mailing address:  Balmoral Presbyterian Church, P.O. Box 17309, Memphis, TN 38187
NEWS THIS WEEK
  • WORSHIP for SUNDAY JANUARY 10

  • ANNUAL CONGREGATIONAL MEETING January 31, 2021

  • SUNDAY STUDIES for WINTER QUARTER

  • BOOK CLUB JANUARY 12

  • CONGRATULATIONS to
aaaaaaaaaaaaMAGGIE WARD

  • THE WORK of CHRISTMAS - a poem by Howard Thurman

  • AROUND MEMPHIS & TN
  • VACCINE CONFUSION & DELAY

  • Resolutions to help us face ‘the real work of life’

  • A TRIBUTE


WEEKLY INFORMATION
  • Birthdays
  • Calendar of Events
  • OUTREACH OPPORTUNITIES
  • CONTACT INFORMATION

  • BPC Photos
  • Worship last Sunday


LINKS to DOCUMENTS:






ONLINE on YouTube at 11:00 am 
 The BUILDING is CLOSED
BUT  
BALMORAL is OPEN !
Worship with us on our YouTube Channel Sunday morning at 11:00am
 and check our website at www.balmoralpc.com/ 
Our Session is committed to providing worship during the pandemic that reaches everyone. Those of you who do not have computer access or SmartPhone access, Idlewild will continue to broadcast  all of the worship services on the radio 96.1 FM.
Stay at home! Stay Safe!
REMINDER: Everyone who comes onto the BPC property MUST WEAR A MASK, including those who are only in the parking lot. NO ONE is allowed in the building without authorization.
We must help to keep our Worship team and the SEED children safe!

Requests for use of the property (including the parking lot) MUST prepare a proposal to the BPC COVID-19 Task Force (Scott Hill and Mary Schmitz, co-chairs) for review; the task force will review the proposal, then make a recommendation to the Session for consideration.


Worship

Balmoral Presbyterian Church
Sunday, January 10, 2021
Baptism of the Lord
 

                                  
WORSHIP at 11:00 AM on YouTube
aScripture: Genesis 1:1-5 & Mark 1:4-11
a aSermon: "Doing Things a New Way"


At this time of the Christian year, we not only remember Jesus’ baptism, but we celebrate our own: the baptism we share with Christ.
 In this Sunday's worship, bring a small bowl of water and a hand towel to your computer or TV where you will be worshipping as we reaffirm our own Baptism.


SUNDAY STUDIES at 9:45am on Zoom
aTTwo classes are available (see details below):
  • Christ in Crisis? by Jim Wallis
  • BIBLE STUDY of Paul's letters
aaaaaaaaPlease read 1st Corinthians chapters 3 to 5 for this Sunday.
(A full schedule for the Winter quarter is available
at the end of this Newsletter under Document Links.)

You will receive emails on FRIDAY & again on SUNDAY with a link to the YouTube site for Worship & a downloadable Sunday Worship Guide and links to the Sunday Studies classes on Zoom. 

The Idlewild service will also still be available at 11:00 am on the radio at 96.1 FM or you can go online to the Idlewild Livestream broadcast at

Previous Worship Services at Balmoral are still available on the 
ANNUAL CONGREGATIONAL MEETING

SUNDAY,
JANUARY 31, 2021
12:00 noon on Zoom
Mark your calendar for Sunday, January 31, 2021 for our Annual Congregational Meeting on Zoom at 12:00 pm.

The purpose of the meeting is to elect members to serve on the Nominating Committee that will present a slate of Elders for the Session Class 2024; there will also be a brief update on the 2021 plans. Materials for the meeting will be distributed before the meeting in the Newsletter for your review, along with the link to the Zoom meeting. The meeting is planned to be very brief.

If you will be unavailable to attend the meeting, you may submit any nominations to Rev. Carla Meisterman before the meeting by text or email and your nomination will be added to the list of nominations.
WINTER SUNDAY STUDIES
Sunday Classes
through March 28, 2021
Christ in Crisis ?
by Jim Wallis

Writing in response to our current "constitutional crisis," New York Times bestselling author and Christian activist Jim Wallis urges America to return to the tenets of Jesus once again as the means to save us from the polarizing bitterness and anger of our tribal nation.

The author provides a path of spiritual healing and solidarity to help us heal the divide separating Americans today.  
                        
Leaders: 
Cliff Gurlen and Renee Mitchell 
Bible Study
This class continues to the next 2 New Testament books, Pauls' letters to the Corinthians and Galatians.
Please read 1st Corinthians chapters 3 to 5 for this Sunday.


Leaders: 
Clinton Bailey, Stanley Gates,
Cliff Stockton and William Warren
BOOK CLUB for JANUARY
Tuesday, January 12, 2021
1:30 pm on Zoom




Their Eyes Were Watching God

by Zora Neale Hurston
Ted Pearson will lead the discussion for January
We had a lively discussion of "Where the Crawdads Sing" at book club for December, and it was so enjoyable to see the Kaisers and everyone else who joined us. We hope those of you who were unable to "attend" will make our next one: Tuesday, January 12, 2021 at 1:30 p.m. 

We decided today that the January book will be  "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston, and
Ted Pearson will lead. According to a search on the Shelby County Library website, they have 67 copies of this book! 

This is what Amazon says about it:
"One of the most important works of twentieth-century American literature, Zora Neale Hurston's beloved 1937 classic is an enduring Southern love story sparkling with wit, beauty, and heartfelt wisdom."

Also in January, we will continue the discussion on which books we will read for 2021. Here are the main ones mentioned Tuesday, (including several that we didn't get to in 2020):
  • The Last Castle (Kathrine);
  • The Library Book (Kathrine);
  • Desert Queen: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell (Jane and Jane);
  • The Nikel Boys;
  • The Giver of Stars


Maggie Ward
Has Been Named to
the All-Metro
Girls Soccer Team


Maggie, granddaughter of Lynn Ward, is the senior goalkeeper at Collierville High School
A direct and compelling headline
The Work of Christmas

When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among others,
To make music in the heart.
The Musical Offering last Sunday is a poem composed by Howard Thurman, an African-American theologian, educator, and civil rights leader. It is from Howard Thurman’s The Mood of Christmas and Other Celebrations and is used by permission of Friends United Press. 


IN THE NEWS AROUND MEMPHIS
VACCINE CONFUSION
& DELAYS ...
BUT HEALTH DEPARTMENT IS ADDRESSING the ISSUES
Late last week, the Shelby County Health Dept. released information that they would be vaccinating funeral home and mortuary employees as well as people 75 and older when there is availability, at two locations. Lines formed at the 2 drive-thru sites at Lindenwood Christian Church and the health department Sycamore View location.
THE PROBLEM: there wasn't enough vaccine available so both locations were shut down.

The Health Department is still vaccinating health care workers and first responders, who are in part of the 1a1 priority group, the Health Department said in a press release early Monday.
This week, the Health Department has begun offering vaccinations in congregate settings, including long-term care facilities, whose staff and residents are part of the 1a1 priority group.

Shelby County Health Department is now saying it will communicate vaccination plans on a day-by-day basis. Our area did receive extra doses of vaccine after other counties in the state forfeited their early shipments, but … Health Department head Alisa Haushalter says the process should become more organized as we get larger and more consistent deliveries. 

Longer term, when supplies of vaccine stabilize, the Pipkin Building at the former Mid-South Fairgrounds will be open for shots through June, eliminating the quandary for many who were vaccinated last week and don’t know where second doses will be given.

The agency is also working to develop pop-up sites throughout the county as it needs to vaccinate 650,000 residents — twice — in the area. But a study shows Tennessee is doing better than most states when it comes to vaccinating citizens. 

The Shelby County Health Department, which received about 12,000 doses of vaccine in December, this week is vaccinating residents and staff of long-term care facilities other congregate living spaces.

In seven days last week, it vaccinated more than 9,500 people.

There are currently no spots open to people in the general public who are 75 or older.

For now, Tennessee is slated to receive 90,000 doses a week. At that rate, it would take more than more two years to vaccinate all 6.3 million state residents.

To get predictability, she has asked the state to allocate 7,000 doses a week to Shelby County. In its daily press release at 10 a.m., the Health Department is sharing when and where it is giving vaccine and whether the sites are open to the public.

A note from Mayor Strickland:
"An important fact (one you may not know about) these vaccinations are not like getting the flu shot each year. Normally you walk into your healthcare provider, get your shot, and leave. It’s easy and fast.

It’s not that simple here. First, each person must go through a screening process prior to their shot (which takes time). And, secondly, once you’ve had the vaccine, you’re required to wait an additional 15 minutes to be monitored for any adverse reactions to it.

All that to say—please be patient. I know you’re anxious and everyone is ready to put this virus behind us. We’re getting closer, but we’re not there quite yet."

SOURCE:
Family & friends visiting? Going to visit a gathering? How safe will you be? Click the link here: https://covid19risk.biosci.gatech.edu/
Resolutions to help us face
‘the real work of life’
Opinion By G. Scott Morris | in the Daily Memphian / January 3, 2021
I wonder what New Year’s resolutions I made for 2020. If I could remember, I am sure that looking back today they would all seem trite. Considering what we are still in the middle of, does it even make sense to write down what I expect from myself this year?

The answer is yes.

Our lives are so fleeting that we can’t just let the winds blow where they will and take us to undesired places. We do still have control to steer ourselves in a manner that is gratifying and meaningful. So here are my resolutions.

I resolve to not let a day go by without making sure my wife knows I love her.

I resolve to let my friends know I love them on a regular basis. Not just when they are sick or on their birthdays, but in the course of normal days where nothing special is happening.

I resolve to treat my coworkers with daily kindness, fully knowing that we need each other to accomplish the goals we set out to do together.

I resolve to act on all I learned during 2020 about my white privilege. Equity must be intentional, and a person with power has the obligation to be humble in releasing some of it.

I resolve not to be consumed by dualistic thinking. “Us and them“ dynamics are a disaster.

I resolve to choose joy over fear in both my personal life and my work life. Joy is the primary building block of true happiness and fulfillment. I will look for it in every Zoom call and every encounter with others.

I resolve to keep my guard up about matters that lead me away from the intrinsic goodness of the world God created.
I am keenly aware that on Jan. 3 we can look into the future with cream puff pronouncements, yet when the real work of life confronts us, we fold like a $3 suit. I know I have resembled this picture in the past. But this year will be different.

The year of COVID-19 taught me that there might not be time for all the fanciful dreams we put on hold. Too many people I cared for died from the virus, lost their jobs or businesses, or suffered unimaginable heartbreak. Our mortal coil was shown to be so fragile, and this year I will not be so naïve as to take the beauty of life for granted.

I have no idea what 2021 will bring. Whatever comes, I am placing my resolve front and center with the values that matter most to me. I will not slither away from my resolutions. Not this year. I am convicted because the hopefulness of our lives comes with little reserve we can afford to squander.

If 2020 taught us anything, it was that we must take seriously every chance we have to be fully alive and present in the beauty of the moment.
Frank Carney (7), Mona Kernan (11), Anne Hagler (13),
Sandra Lamb (13), Do Kaiser (18),
Kathrine Getske (19), Jerry Sparger (19), Janie Pearson (21), Dorothy Stockdale (21), Janice Hill (23), Amber Baldwin (23), Glenda Ellis (29), Bob Kaiser (29)
TRIBUTE to COACH
from the Knoxville News Sentinel
by WILL BACKUS | KNOXVILLE NEWS SENTINEL | 6:54 am EST January 3, 2021

Jim Stockdale, a pioneer for women's basketball in the University of Tennessee system of schools, has died. He was 90.

Stockdale died on Dec. 8 due to complications from COVID-19.

"He was kind of like Pat (Summitt)," Dr. Laura Stockdale, Jim's daughter, said. "He was always more interested in their development as a person. He loved to win, but there were many times where the most important lesson was how he affected the players."

Stockdale's "love affair" with the University of Tennessee began in the 1940's, when he started selling programs for the football team outside of Shields-Watkins Field on gamedays. 

He played varsity baseball and basketball at Bearden from 1944-48, enrolling in Oberlin College upon graduation. He was drafted into the Army in 1952, where he spent two years, after finishing his degree at Oberlin. In 1954, he returned to UT to enroll in the master's program. His thesis became one of the first statistical analyses of which factors were important in winning a men's basketball game, discussing topics like time of possession, shot percentage, turnovers and other categories. 

He did all of his calculations by hand. 

In 1955, he was hired to run the student affairs program at Memphis, where he was asked to find a coach for the nursing school's women's basketball team. At the time, there was no Title IX, and nursing was one of the only majors available for women. He volunteered himself, and took over in September. 

In 1957, he created the Cotton States Invitational Nurses Basketball Tournament, with the inaugural tournament being held on March 8-9. It involved four local teams from the Memphis area and four visiting teams: Birmingham (Alabama) Carraway Methodist, Birmingham University Hospital, Chattanooga Erlanger and Mississippi Baptist. Memphis Methodist won the first tournament, and the trophy is now on display in the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville. 

The tournament lasted until 1985, comprising participants from 37 teams and ten states in the span. Stockdale retired in that same year with 20 winning seasons under his belt, three undefeated teams and a career record of 335-151. 

In 1982, he bought four season tickets to Tennessee women's basketball games in Row 14 of Thompson-Boling arena, right on the midcourt line. He was a holder of the tickets until 2017, traveling from Memphis to Knoxville for countless games over the years. He attended every SEC Tournament and Lady Vols' Final Four appearance in that span, except in 1998, when he had hip replacement surgery.

In 2016, he received The Champion Within a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame. 

His former players also endowed a scholarship at Tennessee, called the Jim Stockdale Endowed Scholarship Fund. It is awarded to one Tennessee women's basketball player each season, with senior Jaiden McCoy being the most recent recipient. 

ONLINE 
EVENTS 
 

Every Monday
2:00pm Writer's Group via Zoom

1st Wednesday of the Month
Bible Study with Presbyterian Women 10:30 am

1st & 3rd Thursday of the Month
Ellis Small Group 10:15 am

2nd Tuesday of the Month
BOOK CLUB meets via Zoom


2nd Thursday Evening of the Month
7:00 pm Trouble I've Seen Small Group

Sunday, January 10, 2021
9:45 - 10:45 AM Advent Sunday Study on Zoom
11:00 AM Worship Service with Rev. Anne Hagler via YouTube

Tuesday, January 12, 2021
Book Club 1:30pm on Zoom

Sunday, January 31, 2021
12:00 noon on Zoom
Annual Congregational Meeting



CONTACT INFORMATION

Pastoral Care will be supplied by Rev. Carla Meisterman
       and by Rev. Anne Hagler as a backup.
Rev. Carla Meisterman 901.235.1014 
       or email carlam@balmoralpc.com
Rev. Anne Hagler 901.628.2104 or anneh6616@gmail.com
    
The current Session members have been re-aligned to be your primary contact for ongoing communication. Here's the new contact list:
Lori Blackwelder .... (901) 262-8282 ............... LORIEB1165@yahoo.com
Cathy Bailey ........... (901) 481-6395 .............. catbailey2017@gmail.com
Frank Carney ...........(901) 337-4917 ............. fcarney@evanspetree.com
Leiza Collins ........... (901) 246-5031 ..................... leiza1016@gmail.com 
Becky DeLoach ...... (901) 489-3369 ............. BeckyMD2905@gmail.com
Barry Dotson .......... (901) 277-1596 ............... barry.dotson@yahoo.com
Don Lamb ............... (901) 754-5530 ............................ fbslamb@aol.com
Ted Pearson home: (901) 754-9796 ...................  pearsonteda@aol.com 
...........................cell: (901) 486-6117
John Van Nortwick (901) 605-2907 ............ jvnortwick@cornerstone-
systems.com

(NOTE: Many of these Session members are working during the day, so you may want to text them or email them.)

Keep in mind that ANY Balmoral member who is healthy will most likely be happy to help you in case of need as well!

To contact other members, the most-current contact information is available by requesting a copy of the BPC PHONE DIRECTORY from Kathy Singleton by email ksingle2@bellsouth.net or by phone or text to (901) 734-7193. 
BPC PHOTOS
BPC Worship 
Sunday, January 3, 2021
Prelude "Salvation Is Created"
Brass Quintet: Spencer Nesvick, Susan Spain, Robin Dauer,
John Gilmer, Russ Clements
"We Three Kings"
Erich Shultz, Clinton Bailey, Pete Addicott

Confession
"The Work of Christmas"
Linda Warren, John Gilmer, Fran Addicott, Erich Shultz, Clinton Bailey, Leiza Collins on piano
COMMUNION
Rev. Anne Hagler
"Arise, Your Light is Come"

---------------------------------------------------------------
LINKS to DOCUMENTS
We have been keeping reference articles in the Newsletter each week throughout the summer. It's time to take them out, BUT some of these may still be helpful, so we will store them and give you links to them, but eliminate them from the body of the newsletter itself.
circledoc
To access a document, simply click on the link name. The document will then open in your browser as a PDF file!





  • Newsletter Articles & Photos should be emailed to Kathy Singleton at ksingle2@bellsouth.net no later than Monday at noon for the week you want the article in the news.
  • Bulletin Information should be emailed to Rev. Carla Meisterman, with a copy to Kathy Singleton, no later than Monday noon the week before the Sunday you want the information to appear.
  • Prayer Concerns should continue to be submitted via email to Rev. Carla Meisterman (carlam@balmoralpc.com)
 JANUARY 2021
online church calendar
The calendar will take a few seconds to load and, once it opens, you will see the month that we are currently in. To see the next month's calendar, click on the arrow pointing down - it is just to the right of the name of the month. Once you click on that arrow, an icon will appear with all the months of the year listed. Click on the month that you want to see. To see a specific date, click on the number of the day you would like to see. The entire 2021 calendar is available to you.