Virginia Hills Baptist Church The Tie Blest be the tie that binds . . . April 2014 Volume 56, Issue 4 The Pastor’s Perspective This past Saturday I conducted the funeral service of my Aunt, Ruth Breeden. Aunt Ruth was my mother’s little sister, and the last surviving child of my maternal grandparents. Her passing signals the end of a gener- ation. Ruth’s middle name was Vashti, a name my grandmother found in the Old Testament book of Esther. Vashti was the queen of Xerxes, who was the king of Persia from 486-465 B.C. Esther 1:10-12 tells how Xerxes, feeling the effects of too much wine, commanded his servants to bring queen Vashti into his pres- ence so he could display her beauty to all of his guests, “for she was lovely to look at.” Vashti refused to do so, for apparently she didn’t feel like being paraded before a room of drunken men. King Xerxes, in retaliation, fired her as his queen and began the process that replaced her with Esther. So what do we know about this woman named Vashti? She was beautiful, she was determined, she was strong willed, and she came armed with buckets of attitude. Yup, that’s my Aunt Ruth. Granny did a good job in picking out her name. My aunt was indeed a strong willed woman. She had to be, for she faced great struggles in her life. Born in the midst of the great depression, she faced great poverty. She married into a blended family, was the mother of nine children, and went back to work when her husband became disabled. When one faces obsta- cles like that it helps to be a little strong willed. As I look at the Biblical narrative, I see many characters that, like my aunt, were strong willed. Samson, Joseph, Nehemiah, Saul, Daniel, Jonah, and Paul are just some of the strong willed characters in the Bible. Their attitudes often got them in trouble, but God was able to utilize them in such a way that they were able to do great things for His kingdom. Aunt Ruth’s attitude often got her in trouble, especially with my mother while they were growing up. But her life is an example of how God takes a determined person and moves them in a positive direction. May he do so for all of us as we seek to serve him! Our Mission To provide a loving, friendly, family atmosphere, where people can meet and serve Christ, community and one another.
Transcript
Virginia Hills Baptist Church
The Tie
Blest be the tie that binds . . .
April 2014 Volume 56, Issue 4
The Pastor’s Perspective
This past Saturday I conducted the funeral service of my Aunt, Ruth Breeden. Aunt Ruth was my mother’s little sister, and the last surviving child of my maternal grandparents. Her passing signals the end of a gener-
ation.
Ruth’s middle name was Vashti, a name my grandmother found in the Old Testament book of Esther.
Vashti was the queen of Xerxes, who was the king of Persia from 486-465 B.C. Esther 1:10-12 tells how
Xerxes, feeling the effects of too much wine, commanded his servants to bring queen Vashti into his pres-ence so he could display her beauty to all of his guests, “for she was lovely to look at.”
Vashti refused to do so, for apparently she didn’t feel like being paraded before a room of drunken men.
King Xerxes, in retaliation, fired her as his queen and began the process that replaced her with Esther.
So what do we know about this woman named Vashti? She was beautiful, she was determined, she was
strong willed, and she came armed with buckets of attitude. Yup, that’s my Aunt Ruth. Granny did a good job in picking out her name.
My aunt was indeed a strong willed woman. She had to be, for she faced great struggles in her life. Born in
the midst of the great depression, she faced great poverty. She married into a blended family, was the mother of nine children, and went back to work when her husband became disabled. When one faces obsta-
cles like that it helps to be a little strong willed.
As I look at the Biblical narrative, I see many characters that, like my aunt, were strong willed. Samson,
Joseph, Nehemiah, Saul, Daniel, Jonah, and Paul are just some of the strong willed characters in the Bible.
Their attitudes often got them in trouble, but God was able to utilize them in such a way that they were able to do great things for His kingdom.
Aunt Ruth’s attitude often got her in trouble, especially with my mother while they were growing up. But
her life is an example of how God takes a determined person and moves them in a positive direction. May he do so for all of us as we seek to serve him!
Our Mission
To provide a loving, friendly, family atmosphere, where
people can meet and serve Christ, community and one another.
In March we continued to have snow days. Can you believe it?! We had 8 staff
members attend the Va. Early Childhood Education Conference in Roanoke, where we
learned a lot.
We had a fabulous March celebrating Dr. Seuss’ birthday and St. Patrick’s Day.
The Dinosaur class performed a wonderful St. Patrick’s Day program for their parents and
the residents of Mt. Vernon Nursing Home. We had Teddy Bear Portraits come and take
individual photos of all of our students. This is a new company for us and we were very
pleased with them. We hope the parents were also. Our Annual Art Auction and Ice
Cream Social was a big hit, as always!
We are looking forward to celebrating the Easter Season and our Spring Break! On
April 22, we will celebrate Pizza Day, where the children become chefs for a day and each
make their own English Muffin Pizza. It is always lots of fun!
We will be happy to see some real spring weather soon!
Christine Page
Director
TAKING NOTE ...
Thank You! For the last two and a half years, we were blessed to have Ms. Jackie Balough as an Administrative Assistant here at VHBC. Always pleasant, she was patient and helpful and a joy to work with. Although we will miss her, we feel good knowing it's her family, Mr. Allen Balough, and her children, Claire and Alex, who will be benefiting! We wish you and your family our very best.
Summer Mission Trip. As they did last summer, our Youth will be going on a mission trip this summer. They are currently raising funds to make this possible. If you would like to be part of this mission, you can help raise funds for this trip by writing a check to the church and directing the check to the Youth mission trip. Be alert to any fund-raising activities that may be held.
The Surprising Beauty Around Us. After a very long, very cold winter, many of us eagerly awaited the arrival of spring weather! In spite of the prolonged winter conditions, we were able to enjoy some very beautiful sights that only comes with cold weather. One such remarkably beautiful sight was early in March after a heavy snowfall. Looking out the window the next morning as the sun started to make its way upward from the horizon, you saw a remarkable sight. In the very bright sunlit areas, you could see, evenly scattered throughout, snow flakes lit up like sparkling gemstones; the bright sunlit areas sparkled with color! There were colors of lightest yellow, lightest green, lightest rose, lightest orange, lightest blue, lightest blue green, lightest yellow green, and lightest red orange. This display of very light, yet distinct colors, against the whitest of white of fallen snow flakes was an awesome sight to see. Even the darker areas of tree trunk shadows alongside shadows of beautifully balanced shrubs next to the different areas of sparkling snowflakes bursting with color was breathtakingly beautiful!
You'll recall that Sir Isaac Newton, demonstrated that light--white light--when going through a prism, was broken up and seen as different colors--the colors of the rainbow.
Psalms 19:1-- "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork." (KJV)
B. Gambrill
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 2
6:00 p.m. Dinner
6:30 p.m. Youth Group
6:45 p.m. Prayer &
Bible Study
7:30 p.m. Choir
3
Girl Scouts 3:00—4:30
4 5
6 Communion
9:30 a.m. Contemporary
Service
9:45 a.m. Sunday School
10:30 a.m. Fellowship
11 a.m. Worship Service
7 8 9
6:00 p.m. Dinner
6:30 p.m. Youth Group
6:45 p.m. Prayer &
Bible Study
7:30 p.m. Choir
10
Girl Scouts 3:00—4:30
11 12
13 Palm Sunday
9:30 a.m. Contemporary
Service
9:45 a.m. Sunday School
10:30 a.m. Fellowship
11 a.m. Worship Service
14 15 16
6:00 p.m. Dinner
6:30 p.m. Youth Group
6:45 p.m. Prayer &
Bible Study
7:30 p.m. Choir
17
Girl Scouts 3:00—4:30
18 Good Friday
7 p.m. Good Friday Ser-
vice
19
20 Easter
6 a.m. Sunrise Service and
Breakfast
9:30 a.m. Contemporary
Service
10:30 a.m. Fellowship
11 a.m. Worship Service
12 p.m. Easter Egg Hunt
21 22 23
6:00 p.m. Dinner
6:30 p.m. Youth Group
6:45 p.m. Prayer &
Bible Study
7:30 p.m. Choir
24
Girl Scouts 3:00—4:30
25 26
27
9:30 a.m. Contemporary
Service
9:45 a.m. Sunday School
10:30 a.m. Fellowship
11 a.m. Worship Service
28 29 30
6:00 p.m. Dinner
6:30 p.m. Youth Group
6:45 p.m. Prayer &
Bible Study
7:30 p.m. Choir
April 2014
Sermon Series “Snatching Victory from the Hands of Defeat”
06 John 11:38-44 “Take Away the Stone” 13/Palm Sunday Isaiah 50:4-9 “I Will Not Be Disgraced” 18/Good Friday John 19:28-30 “It Is Finished” 20/Easter Matthew 28:1-10 “The Violence of Resurrection” 27 John 20:19-31 “I Will Not Believe”
Maxie Keck Hilda McGinnis Velma Johnson Marge Delozier W.O. Falls Helen Booterbaugh
Our Church Family Needs
The Fowler Family Rudy & Nita Tarlosky Hilda Strickler Marcia Pridgen Mabel Rock Matt Szramoski Thelma Lam Dick Purdy Jean Moore Connie Fulk Bonnie Lopez Pauline Carico Frances Mays Jim Lockwood Louis Palmateer
April Sermon Schedule
Wednesday Dinner Schedule
April Birthdays
Keep Them In Your Prayers
Upcoming Events
April 20
Easter Egg Hunt
May 31 Movie Night
06 Kathy Blevins 11 Mackenzie Chiles 13 Helen Sande 17 Genni Shishak 18 Don Snyder 24 MacKenzie Torrance 26 Danny Adams 28 Charlie Blevins 29 Don Shamblin 30 David Dodson
Outdoor Movie Night
May 31, 2014
June 7, 2014 – Backup Date
Time: TBD/Dusk
“Follow the Star”
DRIVE THROUGH LIVE NATIVITY
December 19 & 20, 2014
6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Save the Date!
Wilson Riley will be leading a new Senior
Adult group. They will be meeting on the 2nd
and 4th Thursday of each month at 11:30 a.m.
- 1 p.m. starting in April. Their first meeting
will be April 10, 2014.
For more information call Wilson at 703-971-
4222, ext 104.
Prime imers BAKE SALE
Get Ready! Our Youth are
having a Bake Sale on East-
er Sunday, April 20. Be
sure to visit the bake sale
table and buy generously. The Bake Sale
proceeds support their summer mission trip
to Gloucester, Va.
Join us for an
EASTER EGG HUNT!
On Easter Sunday, April 20, the Children’s Ministry will be hosting an EASTER EGG
Hunt outside on the playground for all kids 5th grade and younger. The hunt will take
place immediately following the 11:00 a.m. worship service.
We are looking for small individually wrapped candy and/or plastic Easter eggs.
Would you please help us with a donation? We will also accept pre-filled Easter
eggs with either candy or other surprise inside. Peanut-free candy only, please.
Please leave your donation in the marked basket in church lobby by Palm Sunday
4/13. Thank you in advance for your help.
Grey hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained by a righteous life.. -Proverbs 16:31
THE TIE – April 2014
Virginia Hills Baptist Church 6507 Telegraph Road Alexandria, VA 22310-3324 Church Office Hours: 9 a.m.-1 p.m. M-F Phone: 703.971.4222, Ext. 100 Email: [email protected] www.virginiahillsbaptist.com
