Word from the Pastor:
Cheering Crowds
37 They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” 38 Then he shouted, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 39 Those who were in front sternly ordered him to be quiet; but he shouted even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
—Luke 18: 37–39 NRSV
37 As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, 38 saying, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!” 39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.”
—Luke 19:37–39 NRSV
In Luke 18:37–39 and 19:37–39, we have two cries, and we also have two rebukes, ordering those who cry out to be silent. Both sets of cries come out of the deepest longings of the human heart—namely, peace and fellowship with God, and liberation from disease and oppression. Both rebukes come from the lips of those who are pretty uncomfortable with who the diseased and oppressed think Jesus is and with the fact that Jesus focuses on them at all.
In the case of the blind man outside Jericho, Jesus is Son of David, one way of talking about the Messiah. He knows Jesus has power to free him from the shackles of his affliction. In the case of the crowds, or “multitudes of the disciples,” they are praising God and following in Jesus’ train. They also see him as Son of David, heir to the promise that from the line of David would come the Redeemer, the Messiah. Like the blind man, they are convinced Jesus has the power to liberate them and the whole nation from their long night of exile and subjugation.
Interestingly, there is one more parallel. When Jesus heals the blind man, Luke tells us, the blind man follows him, and glorifies God (18:43). When Jesus leads the crowds, they cheer in exultation and, caught up in the moment, eagerly await what he is going to do next. In both cases, Jesus does for those who cry out what they cannot do for themselves. He fulfills the ancient promises. He brings liberation and healing and the deep shalom for which we are made.
However, by the time we get to chapter 23, verses 26–31, those who cheered as they followed him so closely are hard to find. Instead of “the whole multitude of the disciples” (19:37), among whom surely the blind man (18:37) could be found, Luke tells us that “a great number of the people” (23:27) followed Jesus on the way to the cross. Explicit references to the disciples, or followers are absent in chapter 23 all the way up to his crucifixion.
Where did they go?
While Jesus certainly did great things for many like the blind man, in the end, Jesus didn’t do what they wanted or expected. It is hard to follow someone who makes his way to his own execution, carrying the instrument of his death (at least part of the way; see 23:26). Cheers, happiness, and excitement last for a while, but they do not sustain.
In the coming week, this is the question I leave with you: what sustains your faith? Is it the healing you received, or the minor miracle that took place in your finances when all seemed lost? Is it how Jesus makes you feel? If so, I invite you to a period of self-examination. Look at the cheering crowds and ask yourself whether you would have been in their number.
As you do, remember probably one of the most important cries uttered in the Gospel of Luke, given by the guerilla insurrectionist hanging at Jesus’ side (23:42): “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom!” Beyond your feelings, mood, or present fortunes, this is the only cry that has a future.
In Christ,
Pastor Sam
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Worship
March 28
Palm Sunday
Lessons
Psalm 118:1–2, 19–29
John 12:12–19
Sermon
Jesus Is King
Dave Welch
Last Sunday’s Attendance
9:00: In person: 94;
Livestream: 54; Playback: 123
11:00: In person: 55;
Livestream: 21; Playback: 83
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Calendar
All worship services are also livestreamed.
Sunday, March 28
9:00 a.m.
Contemporary Worship
Fellowship Hall
10:10 a.m.
Sunday School
10:20 a.m.
Choir Practice,
Sanctuary
11:00 a.m.
Traditional Worship
Sanctuary
Tuesday, March 30
10:00 a.m.
Staff Meeting
Fellowship Hall
Wednesday, March 31
6:00 p.m.
Handbell Practice
Sanctuary
7:00 p.m.
Choir Practice
Sanctuary
Thursday, April 1
7:00 a.m.
Men’s Bible Study
Parlor
7:00 p.m.
Maundy Thursday Worship
Sanctuary
Friday, April 2
7:00 p.m.
Good Friday Worship
Sanctuary
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Order Easter Lilies
by Monday
The deadline for ordering Easter lilies for our worship services on April 4 is this Monday, March 29. To order one or more lily plants, either fill in the form you will find at the church and return it to the office or order and pay online. Each plant costs $15.
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Reserve Your Seat for Easter by Wednesday
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.
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Patience and Hope Will Bring Us Together Again
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
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Five Cents a Meal Offering Sunday
We will collect our quarterly Five Cents a Meal offering this Sunday, March 28, at both services and online. You can give this offering remotely here. (Click on the arrow on the Fund line, then scroll down and click on Five Cents a Meal.) The suggested offering is $13.65 per person, or about a nickel for each meal in a three-month period. Feel free to round up! The monies we collect for hunger relief will go to Bristol Emergency Food Pantry and Holston Presbytery Hunger Ministries. Please be generous in these difficult times!
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Listen Up! New Podcast
For all you listeners out there, Dave Welch has added a podcast version of this semester’s study, The Message and Meaning of the Minor Prophets, to FPC’s offerings on YouTube. Both the YouTube version and the podcast will always go live on Sunday mornings at 10:30. Podcasts are perfect for those who want to listen while doing something else. If you need help or have questions, email Dave or call 423-764-7176.
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Upcoming Children’s Gatherings
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
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Mustering Mowers
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.
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A corner of our courtyard last spring.
Do You Want to Play Outside?
We are seeking at least one gardener to maintain the trees, shrubs, flowers, and small lawn in our secret garden. This volunteer opportunity calls for trimming, pruning, and weeding one or two hours a week through the growing season. We provide the tools! If you can help, please contact our Facilities Manager, Larry Connolly, at 423-764-7176.
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You Don’t Have to Put the Cat Out
We are looking for volunteers to make sure the lights are off and the doors are locked each Sunday after everyone has left the church. If you can help keep the church secure and energy efficient, please email Larry Connolly or call 423-764-7176.
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Community Prayer and Home Group Review Friday
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.
Meeting ID: 826 4875 1043
One-tap mobile:
+13017158592,,82648751043# US (Washington, D.C.)
+13126266799,,82648751043# US (Chicago)
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Join a Home Group
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.
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Remember,
We’re Sharing Christ!
This Saturday, March 27, we serve our neighbors at Sharing Christ Mission downtown. Thank you to all the volunteers who are making this ministry possible! Special thanks to the hands at the helm, Beth Flannagan and Becca Tate!
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Goldfish for Fairmount
We are collecting Goldfish, the little cheese crackers, for the students of our neighborhood school. Please leave your contributions in the corner of the Fellowship Hallway where the little house usually stands.
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How to Join Us Online
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.
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Give Safely
During the pandemic, we encourage you to use text, mail, or our website for your continued, faithful support of our ministries. You can give online by going to fpcbristol.org and clicking on “Give” in the upper right corner. You can send your pledge, offering, or special gift by texting fpcbristol to 73256. You can also mail your checks directly to First Presbyterian Church, 701 Florida Avenue, Bristol, TN 37620.
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Gifts to the Church
Memorials and honoraria are published in the newsletter only after the family has been personally notified by our business office. Today we gratefully acknowledge gifts in memory of:
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
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Organist’s Footnotes
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.
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Birthday Prayer Fellowship
March 28 Jay Regan, Bill Ward
March 30 AnnaLee Adams, Don Evans, Ann McAllister
April 1 Beth Flannagan
April 2 Brenda Johnson, Karen White
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Connect and Communicate
Can you make a quick call once a month to approximately eight members of the church, to see how they’re doing and share what’s new at FPC? If so, please let the church office know. We want you on the team!
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Deadline & Subscriptions
Deadline for contributions to Windows is the Monday of the week of publication. To subscribe to our free e-newsletter, send your name and preferred email address to the editor.
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In Our Prayers
Please also include in your prayers the members of our community who wish to remain anonymous.
Adam
Wes Albright & family
Families of Atlanta murder victims
John Bechtold & family
Kathryn Benton
Bristol Tennessee City Schools
Becky Busler
Nicole Crockett
Randi Edwards
Sara & Sam Ferguson
Garrett Foster & family
Betsy Galliher
DeeDee Galliher
Deborah Garritson
Nellie & Dean Goddard
John Graham Sr.
Emma & Gina Grubbs
Sandra Grubbs
Lou Hebb
Nate, Angela & Addelynn Higgins
Davan & Kristi Johnson
Marty & Kara Keys
Kidnap victims in Kaduna & Niger states
Morgan & Josh King & family
Kingsley family
Nancy Lilly
Laura, George, Juliana & Charlotte Linke
Dot Mattison
Roger McCracken
Kathy McGlothlin & mother
Katie McInnis & family
Alice Moore
Ty Myers & friends
Breanna Necessary
Martha North
Amy & Justin Pannell
Sharon Powers
Jodi & Kreg Ramey
Angie Rasnake
Harold Rutherford
Brittany Salter
Julie Schureck
Conley & Brendon Smith
Family of Logan Smith
Linda Spinelli
Jerry Swamsidi & family
Jim Swartchick
Tseng family
Viers family
Bill & Margaret Wade
Sarah Wade & coworkers
Doug Williams
Laura Young & family
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701 Florida Avenue | Bristol, TN 37620 | 423-764-7176 | fpcbristol.org
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