What’s Going on at the Church
Something GREAT is Rising Up for the Future of FPC,
on Nov. 9 & 10, 2024
At our last Session meeting, it was decided that we schedule an opportunity to receive some expertise, encouragement, and practical understanding of how there are possibilities for First Presbyterian Church, to help us move forward into the future. We’ve invited Firebird Spirit a nationally recognized organization that specializes in church transformation and growth, to present a weekend-long seminar to introduce our congregation to the possibilities for creating a future path for FPC. The ministry of Firebird Spirit helps congregations learn ways to deepen spirituality, grow disciples, do effective outreach to the community through innovative ministries, and more, in ways that will “fit who we are” at FPC.
The November 9th weekend will feature an exciting comprehensive event from 9:30-12:30 on both Saturday and Sunday (including a worship service). There will be plenty of food and drink, and some small group offerings on topics to be announced (based on the feedback we receive from our congregation). Some possible topics might be: how to lead change; how to implement our church’s mission, discipleship in the 21st century, reaching out beyond our doors, and more. The most important part of this event is that the specifics of the presentations will be created in consultation with us, so that we are part of determining the content of the weekend.
More details will be forthcoming! (Please regularly check our website and weekly newsletters.) In the meantime, if you want to be part of making sure that FPC will be a thriving spiritual community well into the future, save the dates, and make your commitment to being part of building the community that will be here for the next generations to come!
Peace and Blessings, Your FPC Session
Interested in Getting Involved?
We have a lot of different ways for you to get involved – short-term projects, one-time opportunities, working with our livestream technology on Sundays, plus much more. Click on the button below to see what we have on our ‘volunteer wish list’. As more opportunities become available, we will be sure to update our listings.
Traveling Mercies for October 13-19
Listening for God’s Word:
“When the Spirit of truth comes, she will guide you into all the truth, for she will not speak on her own but will tell you whatever she hears…the things that are to come.” John 16:13
When Jesus was speaking of the truth the Spirit will guide us in, he was not speaking of doctrines and platitudes. Jesus was saying that the Spirit would help us to make sense of Jesus’ life and teachings – so that we would learn how to apply them in our daily lives. God knows that there are a million voices out there, trying to tell us what to do and who to trust. There are so many competing voices – like so many vendors – trying to convince us of what’s important and what isn’t, and what will fill our longings and what won’t. Sometimes life itself puts us right in the middle of dilemmas where we don’t know what to do or where to turn – and God knows how plausible our options can seem. So the Spirit is sent to help us find some clarity, some truth. The Spirit is sent to give us some perspective beyond our own, and the world’s, so that we can get a fuller picture of what our options may be. The Spirit is given, Jesus said, so that our faith in Christ can be a powerful ally for living. The Spirit is given so that we can truly see what our faith in God calls us to be and do.
The other side of this truth is that God’s Spirit never sets God’s will, God’s teachings in stone. The reason that Jesus sent his Spirit was to provide a way for his words to have a dynamic influence for us – never a static one. God’s calling – and God’s guidance is always circumstantial in the sense that what God calls you and I to do in the very same situation may vary – because of the differences in our circumstances. Our Book of Order goes on to say that it will always be in accordance with God’s word. That is part of what Jesus was talking about when he said that the Spirit moves like the wind and we don’t know where she may go.
The deepest truth that Jesus was getting at, is that our faith is more like a way of seeing. Because of the Spirit’s presence in our hearts, our wholeness and peace and healing don’t come from the way we control our lives, but from how we surrender them to God’s Spirit. When we yield our lives to the Spirit, there is always a good purpose, because God is always working his purpose out, and, is always inviting us to be part of it. Along the way, the Spirit passes us all the power and faith and everything else that Jesus drew upon, for us to experience.
Prayer:
O Lord, we pray for ears that are open, attentive, so that we may be carried by the flow of your Spirit. Then let our hands and hearts and voices do what they are meant to do within that divine movement – which helps many things around us become better. Amen.
Peace, Pastor Ed