Dear Church, In my last “Pastor’s Corner” I outlined how the Church in Antioch is a model for what I believe God is calling First Presbyterian to be in six ways. Those six ways are: It was distinctly Christian, radically innovative, developed leaders, was amazingly diverse, was a sending church, and was never about itself. What I’d like to do in this and subsequent Pastor’s Corners is dig deeper into each of these attributes so today let’s look at what it means for us here on Court Square to be distinctly Christian. It’s common this time of year for Christians to talk about keeping “Christ” in Christmas and rail against the substi- tute phrases of “Happy Holidays” and “Season’s Greetings” but how do we actually keep Christ in Christmas? Is it as simple as saying “Merry Christmas” rather than the phrases above and insisting that nativities be displayed on public ground? Of course not! No, we keep Christ in Christmas by loving God, loving each other, and loving the world. Clearly that is at the heart of Christ and Christmas and I’d say that doing these things all the time is what would make us distinct- ly Christian. When you are in love people know it. So, if we “Love Christ Jesus,” as the first line in our mission statement calls us to, people should know it. We should be talking about Jesus all the time. I’m sure part of the reason believers were first called “Christians” in Antioch is because the Church there couldn’t stop talking about Jesus. We should be the same. We should also be all in on worship and stewardship and so on because when you are in love it shows not just in your words but also in how you spend your time and money. All this applies not just to God but also to one another. Jesus himself tells us that people will know we are his disciples based on our love for one another. Now this isn’t always easy but it is precisely because we all know this that people will see us as distinctly Christian when we actually do love one another. Finally, we need to love the world. Clearly God has a soft spot for “the least of these” (Matthew 25:40) and the lost (Matthew 28:19) so when we care for them and tell them about Jesus we are loving God and doing so in a way that causes the world to sit up and notice. Friends, if we want to be distinctly Christian, particularly in this Christmas season we need to publically and con- sistently love God, love one another and love the world. If we can do these things people will notice. People will say, “those are Christians” and “that is a Christian Church.” May God make it so, to His glory. In Christ, Jon THE PIPER Piping News of Interest to Court Square Presbyterians DECEMBER 2016 Youth Hiking Day and Visit to Sunnyside On Tuesday, November 8th our youth group went to visit some of the members of our church that are no longer able to attend. I've never been very comfortable having conversations with the elderly, but on Tuesday I felt as though they were family. One of the residents that I really connected with and have made a goal to visit again is Lucile Cook. I felt at peace talking to her and really wanted to continue to talk for hours. Later, after we left, I thought of the verse Leviticus 19:32, "You shall rise up before the gray headed and honor the aged, and you shall re- vere your God; I am the Lord." This verse helped me realize that the elderly know what we’re going through and can offer advice in hard times; they can offer friendship and joy. That's how I saw God work on Tuesday. By Grace Edwards
Transcript
Dear Church,
In my last “Pastor’s Corner” I outlined how the Church in Antioch is a model for what I believe God is calling First Presbyterian to be in six ways. Those six ways are: It was distinctly Christian, radically innovative, developed leaders, was amazingly diverse, was a sending church, and was never about itself. What I’d like to do in this and subsequent Pastor’s Corners is dig deeper into each of these attributes so today let’s look at what it means for us here on Court Square to be distinctly Christian.
It’s common this time of year for Christians to talk about keeping “Christ” in Christmas and rail against the substi-tute phrases of “Happy Holidays” and “Season’s Greetings” but how do we actually keep Christ in Christmas? Is it as simple as saying “Merry Christmas” rather than the phrases above and insisting that nativities be displayed on public ground? Of course not! No, we keep Christ in Christmas by loving God, loving each other, and loving the world. Clearly that is at the heart of Christ and Christmas and I’d say that doing these things all the time is what would make us distinct-ly Christian.
When you are in love people know it. So, if we “Love Christ Jesus,” as the first line in our mission statement calls us to, people should know it. We should be talking about Jesus all the time. I’m sure part of the reason believers were first called “Christians” in Antioch is because the Church there couldn’t stop talking about Jesus. We should be the same. We should also be all in on worship and stewardship and so on because when you are in love it shows not just in your words but also in how you spend your time and money. All this applies not just to God but also to one another. Jesus himself tells us that people will know we are his disciples based on our love for one another. Now this isn’t always easy but it is precisely because we all know this that people will see us as distinctly Christian when we actually do love one another. Finally, we need to love the world. Clearly God has a soft spot for “the least of these” (Matthew 25:40) and the lost (Matthew 28:19) so when we care for them and tell them about Jesus we are loving God and doing so in a way that causes the world to sit up and notice.
Friends, if we want to be distinctly Christian, particularly in this Christmas season we need to publically and con-sistently love God, love one another and love the world. If we can do these things people will notice. People will say, “those are Christians” and “that is a Christian Church.” May God make it so, to His glory.
In Christ, Jon
THE PIPER Piping News of Interest to Court Square Presbyterians
DECEMBER 2016
Youth Hiking Day and Visit to Sunnyside
On Tuesday, November 8th our youth group went to visit some of the members of our church that are no longer able to attend. I've never been very comfortable having conversations with the elderly, but on Tuesday I felt as though they were family. One of the residents that I really connected with and have made a goal to visit again is Lucile Cook. I felt at peace talking to her and really wanted to continue to talk for hours. Later, after we left, I thought of the verse Leviticus 19:32, "You shall rise up before the gray headed and honor the aged, and you shall re-vere your God; I am the Lord." This verse helped me realize that the elderly know what we’re going through and can offer advice in hard times; they can offer friendship and joy. That's how I saw God work on Tuesday. By Grace Edwards
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Bell Ringers Wanted
Volunteer this holiday season! We need at least two individuals to cover each time slot at the Salvation Army bell ringing booth inside the mall at J.C. Penney. Contact Donna Shiflet at 289-3520 or 421-1533 to reserve a time. We have time slots on December 13th, 15th and 17th still available.
Introducing Rev. Bill Craig, Pastor of Youth and Evangelism Billy, a native of Huntington, West Virginia, has served churches large and small during his ministry, which began after graduating from UCLA in 1994 and then from Reformed Theo-logical Seminary in Orlando. Billy is gifted in discipleship, and he longs to see people trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior. He is a strong believer in small groups as a tool for evange-lism and discipleship and has implemented those kinds of groups in past church callings. Billy has been married since 1998, and he and wife Avery have six children.
Introducing Emily Huffman, Administrative Assistant Emily is a native of Rockingham County. She graduated from Eastern Mennonite University and received a masters degree from Liberty University. She comes to us with plenty of office and communications experience. She most recently served for four years as part of a church-planting team in Genoa, Italy. She married her husband, Francesco Paradiso, in March of 2014. In October of this year they moved to Harrisonburg to be closer to family while their passion to serve the Lord in all areas of life remains the same.
Do you have a story idea for the Piper about how you or a group here at First Presbyterian is putting our vision into action? If so then let us know! Did you get some great photos at a recent church event? Send them our way! Contact Emily Huffman at 434-6551 or [email protected].
Shenandoah Valley Choral Society 47th Annual Christmas Concert
Friday, Dec. 16th at 7:30pm and Sunday, Dec. 18th at 3pm at Bridgewater Church of the Brethren. Under the direction of Curtis Nolley the concert will include Conrad Susa's "Carols and Lulla-bies: Christmas in the Southwest", a collection of carols of Spanish descent, accompanied by classical guitar, marimba and harp. The second half of the concert will feature a variety of new and tradi-tional carol settings. Tickets are available at the door, locally from Choral Society mem-bers, Red Front Supermarket (Harrisonburg), Bridgewater Foods (Bridgewater) and on-line at www.singshenandoah.org. Admission is $15 for adults, $12 for seniors/students.
Session Highlights – November, 2016
Administration Committee – More members have turned in stew-
ardship pledges for 2017 than last year to date. Plans are being
made to contact members who haven’t yet pledged. Plans are
being made for a meeting of committee chairs to plan the 2017
church budget.
Communication Committee - A new church logo featuring the
name First Presbyterian was approved. It will begin to be used in
communications from the church in January. The church website is
being updated and made more functional, as part of our plan to
improve communication.
Global Missions - Global Missions approved $5,000.00 from des-
ignated funds to fund the purchase of land for a preaching outpost
in the Jimma, Ethiopia, area.
Local Missions - Construction aid for West Va. Is being planned
as needs are presented by the affected community.
Member Care - Visitation of members who are ill, grieving, or con-
fined to home continues; our TLC ministry sent 1,152 cards in the
last 12 months.
Discipleship/Christian Education - the committee is studying the
best way to implement a mentoring system for our church.
A complete set of minutes from the previous month’s Session Meeting is available at the Welcome Desk.
Kerus Quilters Celebrate 1,000 Quilts
Kerus Quilters is happy to announce the recent gift of Quilt #1,000. In our 11 years of operation, this is the blessing of God—one thousand people (our own included) have received a quilt.
Thanks to our faithful ladies who get together twice a month and to all of you who have donated fabric, supplies, and money. We could not have done it with-out you. May we continue to “wrap people in love”. To God be the Glory!
October Pig Roast and Picnic
The fall pig roast at the Pences’ “Columns at Six Penny
Farm” is becoming an annual event. Since fostering a
mentoring program is a major objective of the CE/
Discipleship Committee, we decided to couple this year’s
pig roast with intergenerational activities.
Chief among them was the corn hole tournament. Thirty
teams registered to play this bracketed, single elimination
matchup. There was lively action and banter with four
games running simultaneously and a 5th game board set up
for practice. ‘Bullhorn’ Bob roamed the game and tent area
announcing each upcoming pair of contenders. With
daylight waning, Matthew Lawrence and Terry Rhodes
capped their winning play by taking home two intricately
designed trophies, handcrafted by Amy Henderson.
A giant jenga set was available for all to test their skill and
get-to-know-you-bingo was used as a conversation starter
with a little incentive from Hersheys chocolate and
poprocks candy for getting bingo. From 20 cards that were
completely filled, Nathan Henderson was the big winner,
randomly selected to receive a $40 Target gift card.
We’re looking forward to next year’s event!
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Giving to the Glory of God In the past few months the Evangelism Committee has given two grants: one to Gideons International and one to GraceInside which is a prison chaplain ministry in Virginia reaching out to the 30,000+ men and women who are incarcerated. Their mission statement is “To provide full-time chaplains in all of Virginia’s state adult and juvenile prison facilities”. Their website states, “Virginia is unique in that our chaplains are not state employees. Our chaplains are privately funded by caring individuals, churches, denominations, foundations and businesses.” Thank you First Presbyterian for reaching out and being a giving church!
Announcing New Tidings for 2017! Beginning in January we will be posting the Piper online as part of our new website. You can be on the look out for next month’s edition at www.firstpreshbg.org. A link will also be included in the weekly church email. You may print a copy directly from the website if you wish. Paper copies will also be available upon request.
Operation Christmas Child Thank you to all who participated this year. The last shipment went out Monday, November 21 and our total was 181 boxes!
10th Annual Community Christmas Dinner Everyone is invited to Showker Hall on December 25th from 5-7pm. Come join us for good food and fellowship on this special day. We also need plenty of volunteers. If you can help call Ted or Tammy Brown at 540-383-5341 or email [email protected].
Thank You Notes… To my friends at First Presbyterian Church. I thank you, thank you for all the things you did for us. The delicious meals, visits, phone calls, cards and most of all your prayers. A special thank you to Gary Edlind for his message for my son Edwin Brantley at the pray-er service at the mausoleum. God’s blessing to all of you. I love you and the Presbyterian Church. Christine Brantley Wilson Dear Church Family, thank you for letting us be TLC person of the week. The flowers were really pretty and we enjoyed so much read-ing the special messages on the cards. We miss our church family. Thanks for remembering us in such a special way. Bob and Dot Spicer Thank you for naming me the TLC person of the week. I am no longer able to attend the services at the church but your cards and flowers keep me feeling part of the church family. Maxine Heneberger Thanks so much for naming me TLC Person of the Week on Octo-ber 30, 2016. I think that was great; got a lot of cards and flowers. They are still lovely. Thanks so much. Lucile Cook
We are blessed to be remembered by our church family. Your TLC cards and flowers were lovely. Amid the many changes at First Church one thing remains constant—your love and concern for us and for others. Thank you very much and God bless you all. Donna and Richard Williams I’m overwhelmed! Thank you so much for all the lovely cards I received. I’m also very humbled by receiving so many cards. The flowers are beautiful. They are yellow for November and my birthday. Thank you for making me TLC of the week, it’s a great honor. God bless you all. Barbara Ellis I feel blessed and thankful to be your Person of the Week. To receive so many beautiful and prayerful cards and the lovely flowers. I do thank you for your thoughtfulness. Betty M. Hedrick
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