First United Methodist Church
Bristol, Tennessee
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Your Weekly e-Newsletter and Events Schedule
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Eleventh Sunday After Pentecost
August 25, 2019
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Luke 13:10-17
Faith You Can Touch
Rev. Brandon Berg
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From the Pastor’s Pen
From the pulpit this past Sunday I considered how my experience bringing our family through the Holocaust Museum in the District of Columbia opened my awareness to the transformation that occurred between the wars within Germany. What was happening politically then and there looked stunningly like what has been happening in our country recently, even down to the relative minutiae surrounding the pairing of a loose conglomerate of left-leaning politicians unable to focus their energies into an intelligible centering message; and conservatives so desperate to grasp and maintain power that they would ally themselves with someone as incendiary as Hitler, who would potentially lend popular support to the conservative chancellor and surely wouldn’t have the political wherewithal to focus the populace around his own ridiculously xenophobic ideology.
I don’t want to harp on further about that, but it is occurring to me that what I paid attention to in studying that period has to do with the general field I was studying. Out of the early twentieth century in Germany is born a movement that would define music for at least the rest of the century.
The Second Viennese School centers around Arnold Schoenberg and, primarily, his two pupils Anton Webern and Alban Berg (no relation to the author). By the end of the Great War, the character of the music they were producing was changing dramatically. Their techniques effectively brought the Romantic period to an end, and between the wars, their music shifted from atonality to serialism.
To put that in context, most of us get our orchestral music fix from movie scores. Those composers are informed by the work of the Second Viennese School and the developments that follow, but little of their atonality or serialism filters into what they produce for movies. We would describe the moments when those styles surface as frightening, dark, or threatening. Most of our movie scores settle comfortably into more Romantic and evocative tonal music.
Serialism, though, reflects the tone of the culture in which it is born. It is mechanized and harsh like the impersonalized culture of mass production and industrialized warfare. Listening to and performing serial music exists on a spectrum of difficulty that ranges roughly from watching sausage being factory-produced to watching human beings being loaded onto cattle cars.
I’m not sure there’s much about the production of sausage or chicken nuggets that is beautiful. I’m fairly certain that the only beautiful thing that comes out of Auschwitz is the hope maintained in that hopeless and evil place. But artists like Schoenberg and Webern and Berg work out of a place that assumes hope and beauty. Their music is often difficult to hear, but with some understanding of their context and with deep consideration of the works themselves, we can see glimpses of astounding intricacy that belie the genius of the artists.
Sometimes we just need to invest a little (or a lot) more time and attention into a subject to appreciate it.
I suppose that is true about people, too.
I thank God that the Artist who shaped me appreciates the intricacies of my personality. I hope I can take the time to recognize that every person I encounter is an equally beautiful work of divine art. Every person I encounter is shaped by and defined by their culture and social environment. What makes them uniquely beautiful is where their created self turns their surroundings into a miracle of hope and healing.
That’s what I want to look for. That’s where Messiah is, in those places where the sacred and profane meet, where heaven and earth collide.
I want to appreciate the art of the Holy Spirit more.
That’s where I get a glimpse of heaven.
That is the music of God.
Peace,
Brandon
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Our Feed the Hungry offering this week is for Local School Missions.
This fund helps families in need within the Bristol School System.
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Ballad Health
Hospice House
September 1-7 is our opportunity to provide lunch for patients’ families.
Label your food container with DATE, CONTENTS, & FUMC-BRISTOL.
( If there is no date on the item it will be discarded for health reasons).
Use disposable packaging please.
Contact Julie Blanton by August 29th to sign up.
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FUMC First Annual Harvest Fete Fundraiser
Saturday, September 28, 10am to 4pm
We are just 5 1/2 weeks away from our big event!
Here are some ways you can begin to help now . . .
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The Jumble Sale will be a time to sell select items.
We need donations of only fall and winter clothing (no spring or summer!).
Items that sell well this time of year:
Christmas décor
Housewares and kitchen items
NO TV SETS!!
We have room at the church to store items prior to the Jumble sale;
bring your contributions early.
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We need yard signs that can be repurposed into Fete signs.
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Have you decided on what to bake for the sale? Cakes, pies, bread,
cookies, cupcakes….Let Sue know what you plan to contribute.
You may want to make items ahead and freeze.
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Can you volunteer to help where needed that day? Contact Sue Dietz.
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The children of First UMC are excited to get back to Sunday School and the fun of learning more about following Jesus! Over the past year, though, changing family situations have decimated our teaching team.
That is where you come in.
Maybe God is calling you to teach. Maybe God is calling you to mentor. Maybe God is calling you to sit beside our young disciples and color along. It really can be that simple.
Can you help?
Pray and ponder, and if God is calling you, contact our Children’s Coordinator, Suzanne Goyette. We look forward to a bountiful harvest from fruitful young disciples!
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First UMC Monthly Financial Report
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July 31 Balance: (-$16,559.79)
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Worship Last Sunday
Message by Rev. Brandon Berg from Luke 12:49-56, Run with Perseverance
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Sue shows one of the boxes beautifully crafted by Kathy Mack
and sent to FUMC to sell at the Fall Fete.
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For all the saints, who from their labors rest,
who thee by faith before the world confessed,
thy name, O Jesus, be forever blest. Alleluia, Alleluia!
Thou wast their rock, their fortress, and their might;
thou, Lord, their captain in the well-fought fight;
thou, in the darkness drear, their one true light. Alleluia, Alleluia!
O may thy soldiers, faithful, true, and bold,
fight as the saints who nobly fought of old,
and win with them the victor’s crown of gold. Alleluia, Alleluia!
O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
yet all are one in thee, for all are thine. Alleluia, Alleluia!
And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long,
steals on the ear the distant triumph song,
and hearts are brave again, and arms are strong. Alleluia, Alleluia!
From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast,
through gates of pearl streams in the countless host,
singing to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: Alleluia, Alleluia!
~William How, 1964
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Because of faith, we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses;
Therefore we lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely.
Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us;
We trust in Jesus the pioneer and perfecter, the creator and completer,
the alpha and omega of our faith.
Go and run, brave saints.
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The church received a note from La Una Williams containing her new address. Please
take a moment to write to La Una. She is longing to hear from friends, and you can make her day special.
La Una Williams
Morningside Nursing Home
Room 137
253 N. Main Street
Alpharetta, GA 30009
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Spirit Night Fundraiser
Girls Inc.
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Girls Inc.is having a Day Out for their.children this Friday, August 23 at FATZ!
Please consider dining with them anytime from 12:00 – 9:00.
Bring the flyer attached to the email link and give it to your server,
or show the email to your server from your phone.
FATZ will give a percentage of the sales to Girls Inc.
The more people that dine, the higher the percentage will be!
Girls Inc.just finished a WONDERFUL summer at our Bristol, Bluff City,
and Piney Flats locations. A BIG THANK YOU to each of you who helped make our summer possible! We could not do it without you! Many children were fed, clothed and LOVED all summer long because of you!
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Group of “Eight”
Saturday, August 24
Noon
Gourmet and Company
Mountcastle Drive
Johnson City, TN
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A Community Worship Service
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Sunday, August 25, 6 p.m.
First Baptist Church, Bristol, VA
A reception will follow
There will be a food collection as well as a monetary offering that will go to the Bristol Food Pantry in memory of Dr. Frank Aichinger.
Please come and be a part of this celebration of our community.
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Annual Meeting
Officer’s Training &
Spiritual Enrichment Experience
MeadowView Resort & Conference Center
September 14 – 15, 2019
Spiritual Leader
Reverend Sandra J. Johnson
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Love One Another
John 13:35
“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
September 28, 2019
East Tennessee State University Mini Dome
Purposes of event:
To Worship Jesus Christ
To serve the Body of Christ
To Restore Appalachia from Drug Abuse
Event Schedule
1:30 PM – Doors Open
2:00 PM – 3:30 PM – Public Prayer Service
3:30 PM – 5:45 PM – Organization Expo (Recovery Organizations)
3:30 PM – 5:45 PM – Block Party with Food Trucks
5:45 PM – 6:00 PM – Public Reading of Scripture
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM – Main Event
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District Conference
September 29
3:00 p.m.
Pleasant View United Methodist Church
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District Youth Festival of Gifts and Talents
October 20
4-6 p.m.
Emory & Henry College
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Send Your Pictures and Announcements
to Publish in the Newsletter
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Send your photos and announcements for the Newsletter
call Carol at 423.652.2811 Tu-Th, 9-2.
For each publication, information is
needed by noon on Wednesday.
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Your Church Event and Planning Calendar
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August 22-28, 2019
Thursday, August 22
6:00pm-Yoga with Jean-The Upper Room
6:30pm-Mankind Project-The Youth Room
8:00pm-AA
Friday, August 23
5:30pm-Belly Dancing Class-Yoga Studio
6:30pm-Belly Dancing Class-Yoga Studio
7:00pm-NA
Saturday, August 24
12:00pm–Group of Eight–Gourmet & Company–Johnson City
5:00pm-Dinner for King University Volleyball Team-TH
Sunday, August 25
9:30am-Sunday School
9:30am-The River Contemplative Worship-Tankersley Hall
10:00am-Common Ground Worship-Chapel
11:00am-Traditional Worship Service-Sanctuary
12:15pm-Choir Rehearsal
6:00pm-Community Worship-First Baptist Church, Bristol, VA
8:00pm-AA
Monday, August 26
6:00pm-Belly Dancing Class-Yoga Studio
Tuesday, August 27
8:00am-Men’s Prayer Group-TH
8:00am-Meals on Wheels-Kitchen, TH
6:00pm-Martha Circle
8:00pm-AA
Wednesday, August 28
To make changes or additions to the calendar contact Alan Gorrell 423-652-7377
or Sandy Gorrell 423-652-1987.
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First United Methodist Church
Rev. Brandon Berg, Pastor (276.237.6498)
322 Vance Dr., Bristol, TN 37620
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Our Vision–
Building A Community Where Anyone
Can Become A Deeply Committed Christian
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First United Methodist Church of Bristol 