First Presbyterian Church News (Clarksville, TN)

During our "Blue Christmas" 10 a.m. worship service on December 15, we will offer anointing with the sign of the cross and prayers for healing and wholeness for anyone who would like to come forward, either for themselves or a loved one.

All elementary students are invited to participate in the third annual Candy Cane Olympics following Second Sunday lunch on December 8th. Families are always invited to stay or can sneak away to do some shopping! We will conclude the games with closing ceremonies at 2pm. Our FPC Youth Group will be Christmas shopping after the Olympics until 4:30pm. All youth, grades 4th-12th are invited to shop and wrap gifts for our families.

With the First Sunday of Advent quickly approaching, our new church year will begin. You will find in our sanctuary a set of paraments that change color as the church year progresses. Each color marks the seasons and festivals of the Christian year. Purple will be on display in Advent and Lent and reminds us of penitence and preparation. Some churches will use blue in Advent in lieu of purple. In our church, you will see red for Pentecost, Palm Sunday, and anytime there is an ordination service. Red reminds us of the Holy Spirit and the blood of Jesus Christ. White, a symbol of purity, will be used for significant days such as Epiphany, Baptism of the Lord, Transfiguration, and Ascension Sundays. It is also used for the seasons of Christmas and Easter to honor the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. It will also be present for Sundays such as Trinity Sunday, All Saints’ Day, and Christ the King Sunday. Green will be around for the rest of the liturgical year when there is no special festi...

In realizing that the holidays can be difficult for some, the church is once again providing literature that we hope will help guide you through the season. We have subjects ranging from grieving during the holidays to holiday depression. These pieces of literature are located on the table outside the church office. Feel free to take what you need free of charge. Please reach out to us if you need support. 

Please join the Congregational Care Committee in sending cards of warm wishes this month to Bessie Costanza and Tim & Suella Arrington. You may find their addresses in the online directory or by calling the office.

We invite you to stay after our Service of Lessons and Carols during 10 am worship on December 8 for Second Sunday Lunch with the whole congregation in Fellowship Hall! Instead of bringing a dish for the lunch this year, you may bring requested items from the Food Basket list, including canned goods and peanut butter, for this Christmas mission!

Our very own Mary Johnson will grace us as the presenter again on December 4 to talk about mental health and faith. Please join us for dinner at 5:30 and the program until 7:00 p.m. Children's activities are provided.

We will be traveling with a small group of FPC folks from March 7 to March 16 to visit several Presbyterian churches and the hospital that we support in Remera, Rwanda. More info is coming. Please talk to Jennifer Ellis if you have interest or questions.

Save the date for our next Women's Retreat on Saturday, January 25th from 9 am to 2 pm! Let Rhonda Banasiak know if you would like to attend. If you need childcare, please request it no later than January 17. Details about lunch and theme will be announced soon. 

We thank the Fellowship Committee, who really outdid themselves with an amazing Thanksgiving meal on Consecration Sunday, November 10.  We also want to thank Will Arrington and the Stewardship Committee (Ben Haynes, Lesa Goder, Sara Little, and Karla Posey) for their faithful, excellent work in presenting the opportunity to our congregation to give thankfully, joyfully, and generously.  Here is the initial report from the estimate of giving cards.  We received 79 estimates of giving totaling $379,086.00 (Last year on Consecration Sunday the number was 62 totaling $288,000.00.) By the end of the campaign last year, the amount pledged was $475,696.28 of which there is still about $147,000.00 outstanding. This is not unusual, as many people complete their giving in larger lump sums at the end of the year.) The number of people who pledged the previous year but have not yet turned in a card this year is small compared to previous years. We have sent a letter to everyone ...

Seasons is going through a licensing process and will re-open as soon as possible! We are hiring but could use volunteers. If you'd like to help in any way with our 15 amazing clients, please contact Ann Waddle. The program runs Monday through Thursday, 8:30 to 2:30.

We are excited to offer Chair Yoga every Friday at 10 am in the Chapel starting on Jan. 3. All ages and ability levels will find this free class accessible and restorative. Wear comfy clothes and come as you are! 

Advent is upon us, that beautiful season of longing and waiting, hope and promise, yearnings and faithful expectation of  the coming of Christ. Every year I look for a devotional resource to lead me into the depth of this season and am often disappointed. This year is the exception. I recently came across a devotional from Plough Publishing House entitled   Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas   and have been captivated. The daily readings, which stretch from November 24 to January 7, include some of the most profound reflections on the season that I have ever seen--in both concept and scope, classic and contemporary--all gathered together into a single volume. Some of the world's best-known-and best-loved writers (Plath, Nouwen, Aquinas, L'Engle, Barth, Romero, Goodwin, Day, Manning, Bonhoeffer, Dillard, Soelle, Lewis, Kierkegaard, Eliot, Donne...an illustrative but not exhaustive list) explore the depths and limits of our human desire for the...

In Advent we celebrate that Jesus' kingdom has already come while we acknowledge that it has not yet come in fullness.  Between the tension of "already" and "not yet," our focus in Advent is often on the "not yet" as we look forward to Christ's return.  But as Karl Rahner reminds us ("The Divine Dawning"), Christ could hardly approach any nearer than he did when he "adopted our ordinary little ways so thoroughly that it's almost hard for us to distinguish him from the rest of fallen humanity."  After all, he "promised to come, and actually made good on the promise."  And still in this season of Advent we pray, "Come, Lord Jesus!"  As Rahner says, "It won't really be 'another' coming, because you have never really gone away. ...you have never left us." This year our Advent sermon series will take a cue from  Reformed Worship  and focus on the "already" side of the equation--...

Faith & Fellowship Group will meet from 1 to 3 pm at the Basham's home on Sunday, November 24 for snacks and Bible study. Please RSVP. We hope you will join! 

If you would like to honor or remember someone with a poinsettia placed in the sanctuary, please donate to the FPC Memorial Fund and let the church know your loved one’s name by emailing fpcclarksville@gmail.com or by calling 931-645-6551 before noon on December 11.  Names submitted will be listed in the December 15 & 22 bulletins.

The Angel Tree this year will be located in the hallway on the 3rd floor of the Education Building. Please select an angel from the tree, shop for a new, wished for item and return gift(s) to the Friendship Classroom by Dec. 8. Gifts should be new, unwrapped and have the angel tag affixed to them for identification purposes. For more information, please contact Millie Armstrong & Jennifer Griffey. Thank you, volunteers!

Habitat for Humanity 0% interest home loan applications will be available January 27–February 10, 2025. Please share with anyone you know who might qualify. They must demonstrate need for adequate housing, ability to pay, and willingness to partner. Full details at the link.  https://www.habitatmctn.org/apply/

Join us Saturday, December 14 at 10am in the Fellowship Hall to assemble food boxes. The whole family, including children, can join in this mission project for our neighbors. After packing the boxes, we will deliver them to families from Norman Smith Elementary School. Please let Sara Little know if you are able to deliver any extra boxes in addition to the ones you packed. This year, we will be providing 50 boxes total. If you would like to contribute additional food, please bring your donations to the Fellowship Hall by December 11. We need: peanut butter, tuna, crackers, canned corn and green beans. You may also give monetary donations for food. Thank you!

FPC is excited to feature Kitty Harvill for Art Walk on December 5. Enjoy her work from 5 to 8 pm in the chapel. See more artists displayed by studios downtown!   

Appropriate for this time of year when we reflect on life and death, Jennifer Ellis will present "Living Fully with the End in Mind" from her perspective as a hospice physician. Please join us at Faith Focus on Nov. 13 from 5:30 to 7 pm for dinner and discussion (children's activities included).

The Faith Focus Steering Committee is gearing up to write and submit a new project proposal for the Vital Worship Grant that we previously received from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship. The project proposal will build on the existing Wednesday program in exciting, meaningful ways. We want your input! Be a part of the imagination process on Wed, Nov. 20 from 5:30 to 7 pm! Dinner and children's activities provided. 

Sunday morning worship on Dec. 8 will be very special this year as it will incorporate the nine readings of Lessons and Carols, big music from the choir, as well as art and performance by the children and youth. Second Sunday Lunch will follow. Highlight 10 am on Dec. 8 in your calendars!

The Middle TN Presbytery's Leadership Visioning Team has been tasked with creating a vision and structure to guide us into the future that reflects our diverse congregations, members, and communities. The process will begin with a listening session at the next Presbytery meeting on Thurs, Nov. 14 (8:30 am meeting start, 11:00 listening session) at First Pres. in Dickson in the Fellowship/Parish Hall. The team wants to hear your stories of the past in order to inform the present and future. Congregation members, elders, staff: all of your voices, hopes, dreams, and even frustrations are important information, so please participate if you can!

The November card shower is for Gary & Justine Ostlund and Lew Wallace. Please join the Congregational Care Committee in sending them cards of warm wishes.

On Saturday, December 7th , Spiritfest 2024 will be held in downtown Clarksville  from 2:00 to 4:30 pm.  Come to the corner of Third St. and Main St. for holiday festivities!   At the Downtown Commons ( 215 Legion Street ), there will be live music, Santa Claus, kids' activities, and food trucks.  At 4:30 , Montgomery County Mayor Wes Golden will light the Christmas Tree. Warm up inside Trinity’s Parish Hall (317 Franklin St.) with cookies and Hot Chocolate.  Visit the First Presbyterian Chapel (213 Main St.) for an opportunity to dress up and be a part of the live nativity. Dress up clothes and animals including a camel, donkey, and goats provided! Inside the First Presbyterian Fellowship Hall, there will be art, non-profit booths, music, and coffee.  Following Spiritfest around 5 pm, the Clarksville Lighted Christmas Parade will make its way through Downtown Clarksville.  Don't miss this spectacular afternoon to kick off the Christmas season!...

At Faith Focus this Wednesday, Bill Moser from our congregation will share about the plane crash and hospitalization he experienced and how we need to be prepared to “go” at any moment. Please eat dinner with us and benefit from this program from 5:30 to 7 pm. Children’s activities are provided.

We believe deeply in the Reformation notion that the most faithful response a person can make to God is gratitude. We grow spiritually through living gratefully in relationship to God. Thankful living includes the grateful consecration of a percentage of our income to God through the church. We do not view giving as merely a way for the church to pay its bills; we do not appeal for offerings on the basis of the church's need. Every year we teach the biblical perspective that giving is an aspect of spiritual development and our members are followers of Jesus Christ who want to give unselfishly as an act of worship and discipleship. On Sunday, November 10, we will offer the congregation the opportunity to offer thanks by dedicating a percentage of the coming year’s income to God with joy and gratitude.  Thanks in advance for your enthusiastic and courageous participation on Consecration Sunday 2024!

If you would like to light a candle in honor of a loved one for All Saints' Sunday, come 10-15 mins early to the 10 am worship service this Sunday. You are invited into this practice in memory of those whom you have loved in this life, who now live eternally with the Lord.

Literary Roundtable will feature Claire Keegan's "Small Things Like These," about the  complicit silences of a small Irish town controlled by the church set during the weeks leading up to Christmas. Join APSU Prof. Joey Grisham and Pastor Greg to discuss the book (and film coming out Nov. 8) on Tuesday, Dec. 3 from 6:30 to 8 pm at Hudubam Booktraders. Copies available to borrow outside the church office by Nov. 10.

On Sunday, November 24 at 2:00, the Worship Committee would like to invite the congregation to come and help decorate the outside of the church and the sanctuary for Advent. We can always use assistance, especially if you enjoy climbing ladders! Rain date for outside decoration will be Monday, November 25. Thank you! 

Don Atkins Ted Atkinson George & Margaret Ackley Angel & Helen Adames Dan & Lynette Aiken Janet Aiken Judy Aiken Marshall Aiken Robert Aiken Kathleen Rowe Agnew Dee Albright Celia Ambrester Barbara Ann Arnold John M. Arrington John K. & Mary Arrington Bayless G. Atkins Ed & Anna Kathryn Atkinson Ned Atkinson William Hunter Atkinson Harper N. Ausenbaugh Elizabeth Baddley Corinne & Jim Bailey Sam & Florence Bailey Patsy Baker Rupert "Coach" Baker Mrs. N.R. Bardwell John D. Bartee Hershel Basham, Jr. Don & Marita Beck Janie Black Carol Blewett Elston & Hannalee Blythe Vera Boyd Lois Ann Bowley Diane & Jay Bowland Robert & Margaret Brannon Elizabeth Jane Briggs Sarah Britt Jack Brooks Wilbur Brown Thelma Bruce Marie Burnett Greer Busbee Ethelyn Carder Bonnie Cassetty David Charlesworth Frank Childers Betty Lou Cobb Tom & Bonnie Coffman Hacna & Helen Colburn Vinton Cole Dorris Comer Lucien & Alice Conn...

Sallie Armstong  Suella Arrington  Mikey Dahlke  Susan DeGryse  Loy Duncan  Diana Figueroa  Ronnie Goad  Megan Goder  Aiden Goodwin  Joey Grisham  Kayla Gunter  Mary Johnson  Tabitha Lee  Lindsey Liberatore  Tamara Long  Virginia Lowe  Pixie McCord-Mills  Brenda Metts  Tim Powers  Marilyn Shepherd  Anna Smith  Phyllis Smith  Neesa Trotter  Eli Vaughn  Mark Williams  Nick Williamson