My January 2011 Newsletter Article

Don't forget to pick up your newsletter from the table in the Narthex on Sunday, either before or after worship.

Dear Friends in Christ,

Whenever a congregation calls a new pastor, people wonder… “What’s the pastor going to change?” For some, this causes a lot of stress and uncertainty. So to take the edge off, here are some answers.

The first change Georgia, Al, Brionna and I have made is that I have begun to process with the Acolyte. With that, Al has begun making the announcements before the procession.

Also, we have started singing more verses from the hymns. Not more hymns, just more verses.

Next, during Advent, the baby Jesus was missing from the manger scene. Why? He doesn’t show up until Christmas Eve, so he didn’t show up until December 24. In the same way, the three wise men don’t make an appearance until Epiphany, so they’re making their way through the church and now the sanctuary until that glorious day in early January.

As for a bigger change, in the coming year we will celebrate the Lord’s Supper more often than in prior years. In the past, we have celebrated this sacrament six times per year. In 2011, we will celebrate it eighteen times! This is three times as often as in the past.

Starting in 2011 we will celebrate the Lord’s Supper on the first Sunday of every month except in January and August. In January, we will celebrate the Lord’s Supper on the 9^th, which is also Baptism of the Lord Sunday. In August, we will celebrate the Lord’s Supper on the third Sunday as the Fellowship Communion just like last year. We will also celebrate the Lord’s Supper on every Sunday from Easter through Pentecost, the seasons of the dying and rising of our Savior and the Birth of the Church.

Why celebrate the Lord’s Supper more often? The sacraments are important; they are the visible signs of God’s invisible grace. As we celebrate them, we remember them and the impact they have in our lives. They are signs of God’s covenant relationship with the people of God, with us. The Lord’s Supper is specifically the food that nourishes and sustains us in our lives as Christ’s disciples. We believe it builds the body of Christ, and to lift an old advertising slogan, the Elements of the Communion, they do the Body good.

There are some other exciting and glorious things happening too. In the coming weeks we will have at least two families join the church. Baptisms, both infant and adult, will be coming in the late spring too.

Just as important of a question is “What isn’t changing?” This has a very simple and even more important answer. First Presbyterian Church in Marshall, Texas is still a place where Christ is proclaimed. Who we are and what we do are wrapped around the simple truth that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the fully human and fully divine God Incarnate. He shared life on earth and came to know all that we know from birth to death; including birth and death. He rose from the dead and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. He sent his Spirit to indwell us and strengthen us for this life that we might live worthy of our faith in God, and even more, God’s faith in us. This isn’t changing. This will never change.

Let us worship God together.

See you at church, Paul