Ash Wednesday 2022
Lent begins with Ash Wednesday, on March 2nd. We will be partnering with First United Methodist Church for services on this holy day. There will be two offerings:
* Noon Prayer service at First United Methodist Church
* 7:00 p.m. service at First Presbyterian Church
There will be the Imposition of Ashes at noon and at 7, and the pastors from both churches will participate in each service. The choir will participate in the evening service, and we will celebrate the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.
Begin your Lenten journey with worship on Ash Wednesday.
Baked Potato and Salad Luncheon on March 6, 2022
The YD’s will host their annual Baked Potato and Salad Luncheon on Sunday, March 6. Donations will be accepted, and proceeds will go to Acts Alive for their summer work camp.
March 6 is a First Sunday, so we will have Sunday School at 10 AM and a single, blended worship service in the sanctuary at 11 AM, along with the livestream on our YouTube channel.
If you plan to attend the luncheon, please let us know by either filling out a card on Sunday morning and dropping it in the offering plate, or by calling (336-248-2140) or emailing (office@fpclexnc.com) Jeanna by February 27.
2022 Scout Sunday – February 20
On Sunday, February 20, Scouts from Troop 205 will join us during the 11:00 AM service. You will see them there as ushers and greeters, and they will also participate during the service as Lay Leaders.
Our Boy Scouts are a rich part of our church’s history, and we want to honor them on this Sunday. When you see them, please welcome them and let them know you are proud of them for choosing to become Scouts.
New Race Book Study Begins Tuesday, January 18
The first discussion session for the Race Unification Committee’s new race book study will be this coming Tuesday, Jan. 18, at 6 p.m. on Zoom.
There’s still time to sign up. Email RUC Chair Bill Keesler at wkeesler@triad.rr.com. We are currently out of books in the church office but will gladly find copies for additional readers registering in these last few days.
The book is “America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America” (2016), by Jim Wallis, a white evangelical preacher, pastor, university teacher, bestselling author, and magazine founder who has worked on racial issues for more than 50 years.
A total of six discussion sessions are planned for the book. Discussions will be held on the first and third Tuesdays monthly from 6 to 7 p.m.
The discussions, open to the entire congregation, offer an opportunity for combined discovery. All participants are encouraged to share their own thoughts and personal stories.
The discussions will be led by three RUC members – Walt Rouse, Ken Davis, and David Durrell. David will lead the first discussion session, which will focus on the Preface, Introduction, and Chapter 1.
The first discussion follows the celebration of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday on Monday and coincides on Tuesday with the National Day of Racial Healing, an outgrowth of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) efforts.
TRHT is a comprehensive, national, and community-based process to plan for and bring about transformational and sustainable change and to address the historic and contemporary effects of racism. Organizations throughout the country, including Elon University’s Division of Inclusive Excellence and The League of Women Voters of Wake County in North Carolina, are holding National Day of Racial Healing events.
RUC to Start New book Study in January 2022
Our church’s Race Unification Committee will offer a new race book study in the New Year. The book will be America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America (2016), by Jim Wallis, a preacher, pastor, university teacher, bestselling author, and founder of Sojourners magazine.
Book discussions will be held on Zoom from 6 to 7 p.m. on the first and third Tuesdays of the month, starting January 18, and are open to the entire congregation. To sign up or for more information, please email Bill Keesler, RUC chair. Books are now available in the church office. If able, please donate $13 to First Presbyterian Church to cover the book price.
The RUC completed its first congregational book study of Howard Thurman’s Jesus and the Disinherited (1947) on December 7.
A Thank You from Brady Coltrane
Dear Church FamilyI greatly appreciate the overwhelming support for my Eagle Scout project. I was able to complete my project and had a generous amount leftover to donate to the Domestic Violence Shelter. The final result consisted of 4 dividers with a shelf on top with extra storage on top of the shelf. The finished project is depicted below. Again, thank you for your support and donations. Without you, my project would have not been possible. I appreciate the generosity from each and every one of you.
Brady Coltrane
Worship Schedules for the First Two Sundays of Advent 2021
On Sunday, November 28th, we invite you to join us for a single, blended worship service in the sanctuary beginning at 11:00 AM, with Sunday School at 10:00 AM. This will allow the fellowship hall to be set up for Christmas Family Night, which will be held later that afternoon. We will honor Hoke Ayers at the beginning of the worship service as he receives his Eagle Scout Award and look forward to celebrating this joyous occasion with him!
That afternoon, we will celebrate the beginning of Advent together with Christmas Family Night, which begins at 4:00 PM. If you have loved ones in the military, please bring their address so that we may send them a card.
December 5 is a First Sunday, which means we will have Sunday School for all ages at 10:00 AM and a single, blended worship service in the sanctuary, with livestream, beginning at 11:00 AM. We will together celebrate the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. Our children will have the opportunity to give their Noisy Offerings, and we will receive the Christmas Joy Offering.
Christmas Family Night Returns!
Christmas Family Night is back and we’re so excited! Gather with your church family in fellowship and fun as we prepare for the Advent season on Sunday, November 28, 4:00-6:00 PM.
Join us for…
∙ 4:00-5:00 – Craft stations, including Advent wreaths and gingerbread houses
∙ 5:00-5:30 – Caroling and children’s time
∙ 5:30-6:00 – Soup & sandwiches
Please RSVP to Jeanna in the church office at (336) 248-2140 or office@fpclexnc.com. The reservation deadline is Sunday, November 21.
Also, helpers are needed! Please see the Christian Education article in the November 10 newsletter for details. If you are willing to help, please contact Ann Kiefer.
2021 Chicken Pie and Baked Spaghetti Sale to Benefit Local Missions
This sale helps us raise extra funds that can go directly and immediately to the local helping agencies we support. It is our hope for this sale to go beyond the membership of the church, so we encourage everyone to invite their neighbors, friends and coworkers to order.
Large chicken pies (which can serve 6-8) are $14.00 each. Baked Spaghetti with Meat Sauce and Vegetarian Baked Spaghetti are both $14.00 per pan. Orders of any combination of 3 or more of these large items reduces your price to $13.00 per item.
Small chicken pies (which can serve 1-2) are $16 for a pack of four pies (must be sold as whole packs).
The chicken pies are “Moravian-style” (meat only, no veggies).
Order forms are available at the church or may be downloaded and printed here, and all orders must be paid for and submitted by October 31.
Payment is due at the time orders are placed. Checks should be made payable to First Presbyterian Church.
Orders may be picked up Saturday, November 6 from 10:00 am-2:00 pm and Sunday, November 7 12:00-1:00 pm in the church fellowship hall.
Thank you for your support of our local missions!
Wake Forest Divinity School Dean to Preach October 10
The Rev. Dr. Jonathan Lee Walton, dean of Wake Forest University’s School of Divinity, will preach at our 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. worship services on October 10.
He was invited by First Presbyterian Church’s Race Unification Committee (RUC), with valuable help from Pastor Nancy.
Walton has served as dean of the School of Divinity, the holder of the Presidential Chair in Religion and Society, and the Dean of Wait Chapel at Wake Forest in Winston-Salem since 2019.
He grew up in Atlanta and earned a bachelor’s degree at Morehouse, a Historically Black College in that city, in 1996, the same year he was licensed to preach. He then earned a master’s in divinity degree and a Ph.D from Princeton University Theological Seminary, on whose board of trustees he now serves. As a Princeton student, he served as pastor of a Presbyterian church in nearby Newark, New Jersey.
In 2006, he became an assistant professor of religious studies at the University of California. In 2010, he was hired as an assistant professor of African American religions in the Divinity School at Harvard University, where in 2012 he became Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in Harvard’s Memorial Church.
Walton, a social ethicist, is the author of “Watch This! The Ethics and Aesthetics of Black Televangelism” (NYU Press, 2009). His second book, “A Lens of Love: Reading the Bible in Its World for Our World” (Westminster John Knox Press, 2018), explores the Bible from the perspective of the most vulnerable and violated characters toward developing a Christian social ethic of radical inclusion and human affirmation.
He sometimes quotes longtime Morehouse College President Benjamin Elijah Mays on the concept of “One Love,” arguing that loving God and loving one’s neighbor are really the same love.
He has been an outspoken advocate for civil rights and social justice and is often quoted as an expert in documentaries about religion and race and by national and international news media.
Among other activities in the Triad in the past 15 months, he has met and shared ideas with Salem Presbytery’s Peace and Justice Task Force; served as keynote speaker for High Point University’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Worship Service; and interviewed Isabel Wilkerson, author of the book “Caste” on American racism, on Wake Forest’s Face to Face Speaker Forum.
He is married to Cecily Cline Walton, a children’s book author, with whom he has three children.
