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Bristol Federated Church

A Community of Faith Where You Matter

January 24, 2024

“No matter who you are, or where you are on life’s journey,
you are welcome here.”

“We embrace God’s infinite love and grace in affirmation that each one of God’s children is made in God’s image and has equal worth, accepting all and including ALL of every race, gender, color, age, gender identity, sexual orientation/or expression, marital status, ethnicity, religious background, national origin and physical or mental status.”

 Link for any online Bristol Federated Church Event 
 

God = Love.

1 John 4:16b (my translation)

Dear Friends in Christ,

We all know (and repeat) the statement, “God is Love.” But like many statements that we know and repeat, we’ve lost contact with its deeper meaning.

What if we were to replace the word “is” with the mathematical sign “=”? Then, like an algebraic equation, we could replace the word “God” with the word “Love” any time we find the word “God.”

The first verse in Genesis would read: “When Love began to create the heavens and the earth, the earth was complete chaos, and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from Love swept over the face of the waters.” It is Love that creates, and Love that sweeps over the face of the waters! As it has been said, “What a more “lovely” way to understand it!”

As we head towards Valentine’s Day (Messy Church), and Lent, we might challenge ourselves, that whenever we come across the word “God” in the scriptures, that we replace it with the word “Love” and listen for what happens to our understanding.

In the Peace Love and Light of Christ,

Chris Heintz- Interim Pastor

 

Lenten Bible Study

Please join Mary Van Tol for a Lenten study beginning on Thursday, February 8 for 6 weeks. 7:00 PM-8:00 PM via Zoom.

"Finding Jesus in the Psalms, A Lenten Journey" by Barb Roose guides the reader through a meaningful encounter with the Psalms through the season of Lent. Combining an interpretation of the psalms with real life stories, the study moves through the familiar words of Psalm 23 toward the painful cries of Psalm 22 uttered by Jesus on the cross. The study includes reflections on the life of King David and the original context of the writings, along with connections between the psalms and the life and death of Jesus the Messiah.

The book is available from Cokesbury in both paperback and digital format. Click HERE to purchase.

I hope to see you Thursday evenings!

Mary

 

Mark your calendar
Messy Church is Coming!
Feb. 10th, 4:00pm

Help celebrated Valentine’s by celebrating God’s Love!
Sing up to volunteer or donate items by clicking HERE!

 

MEET OUR LEADERSHIP TEAM

Donald Lathrop
Building Maintenance and Improvements.

On Sunday morning you can find Don at Church, he has arrived early to see that all is ready. He serves as greeter, usher, acolyte and collects the offerings. After service he locks away the offering until it is time to be counted and deposited in the bank. He is a counter and makes bank deposits as well. He notifies the pastor and treasurer of the weekly deposits. He is the last to leave on Sunday mornings making sure all is secure.

Don attends all team meetings and always provides a detailed report of ongoing projects and upcoming needs concerning the church building and parsonage. He handles many projects and needs himself. Just a few of the things he takes care of routinely are: scheduling furnace cleanings, keeping equipment such as the snowblower in working order, snowplowing the parsonage driveway, bringing in the mail, putting out the trash, and checking the buildings for problems, keeping close tabs during rainstorms and cold weather.

Don took on the problem of high radiation readings in the church basement, taking readings over a long period of time. He then had a system installed to correct the problem. He dealt with our insurance company on roof replacement and due to his follow-up calls the insurance company paid for all of the roof replacement. This saved us thousands of dollars.

If Don sees something that needs to be done he takes care of it. He is known to make dump runs, wet vac after rain storms, weed-whack, pull weeds, paint porches and trim among many other tasks too numerous to mention. Recently he lead the way to making the parsonage ready for our interim pastor. Don always makes himself available to help out on all fundraisers and church events. He is there from setup to cleanup. We are so lucky to have such a kind and generous person in our church family. He also makes great pies and venison shepherds pie!!

Thanks, Don, for all you do.

 

Help Wanted

The Leadership Team is looking for help in a variety of projects:

  • Digital Photos to include in our update to our website. Please send them to pastorchrisbfc@gmail.com.

  • Audit of Accounts - we are over due on our Audit of Accounts. We need someone to assist in reviewing our books. Contact Janet Shaw.

  • Sign Committee - we need a new sign in front of the Church. Contact Mike Brown.

  • Steeple Committee - our steeple is in desperate need of repair. Contact Donald Lathrop.

 

Lectionary Readings for this Week

January 28th:
Deuteronomy 18:15-20, Psalm 111; Mark 1:21-28;
1 Corinthians 8:1-13

 

Calendar

Leadership Team - February 6th, 6:00pm

Lenten Bible Study - Thursdays beginning Feb. 8th, 7:00-8:00pm by Zoom

Messy Church - February 10th, 4:00pm

Search Committee - February 11th, Noon

Soup & Slides - February 18th, 6:00pm. Come see slides from the “good-old-days” and enjoy a warming soup supper.

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ONGOING EVENTS:

Sundays, 4:00PM- AA Meeting here at BFC

 

Weekly Giving

The Leadership Team would like you to know our Giving each week;

Offering $ 407.85
Online 285.00
Total Giving: $ 692.85

Thank you for your generosity!

 

Sunday Worship

You can find the recordings of recent sermons on our website at www.bristolfederated.com and click on “The Sermon Archives” in the top right hand corner of your screen.

You can visit the Donate page on our website at any time to give electronically using a credit/debit card or bank account.

The Zoom link for our Sunday Worship Service can be found by going to our website. If you will be accessing worship using a phone:
Dial: 1(929)205-6099
Meeting ID: 940 7036 0317
Passcode: 559314

Click here to go to our website at Bristolfederated.com

 

Conference Communication UMC & UCC

Check out the different conference publications by clicking the links below.

Green Mountain District Update
UMCatalyst
CONNECTED
eKit

 

Brand Name

Bristol Federated Church, 37 North St, Bristol. VT 05443, USA

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