Oxford Presbyterian Church

May 22, 2021

Good morning everyone,

Tomorrow we celebrate the one who has maintained us during this long season of absence. Tomorrow is the Day of Pentecost, when we rejoice in the Holy Spirit that was sent from heaven to grant us the power and presence of Jesus Christ himself. If all goes according to plan, we will be granting our presence to each other in our sanctuary next month. But even now, as Pentecost reminds us, we are fully a community because of what the Spirit has done and continues to do for us.

Tomorrow morning, we will once again have a short, outdoor worship service that will meet at 8 a.m. on the parking pad behind our church. If you want to come and remain in your automobile, you may park in the office lot next door and turn your FM radio dial to 89.5 and you will be able to listen to the worship service.

We will also continue to broadcast our worship via Facebook Live. The livestream service begins at 10:00 a.m. 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 à  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. If you have prayer requests or announcements, please email them to me (opcpastor@ncrrbiz.com) or text them to me (919-323-7192) and they will be included in the worship.

Please note, in certain web browsers sometimes our livestream does not appear due to bugs on the Facebook side (meaning they have to make repairs). So far, we have found Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Apple Safari to be the most reliable browsers for our livestream (more than Microsoft Edge or Microsoft Internet Explorer). If our livestream does not appear on Sunday morning, try a different browser and see if that makes the difference. Thanks.

Our worship is also still broadcast on WCBQ 1340 on the AM radio dial at 3 p.m. on Sundays, If you are not a computer hound, then 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.

As always, the Sunday worship bulletin 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. Worship is always critical, but especially at a time like this. Our faithful witness in this difficult time and world is nourished by lifting our hearts to the Lord. As always, you can listen to sermons through our website right here à https://oxfordpres.org/media/#sermons, and at The Oxford Exchange, found here à http://theoxfordexchange.blubrry.net/.

Hey kids! We apologize for the absence of Faith 4 Five this past week due to technical difficulty. But those have been overcome, and maybe a bonus is in store for you tomorrow! Faith 4 Five will be posted in the morning at 9:00 a.m. The video can be viewed on the church’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Oxford-Presbyterian-Church-152011345379561/. You do not need to have a Facebook account to watch.

Our website, www.oxfordpres.org, has calendars, newsletters, the OPC WEEKLY, sermons, and even ways to give your offerings (right here à https://oxfordpres.org/give/). It is a great resource in times like these.

Oxford Presbyterian Church also has 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.

Day of Pentecost, May 23, 2021:

Scripture reading: Acts 2:1-21

Sermon title: “Pentecost: The Language of God in All Directions”

Thanks to Carolyn Steger and Kathy Webb for leading our music

9:00 a.m. – Faith 4 Five video posted at https://www.facebook.com/Oxford-Presbyterian-Church-152011345379561/

10:00 a.m. – Worship via Facebook Live. The stream can be found at https://www.facebook.com/Oxford-Presbyterian-Church-152011345379561/

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

Mission of the Month – Our monthly mission emphasis for May is Presbyterian Disaster Assistance. The offerings are used for communities both near and far that have suffered natural disasters. Some of these funds used to help communities that have been hard hit by COVID-19 outbreak. Online gifts can be made here à https://pma.pcusa.org/donate/make-a-gift/gift-info/DR000148/.

We are also receiving offerings to support Area Congregations in Ministry (ACIM), which assists local families with food needs, paying utilities, and other necessities.

Announcements:

• 26^th – 12:30 p.m. – Midday Scripture and Prayer (and coffee!) on our parking patio behind the church
• 26^th – 6:30 p.m. – Session meets
• 27^th – 5:30 p.m. – Book Club via Zoom where we will be discussing our latest book, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

 Volunteer opportunity: ACIM (Area congregations in ministry) is in need of volunteers who can unpack boxes of food and place food items on shelves. Times to serve are Tuesday and Thursday at 6PM. Saturday mornings are also a possibility. If you would like to serve, please call ACIM at 919-690-0961.

Prayers for: Frank Anderson, Becky and Isabella Baird, Betty Baynes, Michael Boyd, Cynthia Broaddrick, Linda and Mike Diamond, Randy Downey, Julie Gaydon, Marlene Grenier, Boyce Harvey; Fred Heath, Hannah Hobgood, Terry Hobgood, Cotina Jones, Barbara Laurent, Abram Liles, Sis McCarty, BK McCloud, Donnie Messer, Ally Milton, Jeanette Owen, Jason Parkin, Greg and Dottie Price, Mike Reavis, Lynn Stone, and Alice Evans Woodlief.

Happy Birthday to: George Yancey – 26^th; Lee Anne Lequick – 27^th; Anna Parham – 28^th

²⁴ O Lord, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
²⁵ Yonder is the sea, great and wide,
creeping things innumerable are there,
living things both small and great.
²⁶ There go the ships,
and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it.
²⁷ These all look to you
to give them their food in due season;
²⁸ when you give to them, they gather it up;
when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
²⁹ When you hide your face, they are dismayed;
when you take away their breath, they die
and return to their dust.
³⁰ When you send forth your spirit, they are created;
and you renew the face of the ground.
³¹ May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
may the Lord rejoice in his works—
³² who looks on the earth and it trembles,
who touches the mountains and they smoke.
³³ I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
³⁴ May my meditation be pleasing to him,
for I rejoice in the Lord. (Psalm 104:24-34 NRSV)

All blessings in Christ,

Alan

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