The church office will be closed Monday, May 28, for Memorial Day. It will reopen Tuesday, May 29, at 9:00 a.m. Normal office hours are 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

"For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Ephesians 2:10).

FPC Student Ministries is asking all those who want to show support for our graduating high school seniors to write Legacy Letters to one or more of them. These messages can be in the form of a letter, a card, or an email. Legacy Letters describe ways in which the senior has affected the writer's life. They may share memories, stories, lessons learned, or significant moments. This is a wonderful opportunity to encourage our graduates in future plans and faith as well as to acknowledge the beautiful gifts God has given them. The letters will be a beautiful collection of love and truth that they can read as they begin a new journey after high school, and they will serve as a reminder of the loving community cheering them on their way!

Class of 2018
AnnaLee Adams	Madyson Kent	Lauren Patterson
Blakesley Bassett	Judson McCray	Rose Rosser
John Blair	Adison Minor	John Thomas Scott
Bailey Jones	Aidan Moore

 

We will continue to collect Legacy Letters through Friday, June 1. Please email yours to [email protected] or send them to:

First Presbyterian Church

Attn.: Katie Arnold

701 Florida Avenue

Bristol, TN 37620

Thank you for joining us as we mark this milestone in the lives of our students! For more information, please contact Katie Arnold, Director of Student Ministries.

Our 2018 youth intern is Zach Botheroyd, a native of Grayson, GA, who loves student ministry. Zach just graduated from Valdosta State University with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Economics. He played an active role in his youth group in middle school and high school, helped lead the student praise band, and volunteered with the children's ministry. While in college Zach helped lead worship at a local church and was active in college ministry. Although he has not felt God calling him to ministry as a career, he is confident in his call to minister to students in other capacities. He looks back on his years in youth group as a pivotal time in his life. Through that community of friends and caring adults who poured love and spiritual nurture into him, his young faith grew, and a strong theological foundation was built. Zach is passionate about student ministry and is excited about the opportunity to lead and love teenagers this summer at FPC. Stop and say hello to him when you see him around. / Katie Arnold, Director of Student Ministries

The stamps you place in the collection bin in the Fellowship Hallway help support the preparation, publication, and distribution of a Spanish-language Sunday School curriculum through the Alliance Stamp Ministry. More than 50 lesson series provided by this ministry are now being used by 40 denominations in Latin America, Spain, and the US.

In 2016 the Alliance Stamp Ministry set an annual record of $46,000 for this Sunday School project; in 2017 the total was $29,000. These annual totals raised the grand total collected since the Stamp Ministry's inception in 1972 to $975,000. As of April 30, $14,000 had been generated so far this year in support of this program.

Thank you for your canceled stamps! Please continue to bring them in, remembering to leave at least a quarter-inch border around each one.

One of the appealing things about mowing grass is that it is down to earth in every possible sense. It is not beyond human understanding. There is no mystery involved. Grass grows, and we mow it down. It is one of those eternal cycles, like day and night. We get it. Coming round again this weekend, on May 27, is Trinity Sunday, when we celebrate the divine mystery of three beings in one. We will walk into the church on the solid ground of the everyday, covered in well-clipped grass (the ground, not ourselves, unless we get a little carried away), thanks to Jim White, who mows for us May 23-26. We will exit contemplatively, not without reason. This is a very tough act to follow. Yet David Moore will take up the challenge May 30-June 2 to prepare us for the first Sunday in June, which we all may be relieved to know is in the realm of Ordinary Time.

Combine the eternal with the everyday: join the mowing team! We welcome men and women, adults and teens, even families: younger children can move debris to the curb, and a parent or elder sibling can mow. It's easy, and you can mow only once or, if you choose, even thrice. Simply contact Randy Cook at [email protected] or 423-956-1541. If you're new to Scag mowers, he will be happy to give you a lesson on ours.

Sunday's music participants: Bob Greene, Sanctuary Choir.

Sunday's music: Our anthem, "At the Name of Jesus," was composed by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 -1958), who was the finest British composer of the early 20th century. RVW studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, and in London at the Royal College of Music

	Ralph Vaughan Williams

under two major figures of the late 19th century renaissance of English music, Sir Charles Stanford and Sir Hubert Parry. In 1897-98 he studied in Berlin under the noted composer Max Bruch and in 1909 in Paris under Maurice Ravel. About 1903 he began to collect folk songs, and in 1904-06 he was musical editor of The English Hymnal, for which he wrote his celebrated "Sine Nomine" ("For All the Saints"). After artillery service in World War I, he became professor of composition at the Royal College of Music. His studies of English folk song and his interest in English music of the Tudor period enhanced his talent, enabling him to incorporate modal elements into a musical style at once highly personal and deeply English. The author of the text of this anthem was Caroline Maria Noel (1817-1877), the daughter of an Anglican clergyman. Her scripture references for this hymn or anthem are many: Phil. 2:6-11 John 1:1; Ps. 33:6-9; Col. 2:15; Acts 1:11.

Organist's footnotes: Trinity Sunday is a day when the three persons of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are celebrated as one being in God. What better time to play a work that consists of three completely independent voices, played on one instrument?

Johann Sebastian Bach allegedly wrote his Trio Sonatas as exercises to keep his many musical children busy. And busy pieces they are! Playing them is a bit like trying to juggle three balls in the air, something I have never been able to accomplish. Hopefully I'll keep myself from getting tied up like a pretzel, another thing created to illustrate the concept of the mysterious "three in one."

If the offertory seems a bit on the long side, remember it is marked adagio (slow), and it does have repeats. Bach is the one who wrote it; I just play it. Relax and meditate on the Holy Trinity, while the beautiful music plays on ... and on ... and on ...

Our summer schedule of biweekly issues of Windows will begin next week. You will receive a newsletter covering a two-week period on May 31, June 14, June 28, and July 12. We will return to weekly newsletters with the issue of July 26. Thanks for reading!

Sunday, May 27

8:30 a.m.       Worship, Fellowship Hall

9:45 a.m.       Sunday School

11:00 a.m.     Worship, Sanctuary

Monday, May 28

Church office closed for Memorial Day

Tuesday, May 29

10:00 a.m.     Staff Meeting, Room 117

10:00 a.m.     Morning Prayer Group, Conference Room

6:00 p.m.       BSA Court of Honor, Chapel

7:00 p.m.       Boy Scout Troop 3, Scout Wing

Wednesday, May 30

7:30 p.m.       8:30 Worship Team, Fellowship Hall

Thursday, May 31

7:00 a.m.       Men's Bible Study, Parlor

12:00 p.m.     Noon Bible Study, Room 117

Church Officers
ELDERS
Class of 2018	Class of 2019	Class of 2020
Aaron Brooks	Anna Booher	Nancy Allerton
Randy Cook	Lee Galliher	Rebecca Beck
Debbie McMillin	Pete Holler	David Hyde
Stuart Parker	Han Ong	Jordan Pennington
Chuck Thompson	Pete Stigers	Jerry Poteat
DEACONS
Class of 2018	Class of 2019	Class of 2020
Adam Abel	Sujean Bradley	Blake Bassett
Nancy Butterworth	George Linke	Rhonda Comer
David Ginn	Greg Roberts	Brenda Lawson
Rett Stocstill	Nate Sproles	Barbara Thompson
Ann Woods	Bill Whisnant