Add this email address to your contacts list on your devices so that our staff and Pastoral Care Team can learn of your prayer requests as quickly as possible. And yes, you may still contact the church office directly at 828-586-2095 to share your prayer concerns, as well.
Giving the Jesus Way
United Christian Ministries is in need of pasta sauce, ramen, pancake syrup, applesauce (6-pack individual cups), and laundry detergent. To donate items, please drop them off at UCM’s building at 191 Skyland Drive. Thank you!
Join Us for Worship!
Join us for worship on Sunday morning at 10:30 a.m. in the sanctuary! Also join us for Sunday School at 9:30 a.m. for all ages!
The CDC recommends that you wear a mask indoors.
Maximize protection from the Delta variant and prevent possibly spreading it to others.
Our worship service will be streamed online at firstbaptistsylva.com.
Hurray for Our Nursery Workers of the Week!
Thank you to Beth and Lucie Moore for being in charge of the nursery last Sunday.
Looked like everyone had a great time!
Carrie Nelson and Pearl Hall will serve in the nursery on December 17.
Thanks to another mother-daughter duo for working with our little ones.
There is still room on the schedule to serve “the least of these”
on Sunday mornings. It is a blessing to see their smiles and enthusiasm as you spend
time with our infants, toddlers, and preschoolers.
Please contact Cheryl Beck (cabeck@ncsu.edu) if you would like to help.
A Children’s Library Christmas
Children, parents, and grandparents: Be sure to check out the Children's Library next time you are at church. There is a good selection of Christmas books for toddlers through older children as well as some holiday DVDs. There is also a Christmas scavenger hunt (with prizes) you can do while you are in the library. Check it out!
Choir Presents Songs of Joy
This Sunday, 12/17, the Sanctuary Choir will present it’s annual special Christmas music program for the 10:30 AM worship hour. This is a tradition that has been in place long before I began in 1983, and it seems that there is always a surge of energy and excitement for this project. And, well there should be! We have the opportunity to express our joy concerning the wondrous event that changed the history of the world, forever.
Christmas is a season that seems to provide special memories for everyone. Families share time together more during this time, than any other time of the year. It is the season of giving and receiving, and people sharing stories and “catching up” around the table, or in the den. We need this time of connection to our loved ones, and our friends. Our human condition is nourished by the presence and affirmation of others we value and care about.
This special music offering comes rather close to the October 15th celebration of Homecoming, but I found that the choir was ready for the challenge, and faced the task with enthusiasm. How can we consider the birth of Christ, and not be excited. For our organist, Lorie, this program has special meaning, as we are singing a beautiful new anthem which she has provided in memory of Norman. He loved Christmas expressions in music, and she chose “See, Amid the Winter’s Snow” by South Carolina composer, Dan Forrest for that reason.
Other selections you will hear include the expressions by shepherds and angels, in settings of familiar Scriptures and exclamations of joy. Our regular choir members will be joined by two WCU music students (in addition to Daney), a member of the community chorus, and a former choir member. Maddie and Ellen will join us for the last number, and we will have flute and two percussionists accompanying our selections, in addition to piano and organ. I am so thankful for the faithfulness of the people working in the music ministry here.
I know that you will be blessed by the message you hear through the text and the music on Sunday. Call some friends and invite them to this special annual service.
Merry Christmas! Bob
Mission Moment 12.13.23
Rev. Durham Harris
Staff Chaplain at Memorial Health System, Gulfport, MS
Fair warning: I have no pithy, wise words to impart. I’m just some dude in south Mississippi you’ve likely never met. So, if you take the following with a grain of salt, I promise I won’t be offended.
Hi, my name is Durham and I work as a CBF-endorsed hospital chaplain. Greta van Fleet, Bela Fleck, and BENEE are my most-listened to artists on Spotify right now. I love all things outdoors; if I haven’t tried it, it’s on my list. Gordon Ramsey cooking shows are one of my favorite pastimes, because who doesn’t like absolute garbage TV every now and then? (My wife, Tiffany, likes TLC’s 90 Day Fiancé…it’s growing on me.)
However, here’s what’s most pertinent about me for our discussion… …You won’t find me sitting in a sanctuary pew most Sunday mornings. Life is complicated. So, too, is my relationship with God. Prayer??? Yikes.
One of the nurses at my hospital will occasionally ask, “Chaplain, how’s the good Lord doing this morning?” I typically jest with a lighthearted response, “I don’t know, I ain’t talked with ‘em yet.”
Such is not too far from the truth, though. I’m sure that’s the case for plenty of other folks, too. There’s a reason #deconstruction and #exvangelical are trending on hugely popular media platforms like TikTok. Some might argue that this is a byproduct of Protestantism’s exceedingly poor catechesis. I can’t object entirely. Then again, I’m unconvinced our ‘’spiritual but not religious” generation yearns for that kind of dogmatic instruction. I also don’t think it’s prudent to craft grand, sweeping narratives explaining others’ exodus from church, anyway. Leave that to the next generation of historians.
I kinda’ get it, though. Why pray to the God of a people group so sure of themselves yet so…fallible, prone to error? You gotta’ admit we’re a prickly, unwelcoming, opinionated bunch sometimes. A lot of the time. Okay, most of the time. All of the time? *sigh*
Church goer or not, we all maintain what Fredrich Schleiermacher called, “a sense and taste for the Infinite,” reaching for values and assurance in something, anything beyond ourselves. If not within church walls, where and through what means can we satiate this desire?
I still think the answer has something to do with prayer; but maybe we could shift our focus a bit, beseeching the mystics to show us a different way.
Prayer, in my view, is not mere supplication by God’s people for thy will to be done this way or that. It is predominantly a meditative action in the midst of chaos. The prayerful life is about mindfulness in the meantime. Whatever you’ve got on your plate that feels completely and utterly overwhelming…Observe. Notice. Trust. Accept everything that unfolds, good or bad, just as it is and with deep compassion.
What does that actually look like, though, in day-to-day living?
Well, I’ll be vulnerable and share what it looks like for me: waiting for Lexapro to kick in and, in the meantime, nurturing the bruised and tender bits with gentle, kind affection.
One final thought…
Parts of south Mississippi are often referred to as the Pine Belt, given the vegetation and its historic lumber industry. I’ve walked a few different trails through the pine trees meditating, practicing mindfulness and praying. One particular stretch of path regularly undergoes controlled burns. Though the area is seemingly barren and destroyed, jaybirds will peck through the ash for twigs to build a nest. It’s fascinating to observe. Why make their home in the aftermath of ruin? They are mindful of what hides within the dark, rich soil.
New life.
Pray. . .Give. . .Go.
Sunday School and Childcare is Available!
December Calendar
Royal Ambassadors Needs Leader
Royal Ambassadors need a new leader as Dr. Mathis will be leaving on December 24. Please call Gaye Buchanan at 506-3270 if you are available to help. They meet each Wednesday from 3:30–4:30 p.m. Please be in prayer that someone will come forward to help these wonderful boys.