Holy Communion

It was a busy week at FPC-H, especially with our work in figuring out how to open an emergency men's shelter, providing for the community.

In the middle of the business of the Church came the celebration of Holy Communion. This is what was fun today: celebrating Holy Communion both at FPC, and then at Cotton Memorial Presbyterian Church.

What was instructive was this: we are both reliant upon the bread of life for our work, for our lives. We share Christ in common, and so much more.

Thanks be to God!

Peace,

Pastor Brett

A Busy Weekend

What a week and weekend of interesting events in the life of the church. First, the Mission Trip folks came back to Henderson with lots of stories to tell and re-live with the Church. We look forward to hearing about all that you did, said, and learned on this trip!

Secondly, Kathy Gerber and I found ourselves in the Emergency Rooms of two different hospital systems. I spent Thursday morning being treated for a snake bite (copperhead) at the UNC Hospital in Chapel Hill, and Kathy spent Thursday afternoon being treated for a broken arm (left arm) at Maria Parham. Both of us are on the mend, but ouch!

Let's stay healthy out there!

Peace,

Pastor Brett

Claiming Calvin, Claiming our Roots

Yesterday was a great day to re-learn what makes us "unique" as people of the Reformed and reforming tradition of which we are part of as Presbyterians. Starting with the call to worship, itself a Psalm--and Calvin and Calvinists understood the centrality of Psalms in worship--and then singing "I Greet Thee ,Who My Sure Redeemer Art," followed by Mike McKoon's children's sermon that focused on John Calvin, complete with Calvin masks and all, gave us a kind reminder of our roots. We Presbyterians, like so many other churches shaped in and by the Reformed tradition, are inheritors of the work of John Calvin.

Hope everyone enjoyed the lessons throughout the day of our Calvin forbears.

Peace,

Pastor Brett

Happy Birthday Dear John!

Today is the day of celebrating John Calvin's birth.

An interesting article caught a little bit of the man in the NYT.com today, suggesting the following about Calvin's calling, which is similar to the Apostle Paul:

Although he confessed these failings, his best efforts at correction and reconciliation never extirpated them. What always came first was his conviction of a calling, the calling of a prophet, in his case modeled on Paul, the evangelist, the interpreter, the planter of churches, the negotiator of differences, the disciplinarian of congregations.

Today, such single-mindedness, especially if religious, seems unbalanced or baffling. It can be appreciated only when it drives a political, artistic or intellectual rebel struggling against long odds.

That is the special value of Professor Gordon’s detailed portrait of Calvin as a man in constant motion, beleaguered by political and religious turmoil, a leader who “never controlled his agenda.” The political independence of a militarily weak Geneva was always precarious. Factions within the city were rife. European Protestantism was disunited, torn by bitter quarrels over the meaning of the Lord’s Supper and threatened by the revived power of the Catholic Hapsburgs.

Click here for more.

Happy Birthday, John!

Peace,

Pastor Brett

John Calvin's Birthday is This Friday

In honor of the founder or Presbyterianism, who believed in the full diversity and inclusion of all in the Church, these profound words of Calvin seem to be pertinent to our mission at FPC-H:

"It is the common habit of mankind that the more closely men are bound together by the ties of kinship, of acquaintanceship, or of neighborhood, the more responsibilities for one another they share. This does not offend God; for his providence, as it were, leads us to it. But I say: we ought to embrace the whole human race without exception in a single feeling of love; here there is no distinction between barbarian and Greek, worthy and unworthy, friend and enemy, since all should be contemplated in God, not in themselves. When we turn aside from such contemplation, it is no wonder we become entangled in many errors. Therefore, if we rightly direct our love, we must first turn our eyes not to man, the sight of whom would more often engender hate than love, but to God, who bids us extend to all men the love we bear to him, that this may be an unchanging principle: Whatever the character of the man, we must yet love him because we love God," - John Calvin, whose 500th birthday is this coming Friday.

Peace,

Pastor Brett

The Spirit at Worship

The Spirit of God was moving--and is moving--in the lives of the people of Cotton Memorial and First Presbyterian Church, both of Henderson, NC. We witnessed to the love of God for all the people of God, regardless of race, gender, age, or sexual orientation.

The sermon was about the importance of the prophetic Jesus! And then the twist was focusing on the prophets among us today.

Thank God for times of worship like this.

Peace,

Pastor Brett

A BIG Thank You to One and All!

On Sunday afternoon, we started yet one more new annual (hopefully) event: cleaning up the Church. After worship and a super potluck--First Presbyterian Church knows how to do potlucks--14-20 of the parishioners stayed to clean up the place in which the people of God gather to worship, to learn, to fellowship, and to serve one another. One team tackled the kitchen, another team tackled the lounge and library, yet one more group clipped the bushes in the back near the entry way to the choir room, a cluster of people tackled the weeds near the columbarium, and still yet one more horde of people cut back and cleaned up the very front of the Church grounds itself. We worked for around 90 min. to 2 hours before the sun got the best of us...after all, it was the latter part of June.

What was novel about this whole enterprise was the recognition of how much we created a sense of community together in our cleaning, pruning, clipping, and weeding. It was the people of Christ gathered working, laughing, gossiping, commiserating, cajoling, and smiling together.

A BIG thank you to all who came and helped out.

And for those who couldn't because of time constraints, don't worry: I think another one of these gatherings will be planned for the fall.

Peace!

Pastor Brett