Please join us for a Thank You dinner honoring Circles of Hope Volunteers
Tuesday, August 22, 6:00-7:00 PM
First Baptist Church of Sylva, Mission and Fellowship Center
669 W Main St.
RSVP by August 17th to Ron Robinson @ rrobinson@mountainprojects.org or 508-0951
We had a great summer here at First Baptist Sylva! Check out this video made by Elise Parham that shows a few of the fun things our Summer Explorers Camp got to do this summer!
The Dorothy Edwards Circle wishes to thank everyone who participated in the backpack program. It's a ministry that helps parents provide school supplies and helps children feel wanted and as prepared as their peers. We at FBC love all children.
Gaye Buchanan
The Sylva Bells Handbell Choir will perform Sunday, August 20, 2017 at 3:00 PM at the First Presbyterian Church in Sylva. The group is conducted by Lorie Meservey.
"The Bible is alive, it speaks to me; it has feet, it runs after me; it has hands, it lays hold of me."
-Martin Luther
What is your relationship with God’s Word?
By God’s Word, of course, I mean the Bible. Most Christians will quickly profess their love for the Bible. But like many of our relationships, our connection and loyalty to Another will wax and wane. The same goes for me.
My first Bible was a small New Testament that was presented to my parents when I was dedicated. It was red and worn from my greasy, preschool hands. Although I couldn’t read it, I carried it with me to church. It was common knowledge that one took their Bible with them to church. Apparently, 4-year-olds were not exempt.
When I began first grade, I was given a hardbound copy of the King James Bible in worship at the beginning of the school year. I couldn’t understand a lick of it, but I loved the dramatic pictures scattered throughout the book.
A couple of years later I received a children’s Bible for Christmas. I adored that gift and began to rapidly read through the gospels. There were few, if any pictures, but it was written in a vernacular I could understand. You can imagine my grief, then, when I placed this prized Bible on the hood of our Buick station wagon just before we pulled out of the church’s parking lot. We looked along the road for it but never found it. I was devastated.
My next Bible was a sleek, softbound New International Version Bible. It accompanied me on youth retreats and mission trips. It was used for personal reading, devotions and Bible study. To this day, it still has remnants of my past, pressed between its pages, like a 20th century time capsule.
My first real Study Bible entered the picture when I went off to college. The notes at the bottom of the page helped me to decipher tough passages and difficult stories. It proved to be a faithful guide as I prepared studies and devotions while I served as a student summer missionary.
By that time I was expected to have a different kind of Bible. I needed to have access to a Bible whose translation could be trusted from an academic perspective. I was learning, you see, that words and phrases matter. I knew the Message. But now, I needed to know how the Message had come to be given in the first place.
What would follow would be a quick succession of any number of Bible translations in any number of languages. These Bibles, which sit closest to my desk, provide me access to a dynamic expression of God’s Word.
My relationship with God’s Word today is complicated. It’s difficult to pastor, or to lead a Bible study, without a firm understanding of and familiarity with God’s Word. The trap for me, though, is to not treat the Bible as a tool of the trade. I must confess that it’s tempting to read the Bible for expediency—that is, for its professional usefulness. If I am derelict in my duties, I’ll read scripture for the sole purpose of preparation for my work to develop a sermon or some other ministerial demand. Ultimately, this does not reveal a healthy relationship with God’s Word as it can ignore an intimate and personal reading of the text.
I am convicted by the way in which I have been using, reading and reflecting on scripture, and I want to reclaim the zeal I once had for God’s Holy Word. Scripture shouldn’t be used to get something accomplished. It should be savored, pored over, delighted in and meditated upon. As followers of Jesus who are commanded to walk humbly with our God, we’ve got to be committed to the reading and study of scripture as a way to know the God Who Wants to Be Known.
On Wednesday nights this fall, we’ll be learning about how we got our Bible. Alas, it didn’t just wash up on the beach as a gift from God. Nor did God dictate the Bible to Jesus for him to write down. No, we have the Bible through an extraordinary process of discernment and evaluation that has stretched on for numerous generations and centuries.
Most of us have had a deep commitment to God’s Word throughout our lives. Perhaps this fall, however, we can find cause to renew our vows.
The End of Summer Camp Celebration will be on Thursday, August 10 @ 5:00 PM in the Mission and Fellowship Center. Dinner will be provided. Donations to offset the cost are appreciated. Meal begins at 5:00, Program begins at 5:30.
"Recently we hosted the youth group from a local church partner to work at Welcome House, an apartment setup for arriving refugees awaiting long-term affordable housing. After we shared briefly with the youth we sent them out into the apartment community to meet other youth and children. The youth were all over the place playing and making friends with their international neighbors. It was an amazing scene. The next morning I got an email saying some of the youth had been asking when they would be going back. This is what mission engagement looks like sometimes in North Raleigh."
Kim and Marc Wyatt, CBF field personnel in the Research Triangle of North Carolina
BALL Club is going to Fryemont Inn for breakfast August 14, leaving church at 8:15 am. Breakfast is family style and total cost including tip is $12. Please sign up on board in church hall, or call church office. No excuses! No, it is not too early! Jennie Hunter 399-0623.
Please welcome our new Nursery Director, Meredith Keskula to our church family!
Meredith started at First Baptist with the church nursery in December of 2015. She is excited to be back in Sylva full time and in a more permanent role with the church. She is a graduate of the University of Georgia with a Bachelor’s degree in Health Promotion. Meredith hopes to attend a graduate program in physical therapy in the future. She grew up in Augusta, GA and was an active member of Wesley United Methodist Church. She then joined the Wesley campus ministry while at UGA and was a part of several small groups. Meredith also went on a mission trip to Port Maria in Jamaica with Wesley. Some of her interests include traveling, cooking/baking, and spending time with family and friends.
A member of the church in Nesvady told me that he had begun bearing witness to Jesus Christ with the Roma family next door. Along the way, the two households began a transformative relationship. People who lived next door to each other for decades slowly became neighbors. And that is when, and how, his attempts at bearing witness bore fruit. Concluding his story of how wonderful it was to see his neighbor become part of the church, he held back tears and said, "After she was baptized, she asked me 'Why didn't you tell me sooner?'"
- Dianne and Shane McNary, CBF field personnel in Slovakia