If you plan to worship in the sanctuary or Fellowship Hall on Easter morning, you must reserve your seats online or by calling the church office, so that we can seat you safely. Seats are still available for the 10:30 and the 12:00 services; the 9:00 service is full. If you come to the church on Easter but have not registered, you will be directed to the chapel for the livestreamed service. You must be on time to keep your reservation. At the start of each service, we will release unclaimed seats to those in overflow. Easter reservations will close at 6:00 p.m. March 31.

The session of FPC is asking that, for the time being, folks continue to wear masks and practice social distancing while in the church and during in-person worship services and Sunday School. We are doing our utmost to follow the best guidance we can from local sources like Ballad and national resources like the CDC. Although the CDC has changed its guidelines to allow for small, unmasked gatherings for groups where everyone has been vaccinated, this guideline does not address larger gatherings of people, especially where there is singing or uncertain vaccine status. Our session is awaiting more data on vaccination rates, in particular, as well as trends in overall infection rates, especially in our area.

We have a great deal of hope for the future. As more our population is vaccinated and rates trend downward, the closer we come to relaxing restrictions. We ask that you please be patient with us, pray for the church, and pray especially that we might overcome this terrible virus as a community. We pray that we will soon be able to resume normal gatherings. Things have already begun opening up since the start of 2021, and we encourage you to return to (masked and distanced) in-person worship when you are comfortable doing so. Meanwhile, please continue to worship with us online. /Pastor Sam

Hey, kids! We have several opportunities for children age 18 months to fourth grade to gather during the coming weeks. Our Easter Egg Hunt will be this Saturday, March 27, at 1:00 p.m. We will dye eggs, hunt for eggs, and pet the sweet little bunnies in the Bunny Truck! This event will be held on the church grounds, and children must be accompanied by an adult. (A rain date is scheduled for Saturday, April 3, at 1:00 p.m.)

Gather with us about five minutes early for either service on Palm Sunday. We will process into the worship space with palms and instruments, shouting “Hosanna!” This year we will have kid-friendly options for our Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services. Kids will have the option of leaving the service during the sermon, as they do for Kids’ Kirk. On Maundy Thursday, Pastor Sam will teach the children about the meaning of Passover and how it points to Jesus. On Good Friday, Pastor Dave will teach the children about the crucifixion. Both services are at 7:00 p.m., and the nursery will be available. Questions? Contact Lilly Osborne. I am excited to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus with you this year! /Lilly Osborne

Swords of grass strike upward from the ground but will fall to blades of steel come April. We have sighted mowers on the horizon, but their ranks are diminished and their faces pale. They cannot carry on the good fight alone; they must have reinforcements. Please join them! FPC welcomes all ages and genders to the Battle of the Lawn—children can move debris to the curb, and a parent or elder sibling can mow. Volunteers suit their own convenience by mowing once during the growing season, or twice, or more, as they choose. To enlist, email Randy Cook or call him at 423-956-1541. If you’re new to Scag mowers, he will be happy to give you a lesson on ours.

Randy leads the charge on the church lawn (April 1–3), and JB Madison (April 7–10) will leap in after him.

Please join Pastor Sam on Friday nights at 7:00 for community prayer and a brief offering of the Home Group curriculum. Our emphasis will be Scripture reading and prayer, but there will be time for conversations as we grow in faith together.

Topic: FPC Community Prayer

Time: March 26, 7:00 p.m.

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Meeting ID: 826 4875 1043

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Have you joined an FPC Home Group? These groups allow us to continue weekly fellowship and Bible study while staying safe during the pandemic. A Home Group is an in-home or online gathering of friends, neighbors, or one or more families. Each week, FPC gives every group an intergenerational Bible study, and the Sunday sermon reflects on its theme.

If you’re not already in a Home Group, go to the webpage, register yourself or start a group, and let us know. If you have questions, please reach out to Dave Welch, Katie Arnold, or Lilly Osborne for answers. Meanwhile, watch for Home Groups updates in Windows and on the FPC Bristol webpage.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch the livestream of our early worship service and other activities. Just click here and hit “Subscribe.” You will receive notifications of new videos. We also suggest that you connect to us on Facebook. On Facebook, type in “FPC Bristol,” and several accounts will show up. Some are open to the public, while others are restricted. In either case, “Like” the page, or ask to join a group if it is closed.

David Akard Jr.: to the Local Missions Fund from Lilly Osborne

Logan Smith (son of Melissa Galliher): to the Minister’s Discretionary Education Fund from Lilly Osborne

Jean-Baptiste Faure (1830–1914) was a French baritone. One of the most famous opera singers of his generation, Faure was also a composer and a collector of Impressionist art. A singing teacher at the Paris Conservatory from 1857 to his retirement, he wrote practical and educational treatises on singing: La Voix et le Chant (1886) and Aux jeunes chanteurs (1898). Faure left two collections of sacred music, including “Les Rameaux” (The Palms), the liturgical song of Palm Sunday, which Enrico Caruso recorded in 1913. For our prelude Susan Perkins (pictured) will play it as an instrumental piece on the violin, accompanied by the organ.

A native of Michigan, Raymond H. Haan (b. 1938) is a graduate of Calvin College and the University of Michigan. In addition to an extended career of teaching middle and high school English, Haan was Director of Music at Cutlerville East Christian Reformed Church for more than 50 years. His body of more than 500 published compositions includes music for organ, choir, handbells, and other solo instruments. His arrangement of “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded” is scored for viola and organ. The lower register of the viola is especially effective for this somber piece, played for our offertory by Susan Perkins.

Because of the difference in their styles, it is thought that the prelude of J.S. Bach’s (1685–1750) Prelude and Fugue in G minor (BWV 535, our postlude) was composed early in his career and the fugue many years later. In the prelude’s unusual middle section, the hands keep switching keyboards as the music descends the whole scale in semitones. Just before that, there is a phrase in the pedal that Bach seized on (probably some years later) for his three-voice fugue. The responses become livelier throughout the piece, especially in the final use of the theme in the pedal. With a few virtuoso streams of notes as a coda, Bach repeats elements from the prelude.

701 Florida Avenue | Bristol, TN 37620 | 423-764-7176 | fpcbristol.org