Does the arrival of June ever remind you of summers past? Can you still feel the excitement of getting out of school? Or getting ready for a trip to the water? Or playing outside until late? The Irish bard, yes Van Morrison, evokes the season: “Take me way back . . . where you could feel the silence at half past eleven on long summer nights as . . . voices echoed across the river . . . sunny summer afternoons picking apples . . . stopping for ice cream . . . conversation and laughter and music and singing . . . as we carried on dreaming in God.” I hope this summer you get to re-collect your life from the busyness of the year and recollect many memories even as you make new ones.

 

Your church will be here, joyfully celebrating the Lord’s Day each week. I’ll be preaching the Sundays of June, then hand over the reigns for a few Sundays in July. All that month will be single 10.30 Sanctuary services. Barry will give the Independence Day message. And George Gillam will bring us the Word from his perspective ministering to youth in North Baton Rouge. Our own youth will be off at camps; the children will encounter a Jerusalem marketplace at VBS; and we’ll lead a summer soccer camp with Abounding Love Ministries. On the last Sunday of July, we’ll have a special recognition of those who have been members of our church for fifty years or more. Who will take the prize for longest membership? Don’t miss the crowning of a new longevity winner! After General Assembly in Detroit, I’ll be in North Carolina for a few weeks, and hope to get a lot of work done on the sequel to Asking Jesus for next Lent. But do know that every day I give thanks for the joy of being your pastor,

Further into the World

 

Your elders have approved $78,400 in grants for seminary students, city ministry and global ministry. This includes helping underwrite a fathering program in North Baton Rouge, a facility for the disabled in Romania and a guest house for missionaries in Malaysia. Through your gifts and our foundation, our reach extends through our city to the world!

 

July Worship: Single 10.30 am Services

 

First Presbyterian Church invites you to attend its combined 10.30 am services each Sunday in July. These single services replace our typical worship schedule blending the styles of Classic Reformed, Contemporary and Chapel Communion worship. We encourage you to invite a friend. There will be no Sunday school.

 

Call for Meeting of the Corporation

 

On behalf of the church trustees, the session calls for a meeting of the Corporation of the First Presbyterian Church of Baton Rouge during worship at 10.30 July 31, 2022. The purpose of the meeting is to act on the recommendation that Amanda Vincent be elected as a trustee of the Corporation, and to engage any other matters of the Corporation. (Active members of the congregation are active members of the Corporation. Only those physically present may vote).