The Beacon A PUBLICATION OF ERIN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 200 Lockett Rd. — Knoxville, TN 37919 — (865) 588-5350 — www.ErinPresbyterian.org
November 2012
A Message From The Pastor
Tues Nov 6 Let’s Do Dinner Puleo’s Grille 5:15pm Fri/Sat Nov 9/10 30-Hour Famine Sat Nov 10 Men’s Breakfast 8:30am Mon Nov 12 PW Circle II 10:00am Mon Nov 12 PW Circle IV 7:30pm Tues Nov 13 Presbytery Mtg 8:30-3:30 Thurs Nov 15 Session Mtg 7:00pm Thur/Fri Nov 22/23 Thanksgiving Of ice Closed Wed Nov 28 Hanging of the Greens Fri/Sat Nov 30/Dec 1 Middle School Lock-in
James 1:17-18: Every good and perfect giŌ is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shiŌing shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, so we might be a kind of first-fruits of all that He created. Dear Friends, Rev. John Stuart Throughout November, most of us will be making plans for Thanksgiving. It’s a beau ful me of year which requires a lot of energy, effort, and resources to make it work as a perfect family feast. I admire Americans for giving to the world a table of gra tude. It’s a wonderful day which has also become special to me and my family.
During October, I have been teaching a Sunday school class about the faith of our Presidents. Ever since George Washington’s me, our leaders have had to write a Thanksgiving Proclama on each November. It’s fascina ng to see how ideas about celebra ng and keeping Thanksgiving change through the years. Ini ally, our Presidents proclaimed that all work should stop and that people should go to their churches to give thanks to God on behalf of the na on. Lately, the proclama ons have been more about ge ng together with family and celebra ng good mes. At Erin, we should be truly thankful for all of the blessings that God has given us in recent years. We’ve completed a lot of the tasks that we undertook several years ago and God has constantly upheld our work. Erin people have given a lot of their me, effort, and money to help fulfill the building and renewal projects that we envisioned. Our church is now in a perfect posi on to launch into our community and a ract others to worship with us. We need to seriously think about who we can invite to church, not just on special occasions like Thanksgiving and Christmas, but every Sunday. If each person in our congrega on was to invite and bring just one other family member, friend, or neighbor to church in the next six months, then we could theore cally double our numbers within a year. That’s all it takes – that’s how we can do it – that’s how we should do it – by word of mouth and personal invita on. We are the first-fruits in a new era of Erin’s journey. Christ is calling us to call other people to this wee place we call church. The joy of Jesus is constantly being experienced in our worship services, programs, and missions that we undertake each week, each month, and each year. We have a beau ful building with many loving Chris an people; the world just outside of our doorstep needs a place like Erin. What we need to do is to ask those others in our lives who are already wai ng for that personal invita on. May this Thanksgiving be a wonderful Ɵme of strength and happiness, goodness and kindness for all of our families. May it also be a season of faith and friendship for our church family at Erin.
~John