The latest news for you

First United Methodist Church

Bristol, Tennessee

Your Weekly e-Newsletter and Events Schedule

June 13-19, 2019

Visit our website

June 16, 2019

Celebrating Fathers

Advocating Peace with Justice

John 16:12-15

Donna Camper

From the Pastor’s Pen

It is the Wednesday morning of the 2019 Holston Annual Conference. Slowly, election of delegates to General Conference is emerging. Two distinct caucus groups are vying for primacy in representation, for having their voice emerge as the primary voice of the Holston Annual Conference. Somewhere on the floor of the Conference, there are voices who are not a part of those two caucuses. Somewhere.

Theirs are not the voices that are heard, but they are apparently here, because the vote totals for General Conference nominees are shifting with each ballot. Our caucus groups have distinct slates of nominees from which they are not diverging. Someone else is making the numbers shift. They are here somewhere.

They are moderates.

They are the middle.

I was one, once upon a time. My voice was more measured, more unsure; but the more I have studied and the more I have heard voices outside of those that surrounded me in more formative years, the more my voice has transformed in solidarity with voices who are often silenced and relegated to marginal spaces.

As this day wears on – and this week is wearing more heavily than other Annual Conferences – my voice becomes more impatient and more excitable. I wonder if I am becoming a church curmudgeon.

A progressive church curmudgeon. I caught a hint at that type in my seminary studies, but maybe I assumed they were an academic anomaly.

Maybe I was wrong.

I hope I can stay alert to what is happening this week, to the political dynamic happening here, to the silencing not of typically marginalized voices, but of the alienated middle. I hope I can remember to shut my mouth and open my ears. All God’s children deserve to be heard. All their voices are important.

I am trying, friends. I am trying to listen. I understand the importance of hearing every voice. I know that practice is a piece of Christ-likeness, albeit a piece I have no hope of ever perfecting.

But I have to try.

God help me; I have to try.

Peace,

Brandon

Feed the Hungry Offering

Our Feed the Hungry offering this week is for Local Missions.

This mission helps members of our church family and other immediate local mission needs.

Last Sunday Was Pentecost

John 14:8-17

Greater Works than These

In the last days, God says,

I will pour out my Spirit on all people.

Your sons and daughters will prophesy.

Your young will see visions.

Your elders will dream dreams.

Even upon my servants, men and women,

I will pour out my Spirit in those days,

and they will prophesy.

I will cause wonders to occur in the heavens above

and signs on the earth below,

blood and fire and a cloud of smoke.

The sun will be changed into blood,

before the great and spectacular day of the Lord comes.

And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Acts 2:17-21

The children carried red, orange and yellow streamers throughout the sanctuary, representing the coming of the Holy Spirit. At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came like fire. The Holy Spirit came like a mighty rushing wind.

A lovely Pentecost banner was made by Sue Dietz for The River.

The beautiful altar flowers in the sanctuary were provided by Larry and Kathy Wagner from their garden.

O let the Son of God enfold you with his Spirit and his love.

Let him fill your heart and satisfy your soul.

O let him have the things that hold you,

and his Spirit like a dove will descend upon your life and make you whole.

Jesus, O Jesus, come and fill your lambs.

~John Wimber, 1979

Shepherd needed.

The Spring Yard Sale 2019 Has Been Completed!

Thank you to those who contributed items to the yard sale – and thank you to everyone who helped by donating hours of your time. The ladies of the UMW have been blessed by your generosity of spirit and by the camaraderie we shared as we worked toward a worthy goal. You helped raise over $4,000.00 for

our children in Haiti.