Midweek Newsletter: Wednesday, November 15th, 2023.

 

NARTHEX NEWS

WEEKLY EDITION

NOVEMBER 15^th, 2023

FROM THE NEWS DESK

OF

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

LEBANON, INDIANA

128 E. Main St. ~ Lebanon, IN 46052~ (765)482-5959

https://www.lebanonfpc.org ~ office@lebanonfpc.org

 

 

In the midweek newsletter this week:

~ Reminders                                        ~ Time for Tea Goes to a Tearoom

~ Help Decorate Harvest Tables!        ~ PPM Update

~ Celebrations                                   ~ Weekly Devotional

~ Pizza, Pizza, Veterans!                   ~ Prayer Room

~ Music Notes

~ Poinsettias Please!

~ Would you like a PCUSA 2024 calendar?

~ Gourmet Seekers Seeks Your RSVP

Reminders:

Live & Learn this Saturday in the Church Library at 11:30, lunch provided.

Liturgist for November is Roy Flanary; Elder is Amy Morrison.

Harvest Dinner this Sunday after worship service! Please bring appetizers, side dishes, and desserts to share. Drinks and main entrée (turkey wrapped in bacon!) will be provided. Bring family, friends, neighbors! The meal will smell delicious and taste even better, but the best part will be the family gathered for the event. We welcome you and we thank God for you!

Guest Speaker this Sunday: Michelle Standeford will be here from Live for Life Indiana this coming Sunday. She will be sharing the message. Michelle is co-founder of Live for Life and we look forward to hearing what valuable and heartfelt information she has to share with us.

Help Decorate Harvest Tables! Lisa Hutcheson will be decorating the Harvest Dinner tables on Sunday morning – please come help! If you know ahead of time that you will be coming to assist, please contact Gretel in the office and let her know. We thank you for your friendly contribution of time, creativity, and willingness, even if it is a last minute decision.

Celebrations: Happy birthday to a really great crew. We love each one of you. We hope your year is exciting and new, and that you remember God loves you!

Happy Birthday to: Jane Myers, 11/22!

Happy Anniversary to: George II and Leanne Piper, 11/24!

Pizza, Pizza, Veterans! Calling all Veterans and their spouses! Pastor Je is treating all Veterans and their spouses to lunch at Pizza Hut Wednesday at noon (that’s today!) It is our pleasure to honor you and recognize you and your service.

Music Notes:

Do you hear what I hear? Well probably not yet, but during Advent you will! The theme  this year will be “Joy to the World” and we need you to make a joyful noise!

Unfortunately, we do not have enough singers to fill a choir so we will not be having an Advent Choir this year. However,

the great news is that there will be plenty of opportunities for solos, small ensembles, duets, etc. Jennie Woods is offering to help those who would like it, by appointment. Please contact her no later than Thanksgiving, if you would like her assistance on singing or playing for the Advent season; she can help you set up a time for “a help session”, as well as get your music and info to Lisa. Jennie advises that you will need the name of the piece, the music needed, and the accompanist arranged before you can be placed on the list.

If you are interested in singing, playing an instrument, or anything else that will enhance the worship during Advent, you can also email Lisa at lisahutcheson@yahoo.com or talk to her at church.

The first Sunday of Advent is November 26^th – so it’s coming up fast, folks!

Poinsettias Please! 

Florist: Mounts Florist, Lebanon

Cost: $17 per plant

Colors: Red, White, Pink. Red & White Marble

Deadline: Thursday the 16^th by noon for guesstimates. (That’s tomorrow!) If you need more time to think before committing, that’s fine – but please give me a heads up with the number and color of poinsettias you might like.

There is a sign up sheet on the bulletin board across from the church office. You may fill out your information there or: email me at: gretel@lebanonfpc.org ; call me at (765)482-5959, please leave me a message if I am out of the office when you call.

Checks should be made out to the church with “Poinsettia” in the memo line.

Want to dedicate your flower to someone? Leave the information with me in the office and I will see that it gets into the bulletin. Thank you.

Would you like a PCUSA 2024 calendar? This is a calendar with planning aids for pastors and other church leaders, but the additions in this calendar may be of interest to others as well. They highlight, among other things, special days, liturgical days, liturgical colors, and resource information. They are $16.95 a piece (unless ordering 10 or more and then they are $14.50). If you would like one, please let Gretel know in the office. Checks should be made out to the church with a memo that it is for a calendar. Please let Gretel know of your interest by Nov. 20^th. Thank you.

Gourmet Seekers Seeks Your RSVP: The Gourmet Seekers Group will go to Parky’s Smokehouse in Lebanon on Friday, Dec. 1^st. Gretel has made a reservation but needs a confirmation as to how many are actually going. If you are a regular “gourmet”, a new “gourmet” or would like to become a “gourmet”, Gretel needs to know! Please contact the office with your yay or nay by Tuesday, Nov. 21^st.

Time for Tea Goes to a Tearoom in December:

The Time for Tea lunch group will be visiting a “Tearoom” on Thursday, Dec. 7^th, meeting at the church at 12:45 pm, returning to church at 3:30. The tearoom is in Clayton, IN – “Ms B’s Teas”. There are two designated drivers with a possible third in the wings so that the group can carpool. Nancy Turner has made reservations for 1:30 so as to be seated as a group. Please RSVP to Nancy Turner by Tuesday, Nov. 28^th. You can reach Nancy at: 317-443-7277 or naturner241@yahoo.com (Nancy has spoken with the tearoom for recommendations on timing and menu. The group will order their own lunch off the menu.) The following is the website for the tearoom (which includes bouTeaque information):

https://www.msbsteas.com

PPM Update: Dear Heavenly Father, we pray that You would hold these little ones in Your tender loving care. Lift them up on Your mighty wings, shielding them from harm. Shelter them under Your wings, teaching them of Your great love for them. Strengthen their teachers with patience and longsuffering according to the riches of Your glory. Inspire the teachers with ideas and creativity, that they would excite these young minds to love learning, to seek after You, and to enjoy exploration all the days of their life. We pray for a hedge of protection around this ministry and around the building in which it is held. As these young ones climb over bridges, crawl through tunnels, and conquer obstacles, may they do so physically and metaphorically. You love the little children, Lord. Hear our prayer. We thank You and we praise You for Your care for each young mind, body, and heart. In Jesus’s name we pray, Amen.

Weekly Devotional: Bottle of Tears, Heart of Compassion

You’ve heard of a ship in a bottle. Maybe you have one. Maybe you’ve built one. A ship in a bottle is one thing, but what about a whole ocean? What if you could fit an entire ocean inside one small bottle: Would you see waves rise and fall? Would there be tiny sea creatures? Would mini storms throw the ocean against the sides of the bottle and threaten to spill it out the top?

“[You] put my tears into Your bottle,” David said of the Lord (Psalm 56:8). Have you ever cried so many tears that you felt you could fill a whole bottle with them? Maybe there have been times when you felt like you’ve cried enough tears to fill an ocean.

David wrote Psalm 56 in a time of distress. Perhaps David’s tears wet the page upon which he wrote. The title of the psalm explains that David wrote psalm 56 when the Philistines captured him in Gath, and the psalm speaks repeatedly of his fear and anxiety. It also speaks of his trust in God and his choice to praise Him in the midst of his fear and distress. David truly believed God heard his prayers and would answer him. He believed that God would deliver him. He may not have known exactly what that deliverance would look like, but he was confident God was not only capable but also willing.

What do we really believe when we are overcome and overwhelmed? If we feel like we are swirling in a sea of sorrow, do we swim for The Rock? “When my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” (Psalm 61:2). When the tears keep coming and our heart aches with longing, or when our heart is wrung dry yet our soul still cries, can we echo David in Psalm 56?

In God (I will praise His word),

In the Lord (I will praise His word),

In God I have put my trust;

I will not be afraid.

What can man do to me?

For you have delivered my soul from death.

Have You not kept my feet from falling,

That I may walk before God in the light of the living?  (Ps.56: 10,11,13)

Friend, whether your tears fill a bottle or an ocean, God knows each one. He sees them fall and His heart aches for you. How do I know this? God is love. (1 John 4:8) He cares for you (1 Peter 5:7). Swim for that Rock that is higher! Let your tears fall, loved one, for God will catch them. You can label that bottle of tears “The Compassion of God”. God’s heart is for you. When you hurt, He hurts. He knows, dear one. Rest assured, He knows, He cares, and He loves you.  

Prayer Room:

Prayer is important to the body of First Presbyterian Church. Are you interested in joining the prayer chain? Would you like to learn more about the role of prayer in our lives? Please contact Phyllis Duff, Prayer Coordinator, at (765)482-1485/ raduff2@att.net.

Dear Heavenly Father,  Keep our feet from falling, that we may walk before You in the light of the living.  We place our trust in You. As surely as we see the sky above us and feel the ground beneath our feet, we know You are worthy of our trust. It is well placed when we put our faith in You.  Mountains may fall and oceans may rise, but our God stands forever. The vine may wither  and the fruit of the vine crumble, but You are eternal. Praise and thanksgiving be to You, forever and ever. Amen.