Thursday,

September 5, 2024

OUR MISSION: We are an open community who believes God is love

and who lives our belief through praise and service.

mailing address:  Balmoral Presbyterian Church, P.O. Box 17309, Memphis, TN 38187

Church Office Hours: Mon - Thur, 10:00am- 3:00pm

WEBSITE: www.balmoralpc.com

NEW for THIS WEEK

• SUNDAY, September 8
• Pancake Breakfast at 9:30am
• Worship at 11:00am
• Lunch with Mark at 12:30



• MESSAGE from the PASTOR

• PEACE & GLOBAL WITNESS OFFERING

• NEWS from the PC(USA)
• Why are Presbyterians called the ‘frozen chosen’?
• Learning about and from the people who led the Jan. 6 riot

• BIRTHDAYS

• CALENDAR of EVENTS

• BPC Photos
• Worship Photos

DID YOU MISS THIS LAST WEEK?

 (Read it now - it's at the end)

• CHANGES to the BPC BENEDICTION
• FALL PREVIEW of EVENTS
• Choir Workshop Sept 7
• Fall Sunday Studies Sept 15
• Book Club Sept 10

ONGOING INFORMATION LINKS:

SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES

DONATIONS

• BRING FOOD for the FOOD CART
• JOHNSON AUXILIARY ITEMS NEEDED
• RECYCLE YOUR TOOTHBRUSHES

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

• SIGN UP to be a WORSHIP LITURGIST!
• SIGN-UP to BRING COFFEE HOUR SNACKS!
• GIVE OUT HOSPITALITY BAGS
• MAKE SANDWICHES and/or SERVE LUNCH at the SOUP KITCHEN @ 1st PRES
• DISTRIBUTE FOOD at COLONIAL PARK

Sunday

September 8, 2024

JOIN US for BREAKFAST BEFORE WORSHIP!

During the breakfast, the Faith Formation Team will be telling everyone about the upcoming Adult Studies. Come and enjoy some wonderful food, fellowship, and learn about upcoming faith growth opportunities. Invite friends and we will see you there!

WORSHIP SERVICE

at 11:00am

Scriptures: Isaiah 35:4-7a & Matthew 11:1-6

Sermon: New Living

Rev. Mark Howland

Can't attend Worship in person? Join us on YouTube LIVE!

Link to Sunday's Bulletin

Link to Sunday's Worship on YouTube

Previous Worship Services at Balmoral are also still available on the 

Balmoral YouTube channel 

AFTER WORSHIP,

STICK AROUND for

LUNCH WITH MARK!

Whether you're looking for answers to questions or info about Fall plans or a lively discussion or just plain fellowship, bring a sack lunch and join Pastor Mark in Classroom A!

One of the challenges in life is that things do not stay the same. When a person has an understanding of how systems and surrounding aspects of life operate, something seems to come along which changes these operations. Definitions which appear clear can alter in what seems to be overnight. At some point, a person realizes that change is inevitable, and honestly, necessary.

This week we will hear words from the prophet Isaiah and also from Jesus which talk about a new way of living. The normal operation of life is being altered by God. Promises are fulfilled and a new way of experiencing the world occurs.  

Balmoral Presbyterian adopted a philosophy of being a "sailboat church" in previous years. The premise of being a sailboat church is a reliance on the Spirit to fill the sails and direct the people of Balmoral Presbyterian toward what the Lord needs us to be in this day and time. As we look toward the future, it is time to take inventory of where the Spirit may be adjusting our sails.  

I encourage you to come to worship on Sunday so that you may join in contemplating what this change the Lord is presenting might have been to the people of Israel, the people of Jesus's time, and us today.

Blessings,

Pastor Mark

Through the Peace & Global Witness Offering, congregations are encouraged and equipped to find and address the anxiety and discord that is prevalent throughout this broken and sinful world.

The Peace & Global Witness Offering is received during the Season of Peace, which ends on World Communion Sunday. 25% of the Offering stays with local congregations, and 25% with mid councils to unite congregations to support peacemaking in their regions. The remaining 50% is remitted to the Presbyterian Mission Agency. Over the next Sundays through World Communion Sunday, you will be learning more about this Special Offering.

SOWING the SEEDS of PEACE

Zechariah 8:12

NEWS from the PC(USA)



“Why are Presbyterians called the ‘frozen chosen’?”

The Rev. Dr. Chip Hardwick preaches during the opening worship of the Inspire! regional gathering of immigrant leaders in the Synod of the Covenant. (Photos by Beth Waltemath)

Synod executive preaches on the ‘decent and in order disorder’

‘We might miss the work of the Spirit,’ the Rev. Dr. Chip Hardwick says

by Beth Waltemath | Presbyterian News Service

The Rev. Dr. Chip Hardwick preaches during the opening worship of the Inspire! regional gathering of immigrant leaders in the Synod of the Covenant. (Photos by Beth Waltemath)

According to the Rev. Dr. Chip Hardwick, when you Google “Why are Presbyterians like that?” one of the top five questions asked is, “Why are Presbyterians called the ‘frozen chosen’?” Hardwick, executive for the Synod of the Covenant, preached at a regional gathering of immigrant new worshiping community and church leaders in Cincinnati over the weekend. Hardwick brought greetings on behalf of the synod, which spans most of Ohio and all of Michigan and as of 2022 had 623 churches reporting 82,264 members, to a group that included the praise team from Korean Central Presbyterian Church of Cincinnati and other regional leaders as well as immigrant leaders from California and Georgia.

“I think the reason we’re probably frozen chosen, at least in white churches, is because if you put motion sensor lights in a Presbyterian sanctuary, they might not ever go on during a worship service right there. That might not be enough motion to make any life happen,” said Hardwick. He attributed some of the freeze of white Presbyterian churches to be related to a habit of control and what he called “the decent and in order disorder.”

Hardwick looked to the Bible for examples of when God did the unexpected and shook up the order of things. His chosen Scriptures focused on the story of Pentecost in Acts 2 and on the story of Moses in Numbers 11, who commissions 70 elders in the tent of meeting. But in the Numbers account, it is the two extra elders who remained in the camp, Eldad and Medad, who receive the spirit and prophesize in the camp.

“The Holy Spirit’s supposed to come on 70 people, but the Holy Spirit comes on 72 people,” Hardwick said about the Numbers story, which pointed out that “we get not one, but two bonus elders of the Spirit coming, the spirits doing what they don’t expect.” Hardwick characterized Joshua and another objector to Eldad and Medad’s prophesizing as “great Presbyterians.”

“Wait, wait. The Holy Spirit is doing something. Stop, stop, stop. Keep it under control,” Hardwick said, impersonating their reactions. “Presbyterians are great at thinking that we can totally project what God is going to do and when God is going to do it,” he said.

When prophesizing God’s will for the people, more important than the ability to predict and project is the ability to observe, to listen and to understand. In the Pentecost story, Hardwick saw the power of the Spirit not just in Peter and the disciple’s ability to speak many languages into the crowd but also to listen to the many voices speaking back to them. According to Hardwick, God “gave Peter and the disciples the power to understand the languages that came back and to learn from the people who were there from all over the world.”

“We have to admit that the Holy Spirit is just as active in immigrant communities and can teach us in our established churches what’s going on, too,” said Hardwick. “If we only imagine God to work in very specific ways and very specific times, and that we can control them, then we have a decent and in order disorder.” Hardwick ended with the caution that “we might miss that work of the Spirit.”

The Rev. Lindsay Armstrong and the Accents! team of the Revs. Rafael Viana, Sam Kim and Gad Mpoyo introduce themselves during opening worship.

“The purpose of the Inspire! [events] is threefold,” said the Rev. Gad Mpoyo, associate for 1001 New Worshiping Communities’ Eastern Region. “To celebrate new immigrant church creativity, resilience and commitment; to reflect on best practices for bringing immigrant new worshiping communities and the established church into mutually beneficial relationships with one another; and to have a renewed, shared sense of hope and direction for a vibrant church future.” Mpoyo co-leads the Inspire! events with the Rev. Lindsay Armstrong, executive director of the New Church Development Commission, the Rev. Rafael Viana, organizing pastor of Casa Brasil Church, and the Rev. Sam Kim, coordinator for transnational ministry at Columbia Theological Seminary. In each region, they invite local preachers and worship teams to lead as well as make space for participants to share stories of their contexts in what are called “Ignite!” moments. The Rev. Natarsha P. Sanders, associate for intercultural leadership development and recruitment for the PC(USA), also participated and preached at the closing worship.

The events attract immigrant new worshiping community leaders, presbytery leaders, local congregations that host immigrant new worshiping communities, and those who are interested in learning about and building relationships with immigrant new worshiping communities. Thanks to a partnership with the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s Financial Aid for Service, travel scholarships of $500 are available to participants. There is another regional gathering planned for Stony Point Center in New York with a new date of Nov. 11–12.

According to Armstrong, who has been on the planning team since the first national one in Atlanta, the Holy Spirit is at work and is not easy to miss. Armstrong said, “The Inspire! regional gatherings continue to gain momentum.”

USE the BUTTON HERE FOR MORE NEWS from PC(USA) :

Birthdays

Jada Baldwin (14); Lisa Koffman (16);

Mitchell Lucas (19)

CALENDAR of EVENTS

REGULARLY SCHEDULED EVENTS

Want to know what days certain groups or events meet? Or what groups may not meet during the Summer? Check out the current regular events calendar! Click the picture here -->

UPCOMING EVENTS

Robin Van Nortwick, Liturgist

Communion

Rev. Mark Howland

Special Music

Kenna Chelsoi, violin; Leiza Collins, piano

CONTACT INFORMATION



Pastor Contact: Rev. Mark Howland

(515-988-5183 or email pastormark@balmoralpc.com)

Pastoral Care: Rev. Elizabeth Dick, Pastor Associate

(314.330.0506 or email elizabethdick2@gmail.com)    

SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES!

FOOD CART

Bring items for the Food Cart weekly - keep the cart full!

JOHNSON AUXILIARY

Items needed at Region One for patients and their families.

RECYCLING

Toothbrushes, Toothpaste tubes etc can be recycled. Cardboard recycling is also available

SUNDAY LITURGIST

Sign up to join Mark at the podium as a Liturgist

SIGN-UP to BRING COFFEE_TIME SNACKS

For goodies with your coffee.

SUPPORT the HOSPITALITY BAGS PROGRAM

Make donations and/or pass out bags to those in need

VOLUNTEER for the SOUP KITCHEN

Make sandwiches and/or serve lunch at 1st Presbyterian

PASS OUT FOOD at COLONIAL PARK

Food from the MidSouth Food Bank distribution location

PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED ARTICLES

These articles appeared in a earlier newsletter but are still relevant this week!

CHANGES to the BPC BENEDICTION HYMN

Balmoral's Benediction hymn "Lord, Let Us Leave Now" has been a tradition since the congregation's beginning. It was written by a group at Montreat in the 1960's and most folks feel that it's an integral part of this congregation.

But it also has antiquated phrasing that can feel "outdated" to newer members.

A suggestion from a member of the congregation to update the language of our Benediction Hymn was reviewed by the Worship Team and the Session, and was approved to the update it's language to replace "Thee," "Thy" and Thou" to "You" and "Your" as follows:

Lord, let us leave now, filled with You anew,  

and pledged to Your service in all that we do.

Though we have some questions, our faith in You is sure.

We know You are with us, Your way will endure.

Lord, let us leave now, filled with You anew,  

and pledged to Your service in all that we do.

We began using the new wording beginning Sunday, Sept. 1. And we will, ALL of us, "forget" and "mess up" for a while, even though it's printed the new way in the bulletin. That's okay! In time, we will ingrain the new wording in our hearts as much as the original words.

CHOIR WORKSHOP

Saturday, September 7

9:30-3:00

What better way to start off the new season than to sing into Fall! Ben Legett will be leading a workshop to introduce new music for upcoming Sundays.

This workshop is for all choir members and we invite any guests and prospective to attend, just for the fun of it!

Please let Ben Legett know if you will be joining us for the workshop so lunch can be ordered for everyone!

FALL SUNDAY STUDIES

begins Sunday, September 8,

9:30am in Classroom A

Fall Term Sunday Studies runs from September 8 through November 24. Our study will be Peaceful Neighbor (Discovering the Countercultural Mister Rogers) by Michael Long.

Fred Rogers was one of the most radical pacifists of contemporary history. We do not usually think of him as radical, partly because he wore colorful, soft sweaters made by his mother. Nor do we usually imagine him as a pacifist; that adjective seems way too political to describe the host of a children's program known for its focus on feelings. We have restricted Fred Rogers to the realm of entertainment, children, and feelings, and we've ripped him out of his political and religious context. Rogers was an ordained Presbyterian minister, and although he rarely shared his religious convictions on his program, he fervently believed in a God who accepts us as we are and who desires a world marked by peace and wholeness. 

BOOK CLUB

September 10

1:30pm

at the home of Beverly Hooker

85 Country Pl., Cordova, TN 38018, Memphis, TN 38018

Abide with Me 

by Elizabeth Strout

Oprah Magazine described Abide with Me as “Superb . . . a shimmering tale of loss, faith, and human fallibility" and Beverly says she enjoyed it very much.

We will meet at Beverly's House. As with today, anyone who wants to bring a snack to share is welcome to do so.

Discussion led by Beverly Hooker

• Newsletter Articles & Photos should be emailed to Kathy Singleton at ksingle2@bellsouth.net no later than end of day Monday for the week you want the article in the news.
• Bulletin Announcements should be emailed to Kathy Singleton, no later than Monday the week before the Sunday you want the information to appear.