- Thank you to all who have pledged. As of now, we have 67 pledges for $195,046.00. There is still time if you have not made your pledge! Pledge cards are on the table in the hallway and will be available as bulletin inserts on Sundays.
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Stewardship Update
Joy Offering 12/10/06
- The Christmas Joy Offering will be received on Sunday, December 10th, during both morning worship services and at the Joy Gift Program that evening.
Christmas Poinsettias
- Deadline to order a poinsettia is Tuesday, December 12th. Please turn your form in to the church office as soon as possible. Thanks!
Angel Tree
- Are you looking for a way to help those less fortunate? Our church has adopted 2 families for our annual Angel Tree project. The tree is set up in the recreation room. Select an ornament from the tree and purchase what is written on the back of the ornament. There will be a sign-up sheet on the table beside the tree for you to sign your name beside the item you will be purchasing. This way we won’t duplicate gifts. Feel free to donate as many gifts as you are able. Let us remember that it is more blessed to give than to receive. What a wonderful way for our children to learn the spirit of Christmas!
Christmas Parade Float
- This year we are happy to announce that our church will have a float in the Christmas parade on Tuesday night, Dec. 5th. Any age child is encouraged to participate. Girls can dress as “Marys,” angels, or stable animals. Boys can dress as drummer boys, shepherds, wise men, or stable animals. Don’t spend a lot of money on these outfits. Just use what you have at home: bathrobes and towels make great shepherds. Afterwards, parade participants can visit with Santa back at the Lion’s club. Meet at the Panolian at 6:00 P.M. to catch a ride on the float.
PW CT Meeting 12/4/06
- The PW Coordinating Team will meet at 9:00 A.M. on Monday, December 4th, in the Session Room.
Joyful Jammers 12/3/06
- The Dulcimer Joyful Jammers, featuring our own Dianne Lightsey, will play during the 11:00 A.M. worship service this Sunday, December 3rd. Linda Allison, mother of Suzan Graves, is also a member of this group.
Lord’s Supper 12/3/06
- The sacrament of the Lord’s Supper will be celebrated during both worship services this Sunday, December 3rd, which is the first Sunday of Advent.
SNL 12/3/06
- SNL participants will meet on Sunday, December 3rd, 4:30-6:00 P.M. for Joy Gift Program practice. Parents, please encourage your children to attend this important practice.
PYF 12/3/06
- PYF will meet on Sunday, December 3rd at the youth house. Grades 9-12 will meet from 6:00-7:00 P.M.; dinner for Grades 6-12 will be served from 7:00-7:30 P.M.; and Grades 6-8 will meet from 7:30-8:00 P.M.
Worship Leaders 12/3/06
- Nursery – Beverly Patton, Jackie Herron
- Wee Worship – Collen & Brad Clark
- 9:00 A.M. Advent Candlelighters – Gaines Baker Family
- 9:00 A.M. Usher – William Cole
- 11:00 A.M. Ushers – Terri Broome, Nicole Risner, Howard Hawkins, Kenneth Brasell
- 11:00 A.M. Greeters – Nancy Spencer, Johnny Spencer, Anabelle Paulk, Russel Paulk
- 11:00 A.M. Liturgist – Molly Hawkins
- 11:00 A.M. Advent Candlelighters – David Vance Family
Letter of Resignation from Church Secretary, Marilyn Elliott
November 21, 2006
To: Jon, Members of the Session, and Batesville Presbyterian Congregation,
This is perhaps one of the hardest letters I have ever written because it is to inform you of my decision to resign as Secretary of Batesville Presbyterian Church effective Friday, December 8, 2006.
While recuperating at home last week from surgery, I received a phone call asking me to consider applying for a job at First Baptist Church in Greenwood. I met with the Personnel Committee and Pastor on Monday of this week and I have decided to accept the position of Pastor’s Secretary/Financial Secretary.
I have thoroughly enjoyed my work here and I appreciate having had the opportunity to work with all of you. Thank you for the support, guidance, and encouragement you have provided me during my time at Batesville Presbyterian Church. I have made so many friends and I have come to love all of you. I can truthfully say that my leaving feels as though I am leaving family. And that is a good thing! You have been a blessing to me and my family. I pray that I have served this congregation and our Lord Jesus in a pleasing and honorable way.
So, while I look forward to this new challenge that has come my way, I will miss all of you very much. Please remember me in your prayers as I begin to serve the Lord in His work at First Baptist Church in Greenwood.
Thanks again for every good and kind thing you have done for me, but thanks most of all for the friendships I have made and the memories I will take with me!
In Christian love,
Marilyn Elliott
To: Jon, Members of the Session, and Batesville Presbyterian Congregation,
This is perhaps one of the hardest letters I have ever written because it is to inform you of my decision to resign as Secretary of Batesville Presbyterian Church effective Friday, December 8, 2006.
While recuperating at home last week from surgery, I received a phone call asking me to consider applying for a job at First Baptist Church in Greenwood. I met with the Personnel Committee and Pastor on Monday of this week and I have decided to accept the position of Pastor’s Secretary/Financial Secretary.
I have thoroughly enjoyed my work here and I appreciate having had the opportunity to work with all of you. Thank you for the support, guidance, and encouragement you have provided me during my time at Batesville Presbyterian Church. I have made so many friends and I have come to love all of you. I can truthfully say that my leaving feels as though I am leaving family. And that is a good thing! You have been a blessing to me and my family. I pray that I have served this congregation and our Lord Jesus in a pleasing and honorable way.
So, while I look forward to this new challenge that has come my way, I will miss all of you very much. Please remember me in your prayers as I begin to serve the Lord in His work at First Baptist Church in Greenwood.
Thanks again for every good and kind thing you have done for me, but thanks most of all for the friendships I have made and the memories I will take with me!
In Christian love,
Marilyn Elliott
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
The Christmas-Epiphany Mystery
There are three words that begin with the letter L which have a particular meaning within the worship life of a congregation: Liturgy, Lectionary and Liturgical Year. Let us consider each of these words which are holy in the sense they have a distinct meaning within the worship life of the Christian church.
Each Sunday we gather to worship God and the service we perform is called the liturgy – the work of the people. Liturgy is an old Latin word that literally means the work of the people. The work of the people in the liturgy includes prayers we pray, scriptures we read, hymns we sing, the Word of God we hear in the sermon, our response to the Word by our confession of faith and the offerings we give and finally we respond to the Word by going out to serve God in the world. Someone once said, “When worship ends the service begins!” There is a sense in which that is true. It is also true what we do during the worship service in the liturgy – the work of the people – is also in service to God.
We order our worship liturgy in accordance with the liturgical year. The liturgical year is supported by lectionary readings which are a series of scripture readings from the Old Testament and New Testament that repeat on a three year cycle. The Sunday lectionary readings and the lectionary year reenact the life of Jesus Christ from birth to baptism to temptation to teachings to healings to betrayal to crucifixion to resurrection to ascension into heaven. The liturgical year, like the lectionary readings, follows a three year cycle called Year A, Year B, and Year C. This year we will complete Year B as we celebrate Christ the King Sunday on November 26, 2006. Year C then begins with a celebration of The Lord’s Supper on the First Sunday of Advent on December 3, 2006.
Let’s take a sneak preview of the path ahead during December and January when we will celebrate Advent, Christmas and Epiphany. Father Thomas Keating, on pages 14-15 of his book The Mystery of Christ: The Liturgy as Spiritual Experience, provides the following summary of the teaching of the liturgy in the Christmas-Epiphany Mystery:
1. Human nature is united to the Eternal Word, the Son of God, in the womb of the Virgin Mary: Advent.
2. The Eternal Word appears in human form as the light of the world: Christmas.
3. Christ manifests his divinity through his humanity: Epiphany.
4. By his baptism in the Jordan, Christ purifies the church, the extension of his body in time, and sanctifies the waters of baptism: Epiphany and the Sunday following.
5. Christ takes his people to himself in spiritual marriage, transforming them into himself: Epiphany and the second Sunday following.
6. We are taught the practical consequences of being members of Christ’s mystical body: the Second Reading for the Sundays in Ordinary Time following Epiphany.
Ponder these themes and witness how they are made manifest in the liturgy of our worship services during December and January.
As we start a new liturgical year, the beginning of Year C, may we grow into an ever deeper awareness of the mystery of Christ who is alive and active in our own lives, in this particular church, and in the church universal.
Peace,
Jon B.
Each Sunday we gather to worship God and the service we perform is called the liturgy – the work of the people. Liturgy is an old Latin word that literally means the work of the people. The work of the people in the liturgy includes prayers we pray, scriptures we read, hymns we sing, the Word of God we hear in the sermon, our response to the Word by our confession of faith and the offerings we give and finally we respond to the Word by going out to serve God in the world. Someone once said, “When worship ends the service begins!” There is a sense in which that is true. It is also true what we do during the worship service in the liturgy – the work of the people – is also in service to God.
We order our worship liturgy in accordance with the liturgical year. The liturgical year is supported by lectionary readings which are a series of scripture readings from the Old Testament and New Testament that repeat on a three year cycle. The Sunday lectionary readings and the lectionary year reenact the life of Jesus Christ from birth to baptism to temptation to teachings to healings to betrayal to crucifixion to resurrection to ascension into heaven. The liturgical year, like the lectionary readings, follows a three year cycle called Year A, Year B, and Year C. This year we will complete Year B as we celebrate Christ the King Sunday on November 26, 2006. Year C then begins with a celebration of The Lord’s Supper on the First Sunday of Advent on December 3, 2006.
Let’s take a sneak preview of the path ahead during December and January when we will celebrate Advent, Christmas and Epiphany. Father Thomas Keating, on pages 14-15 of his book The Mystery of Christ: The Liturgy as Spiritual Experience, provides the following summary of the teaching of the liturgy in the Christmas-Epiphany Mystery:
1. Human nature is united to the Eternal Word, the Son of God, in the womb of the Virgin Mary: Advent.
2. The Eternal Word appears in human form as the light of the world: Christmas.
3. Christ manifests his divinity through his humanity: Epiphany.
4. By his baptism in the Jordan, Christ purifies the church, the extension of his body in time, and sanctifies the waters of baptism: Epiphany and the Sunday following.
5. Christ takes his people to himself in spiritual marriage, transforming them into himself: Epiphany and the second Sunday following.
6. We are taught the practical consequences of being members of Christ’s mystical body: the Second Reading for the Sundays in Ordinary Time following Epiphany.
Ponder these themes and witness how they are made manifest in the liturgy of our worship services during December and January.
As we start a new liturgical year, the beginning of Year C, may we grow into an ever deeper awareness of the mystery of Christ who is alive and active in our own lives, in this particular church, and in the church universal.
Peace,
Jon B.
History of the Christmas Joy Offering
Presbyterians have long celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ by giving generously to an Advent offering. The Christmas Joy Offering dates back to the 1930s when the former Presbyterian Church in the United States (PSUC) began an offering to supplement inadequate retirement income and provide supplemental medical insurance for former ministers, missionaries, church workers, and their families. In the late 1940s that became the Joy Gift.
In the former United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (UPCUSA), a Christmas offering was first taken in 1960. Called the White Gift, its funds were used for general mission and world relief. In 1964 the name was changed to the Christmas Offering, and receipts provided support for health and welfare concerns related to children. The emphasis on global work with children continued until 1973, when the offering was used to assist former servants of the church who were living on inadequate pensions.
In 1974 minority education was added, and in 1979 nursing home care assistance was also included. Funds were distributed evenly between the Board of Pensions and minority education.
In 1988 the PCUS and the UPCUSA offerings were joined into one offering, the Christmas Offering Joy Gift. The General Assembly set a goal that neither the Board of Pensions nor the racial ethnic schools would suffer in the merger of the Joy Gift and the Christmas Offering. To accomplish that, the 1987 General Assembly originally set a distribution ratio of 65 percent to the Board of Pensions and 35 percent to the racial ethnic schools. It was several years before the General Assembly decided that the fairest way to achieve their goal was to divide the offering evenly.
In 1989 the offering was renamed the Christmas Joy Offering, and in 1991 the 203rd General Assembly changed the distribution of funds to 50 percent to the Board of Pensions and 50 percent to the Presbyterian racial ethnic schools and colleges.
The Christmas Joy Offering will be received on Sunday, December 10th, during both morning worship services and at the Joy Gift Program that evening.
In the former United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (UPCUSA), a Christmas offering was first taken in 1960. Called the White Gift, its funds were used for general mission and world relief. In 1964 the name was changed to the Christmas Offering, and receipts provided support for health and welfare concerns related to children. The emphasis on global work with children continued until 1973, when the offering was used to assist former servants of the church who were living on inadequate pensions.
In 1974 minority education was added, and in 1979 nursing home care assistance was also included. Funds were distributed evenly between the Board of Pensions and minority education.
In 1988 the PCUS and the UPCUSA offerings were joined into one offering, the Christmas Offering Joy Gift. The General Assembly set a goal that neither the Board of Pensions nor the racial ethnic schools would suffer in the merger of the Joy Gift and the Christmas Offering. To accomplish that, the 1987 General Assembly originally set a distribution ratio of 65 percent to the Board of Pensions and 35 percent to the racial ethnic schools. It was several years before the General Assembly decided that the fairest way to achieve their goal was to divide the offering evenly.
In 1989 the offering was renamed the Christmas Joy Offering, and in 1991 the 203rd General Assembly changed the distribution of funds to 50 percent to the Board of Pensions and 50 percent to the Presbyterian racial ethnic schools and colleges.
The Christmas Joy Offering will be received on Sunday, December 10th, during both morning worship services and at the Joy Gift Program that evening.
Now is the Time to Give
* The end of the year is a time of reflection. It is a time to consider the promise of the future and the blessings of the past. It is also the perfect time to consider a charitable gift. The fruit of your generosity can make a difference in the life of your church. At the same time, you may enjoy tax advantages from the gifts given at year’s end. Being a good steward requires you to use your resources wisely. Year-end giving offers you the opportunity to do just that. The Presbyterian Church (USA) Foundation can assist you in establishing a life income gift.
Prayer List
* Barbara Bailey, Dudley Beall, J. J. Benfur, Bubba Bryan, Sarah Cummins, John Cody Dalrymple, Sandra Davenport, Danny Ferguson, Olivia Fitch, Bill Harmon, Cybil Jackson, Bobby Jones, Mike Kelly, Jr., Jay McCaslin, Frances Meurrier, Mary Lou Mitchell, Jeff Nichols, Frances Paulk, Tony Ray, Bill Robison, Cindy Staten, Johnny Walters.
Stewardship Update
* Thank you to all who pledged to the church on Stewardship Dedication Sunday. Additional pledge cards are available on the table in the hallway and inside the worship bulletin. Remember the words of our Lord Jesus, “Give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
PYF 11/26/06
* PYF will not meet on Wednesday, November 22nd.
* PYF will meet on Sunday, November 26th at the youth house. Grades 8-12 will meet from 6:00-7:00 P.M.; dinner for Grades 6-12 will be served from 7:00-7:30 P.M.; and Grades 6-7 will meet from 7:30-7:45 P.M.
* PYF will meet on Sunday, November 26th at the youth house. Grades 8-12 will meet from 6:00-7:00 P.M.; dinner for Grades 6-12 will be served from 7:00-7:30 P.M.; and Grades 6-7 will meet from 7:30-7:45 P.M.
SNL 11/26/06
* SNL participants will meet on Sunday, November 26th, 4:30-6:00 P.M. We will practice for the Joy Gift Program and dinner will be served before we dismiss.
Worship Leaders 11/26/06
* Nursery – Kalen Graves, Nicole Risner
* Wee Worship – Connie Waldrup, Susan Hardy
* 9:00 A.M. Usher – Ben Graves
* 11:00 A.M. Ushers – Jay Williams, Terri Broome, Daniel Lightsey, Rob Maddux
* 11:00 A.M. Greeters – Susan Lewis, Cooper Lewis, Debi Honnoll, Paulette Norman
* 11:00 A.M. Liturgist – Billie Breedlove
* 11:00 A.M. Acolytes – Emma Pittman, Mary Lynn Lewis
* Wee Worship – Connie Waldrup, Susan Hardy
* 9:00 A.M. Usher – Ben Graves
* 11:00 A.M. Ushers – Jay Williams, Terri Broome, Daniel Lightsey, Rob Maddux
* 11:00 A.M. Greeters – Susan Lewis, Cooper Lewis, Debi Honnoll, Paulette Norman
* 11:00 A.M. Liturgist – Billie Breedlove
* 11:00 A.M. Acolytes – Emma Pittman, Mary Lynn Lewis
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