IN THIS ISSUE . . .

Pastoral Letter

Joys / Concerns

Worship

Faith Formation

Fellowship Events

Service and Mission Opportunities

LINKS and SIGN-UPS

Online Giving

Online Calendar

Phishing & Spoofing



Ways to Give

Sign up to deliver worship flowers

Office volunteers - open dates

Highlights from

The McPherson Lectureship

Sometimes, the best days are the hardest days, aren’t they?

What a joy it was to have the Rev. Dr. Willie Jennings among us this weekend as our McPherson Lecturer! His energy, earnestness, faith and wit are contagious. His smile lights up the room, especially when seeing his old friends from Mount Level Missionary Baptist Church or our own Nora Tubbs Tisdale. Indeed, of three times he spoke in Watts-Hill Hall this weekend, it was the clergy gathering on Monday morning that attracted the most folks – over 60. 

But he brought us challenging words, didn’t he?

He challenged us to get our hands in the dirt, literally and figuratively, because that is where growth comes from. We have a faith grounded in dirt – in the lived reality of this world. As modern folks, we tend to look to each other or the winds of change for the future. But the future, Dr. Jennings reminded us, will come out of the earth.

He challenged us to look critically at the built environment around us. We all love the natural environment – God’s good creation – but we mostly live in the built environment of structures and roads, buildings and concrete, roads and cars and all that we human manufacture. The built environment that we have created is not neutral. It is designed to benefit some and disadvantage others, in ways that we don’t even realize and also ways that we know all too well. Dr. Jennings pushed us to look at our world to see what it is saying.

He challenged us to be in the room where it happens. Not just the room of where public meetings are held about zoning, construction projects and sidewalk implementation, Dr. Jennings implored. He reminded us that at those public meetings, most of the decisions have already been made. Rather, using our moral authority as the church, we must demand to be in the meetings where plans are created so that they are moral from the beginning. We must not be afraid of the expert, but rather demand to be heard and demand that things like affordable housing are set up permanently, and not just for a time. 

There was much Dr. Jennings said. If you missed it, watch his sermon on our YouTube channel or talk with someone who was there, as they are no doubt still mulling his words. And I offer a special word of thanks to our McPherson Lectureship Committee, Lea Bingham (chair), Steve Rimmer, David Sappenfield, David Smith, Nora Tubbs Tisdale, Hendrika Vande Kemp, and Lyn Williams.

All Together Now,

John Weicher

****************************************

Quilters, by Willie Jennings

  They sat in the ancient place

                         of the broken and bombed,

                     the torn and taken, the loss and lost

                              remembering

                             the shattering

                         pockets and bags filled

                          with remnants captured

                             by keen sight

                       able to touch what be not

                           as though it were

                           possible to make.

                   These multi-shaded women knew

                           their anointing,

                          the power to join

 broken glass, torn hearts, pebbles large and small, bloodstained brick, pieces of

those aprons that smelled like fresh bread, flashes of sadness caught in song, the

      extra fabric from the wedding dress, little napkins, quick melancholies,

      bunches of laughter, shreds from curtains from soul windows.

                      Then with eyes aligned,

                   stepping out onto nothingness,

                     handling things that could

                     slice flesh, and pierce skin

                    they placed pieces side by side

                      unprecedented, but now

                     colors and shapes dancing

                    intricate new steps making

                       visible pulsating joy

                     never before imagined.

       Then they decided in majestic wisdom to create soft shelter

        against the cold, against threat, against forgetting caress,

        and as the final threads joined, they saw what God wanted

                 to call good, but could not create.

We rejoice with Sam and Sheila Miglarese on the safe return of Captain Brian Knowles to his home base in Las Vegas after a 4 1/2 month deployment to the Middle East with the US Air Force.



• Jancy Johnstone is recovering from thumb surgery.
• Michele Miller-Cox, Day School director, will have back surgery this week.
• Troy Evans, nephew of Vernon & Beth Neece, is recovering from surgery.
• Jasper Gunn, son of Wilson Gunn, will have surgery this week.

Additional concerns here.

Election of Officers

The Annual Congregational Meeting was held on Sunday, March 3 at the end of worship.

The following persons were elected to serve as officers in the Class of 2027 and at-large on the 2024-2025 Nominating Committee:

Deacons: Matthew Eggleston, Kerry Holbrook, David Lorimer, Julio Manceras, Bill Wigger.

Ruling Elders: Al Arrowwood, Michael Bacon, Kathy Conner, Mimi Dunn, Laura Hanson Jordon Jones, Mary-Jo Keenan, Josh Walters

Nominating Committee: Tom Bacon, Bert Clere, Shirley Frederick, Jancy Johnstone.

Briefs from the Session

January meeting:

·        Passed a new version of the church by-laws. The by-laws will go to the Congregation for final approval. The by-laws passed by the Session can be found at this link. The by-laws that are currently in place and are being revised can be found at this link.

February meeting:

·        Passed the 2024 budget. The budget can be reviewed at this link.

·        Approved the transfer of $41,000 from our undesignated bequest fund to the reserve fund and the operating budget.

·        Approved of a Statement on the War in Gaza which was initiated by the Service and Mission Committee. The statement can be found at this link.

·        Approved the Annual Statistical Report to be send to PCUSA for data purposes. It can be seen at this link.

Submitted by Jane Wettach, Clerk of Session

~ Palm/Passion Sunday - March 24 ~

Easter Egg Hunt – 9:45 a.m.

(FPC’s playground; for young children)

9:45 a.m. Light refreshments and coffee

(in Watts-Hill Hall)

No Faith Formation Classes for children and youth

Adult classes - TBA

Palm Parade – 10:00 a.m.

We will parade with our neighbor congregations, waving palm branches,

and blessing each congregation’s ministries, then return to our respective sanctuaries for worship.

11:00 a.m. Worship

We will remember Christ’s passion through lessons and songs.

2:30 PM Durham’s CROP Hunger Walk

(meet at 2:00 p.m. in front of Duke Chapel.)

~ Maundy Thursday - March 28 ~

Evening Worship

7:00 p.m. in the FPC Sanctuary

A worship service with Holy Communion to commemorate Jesus’ last supper.

~ Good Friday - March 29 ~

Stations of the Cross

12 Noon around Downtown Durham

A spiritual pilgrimage of the Holy Week texts in Durham’s downtown context,

beginning at St. Phillips Episcopal Church and ending at FPC.

The Tenebrae

7:00 p.m. in the FPC Sanctuary

An ancient service that makes use of gradually diminishing light through

the extinguishing of candles. This increasing darkness symbolizes the approaching darkness of Jesus' death and of hopelessness in the world without God.

~ Easter Sunday - March 31 ~

11:00 a.m. Worship and Communion in the FPC sanctuary

Mindy Douglas, preaching

The One Great Hour of Sharing Offering will be received to provide relief to the hungry, poor, oppressed, and those affected by natural disasters. Easter lilies will grace our sanctuary on Easter Sunday. Remember/honor someone on the Easter Sunday insert by donating toward the lilies’ cost. Donor cards are available through Palm Sunday.

The church office will be closed on Monday, April 1

in observance of the Easter holiday.

A Request for

Mission Leadership

Each year Durham becomes home for a large number of immigrant and refugee families, people who are fleeing from unbearable conditions in many countries around the globe. A large portion of these families are Latino, and many of them turn to Iglesia Emanuel for assistance. Over the past several months, people at Iglesia have reached out to us at FPC asking for help in providing clothing, furniture, rides to important appointments, etc., for several of these families. The need for assistance is ongoing as new families continue to arrive.

This is potentially an important ministry for FPC, but, as with any project, it needs leadership to keep it organized and to shepherd our resources efficiently. The leader of this ministry might first reach out to our congregants for particular items by placing requests in our Newsletters. Then if resources are offered, they could coordinate with Iglesia in getting those resources to the particular family in need.

Your Service and Mission Committee is looking for someone who would be willing to take on the leadership of this ministry. The amount of time involved would largely depend on the particular individual and how much time they could offer. 

If you are interested in learning more about this ministry, enacting the love of Christ through our work to lift up our fellows in a time of desperate need, please contact Gordon Campbell, Chair of the Service & Mission Committee: 

mgordoncampbell73@gmail.com or (919) 641-5665.

Thank you for your attention to this request.