Dear First Presbyterian Family,
August is upon us. As many have observed before, the rhythms of August have changed over the years. Once this month served as a quiet ending of summer. People took one last vacation to the beach. The rhythm of the month took a very slow place. Now, it is more like “Fall Prelude”. We have Football Pre-Season. Schools usually start within the first two weeks. Now it seems like vacations only conclude during the first few days of August.
For the Celtic Calendar, August 1 served as the start of fall. They celebrated the transition with an early harvest festival. So, as I look back over May, June, and July, I look at the harvest. First, we had a good VBS. We had a small but loud group of children. They filled our halls with laughter as they learned. Second, the youth had a mission trip that was full of impact. They touched lives on the Alabama Gulf Coast in Bayou La Batre. They served with the Boys and Girls Club, handed out groceries, worked on homes, worshipped as a team and with a local church, and learned more about this small town and its economy.
We harvested in the summer with VBS and Mission. We now have our launch this month. We will have a Blessing of the Backpacks as part of Rally Day on August 4. We will have a Rally Day Indoor Picnic following August 4’s 11 AM Worship Service. Presbyterian Women will launch their New Year on August 20. This is yet another time to look back and give thanks. This is yet another time to look forward with joy and anticipation.
Let me now offer you an August favorite of mine. Here is a prayer from Peter Marshall, who gave thanks on a summer day. The themes of this prayer look to harvest. And, so we now begin to harvest the work of the months that have gone before.
Prayers – “We give Thee thanks, Lord of heaven and earth, for the promise of summer, for the beauty of this day that shall ripen grain, that shall provide good things for the table, that shall make all growing things rejoice, that shall make more sweet the music of the birds, that shall make more beautiful the gardens which Thou has planted and watered.
We thank Thee for the fertility of the land that encourages us to sow and to plant. We thank Thee for the dependence of the seasons, for all Thy sustaining providence by which men work today and harvest tomorrow.
We will know, our Father, that we are not worthy of Thy bounty, but help us to be good stewards of that bounty. We thank Thee for the endless delight of our lives on this lovely earth. Amen.”
Christian Education: Rally Day will be August 4. The Youth will kick off a new year with a Pool Party hosted by Doughtons on August 25 at Woodcreek Pool.
Worship: We welcome the choir back on August 18 after a well-deserved summer break. We will mark the 23rd Anniversary of 9/11 on Wednesday, September 11 in the Sanctuary at 7 PM. We continue to celebrate communion on the First Sunday of each month.
Fellowship: We will have an Indoor Rally Day Picnic following the August 4th 11 AM worship service. There will be a Lemonade Social on September 8 following the 11 AM Service.
Mission: We continue to meet the “100 Can Challenge” every month. Also, through Vacation Bible School we were able to give even more canned goods to Sharing Life. Presbyterian Women, through their “Ladies who love the Lord” partnership, continue to touch lives in the community. We continue to support the work of Blood Mobile. The Youth have spent an amazing week in Bayou La Batre, AL.
Mission Support: Special thank you to those who have come to church over the past several months to serve. You have set up for memorial services-and the receptions that have followed. You have set up for Vacation Bible School. You have come by the church to tend to the physical plant. You have ushered and served communion and sung in the choir. You have kept us safe when we gathered. For all of these ways and others in which you support the mission of this church-THANK YOU!
Best Regards,
Jones Doughton
Dear First Presbyterian Family,
“And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: ‘Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.’ And he replied: ‘Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.’” Those words were spoken by King George VI as part of his 1939 Christ-mas Broadcast. I have returned to those words from the poem, “God Knows” for the past several years. They mean more to me now than they have ever meant before.
We began 2021 with three services on Sunday and some meetings taking place in controlled settings. We adapted traditions for the spring. This summer we returned to two services and we introduced Sunday School in a transitional format. We navigated our way through appropriate precautions. The Men’s Council, Youth, and Faith Builders began to meet with regularity. We returned to Address Mesquite in October. The Garage Sale, Fall Festival, the Christmas Bazaar, and Thanksgiving Meal by the Men’s Council all returned. The youth and children presented a Christmas Program. We also faced “Snowmaggedon”. As I write Wilbanks Hall is still being repaired. However, we were able to use it for Thanksgiving and Christmas. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.
As we look to 2022, we look with caution as well as hope. In the weeks ahead more definitive plans will come to pass. We will navigate our way to another pattern. As I reflect on the next few months, this post shared by Leighton Ford comes to mind: My prayer on this New Year’s Day, courtesy of Thomas Merton: “My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shad-ow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.” – Thomas Merton, “Thoughts in Solitude,” (1958).
And so, let us look to the New Year with hope. Let us pray for wisdom, discretion, and courage. Let our faith lead us to act in love. Let us embrace the words of these words a friend shared with me over ten years ago: “I am the new year. I am an unspoiled page in your book of time. I am your next chance at the art of living. I am your opportunity to practice what you have learned during the last twelve months of life. In me lies the potential of all that you dreamed but did not dare to do, all that you hoped but did not perform, all that you prayed for and did not experience. I am your opportunity to renew your allegiance to Christ who said, ‘Behold, I make all things new’ Revelation 21:5. ‘Dear Lord of second chances and new beginnings, here we come again’!”
Christian Education: Currently our Sunday School program continues to operate in its “Summer School” mode. We hope to make the transition in the first quarter of the New Year. The schedule for Faith Builders and Youth will be finalized in the next few weeks. We will keep you all updated.
Fellowship: The Annual Congregational Meeting Dinner will return on Sunday, January 30.
Mission: Once again we were able to support our planned benevolences 100%. The Mission Committee has created an ambitious goal for benevolent support in 2022. There will be a Mission Emphasis in March.
Worship: We will celebrate the Ordination and Installation of our new officers on Sunday, January 2. We will celebrate Communion on January, 9. Our Service for Healing and Wholeness will return on Wednesday, January 12 at 6:30 PM. We also have a series of special music during January. We will have solos on January 2 and 9. The Alleluia Chime Choir will present on January 16. The Choir returns in full force with an anthem to share at both services on January 23.
Mission Support: The Mission Action Plan, our budget, has a strong support. The Session voted to go with an increased budget for the coming year. Details are available and will be presented at the Annual Dinner. As I write, the rebuilding process continues with our Christian Education Building-Fellowship Hall. We will return in full in 2022. The question is just when. 2022 will definitely be a year to rebuild and go forward.
Thank you all for your prayers, support, and encouragement.
Jones Doughton
P.S. Thank you for the very gracious Christmas Love Offering. We have placed it in savings for now. We will think long and hard on the best way to put it to use. You all are very kind and encouraging and my family appreciates it very much. Thank you all again.
Dear First Presbyterian Family,
Happy Advent! As we plan and prepare for Christmas we can always pray. For this month, I want to offer you this prayer from the Scottish-American Presbyterian pastor, Peter Marshall.
“We yearn, our Father, for the simple beauty of Christmas-for all the old familiar melodies and words that remind us of that great miracle when He who had made all things was one night to come as a babe, to lie in the crook of a woman’s arm.
Before such mystery, we kneel, as follow the shepherds and Wise Men to bring Thee a gift of our love-a love we confess has not always been as warm or sincere or real as it should have been. But now, on this Christmas Day, that love would find its Beloved, and from Thee receive the grace to make it pure again, warm and real.
We bring Thee our gratitude for every token of Thy love, for all the ways Thou hast heaped blessings upon us during the years that have gone.
And so we do pray, Lord Jesus, that as we celebrate Thy birthday, we may do it in a manner well-pleasing to Thee. May all we do and say, every tribute of our hearts, bring honor to Thy name, that we, Thy people, may remember Thy birth and feel Thy presence among us even yet.
May the loving kindness of Christmas not only creep into our hearts but there abide, so that not even the return to earthly cares and responsibilities, not all the festivities of our own devising may cause it to creep away weeping. May the joy and spirit of Christmas stay with us now and forever.
In the name of Jesus, Who came to save His people from their sins, even in that lovely name we pray. Amen.”
Worship:
December 5, Second Sunday of Advent-Peace: We will celebrate Communion.
December 12, Third Sunday of Advent-Love: We will welcome back the Jubilate Ringers as they share their gift again.
December 19, Fourth Sunday of Advent, Joy: We will worship through a Christmas Cantata.
December 26, First Sunday of Christmas: We will worship together at one service at 11:00 AM.
January 2: We will begin the New Year with one service at 11:00 AM, we will celebrate Communion, we will mark Epiphany, and the Ordination and Installation of new Elders and Deacons.
January 9: We conclude our series on the “I Am Sayings” of Jesus. The Alleluia Chimes will also share their gift of music during worship.
We will offer two Christmas Eve Services this year. The first service will take place at 5:00 PM. The second service will take place at 7:00 PM.
Wednesday, January 5 we will offer an Epiphany Service of Prayers for the New Year. This will take place in the sanctuary at 7:00 PM.
Mission:
We will be sending a check to Sharing Life to help them with their Christmas giving. Sharing Life plans to bless 100 families by helping with not only Christmas food and toy needs, but by providing housing and utility assistance, too! FPC Mesquite will be accepting monetary donations in the offering plate, online or via snail mail to the church. Our deadline is Sunday, December 12, 2021.
We continue to exceed our goals for the Monthly “100 Can Challenge”. We concluded November with 191 cans.
Fellowship:
We had a wonderful gathering in November when the Men’s Council hosted a Thanksgiving Dinner again. We will have an opportunity to fellowship on Sunday, December 12, following the Christmas Program given by children and youth.
Christian Education (Spiritual Formation):
The return of “Wednesday Night Live”: The Christian Education Committee is exploring the return of this program to the life of the church. The first session would take place from Wednesday, January 12 to Wednesday, February 23. Stay tuned for more information.
Mission Support:
Thank you to all who made a pledge or commitment during our Stewardship Campaign. The Deacons will soon approve a proposed budget from the Stewardship Work Group. The Session will then give final approval. This will be reported at the Annual Meeting on January 30, 2022. The work on Wilbanks Hall continues. We hope to be fully operational in the new year. For now, we are able to use the Fellowship Hall for gatherings. We are grateful.
As we conclude our year, we want to give a special “thank you” to the Elders and Deacons and the Trustee from the Class of 2021. They will conclude their service at the end of December. Please be sure and show your appreciation. Diane Beal, Dave Edling, Meg GarverHamilton, Phil Johnson, Martha Sheppard-Mahaffey, and Ann Smith served as Ruling Elders. Terri Bragg, Anne Grills, David Howard, Robbie Lee, and Phil Wright served as Deacons. Nick Scholl does complete the fulfillment of a partial term as Deacon. He will return to the Diaconate to serve a full term in January. Jerry Jones served as a Trustee.
Thank you all for your prayers, support, and encouragement.
Jones Doughton
