The Table Fellowship Sunday School Class celebrated the 12th Day of Christmas with a Sunday School party in the Gathering Place. There's room at the Table for you! Join them at 9:30 AM in their second floor classroom on Sunday mornings.
The Path Unfolds Before Us
What makes for a good hike?
Is it the destination that makes a hike great? Or is the journey along the way the determining factor? Maybe the duration of the hike enables you to immerse yourself in the wild for an entire day, while a shorter walk might make the experience more accessible.
And then again, some of us may define a good hike as one that never gets started.
The best hike I ever experienced took place in Glacier National Park when I was 25 years old. I was alone and travelling through the West that summer. I had never been to the mountains of northwestern Montana and I was thrilled at the alpine ecosystem in which I found myself.
I had awakened that morning in my little yellow tent. Even though it was early July, I was chilled and rekindled the evening’s fire. I had charted out a 15-mile day hike from my campsite, and I was eager to get on the trail.
The pine trees that lined the well-worn trail were a rich green. The sky was cloudless and radiated the most comforting blue imaginable. The meadows that unfolded on my left and on my right had tall grass, and the wide canyon that I hiked deeper into gave me a vision of indescribable grandeur.
I lost track of time. The sun crept higher, but I hardly noticed. The water from my pack tasted sweet, and the snacks that I munched on provided the perfect amount of energy I needed to hike farther and higher into the mountains.
In time, however, I met backpackers on the trail. One of them asked me a perfectly ridiculous question.
“Why are you hiking alone?”, one of the hikers asked me.
Flummoxed by the question and shaken out of my rocky mountain high, I stammered on about the fact that I was from North Carolina and just happened to be traveling by myself.
“Don’t you know that this is grizzly country?”, he insisted. “There’s a grizzly and her cubs up ahead,” one of the other hikers reported. “If you don’t want to return with us and if you don’t have bear spray, I’d recommend that you sing.”
Sing? I chuckled. Was this to appease the grizzlies who were partial to musical theater?
They didn’t appreciate my sense of humor and said something about it helping me to warn bears of my approach.
I thought about their invitation to return to the campground with them, but I couldn’t tear myself away from the trail that had hypnotized me with its charm and transcendence. So, I ventured on alone. But after about 100 yards, I began singing.
In all truthfulness, I was a bit nervous about the grizzlies. Okay, fine. I was scared. Grizzlies tend to be aggressive and will maul you to death. Yes, this was a bit unnerving. But I wasn’t so scared by the prospect of meeting a grizzly (or three) that I was willing to sacrifice the beauty of the journey for my own personal safety.
So, I hiked on. And I sang. And to my surprise, I would find comfort and reassurance in an unsuspecting way.
But that’s a story for another day…
As I recall, there wasn’t any one particular feature of the hike that made the day so memorable. True, my day hike had a river, cascades, deep forests and alpine meadows. But, it wasn’t the promise of my destination that kept me moving on. It was simply the achingly beautiful scenery and the way that it made me feel.
In 2018, our church will be journeying along the Path in the hopes that we can find ourselves walking humbly with God. The Holy Scriptures are replete with metaphors of journey and pilgrimage for God’s people, and they can help us to better understand our lives in the context of travelling and moving along a path. Like the experiences and seasons we endure, the path on which we find ourselves will oftentimes be dark, rocky and difficult to discern. But our path will also be littered with mercies and graces, beauty and majesty, alike.
Jesus once said: “I have come to give life, and give it abundantly.” (John 10:10)
Perhaps the best hike is an abundant one, filled with any number of frightful and extraordinary elements. A rich and bumpy trail is really the best kind of path for it reveals the world in all its raw power, promise and potential.
And besides, the path and the journey we find ourselves on becomes all the sweeter when we know that we do not travel alone.
As we’ll see this year, we most certainly do not.
Updated: Help for the Beddingfields
As many of us are aware, the house of our former pastor, Ed Beddingfield, burned down in a rapid and terrible fire on Christmas Eve. Tragically, Ed's wife, Sarah, died in the accident. Their daughter Shannon suffered burns and is in ICU in Chapel Hill (Most recently, we have learned that Shannon is in stable condition after having a successful procedure on Sunday to improve the functionality of her lungs). Both Ed and Meghan did not sustain any injuries and have abundant support from their church family and their friends.
In addition to lifting them up in prayer, there are three things that you can do to help the Beddingfields:
1.) Give. Most, if not all, of their possessions were destroyed in the fire. While donated items will be available to them, their most pressing need is money to purchase basic needs. You can help the Beddingfields by giving a love offering to them. Monetary donations may be made directly to the Beddingfields. Mail to: Memorial Baptist Church, PO Box 485, Buies Creek, NC 27506.
2.) Search and Share. The Beddingfields’ pictures have been destroyed in the fire. One thing you can do is search through your own photos for pictures of the Beddingfields when they served at First Sylva in the 1990s. Once you find them, bring these photos to the church office and we will turn them into digital files by scanning them so that we can share them with Ed. Our church office will be open Wednesday the 27th and Thursday the 28th, and will reopen after the holiday weekend on Tuesday morning, January 2.
3.) Send a Card. Condolences can be sent to Rev. Ed Beddingfield c/o Memorial Baptist Church PO Box 485, Buies Creek, NC 27506.
Lastly, a service for Sarah is not imminent as Ed wishes for their daughter Shannon to be out of the hospital and able to attend. If these plans change, we will promptly let you know.
Decorating Team Volunteers Needed
The Decorating Team will be taking down the Christmas decorations at 9:30 AM on Saturday, the 6th. If you would like to help, contact Carol Hennessee at 508-6912.
Letter from Cindy and Raye Parker
Dear Church Family,
I would like to thank our Church Family for all of your prayers, telephone calls, beautiful cards, gifts, flowers, visits to Mission Hospital and Smoky Mountain Health/Rehabilitation Center in Waynesville I received during my recent illness.
Your thoughtfulness and kindness was very much appreciated. May God bless you and we wish you a Healthy and Happy New Year – 2018.
Thanks again,
Cindy and Raye Parker
Sylva First Wednesdays
Sylva First Wednesdays will resume on January 10, 2018.
New Church Bus!
Franklin, Tennessee, Wednesday, December 27, 2017. Dennis Wilkey, Chairman of the Bus Search Committee, and one of four other committee members, Gary Frye,
have arrived at Carpenter Bus Sales to pick up the new church bus. It is a 2017 E-350 Heavy Duty Ford Chassis with a Starcraft Body that also includes a wheel chair lift.
This particular 15 passenger bus was constructed to specific specifications as requested by the Bus Search Committee for First Baptist Church of Sylva.
Photos were taken at Carpenter Bus Sales in Franklin, TN; Interstate 40 Rest Area near Cookeville, TN; Pilot Truck Stop near Dandridge, TN and both night and day photos
at First Baptist Church of Sylva.
Help for the Beddingfields
As many of us are aware, the house of our former pastor, Ed Beddingfield, burned down in a rapid and terrible fire on Christmas Eve. Tragically, Ed's wife, Sarah, died in the accident. Their daughter Shannon suffered burns and is in ICU in Chapel Hill. Both Ed and Meghan did not sustain any injuries and have abundant support from their church family and their friends.
In addition to lifting them up in prayer, there are three things that you can do to help the Beddingfields:
1.) Give. Most, if not all, of their possessions were destroyed in the fire. While donated items will be available to them, their most pressing need is money to purchase basic needs. You can help the Beddingfields by giving a love offering to them. Checks may be made out to First Baptist Church of Sylva, with the note: 'Beddingfield Love Offering.’
2.) Search and Share. The Beddingfields’ pictures have been destroyed in the fire. One thing you can do is search through your own photos for pictures of the Beddingfields when they served at First Sylva in the 1990s. Once you find them, bring these photos to the church office and we will turn them into digital files by scanning them so that we can share them with Ed. Our church office will be open Wednesday the 27th and Thursday the 28th, and will reopen after the holiday weekend on Tuesday morning, January 2.
3.) Send a Card. Condolences can be sent to Rev. Ed Beddingfield c/o Memorial Baptist Church 271 Leslie Campbell Ave, Buies Creek, NC 27506
Lastly, a service for Sarah is not imminent as Ed wishes for their daughter Shannon to be out of the hospital and able to attend. If these plans change, we will promptly let you know.
New Church Members!
Our church family has grown so much this past year! We would like to welcome these families and individuals to our fellowship, and we can't wait to see how our church will grow in 2018!
Emma Burnes
Rebecca DeVoe
Julie, Zack, Kuechly, and Lindsey Faulkenberry
Abby Fisher
Janet Ford
Marina Hunley-Graham
Brayden Logan
Teresa Deitz Manring
Ellen Mathis
Robbie and Rusty McLeod
Aerin McLeod
Beth, Chris, Lucie, and Mattie Moore
Linda Phelps
Jonathan and Jordyn Sessoms
Peyton and Noah Sessoms
Trailer for Sale!
CARGO CRAFT 1998 Carry-on 6x12 single axle
ENCLOSED CARGO TRAILER with a side door and a ramp door in back. CAN BE VIEWED IN PARKING LOT OF CHURCH. A STARTING BID OF $1,200.00 is required by all participants.
BIDDING WILL START ON DEC. 17 AND CLOSE ON DEC. 31.
