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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December 2017 Pastor's Letter

11/29/2017

 
For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6 NRSV

In Chapter 4 of his book, Prayer, Tim Keller writes:

. . . God's words have power infinitely beyond our own. God's words are identical with his actions … We humans say, "Let there be light in this room," but first we have to make sure the room has been properly wired. Then we have to walk across the room and flick a switch, or go to the cabinet and grab some matches so we can light a candle. Our words need deeds to back them up and can fail to achieve their purposes. God's words, however, cannot fail their purposes because, for God, speaking and acting are the same things.

Advent season is the celebration of the words of God coming into focus in the Word of God, Jesus. It begins the gospel story anew, urging us to re-visit and re-live the miracle that is the God who created the universe coming to us in the most fragile and innocent way - as one of us.

Advent season is a conversation between God and us. The story of Christ's birth is filled with conversations. Zechariah converses with the angel Gabriel (Luke 1:11-20). Mary has her own conversation with Gabriel as well. (1:26-38) She spends some months in conversation with her relative, Elizabeth. (1:39-56) Mary also has conversations with Joseph who has a self-conversation (What do I do about Mary?) interrupted by another angel. (Matthew 1:18-25). At Jesus birth there were conversations with wise men (Matthew 2:1-12) and shepherds (Luke 2:15-20) And when Joseph and Mary took Jesus to the Temple at about eight days of age they encounter Simeon and Anna who talk to them - and everyone who will listen! - about Jesus.

In Paul's second letter to the Corinthians he connected God the eternal, omnipotent Creator with Jesus by using the expression " . . . the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ". With this statement Paul was saying God wants to have a conversation with us. As I have mentioned before, the best communication is face-to-face. Advent reminds us that God became one of us so that through parables, miracles, sermons and human interactions Jesus revealed the intimate interest of God in His children.

Advent means God is speaking and listening. Let's join the conversation.

Dr. Phil

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