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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May 2017 Pastor's Letter

5/2/2017

 
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast.
- Ephesians 2:8-9 NRSV
Of all the people I have ever met, Sharon Jones is probably the most gracious. She exudes acceptance and love and understanding with every word and action. If you are invited to her home for dinner, it won't be like any dinner you've ever had. It will be a dinner which seems to be just for you even though there are other guests. If she and her husband, Hoagie, come to your home, she will bring a spirit of joy that is infectious and makes you wonder why you don't do this more often. And she will bring chocolate!

We recently hosted Sharon and Hoagie for dinner a couple of weeks after Gayle began her four month "furlough" from her chemotherapy. We were a little hesitant because Gayle was still pretty weak. But we kept it simple and everything came together.

Sharon and Hoagie arrived with smiles (and chocolate) and we had a lovely evening. During the table conversation we learned Sharon had spent the day in Knoxville helping her sister and brother-in-law prepare for moving into their new condo. But she said, "I told Hoagie we would be here no matter what because if Gayle felt good enough to do this we had to support that. There was no way to know when she might feel good enough in the future." Sharon has been through chemotherapy. She understands how it affects you in every way. She knows that being able to do something, anything, that you want to do is a blessing.

We are studying grace on Wednesday nights at 6:15 p.m. In our first session we began to realize that grace is a verb as well as a noun. It is an attribute of God (noun) but it is revealed by His actions (verb) in sending Christ and us into the world. It can be expressed in a simple prayer before a meal that we call "grace", but it is also expressed in simple actions which reveal compassion and concern for others. Grace can be as simple as letting the frustrated mom shopping with one or more unruly kids step in line ahead of you. It can be as involved as sitting with someone who is homebound so their caregiver can rest or leave the house for a while. Grace is the attitude of God's heart that says, "I understand. I love you and I will help if you will let me."

So join us for the study of grace and more importantly share the grace of Christ with others. And don't forget the chocolate! - Dr. Phil

A LOOK AHEAD
Sunday, May 14 - Rev. Astor Simpson will be our pulpit guest for Mother's Day.
Sunday, May 21 - Rev. Philip Lotspeich, General Presbyter, Transylvania Presbytery will
be our guest for the morning service. Rev. Lotspeich began his service as General Presbyter in January. This will be his first visit to our church.


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