Oxford Presbyterian Church

October 8, 2021

Good afternoon everyone. In our worship, the Revised Common Lectionary currently is taking us through the Book of Job, but it is leaving considerable-sized gaps in the material as it has us read a total of four chapters of a book that has forty-two! The lectionary does this for expediency (nothing wrong with that), but the Book of Job suffers more (no pun intended) from such editing than most others. Its elusive meaning become even harder to grasp as a result. Therefore, I recommend that you take the time to read through Job from beginning to end (let yourselves read it fast) as some of our sermons will reference material that will not be read aloud by our liturgists. Also, if you missed last Sunday’s sermon, you might want to listen to it here à https://oxfordpres.org/living-upright-in-an-upside-down-world/ or here à http://theoxfordexchange.blubrry.net/2021/10/03/living-upright-in-an-upside-down-world/. Or you can read the manuscript which I have attached, or watch last Sunday’s livestream here à https://www.facebook.com/Oxford-Presbyterian-Church-152011345379561/. Of all witnesses and characters and prophets that are found in the Hebrew Scriptures, Job stands alone as a person of wisdom when everything in the world seems to have gone wrong.

Here are our worship options:

At 8:00 a.m. on Sundays, we have our short, outdoor worship service that meets 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.

At 11:00 a.m. we gather together in our sanctuary for our Service for the Lord’s Day.

 Our 11:00 a.m. service is also be 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 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.

At 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 à https://oxfordpres.org/media/#sermons, and at The Oxford Exchange, found here à 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 à https://oxfordpres.org/give/).

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.

20^th Sunday after Pentecost, October 10, 2021:

Scripture reading: Job 23:1-17

Sermon title: “Complaint as Faith”

Thanks to Carolyn Steger, Ellen Gould, Rachelle Messer, and Kathy Webb for leading our music.

8:00 a.m. – Worship outdoors on the parking pad behind the church

11:00 a.m. – Worship in sanctuary also broadcast 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 – This month, our mission emphasis is collection donations to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Nick Jackson will be informing us soon as to how this fund is used to address issues of childhood health and poverty in at-risk populations around the world.

Announcements:

• 11^th ­– 6:30 p.m. – Presbyterian Women’s Circle meets at the church
• 12^th – 7:00  p.m. – Choir meets in Sanctuary
• 13^th – 10:30 a.m. – Book Club meets at The Strong Arm Baking Company to discuss The Plague by Albert Camus
• 13^th – 12:30 p.m. – Midday prayer in Sanctuary
• 14^th – 5:30 p.m. – Book Club meets at the Tobacco Wood Brewing Company and via Zoom to discuss The Plague by Albert Camus

Book Club – Meets Wednesdays and Thursdays at our normal times and places. We are discussing The Plague by Albert Camus, a moving story about human response and meaning-making as a deadly virus sweeps through an Algerian city in an epidemic. This novel, perhaps more truly than any other, holds up a mirror to us as we ourselves are tasked with response and questions of life’s meaning amid our own pandemic.

Midday Prayer – Meets Wednesdays in the Sanctuary

Prayers for: Frank Anderson, Becky and Isabella Baird, Betty Baynes, Michael Boyd, Cynthia Broaddrick, Linda and Mike Diamond, Randy Downey, Julie Gaydon, Marlene Grenier, Mary Hamilton, Fred Heath, Hannah Hobgood, Cotina Jones, Barbara Laurent, Wiley Leonard, BK McCloud, Donnie Messer, Laura Messer, Sheila Moore, Jeanette Owen, Jason Parkin, Greg and Dottie Price, Deelane Reavis, Mike Reavis, Kelly Ann Sterner, Lynn Stone, Melvin Weaver, and Alice Evans Woodlief.

Happy Birthday to: Mikael Koeneke – 16^th

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

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¹⁴ Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
¹⁵ Make us glad as many days as you have afflicted us,
and as many years as we have seen evil.
¹⁶ Let your work be manifest to your servants,
and your glorious power to their children.
¹⁷ Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
and prosper for us the work of our hands—
O prosper the work of our hands! (Psalms 90:14-17 NRSV)

All blessings in Christ,

Alan