Believe it or not, it is time to start planning for next summer’s Passportkids! Sylva FBC children grades 3–6 will be at Montreat College, June 30–July 3 for a week of learning, fun, Bible study, and more.
Please register to attend by letting Cheryl Beck know as soon as possible. Space is limited. A $100.00 deposit is due by November 12. The total cost for camp is still to be determined.
Each week we include a recipe in the Church Chimes and we hope that you are enjoying reading and trying them. You can add your favorite recipes to the Chimes by sending them to Cheryl Beck at cabeck@ncsu.edu. This is an ongoing WMU project.
Thanks for participating!
A new group of preschoolers will begin Mission Friends on Wednesday, October 18 at 3:30 p.m., in the preschool room of the Nursery. This group is made up of after school kindergarten students and FBC children.
The second of our of four congregational meetings will be Wednesday, November 1 beginning at 6:00 PM in the Mission and Fellowship Center. A blessing for our potluck meal together will be at 5:30 PM.
Childcare will be provided for children up through the fifth grade in our nursery. Youth are encouraged to be a part of our congregational meeting in the MFC alongside adults.
Dawnings is a narrative-based approach for personal and congregational visioning and discernment. Our four congregational meetings this fall will help us determine together who God is calling us to be and what God is calling us to do. Our entire church's participation in this process is critical to our determining what our future will look like.
"This is what God says,
the God who builds a road right through the ocean,
who carves a path through pounding waves,
The God who summons horses and chariots and armies—
they lie down and then can’t get up;
they’re snuffed out like so many candles:
“Forget about what’s happened;
don’t keep going over old history.
Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new.
It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?" Isaiah 43:16-19
Brian Foreman, the Coordinator of Congregational Ministries for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, comments that "These last two lines of scripture are both encouragement and command. The former encourages us to remember that God is still in control. The latter reminds us of our responsibility to notice and join God in doing something brand new."
"Dawnings is a congregational resource that helps you accomplish both of these things. By leaning into a spiritual discernment process through listening and responding to stories, your congregation will open itself to its place in God's sacred story for the community."
"Congregational postures of prayer and curiosity cultivate a sense of calling, not just for the congregation, before individuals as well. What better way to "be alert, be present," and to be a part of the "something brand new" God is doing!"
The next Family Fun Event will be held at Cheryl Beck's family farm in Graham County, near Stecoah, on Sunday afternoon, October 29. Families with children and teens are invited to visit the farm, enjoy a cookout, see the cattle, ride horses, and maybe have a hayride! We will carpool from the church right after worship service. Please let Cheryl know by THIS Sunday, October 22, if your family will be participating.
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.
Sign up here to provide goodies and beverages on Sunday mornings after worship.
When we are hospitable, our congregation can become a church on the sidewalk after worship while munching on a cookie or sipping fruit punch. Click here and find a Sunday to host our Hospitality Table!
by Dr. Jeff Mathis
One of the most challenging moments of road trips, family vacations, and holidays with loved ones is when those moments come to their conclusion. No one wants a good thing to end.
Many years ago, in an attempt to keep a transcendent experience on life-support a little bit longer, we would rush off to the nearest drug store to drop off rolls of film to be developed. Although people under 30 will not be able to comprehend this, we had to wait for our trip memories to become incarnate expressions we could savor and show to friends.
A couple of days later, we would find ourselves waiting on the attendant behind the counter to fish out our photo packet from a bin of other people’s memories, high hopes, and once-in-a-lifetime experiences. If memory serves correctly, we would hope that the photos had developed well (not always a sure bet, as some of us can attest), and we’d carefully consider who we’d share our pictures with first.
For me, the picture memories were always a mixed bag of emotions. On the one hand, I would feel nostalgic for the extraordinary moments they revealed. But on the other, I would find myself disappointed that the pictures didn’t fully capture what it felt like to be on the ferry at dusk in the Irish Sea, or what it was like to be in Times Square on New Year’s Eve, or at the wedding reception with your best friend (and the bad lighting).
“The photos don’t do it justice,” we would say to a friend while carefully guarding the photo from finger smudges.
And, of course, we’d be right. The photos rarely do the moment justice.
This past Sunday’s Homecoming Service at First Baptist Church was a mountain-top experience. And no streaming video or digitally captured image can truly reflect what it felt like to hear the choir’s powerful melodies or duplicate the warmth of an embrace from an old friend.
The singularly beautiful moments we experience can feel like the changing leaves of autumn in our mountains. Neither our memories nor the blazing fall foliage lasts forever. The glow of the maple trees and the magic of Sunday’s worship linger only as long as we are attentive to them in that particular moment.
Yes, videos and images can remind us of what it was like. But they certainly cannot replace what it was like to be there to experience them.
This week, we bask in the glow of a phenomenal Sunday morning (and afternoon!) at First Baptist. We’ll ‘like’ and ‘love’ photos we see on social media about our day together, and we’ll play on a loop in our minds what it was like to sit in our pew and be surrounded by people who have a shared love of God, one another, and our church.
I feel a deep sense of contentment and thanksgiving for a day of music, reunion, and celebration. I am also mindful that we cannot remain there once a moment is lived, even though a nostalgic spirit wants to pull our attention and energy backward. Our experience must be lived fully, and the energy it elicits should nudge us onward.
I could never understand why, when learning about leading games with children and youth some years ago, it was a best practice to stop a game at its zenith or most exciting moment. In time, I would learn that if you played a beloved game too long, the people’s energy and interest would be spent, and they wouldn’t have anything left in the tank to try something new.
But if you allow a game or a moment to end when thoroughly enjoyed, we’ll have boundless energy to do the next thing.
So perhaps the best response now is, “That was awesome. What’s next?”
If you would like to provide flowers in the sanctuary for Sunday morning services, please contact Gwen Messer at 828-506-8370, or Janice in the church office to be placed on the calendar.