As the end of Summer Explorers camp approaches, we would like to invite everyone to join us for a Lights On Camp Celebration! Celebrate camp with us on August 11th at 6:00 PM in our Mission and Fellowship Center. Dinner will be provided. Students will share about their summer and there will be a silent auction for art work and a raffle.
Backpack Ministry
First Baptist Church would like to thank you all on behalf of WMU and Gaye Buchanan for your support of our Backpack Ministry. This ministry helps provide children with supplies for school when they wouldn't otherwise have access to them. This ministry is very important to the children in our community, and your support is very much appreciated.
Lost (and Found) in Translation
Together, we faced one another from across a table. Between us was an iPhone. We pressed a button on the device and took turns speaking in our respective languages. After each statement that we would make, we would pause, press the corresponding button on the device, and wait for the translation.
“Ahhhhh,” one of us would say, grinning. “I understand.”
In this way, Ernesto and I got to know each other this week. It was a remarkably fulfilling experience.
My family and I have been blessed to spend time with Ernesto this week. We have had the chance to share our stories, speak about the realities of our contexts for ministry, and have been able to find places of intersection for our hopes and our dreams. Ernesto and I are brothers in Christ. We are also becoming close friends.
And we may just have technology to thank for that.
This much is true: Ernesto’s command of English is far better than my understanding of Spanish. He is able to comprehend my statements more effectively than I am able to understand his. It will not surprise you to learn that I am the troublesome one in our dialogue. Without the assistance of a translator, our conversation is pleasant but not particularly rich.
Jeff: “I like the rain.”
Ernesto: “Sí. The rain is very nice.”
Jeff: “Sí.”
Our universal connectivity through technology certainly has its drawbacks, but in this circumstance the translation software on my iPhone has provided many breakthrough moments for our relationship. My device acts as an intermediary which seamlessly allows us to speak long, coherent thoughts to one another.
The word ‘seamless’ may be a bit of an overstatement. There are times when the translation is clearly incorrect. And we laugh. At other times, we may fail to press the ‘start’ button on the application, only to realize later than our profound statement fell on deaf (or at least uncomprehending) ears. We laugh some more.
One benefit of the software is that it dictates on the screen what will be translated. In other words, the device listens to my statement and presents it on the screen for both Ernesto and I to see. Only a moment passes before the device translates my statement into Spanish. The computer then speaks the translation aloud. The upshot of this feature is that it helps me to see in advance if the device heard me correctly before it translates my words into Spanish. For, of course, if the words that appear on the screen are not a good representation of what I actually said, the translation will be meaningless—or even dangerous.
After one such translation bobble, I remarked, “This is how World Wars get started.”
We laughed together.
Because of this technological tool, we have been able to dialogue about more than just the pretty mountains or the weather. Ernesto and I have been able to speak passionately about our love for our churches and our concern for our communities. Since we’ve been able to have an intermediary, we’ve been able to talk about strategies to deepen our relationship and to grow our friendship. Neither of us want an imbalanced relationship. Both Ernesto and I want a relationship of equanimity to develop between our churches, for friendship is defined by reciprocity—not dependency, or empiricism. It is important to both of us that we treat one another as equals: supporting one another, loving one another, working together for good in our respective contexts. To that end, we believe that our next step should involve sharing our particular needs, and then working to identify projects that we can work on together.
But as we are discovering this week, huddled around an iPhone at a table, none of that can happen without a strong friendship in Christ.
As brothers in Christ through our sister-churches, we know that it is the presence of Jesus that truly connects us to one another. Jesus is our ultimate intermediary. Christ bridges the gap between us and God. And, of course, Christ bridges the gap between you and me. In a world with such violence surrounding our differences, the love of God in Jesus has never been more critical to our future.
On Sunday, Ernesto and I will be leading in worship together. With the help of a (human!) translator, Ernesto will lead from our pulpit. And together, Ernesto and I will speak the Words of Institution together as we gather around the table of the Lord for communion.
It will be a striking scene, similar to the one Ernesto and I experienced this past week. We will face one another from across the table, ready to listen, to partner, and to love. But this time, it will be Christ who is at the center--between us, connecting us together for service, now and tomorrow.
Last Vespers for the Year!
Our last Vespers for this summer will be on August 3rd! Join us at 6PM at Waterrock Knob (milepost 451 on the Blue Ridge Parkway) for a time of fun fellowship. The church will be providing a hot dog supper, a time of devotion for the adults and play time for the kids.
Exercise Class Postponed
The upcoming exercise class sponsored by WMU has been postponed. " A Matter of Balance" will be rescheduled for early next year due to the instructor having recently undergone surgery. The next series, "Arthritis Foundation Exercise Program" will begin in September. Watch for more details.
A Note from Hazel Monteith
Dear First Baptist Church,
Thanks so much for all the beautiful cards I have received from your church. I love to send and get cards. I see many times the good work your church is doing, especially with the children. I've really loved to work with the children in my younger years.
Remembering your kindness with warmth and gratitude.
Love and Prayers,
Hazel Monteith
Wedding Ceremony for Judy Seago and Jerry Parker
Please RSVP to the email judacula@frontier.com by August 6th.
Dress will be casual. We do not wish for any gifts, but If you’d like, you can make a donation in our names to either the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, Heifer International, or READI/Nepal, which is an agency for impoverished children in Nepal. We can take the money with us on the honeymoon to Nepal and deliver it directly to the agency.
Directions to the ceremony:
Follow Highway 107 to Cullowhee. Take a left onto Caney Fork Road across from the Citgo station. After 3 miles take a left onto Judaculla Rock Road.
Drive along the road and follow the sunflowers up the mountain to the ceremony site.
FBC to Attend "As You Go" Event
Celebrate the ways God is using normal Christians to demonstrate the presence of Christ, to offer service for Christ, and to have positive impact in their home towns.
Connect with other lay persons who are seeking to infuse faith in their daily walk.
Be challenged and inspired to be a living witness “as you go.”
“As You Go” events will be held on Sunday afternoons, 4-6pm. Each event will include testimonies, small group clusters, and large group sharing followed by refreshments and fellowship. CBFNC staff members Eddie Hammett and Rick Jordan will lead teaching and discussions.
First Baptist Church of Sylva will attend the October 16th gathering at Hominy Baptist Church in Candler!!
WMU Updates and Inspiration
For all women of the church:
For More information contact Sandra James, 497-6541
Misplaced Passion
On Sunday afternoon, some of our church family made the trek to historic McCormack Field in Asheville to watch the Tourists take on the Greenville Drive. It was a hot afternoon, and one of the teams we watched was hot at the plate.
Spoiler alert: It wasn’t the Tourists.
“So we’ll root, root, root for the home team—if they don’t win it’s a shame.”
Yes it was, and yes it is. Losing is a shame.
Losing haunts me. I would be a bold-face liar if I told you otherwise. The teams I have supported have frequently let me down. The teams I have played on have failed in grand fashion (My one moment of glory on the intramural football field occurred when I caught a touchdown pass down the sidelines, only to find that I was without my sweatpants when I reached the end zone). The teams I have coached haven’t fared much better.
Now, I am most committed to the teams with which I am affiliated. I suppose that it could be said that I have a high tolerance for losing since I stick with lackluster teams. I tend to be loyal to a fault. I am convinced that my NC State Wolfpack should alter their fight song to include the lines from Emily Dickinson’s famous poem: “Success is counted sweetest by those who ne’er succeed.” That way, when opponents see us celebrating with inordinate amounts of enthusiasm, they will know the origins of our joy.
How do you respond to loss?
Perhaps you’re a fighter and you dig deeper when you experience loss. Maybe you’ve arranged your life in such a way that you are insulated from losing. Or, could it be that failure and loss have chased you into the shadows, convincing you that you will lose again if you try? Loss, I believe, is the best catalyst for revealing one’s true character. (Egad…)
In his book, My Losing Season, the late Pat Conroy suggests that times of disappointment and failure can be exceedingly valuable. Losing can be formative – even redemptive – if we allow it to be so. Ah, but there’s the rub. When we lose, when we are disappointed, when we feel like we have failed, it is tempting to think of ourselves as failures and, by default, incapable of any success with future goals. And when this happens, we surrender.
Of course, there are many ways that we experience loss and it is flatly offensive to equate losses on the baseball diamond--or even at the ballot box—with the loss of life, limb or spirit.
In a telling Biblical observation, it should be noted that God’s narrative in scripture has little commentary on entertainment. Unlike our own cultural obsession with the entertainment industry, the story of Israel and the Gospel of Jesus Christ talk about losses with much greater gravity than playoff runs, rivalry games, or even presidential primaries. I think we’ve thus arrived at our point: Maybe we’re too passionate about the wrong things.
Another way to frame this conversation may be to differentiate between life's disappointments and the experience we have with loss and grief. Perspective can be helpful, here. Our disappointments when things don’t go as we wish are not insignificant—but they should also never be conflated emotionally with the kind of grief people from around the world face each day.
Let’s recall that Jesus can teach us something about disappointment and loss:
1.) Jesus didn’t expect everything to go as he planned. God’s Son didn’t seem shocked when things didn’t go as he might have wanted.
2.) Jesus didn’t allow his disappointment with people to influence his response to them. People disappointed Jesus frequently, yet he still chose to trust and to love them.
3.) Jesus was able to see the grief that others were experiencing and rushed to be present with them. Let’s recall that other people’s mourning changed Jesus’s plans.
4.) Jesus, himself, experienced grief when he lost his good friend Lazarus to death.
5.) God, Himself, experienced loss when He lost his Son, Jesus, to death.
Jim Valvano was on the backside of a season of loss when he anticipated his own death to cancer. Speaking with the authority of a circuit-riding evangelist, he urged his listeners at Reynolds Coliseum in 1993 to never, ever, give up. It would seem that his message was divinely inspired, as God models for us a redemptive response to disappointment and loss.
You see, God hates loss just as we do. That’s why he redeemed Christ’s ultimate loss by resurrecting him from death to newness of life.
Some perspective might do us some good. A resilient spirit with an uplifted chin wouldn’t hurt, either.
For that matter – and since we’re asking for things – neither would a come-from-behind 6-run inning by the Braves for the win.