Mary Meade will be preaching on Sunday, February 24, as Pastor Karen will be on study leave. We hope to see you there!
 Weddings Interested in having your wedding at First Presbyterian Church? Please see our updated guidelines here. Sunday Worship 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: 11:00 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 Chancel Choir Rehearsal: 7:30 pm Visit the Synod of the Mid-Atlantic Website - > http://www.synatlantic.org/ | Pastor's Letter February 2019 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God. - Romans 14:17 Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, When God created the woman God said, “It is not good that she should be sluggish,” and so the good Lord gave her coffee.  Some of you may appreciate a good cup of coffee, or even a mediocre one, the way that I do. Others of you may prefer tea. And still others of you don’t need anything in the morning at all (as long as you have your banana, you’re fine). Here’s a thing: What is fueling your purpose? The fruit of the bush may transcend the twilight time of coming to consciousness, but what then? What burning bush stands before you? All of us have a certain propensity to auto-pilot. There are good things about that; built-in things. We have to eat, have to sleep, have to hydrate. We have to go to school, have to go to work, have to pick up the kids. God built those things in so that we could keep going. Mama bears, tilling the earth and keeping it, making the community safe for shalom. But the purpose of our lives is not in basic necessities. It is not simply in keeping going. I saw a coffee cup set I’m quite fond of. One is white and one is black. Based on Benjamin Franklin’s Precept of Order, the white one says, “What good shall I do this day?” The black one says, “What good have I done today?” This is along the classical Christian practice of “The Examen.” An intentional meditative practice, the Examen is a review and reflection of the day. What gave consolation? What gave desolation? How does this dovetail with the purpose for which I was created? As a body, the church will be asking itself these questions as winter turns to spring and ordinary time turns into Lent. We must post it many places to keep us mindful: How is what we are doing furthering the Kingdom of God? Not every activity is Jesus, even if it has the words “church” draped over it. We must ask ourselves, fueled by the power of the Holy Spirit, “Where would Jesus spend his energy?” Do these decisions in the session, these activities in the church, these choices in the community look like the heart of Jesus functioning in the heart of Staunton? Do they fulfill our purpose? Hmmm. What good shall we do this day? Pastor Karen   |