Welcome to the First Presbyterian Church of Bedford Indiana.

Established 1819

     The First Presbyterian Church of Bedford is a community of believers in Jesus Christ who seek to know God's will through worship, scripture, and prayer, and who feel called to share God's love through community and global ministry.  We are committed to providing a caring, welcoming and inclusive environment to fulfill the mission of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

Worship time change!  Please join us for worship at 10:30 a.m. each Sunday morning.

Friday Email, March 6

Jesus left Judea and started back to Galilee. But he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, "IF you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." The woman said to him, "Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well with his sons and his flocks drank from it?" Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life." The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water."

John 4.3-15

To the Saints engaged in God's mission within Bedford First Presbyterian Church, Southern Indiana, and the World, greetings;

This Sunday we will hear a familiar story from John 4, a story popular both in art works and in the days of Church or Sunday school (both terms derived from the days when public education for youth was not universally available and churches took on the work of educating, the common word in both being "school"). This is how the story begins and while familiar, the story has some interesting nuances as well. The Gospel writer John has intentionally set chapters 3 and 4 side by side. Chapter 3 opens with Nicodemus, an educated man who's a part of the Jewish religious leadership. Chapter 4 opens with a Samaritan woman, one whom one could expect to be uneducated, and a foreigner. One is named, the other not. One is a man, the other a woman. And there are other differences: Jesus encounters Nicodemus in the dark, the Samaritan woman in the light.; Nicodemus leaves his story early on, the Samaritan Woman is present through her whole story. And there is a similarity: Jesus tells Nicodemus that one must be born from "above" and offers "living water" to the Samaritan Woman.The Church has not always been kind to the Samaritan Woman, focussing more on her many husbands than on her curiosity and her willingness to dialogue with Jesus despite her lack of theological training. She is an equal debater, or at least one to equally engage with in discussion, and through it all she allows herself to be drawn into Jesus' revelation. She will go and invite her fellow Samaritans to "come and see" this man once she has heard him out, leaving her water jar behind as a symbol of her intention to return, becoming an evangelist, an existential manifestation of the memorable phrase in John 3: "For God so loved the World...." Another nuance is the language of how Jesus "had to go" through Samaria. While the journey from Judea to Galilee is shorter by going through Samaria, most Jews avoided doing so, instead adding length to their travel as a way of avoiding a people they considered to be despised. The language is theological as much as it is linguistic: "had to go" has the sense of "must", that Jesus chose to, felt led to, travel through Samaria rather than avoiding it.

Questions to ponder: When was a time in your life when you had an extended conversation with a stranger? When have you found yourself in a strange land/place, a foreign place? What are social "norms" that you were advised to honor and which ones have you decided to embrace despite the warnings? Have you ever found Jesus to be a stranger as you have tried to understand him, and if so, in what way? What do you think of Jesus having very human needs of being  "tired, hungry, thirsty"? What question would you like to ask the woman? What question would you like to ask Jesus?

Please come and join us in person or online through the live-stream as we worship God this Sunday, the third Sunday in Lent, as we sing, pray, and listen to God's Word to and for us!

Sunday mornings include a Spiritual Formation gathering at 9.30am in the library, focusing for Lent on "The Monastic Heart: Fifty Simple Practices For a Contemplative Life" by Joan Chittister. Copies of the book and the study guide remain on the table in the sanctuary, and worship at 10.30am in the sanctuary.

Our worship services are once again being live-streamed! The link is www.youtube.com/@officechurch336 . Please join us online if you're unable to be with us in person and spread the word about this worshiping opportunity at BFPC!

The celebration of Birthdays of members and friends of BFPC returns on March 15th during the fellowship time after worship. We will celebrate January-March Birthdays. Many thanks to Sandy Benstin for heading up this offering.

It's not too late to bring a package of toilet paper that will be shared with LIFE. They are being collected on the chancel.

THIS WEEK AT FPC AND BEYOND:

      There is a new sign-up sheet in the Fellowship Hall for you to offer to help with Communion Preparation for 2026. Your help with his significan worship leadership opportunity is appreciated!

     The Session will meet on Tuesday, March 10th at 5.30pm in the Library.

     FPC hosts the third in a series of Community Lenten Lunches this week at noon on Wednesday, March 11th. You are invited to come and welcome guests who will join us!

     The January-March celebration of Birthdays will take place on Sunday, March 15th during fellowship time after worship

     The Mariners will meet at the Golden Corral on Monday, March 16th at 6pm.

Timm High's contact information: timm.high27@gmail.com; 814.873.1910

And, if (when!) you have a question for me, please ask!

May these days of your life during this Season of Lent find you doing the best you can in all you do with all you have, given God's help, amidst the challenges and comforts that come your way as you live and love into your journey with God in the name of Jesus through the passion and purpose of the Holy Spirit.

Blessings and Be Well...

Timm

Contact Information      First Presbyterian Church of Bedford,   1504 L Street, Bedford, IN 47421

 Phone: 812-275-5853

 YouTube Livestream:  www.youtube.com/@officechurch336 

Email: office@bedfordpresby.org

 Clerks of Session:  Betsey Makximenko, vbat62@comcast.net

 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FirstPresbyBedford/  Be sure to like us!