Oxford Presbyterian Church

October 31, 2020

For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. (1 Corinthians 11:23-26 NRSV)

The supreme act of Christian worship is communion, where we receive the gift of God constituted in the faithfulness of his Son Jesus Christ. The greatest offering in our gathering turns out not to be our offerings to God, but rather God’s offering to us. During this pandemic, our necessitated absence from each other has resulted in the absence of sharing the one loaf and the one cup that constitute the sacrament of our Lord. But even in our absence from each other, we are not absent from Jesus Christ himself as he and the Father have sent the Holy Spirit to us—God’s empowering presence that also unites us while distanced from each other. And the presence of Jesus Christ in the bread and the cup have always been by that same Holy Spirit.

Therefore, at our session meeting this week, after a brief bit of theologizing and debate our elders have decided that we should begin the celebration of the Lord’s Supper the first Sunday of every month once again. In all of our worship mediums (livestream, radio, PDF, and live in the sanctuary) communion will be included in the liturgy. This raises the question of elements. How are we to share one loaf and one cup from the table when we are separated? Easy. Simply furnish your own elements of bread and cup and then at the appointed time in the liturgy, partake in the elements you have. For the sake of continuity it is recommended that you have bread and wine (or grape juice). If you find yourself without those elements simply use a reasonable substitute—God will know if we try to sneak in some ice cream or Oreo cookies along with some Cheerwine! The liturgy for communion will also be sent out with the bulletin later today.

Tomorrow is also All Saints’ Day, the day we remember those among us who went home to be with our Lord in the past twelve months. In worship, we will remember Diane Heath, Sue Huggins, and John Newell. It is fitting that we begin the celebration of communion on All Saints’ Day as we are reminded that in the Lord our departed loved ones are living and are with us.

Our live-streamed worship will be broadcast from the sanctuary via Facebook Live. Worship 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.

Our worship is also being 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.

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/.

Sunday morning we will be once again posting Faith 4 Five, a five-minute weekly video that will be specially produced for our kids. I encouraged all of our kids to tune in each week and watch. It is five minutes of fun! The video is posted at 9:00 a.m. every Sunday, and 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.

Here is our schedule for the week:

All Saints’ Day, November 1, 2020:

Scripture readings: Revelation 7:9-17

Sermon title: “Heaven Right Now”

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

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

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

Mission of the Month – Our November mission emphasis will be donations to Area Congregations in Mission (ACIM). Both monetary and food donations are welcome.

Announcements:

• 4^th – 10:30 a.m. – Morning Scripture and Prayer on our parking patio behind the church
• 5^th – 5:30 p.m. – Book Club discussion of Marilynne Robinson’s Jack via Zoom

On Wednesday mornings, we are gathering for a brief time to read scripture and to pray. If you would like to join your brothers and sisters, we ask that we each bring a chair if possible (if not you can use a folding chair from the church), that we observe our distance (6ft from each other), and that we mask. Please come and take the opportunity to safely fellowship, and to lift up one another and our world to God in prayer.

The book club is meeting Thursdays at 5:30 p.m. via Zoom. We are reading Marilynne Robinson’s latest novel in her Gilead series, Jack. Please let Alan know if you are interested in joining the group.

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.

Happy Birthday to: Miriam MacDowell – 1st; Jim McCloud – 5th.

Prayers for: Frank Anderson, Becky and Isabella Baird, Betty Baynes, Michael Boyd, Cynthia Broaddrick, Ann Currin, Larry Delfs, Linda and Mike Diamond, Charlene Dickey, 
Randy Downey, Julie Gaydon, Marlene Grenier, Fred Heath, Hannah Hobgood, Marie Hobgood, Terry Hobgood, Cotina Jones, Barbara Laurent, Carlis Laws, Sherry West Lanham, 
Donnie Messer, Ally Milton, Will Newcomb, Jacob Parkin, Greg and Dottie Price, Mike Reavis, Lynn Stone, Kathy Webb, and Alice Evans Woodlief. 

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. (2 Corinthians 13:13 NRSV)

All blessings in Christ,
Alan

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