First Presbyterian Church of Middlesboro
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Welcome!

Worship With Us

COVID-19 UPDATE as of 3/22/21
​

First Presbyterian Church of Middlesboro will resume in-person worship beginning this Sunday, March 28 (Palm Sunday). Worship begins at 11 a.m.

Our normal Sunday morning habits will be altered due to COVID-19 concerns. Please note the following guidelines for proceeding with in-person worship at FPC Middlesboro during this time:

--Please do not attend worship if you are feeling sick and/or have a fever. We will be broadcasting the worship via Zoom for those who cannot attend in-person.
--Masks are encouraged.
--Please remember 6-foot social distancing recommendations as you come into the church, and refrain from hugging, shaking hands, etc.
--All high traffic areas, such as faucet handles, doorknobs, etc., will be sanitized prior to worship and again after worship.
--Hand sanitizers, wipes and Kleenexes will be in plain sight throughout the sanctuary should you need any of these items.
--Please sit only with those that are in your household.
--Bulletins will be spread out among the pews so that no one has to pick a bulletin up out of a pile that has been touched by others.
--There will be no congregational or choral singing. Additional readings or instrumental only hymns may be used in these places instead.
--We will not pass the offering plate. Instead, an offering plate will be placed in the front and the rear of the sanctuary. Please drop your offering into the plate as you enter or exit.
--We have removed all hymnbooks, Bibles, pencils and papers from the sanctuary to eliminate as many items that could cause cross-contamination as possible. Prayer requests can continue to be emailed to fpc4me@yahoo.com or mentioned during prayer time during worship. If you may need a Bible, pen, etc., during worship, please bring your own.
--There will be no refreshments after church. Instead we recommend that once worship has concluded everyone go ahead and leave the church building and return home.
--Children’s Sunday School lesson packets will be spread out among the pews for the kids to pick up and look at during the service. To be added to our email list to receive Zoom links, the weekly bulletin, the weekly prayer request list, or children's Sunday School materials, please email fpc4me@yahoo.com.

If you would like to contribute an offering to the church, it can be mailed to the church at PO Box 1796, Middlesboro, KY, 40965. The Presbytery also has a means to take online offering payments and distribute them to the designated church. The link is https://transypby.org/paypal/. If you choose to use this link, you will need to click the "other" button and then type in First Presbyterian Church of Middlesboro so the Presbytery knows which church to send the funds to.

Please visit our Facebook page for the most current worship updates.

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First Presbyterian Church has been a vital part of Middlesboro, Kentucky, for more than 100 years.
We invite you to worship with us!

Our Typical Sunday Schedule (currently suspended due to Covid-19):

Choir Rehearsal: 10:15 a.m.
Worship: 11:00 a.m. 
Children's Sunday School: 11:15 a.m. 

Join us for a time of refreshments and fellowship after worship each Sunday!

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April 2017 Pastor's Letter

3/31/2017

 
Create in me a clean heart, O God . . .  - Ps. 51:10a  KJV

Every so often my home office space becomes cluttered to the point that it resembles a disorganized storage unit more than a place where productive activity takes place. Stacks of junk mail I intend to sort, books that I intend to read, papers I intend to file, coins I intend to catalog; you get the picture. Each bit of debris that I intend to take care of becomes another reminder of my penchant for procrastination. Eventually the stacks of good intentions become enough of a nuisance that I have to set aside what I want to do or should do to finally deal with what I have been intending to do for so long.

The season of Lent and Easter are good time to "de-clutter" the space in our hearts which God claims as His own. These are the days when we look at the stacks of unresolved issues in our lives that keep us from knowing and experiencing God's presence. The stacks may have different names: resentment, sorrow, anger, apathy, despair, guilt, etc., but each one takes up space that keeps our heart - our spiritual center - from functioning as God intended. Resentment cancels out love. Sorrow dims our hope. Anger stifles forgiveness. Despair smothers prayer. Guilt blinds us to the grace that can restore our sense of self worth.

David, whom Paul said God described as " . . . a man after mine own heart . . . " in Acts 13:22, struggled with "heart clutter". He loved God and knew that God loved him. He did a lot of very good deeds in the name of God and penned a number of excellent psalms which have proven to be blessings for millions since they were composed. Yet, David knew failure and fragility in his personal and family life which were the direct result of allowing the "clutter" to build up in his heart. To his credit, David did not try to blame anyone else. Unlike Saul, who was always looking for an excuse or scapegoat for his bad behavior, David stood before God and confessed

" . . . Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight . . . " (Psalm 51:4, KJV). Once he took responsibility for the "clutter" he could pray " . . . create in me a clean heart, O God . . . ", and experience new vitality and new beginnings in his walk of faith.

Clearing out the clutter in our hearts is an intentional action. It won't just happen anymore than my office will clean itself. Sometimes the enormity of the task - cleaning my office and my heart - leaves me feeling helpless. In particular, my "heart clutter", often robs me of the ability to say what I feel. As I try to pray, my mind asks, "What excuses can I make? What explanations can I give for allowing the space reserved for God to be filled with "anti-God" thoughts and feelings? At such times it is helpful to remember the words of John Bunyan

In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without heart.

Maybe a time of intentional silence is the place to start. Though the clutter is mine, only God can remove it and create "clean" space where He and I can commune in the peace of His grace.

May we all find such space during these days of reflection and redemption.

Dr. Phil

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