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Outer Banks
Presbyterian Church
News & Notes
April 22, 2020
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In This Issue:
- Live Streaming Update
- April 26 Worship Service
- Weekly Devotional
- Bible Study Opportunity
- Assistance from Church
- Prayers & Gratitude
- Beach Food Pantry: Volunteers Still Needed
- Missionary John Etheredge
- OBPC on Facebook
- Online Giving
- Anniversaries and Birthdays
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- Click the button above to watch worship services live streamed on Sundays at 10:00 a.m. or watch any past services on demand.
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Live Streaming Update
Our technical problems with live streaming have been resolved with the installation of a new live streaming device.
We are once again live streaming our Sunday morning worship services, including this upcoming Sunday April 26
th
at 10:00 am.
If you aren’t able to see the worship service live at 10:00 am, it will be placed on our website later that Sunday afternoon. If you would like to watch any of our recent worship services on demand, including the April 9
th
Maundy Thursday service, the April 12
th
Easter service, and the April 19th worship service, you may view them on the church’s website by
clicking here
or at the Outer Banks Presbyterian Church's
YouTube channel
.
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April 26
th
Worship Service
The theme of the April 26
th
worship service will be on the biblical concept of Sabbath, when we take time to rest in order to remember our Creator. During this period of social distancing, what does it look like for us to keep Sabbath and to honor our Lord? The Scripture lessons that we will hear in worship on April 26
th
are: Deuteronomy 5:12-15, Isaiah 58:13-14, Genesis 1:31-2:3, and Matthew 14:13-14 and 14:22-23.
The flowers for the April 26th service are given by Ron Herron in thanksgiving for all those in our community who risk their safety every day to provide essential services to the Outer Banks during this time of crisis.
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Devotional From Rev. Dr. Jody Moore
Scripture: Romans 12:9-13
:
Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.
The Apostle Paul gives us good instructions of what it looks like for us to put our Christian faith into practice in Romans 12. Throughout our journey of faith, we continue to struggle to fill our lives with what will promote health and joy—doing things like loving each other with mutual affection, holding fast to what is good, and extending hospitality to strangers. We have the challenge of figuring out how to honor God when our lives undergo transitions and we have been in the midst of unsettling changes recently.
Rev. Dr. Ed McLeod, the senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Raleigh, has come up with a list that spoke to me. As we have needed to make many adjustments due to the spread of the COVID-19 virus, he proposes that there are a number of things we are doing now that we should have been doing already. Here’s his list.
Things we probably should have been doing anyway
:
- Spending more time with family
- Taking time to read
- Asking God for strength
- Caring for our vulnerable neighbors
- Forgoing needless travel
- Simplifying our shopping lists
- Thinking about how our actions impact others
- Living with an awareness of our inter-connectivity
- Acknowledging the critical importance of health care workers and school teachers
- Paying attention to scientists
- Living with an awareness of our own vulnerabilities
- Learning to be happy in times of solitude
- Not underestimating the power of a hug
- Learning that there is greater happiness in being thankful for what we have than in having everything we want
- Remembering that we are in this together
- Remembering that the notion of the common good is not an outdated idea. It is old-fashioned but not outdated
- Acknowledging that we take many of our freedoms for granted, for example, the freedom to worship
- Realizing that while modern politics is designed to turn us into adversaries, we need not be adversaries.
- Caring when a person in China, or Italy, or Iran dies.
- Washing our hands
Jody’s Reflections
:
We have had to change our routines in many ways that have been inconvenient, but this time of social distancing also has provided us with an opportunity to be grateful for many things that we have taken for granted. A few weeks ago, I had to pick up a prescription from the pharmacy and I was especially thankful for the employee who showed up to work that day and helped give me the medicine. That simple encounter helped me realize how we so often don’t take the time to reflect or be thankful for the little events of each day.
I have personally needed to call on God more often for strength during the spread of this virus. Recently I have been more cognizant of my own dependence on the Lord each day. When things are going well, we have a tendency to become complacent and to forget the truth, which is how much we need God. As we begin to think about what our new normal might be as some of the restrictions begin to be lifted in the coming weeks, may we not forget the precious lessons that we have learned. May we not just jump back into old routines thoughtlessly, but instead be more intentional about filling our lives with those things that truly matter, while letting go of our more trivial concerns. May we continue to rely on our faith in God to see us through the good days and the bad days.
Prayer
:
God of mercy, we often forget to appreciate all the little blessings that you bring to our lives. For those of us who have a warm and safe place to lay our heads each night we offer you thanks. We also pray that we will work to provide shelter for those who are lacking. For those of us who have enough nourishing food to eat we offer you, O God, our prayers of gratitude. We also commit to the necessary work of helping feed those who are hungry. We thank you for all of those people who provide essential and important services to us each day: the grocery store employees, delivery workers, nurses, doctors, other medical personnel, sanitation workers, scientists, teachers, police officers, emergency responders, and many more. We pray that we would use this time as an opportunity to remember your many blessings and how much we all depend on your grace and your care. In Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen.
Grace and peace,
Jody Moore
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Bible Study Opportunity: Message from Pastor Jody
Dear Sunday School Participants at OBPC and other church friends who may be interested in a Bible study opportunity,
I want to let you know about an additional Bible Study opportunity. It is provided by my alma mater, Columbia Theological Seminary. The videos will be live streamed at the same time that we have the wonderful Sunday School class taught by Tom Carrico and our live streamed worship service, so I am NOT suggesting watching the Office Hours class on Philippians live--please plan to participate in the Sunday School class by Tom and the worship services that Outer Banks Presbyterian Church is offering on Sunday mornings. You may watch these lessons from Columbia Seminary anytime during the week. They are doing a 5 week study on Philippians taught by seminary professors. Columbia Theological Seminary will have all of the episodes available for you to watch on demand any time during the five weeks that the class is offered (until May 17). If you are looking for an opportunity to deepen your faith and to learn more about the book of Philippians, I encourage you to participate in this study. Blessings, Jody
Columbia's Description of the Classes
:
Office Hours: An Online Popup Bible Study
is designed to meet the needs of pastors and congregants during our season of social distancing. Chris Holmes, from First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta, and Brennan Breed, from Columbia Theological Seminary, are teaming up with guest professors to offer an in-depth, spontaneous and unrehearsed five-week study of Paul’s letter to the Philippians. During the study, we will engage with scholars such as Beverly Gaventa from Baylor University, Eric Barreto from Princeton Theological Seminary, Shively Smith from Boston University, and Janette Ok from Azusa Pacific Seminary.
To join this study, please join the Facebook group, “Office Hours Bible Study” here:
https://bit.ly/CTSofficehours
. If you are not on Facebook, you can still enjoy the videos on our
Y
outube channel
. Videos will be posted after the Facebook live streams. Participants who want a deeper experience may also register
here
to receive free access to course material, complete with syllabus, downloadable readings, and audio-video links for further study.
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Assistance from Your Church Family
Two important resources to remember during this time are our Prayer Team and our Assistance Coordinator.
- If you have any request that you would like the prayer team to lift up, please share it with the prayer coordinators. Our prayer coordinators are: Jean Basnight and Rosalyn Pugh and you may share a request with them by phone at 252-480-1028 (Home) or 252-619- 7661 (Cell).
- Elder Barbara Nock is coordinating services and requests by members and friends who need any type of assistance. Twenty-four people have volunteered to help. If you or someone you know needs assistance with groceries, pharmacy pick-up, or anything else, please contact Barbara at 252-255-5979 or [email protected].
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Prayers & Gratitude
We want to thank you all for the heartfelt prayers, love and phone calls while our son Bob was in the hospital thankfully recovering from COVID-19. He is home now, still in isolation but doing better each day. We now ask for prayers for his wife, Lisa. She has not shown any symptoms and we pray for good health for her. God has been good to us and I know your prayers were heard. Hopefully we will all be together again.
Love and blessings, Bob and Nancy Messinger
Prayer Request for Margaret Brown
:
Margaret Brown had a fall at her home on Thursday April 16th. She was sent to Chesapeake Hospital, where the doctors have found that she has a number of complications, including a diagnosis of pneumonia. Her family has requested that we pray for Margaret as a congregation. Her family is not able to visit Margaret in the hospital due to the COVID-19 restrictions. When Margaret is able to be released from the hospital, she will need to go to a rehab facility. Please keep Margaret and her family in your prayers.
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Help the Beach Food Pantry
Outer Banks Presbyterian Church has been supporting the Beach Food Pantry through donations and volunteers for many years. With many people in our community unemployed because of Covid-19, the Food Pantry is serving more people than ever--many people who have never needed their services before. The Session of OBPC has decided to make a $300 donation at this time and encourages those who are able and feel called to do so, to also make donations to the Food Pantry. The Food Pantry has said that the most useful donations at this time are monetary. You may make a donation by credit card online by
clicking here
. Or, you may mail a check to: Beach Food Pantry, PO Box 468, Kitty Hawk, NC 27949.
Volunteers are needed
. Our church is scheduled to work at the Food Pantry the week of April 27th. We have a group of volunteers who work at the Food Pantry whenever it is our week, but because many of them are in the high-risk group for Covid-19 only 7 of our regular volunteers are able to work the week of April 27th. We need 4 volunteers for each of the 5 days. The Food Pantry has put in place new procedures to reduce the risk of exposure for volunteers and clients. If you would like to volunteer, please contact our coordinator, Dot Landis by phone at 919-645-8064 or by email at
[email protected]
. Thank you for considering this important opportunity.
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OBPC Supports Missionary John Etheredge
At it's February 2020 meeting, the Session of OBPC
agreed to designate its annual $1,200 of missionary support to
John Etheredge, an elder from Rocky Mount who is currently in Ghana.
Click here
to see a photo of John and a brief description of his mission.
In an April letter from John, he writes:
What a blessing it is to be able to communicate with you from Ghana. I have been here for five months and have had so many wonderful experiences. I thought I was coming to help people and found that I am the one being helped! They have shown me how to improve my prayer life, and they have shown me another way to approach God. The people here are so accommodating. They want to please me and see that I am comfortable. Children I don’t even know will come to me and ask to carry my backpack. This is what the children are taught to do at an early age. They are taught to respect anyone older than they are.
To read the rest of John's letter
click here
.
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Do you have a Facebook account? If so, we invite you to join OBPC on Facebook. Just Click on the button at the left, log on to your Facebook account, and select "join" on the OBPC group page. Some things you will find there include:
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- Information from Tom Carrico about the Adult Sunday School Class that is discussing Reza Aslan's book Beyond Fundamentalism: Confronting Religious Extremism in the Age of Globalization.
- Updates from Hollie Writtenberry about Children's Church.
- Comments from members of the congregation.
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Online Giving
There are two ways to give to the church during this temporary closure. You may mail pledges and donations to the office at PO Box 2199, Kill Devil Hills, NC 27948. Or, you may give online. Just click on the Give Now button to go to our website, then click the button on the home page and follow the directions for online donations.
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Anniversaries this Week
- Lisa & Jeff Rhodes, April 28
- Larry & Bonnie Langdale, April 29
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Birthdays this Week
- Elisabeth Writtenberry, April 26
- Fran Peel, April 27
- Lyman Futrell, April 30
- Jessica Lowcher, April 30
- Millie Rickers, April 30
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Outer Banks Presbyterian Church
907 S. Croatan Highway, Milepost 8.5
PO Box 2199
Kill Devil Hills, NC 27948
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During this time of irregular office hours,
you may reach Pastor Jody or administrative staff
by calling the office at 252-441-5897 and leaving a message or by sending an email to
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