life” (you must first set up a user profile on our website to use the Church Life app.) or by texting 73256 and typing “firstpresby” in the message line. Use the QR code card in your pew rack to go directly to our giving page. God loves a Cheerful Giver.
NO YOUTH GROUP this weekend. Since this week is Thanksgiving break, we will not meet on the opening weekend. Our next meeting will be on Sunday, November 25 at
6:00 p.m. in the Dining Room.
Lay Academy continues studying “Comparative Religions,” this Sunday, Nov. 19, at 4:00pm in the Dining room. Our staff member, David Feibelmann, leads discussion on Judaism with emphasis upon the two centers of this faith, Jerusalem and the Temple and then the Holy Scripture from the Bible and Talmud, as the Jews live in the Diaspora, until 1948 when the modern state of Israel was created. He stresses knowledge of Judaism not for Jews only, but also for Christians and everyone else who need to understand and draw upon this parent faith of Monotheism in order to live truthfully and faithfully. Everyone is welcome to listen, learn, and join in discussion. Bring a friend or neighbor. For more information, please contact Dr. Newman at (304) 345-0225, or the Church Office at (304) 343-8961.
This week’s food pantry needs: Stuffing mix & instant mashed potatoes
What’s Going on This Week?
Sunday 11/19
Davis Stuart offering
Blood Pressure Check-Cablish Rm.
Baptism of Sarah Symonds and Evelyn Clarke
9:15 Sunday School
10:00 Choir & Worship Team Warm-up
10:30 WORSHIP
11:30-12:30 Hope Village Open
1:00-3:00 Elementary Girls B-Ball; Gym
3:00-5:00 MS Boys B-Ball; Gym
3:00 High School Returns from retreat
4:00 Lay Academy, Comparative Religions DR
Monday 11/20
8:30-10:00 Aerobics Class; Rec. Room
9:00-12:00 PEO Meeting; Ruffner Room
Tuesday 11/21
10:00-12:00 Knitting/Crocheting Group (Laura Ceperley), E-406
7:15-8:45 Boy Scout Troop 5, Rec. Rm., Gym, A-109
Wednesday 11/22
10:00-12:00 Hope Village Open
12:00 BUILDINGS CLOSE
Thursday 11/23
THANKSGIVING DAY
BUILDINGS CLOSED
Friday 11/24
BUILDINGS CLOSED