We have added a “Donate” tab to our menu bar on the top of the page.  This now allows the church to benefit from your financial support by accepting credit cards for payment.  You will be asked to register just once by filling in your information and then you will see a page that will allow you to provide your credit card information (encrypted) to allow the church to benefit from your generous support.  Thank you.

First Presbyterian Church Is Open!            

Worship begins at 10:00am.

As of July 27, 2021, the CDC recommends that you can participate in many of the activities that you did before the pandemic. To maximize protection from the Delta variant and prevent possibly spreading it to others, wear a mask indoors in public if you are in an area of substantial or high transmission. Our area falls under this classification.

We still have one section of the sanctuary cordoned off for those who need more space for health reasons.                                                                                                                                

SO PLEASE COME TO WORSHIP IN PERSON SUNDAY!Emoji

1. You do NOT need a reservation.
2. It is recommended that you wear a mask inside even if vaccinated, and when you are partaking of communion, due the the highly-transmissible Delta variant.
3. The CDC says vaccinated people may sing in an indoor chorus. 

Following is a link to the full CDC visual chart on what is safe and what is not safe for vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals:


If you have selected not to get the vaccine, please be especially careful with your exposure, and check the chart to evaluate your level of risk.

We WILL be continuing the Facebook broadcast as we have extended our reach during this last year, but there is nothing like getting to see each other, and I am looking forward to laying eyes on you!

Office Hours: Heidi is in the office on Monday through Thursday mornings until 12pm.

Our Food Pantry will remain open Monday and Thursday of each week.  To stay in the loop, everyone is encouraged to sign up to receive emails at stauntonfirst@gmail.com. 

Current Activities:

- Sunday Morning Meditation at 10:00 am on Pastor Karen's Facebook page (Karen Henn Allamon)
- Nightly Story Time at 7:00 pm on Pastor Karen's Facebook page
- Weekly Bible Study Wednesday mornings at 10:00 am in person and via Zoom - please notify Pastor Karen if you would like to join
- Also, feel free to contact Pastor Karen at any time.

Where Can I Find….

Sunday Worship Live
10:00 am on https://zoom.us/ (Open free account, Pastor Karen will send weekly invitation and liturgy)  
Or https://www.facebook.com/karenhennallamon 
Or https://www.youtube.com/channel UCKHIfTGhCeY9LqfE7xftS1A 

Sunday Worship Recorded
https://www.facebook.com/FirstPresbyterianChurchStaunton/ Or
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKHIfTGhCeY9LqfE7xftS1A 

Wednesday Morning Bible Study
10:00 am in person in the Library and remotely via Zoom: https://zoom.us/ (open free account, Pastor Karen will send weekly invitation and study passage)

Children’s Nightly Stories at 7:00 pm
https://www.facebook.com/karenhennallamon

Shepherding Calls from Elders/Regular Information Emails
If you have not been contacted, please call Pastor Karen with your current phone and email.

COVID-19 Theological Think Pieces
https://thebellsofthehorses.wordpress.com/ 

Private Pastoral Care
Contact Pastor Karen at karenallamon@yahoo.com to arrange an appointment via phone or Skype.

We will update everyone as new information becomes available. 


Weddings
Interested in having your wedding at First Presbyterian Church?  Please see our updated guidelines here.

Some of the following activities are happening in person and online as we are gradually and carefully moving toward reopening. Please see the top of our web page for details on our online activities and continued Food Pantry hours. Thank you!

Sunday Worship
Book Study Class: 9:45 am (snacks at 9:30 am) - Library
Adult Sunday School  10:00-10:45 am (now meeting in church parlor)
Youth Sunday School  10:00-10:45 am
Elementary Sunday School  10:00-10:45
Church Nursery: 10:30 am-12:30 pm
Chancel Choir Rehearsal: 10:30 am 
Morning Worship: 10:00 am
Youth Group 12-2 pm (alternates with Youth Sunday School, please call to check times)
 
Wednesdays 
Bible Study: Wednesdays at 10:00 am in the Library and via Zoom
Chancel Choir Rehearsal: 7:30 pm 

This week's Bulletin-> Click here

This month's Newsletter -> Click here

Visit the Shenandoah Presbytery Website -> http://shenpres.org/

Visit the Synod of the Mid-Atlantic Website - > http://www.synatlantic.org/

This month's birthdays - > Click here



 
September 2021

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
      This is not a regular cheerful chin-up pastoral letter.  This is more of a repent-and-be-saved letter.  I am not a “fire and brimstone” preacher, but we frankly have a lot of literal fire and brimstone going on in the world right now, ecologically speaking.
        When God set the rainbow in the sky and promised that he would never again destroy the earth, did he think that the “end of the world” would come one smokestack at a time, one hive collapse at a time, one songbird at a time. 
        I wonder if the four horsemen of the apocalypse, named in Revelation, Ezekiel, and Zechariah as Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death, aren’t sick and tired of riding 
generation after generation after generation warning us that if you break it, you buy it. 
        Did you know that when Jesus talks about Gehenna, it’s not an underworld in another world, but the image of the actual garbage heap of Jerusalem, built on an old site where the innocent were burnt as sacrificial offerings.  Have mortals made the whole world a Gehenna?
        People, the ocean caught fire.  The icecaps are melting.  This summer we’ve already seen the hottest day EVER, not just in Death Valley, but in Palm Springs, Northern Ireland, Greece, the Tri-cities in Washington, etc., etc., etc. We’re all in the same handbasket. 
        As we consider the imminent destruction of all the things God spoke into being at the hands of humankind, this is truly the moment for us to repent and be saved.  God pronounced Creation good.  The first commandment God gave to humans was to till the earth and have dominion over it.  I want all of us to think about how many examples in the Bible there are of good kings and bad kings.  We have reign, but to what end?  Will we remove ourselves from the throne based on our inability to be good and wise rulers?
    The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.  Remember in Jesus’ parable of the wise steward, the owner asks for an accounting of what was given the steward to manage?  Let us all begin making wise choices for the earth. 
        Here are some things you can do:  
        1. If you want to go big on our home, see Virginia 
            Interfaith Power and Light (https://vaipl.org/).
        2. Recycle your plastic bags by dropping them off at our pantry, and try to remember to            use those reusable bags we all have in the back of our car for groceries. 
        3. Separate and clean your tin, plastic, and paper- and if Staunton Recycling can’t come             to you (because of loss of employees), take it to recycling at the Staunton 
            Recycling Center – right beside the football field at Gypsy Hill Park. Hours are: Mon.             11 to 6; Tues. 7 to 2; Wed. Closed; Thurs. 11 to 6; Fri. 7 to 2; Sat. 8 to 12; Sun.                         closed.
        4. Investigate your favorite companies’ manufacturing and waste policies.  Buy green.
        5. Buy local.  I personally should have bought stock in Amazon, I ordered so much from             it during the beginning of the Pandemic.  But every truck on the road with yours and                mine and the other’s cardboard box for the week 
            adds up.
        6. Train yourself to group your errands and take someone else who needs to run                        errands with you.  Grocery store, post office, hardware, dollar store, done for the                    week.  One day of exhaust from your car as opposed to two cars going four times.
I’m sure you can think of other things we all can do!  Share them with me and each        other, for the beauty of the earth.

Love,

Pastor Karen