Oxford Presbyterian Church

January 12, 2023

January is the month to make resolutions for the new year. Some of the hymns we sing in worship give us good ideas for the resolves we may choose. In the mid-1800’s, William Longstaff charged Christians to:

Take time to be holy, Speak oft with thy Lord;

Abide in Him always, and feed on His Word.

Make friends with God’s children; Help those who are weak;

Forgetting in nothing His blessing to seek.

Our worship opportunities this Sunday are as follows:

8:08 a.m. in the sanctuary with communion.

11:00 a.m. in the sanctuary with communion. This service is also broadcast via Facebook Live if you are unable to join us. If you have a computer or tablet or smartphone with an internet connection, you should be able to receive the stream. You do not need to have a Facebook account to participate. Our stream appears on the church’s Facebook page which is here:  https://www.facebook.com/Oxford-Presbyterian-Church-152011345379561/. If you miss the broadcast, the service will remain on our Facebook page for the next several days.

3:00 p.m. our worship is also broadcast on WCBQ 1340 on the AM radio dial. The radio broadcast of our worship is an easy way to listen in and participate. If you know of someone in our community that does not do computers or finds them frustrating to use, please let them know of this alternative. Please note that as we have returned to in-person congregational worship, the radio broadcast of each service is aired the following Sunday.

The Sunday worship bulletin for those who are unable to join us will appear in your emailbox late Saturday evening or early Sunday morning, complete with hymns and sermon so that you may have your own house-church worship. As always, you can listen to sermons through our website right here: https://oxfordpres.org/media/#sermons, and at The Oxford Exchange, found here: http://theoxfordexchange.blubrry.net/. Sermons are posted the Tuesday following the Sunday they were preached.

Our website, www.oxfordpres.org, has calendars, newsletters, the OPC WEEKLY, sermons, and even ways to give your offerings (right here: https://oxfordpres.org/give/).

Offerings are now being received by passing the plate at our in- person worship services. We also have an offerings drop-box situated next to the door on the back side of the church at the top of the ramp if you want to drop off an offering. Or, you can mail offerings to Oxford Presbyterian Church, P.O. Box 652, Oxford, NC 27565. They will be collected and deposited.

Second Sunday after Epiphany, January 15, 2023

Scripture readings: Isaiah 49:1-7 and John 1:29-42

Sermon title: Following Jesus

Liturgist: Earron Couch

7:30 a.m. – Take out breakfast served until 9:30 a.m.

8:08 a.m. – Worship in sanctuary with communion

9:45 a.m. – Bible Jeopardy! (Adult Sunday School) in the sanctuary

11:00 a.m. – Worship in sanctuary with communion also broadcast via Facebook Live. The stream can be found at https://www.facebook.com/Oxford-Presbyterian-Church-152011345379561/

2:00 p.m. – Service of Witness to the Resurrection for Charles Franklin “Chuck” Wildman, Jr. with burial following at Elmwood Cemetery

3:00 p.m. – Worship broadcast on WCBQ 1340 AM

Adult Sunday School – Sunday School continues with our study: Bible Jeopardy! We are studying the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles this year with the hopes of hearing God speak to us while having a lot of fun!

 Mission of the Month Following a years-long-tradition, the Mission of the Month for both January and February is the Blanket Ministry of Church World Service. CWS works to meet the needs of people in crisis around the globe. Among the resources offered are blankets that can be used to provide warmth, shade, privacy and can be used as a container as well. A donation of ten dollars provides a blanket that can meet so many needs of a Child of God. Checks should be made to Oxford Presbyterian Church with the word, “blankets” in the memo.

Announcements:

• 17^th – 7:00 p.m. – Choir Rehearsal in Choir Room
• 18^th – 10:30 a.m. – Book Club meets at The Hub on Main
• 18^th – 12:30 p.m. – Midweek Prayer in Sanctuary
• 18^th – 6:30 p.m. – OPC Men’s Supper
• 19^th  – 5:30 p.m. – Book Club meets at Tobacco Wood Brewing Co. and via Zoom

Book Club – Will meet this week at their usual times and places. We are reading Soren Kierkegaard’s little classic Fear and Trembling, a fascinating study of the Akedah (the binding of Isaac by Abraham) and its implications for the life of faith.

Midday Prayer – Meets Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. in the sanctuary.

Betsy Sanders – Funeral arrangements will be forthcoming. Let us all give thanks for the gift of her life, mourn her loss, and lay hold of the hope now realized for Betsy in which we all share. In particular, be praying for her niece Kathy as she grieves.

Charles Franklin “Chuck” Wildman, Jr. – The Service of Witness to the Resurrection for our brother in Christ, Chuck” Wildman, will be held at Oxford Presbyterian Church Sunday, January 15th at 2:00 p.m. with burial following at Elmwood Cemetery. We give thanks for his life and pray for his family as they mourn and travel.

If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. (Romans 14:8)

Prayers for: Frank Anderson, the Becky Baird family, Betty Baynes, Michael Boyd, Cynthia Broaddrick, Linda and Mike Diamond, Randy Downey and family, Julie Gaydon, Marlene Grenier, the Cheyna Haberer family, Millie Hartford, Boyce Harvey, Sylvia Hendrick, Randall Hightower, Hannah Hobgood, Cotina Jones, Franz Koeneke, BK McCloud, Donnie Messer, Laura Messer, Jeanette Owen, Rufus Owen,  Jason Parkin, Greg and Dottie Price, Mike Reavis, Donald Rogers, the family of Betsy Sanders, Kelli Owen Smith, Lynn Stone, Ed Street, Keith Street, Melvin Weaver, Ed Webb, Alice Evans Woodlief, Merilyn Wright, and the family of Charles Franklin “Chuck” Wildman, Jr.

Happy Birthday to: Faye Newell – 15^th, Syvonia Anderson – 19^th; Peggie Strother – 19^th; Peyton Tarry – 21^st

Remember to utilize our website! – www.oxfordpres.org.

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¹ I waited patiently for the LORD;
he inclined to me and heard my cry.
² He drew me up from the pit of destruction,
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.
³ He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
and put their trust in the LORD.
⁴ Blessed is the man who makes
the LORD his trust,
who does not turn to the proud,
to those who go astray after a lie!
⁵ You have multiplied, O LORD my God,
your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us;
none can compare with you!
I will proclaim and tell of them,
yet they are more than can be told.
⁶ In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted,
but you have given me an open ear.
Burnt offering and sin offering
you have not required.
⁷ Then I said, “Behold, I have come;
in the scroll of the book it is written of me:
⁸ I delight to do your will, O my God;
your law is within my heart.”
⁹ I have told the glad news of deliverance
in the great congregation;
behold, I have not restrained my lips,
as you know, O LORD.
¹⁰ I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart;
I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation;
I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness
from the great congregation.
¹¹ As for you, O LORD, you will not restrain
your mercy from me;
your steadfast love and your faithfulness will
ever preserve me! (Psalms 40:1-11 NRSV)

Blessings in Christ,

Alan