Weekly Schedule
Sunday Worship:
8:45 Chapel Worship 11:00 am - Sanctuary
9:45 - Church school for all ages
Sign Language Interpreter
REVIVE! Contemporary Worship
2nd & 4th Saturday
5:00 p.m.
Welcome to Harvey Browne Presbyterian Church!
A Community of believers making a difference by making disciples
Join us on Sunday, January 29 as we celebrate the 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time with Worship at 8:45 a.m. in the Chapel and at 11:00 a.m. in the Sanctuary. Rev. John Roper will be preaching on the following scriptures: Mark 1:21-28;Psalm 111. 9:45 a.m. Sunday school for all ages.
Saturday, January 28 - Revive Worship 5:00 p.m. Chapel, Rev. Bill Williamson will be preaching. 4:30 p.m. Fellowship in the Chapel hallway. Fellowship continues following worship at Bearno's on Westport Road.
Financial Peace University - Classes start on Wednesday, January 25 at 6:30 p.m. in Room 209. Cost is $99.00, you can register by emailing Angie Schulte at hbfpu@yahoo.com or call the church office. Free childcare will be provided for those who register. Class will not meet on February 22 or during Spring break.
PYOCA Youth Winter Retreat - Friday, February 10 - Sunday, February 12. Cost $60.00 Registrations due in the church office by Friday, February 3, 2012. PYOCA Registration Form HB 2012 Convenant HB Medical Form
2012 Mission Trip to San Jose, Costa Rica June 23 -30 Forms are available in the church office. 2012 Mission Trip Registration Forms
Sunday, February 26 - One service only at 11:00 a.m. 9:00 a.m. Lenten breakfast in Emory Hall. Ministry Overview will be held in the Sanctuary following the 11:00 a.m. worship.
Montreat Youth Conference - June 10 - 16, 2012 - Forms are now available on the Youth Connection tab and in the church office.
Vacation Bible School - July 10 - 12, 2012. Watch for more information.
Jubilee! (All Church Sunday School)
9:30 - 10:00 Food, Fellowship, and Faith - in Eline Hall.
10:00 - 10:40 Small Groups and Sunday School for all ages.
10:40 - 10:45 Pick Up children from Sunday School in Eline Hall
Church office Hours - Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Revive Worship Service 2nd and 4th Saturday's of the month at 5:00 p.m. in Chapel.
Prayer Group meets on Monday's for prayer at 9:30 in the Prayer Room
For updates on the Capital Campaign - please visit www.harveybrownespirit.com.
Please visit our Special Events Tab at the top for more information.
The Radical Truth of the Gospel
Thirty years ago an Episcopal chaplain told me this story. He said that one Sunday morning he walked into his son’s room expecting him to be getting ready to go to church. Instead he found his son still in his PJ’s playing on the floor. He told him to get dressed. The little boy said, "But daddy, I don’t want to go to church." "Well," his dad replied, "you have to, so get dressed." The little boy then asked, "Why do you go to church daddy?" The chaplain said he paused, thought for a moment and then answered, "Because I have to."
Clearly thirty years ago a lot more people felt they had to go to church. Today the percentage of those attending church is dropping, even in the Baptist denomination! We Presbyterians are sometimes blamed for our numbers dropping because we are such a "liberal" denomination. The thinking goes that people really don’t want to be in a denomination that allows women to preach and gays and lesbians to seek ordination. But the Baptists are not guilty of either of those practices, which makes one wonder if there aren’t other reasons people are not choosing church as their Sunday morning destination. Perhaps people outside the church just find the good news of the gospel impossible to believe! Or as Michael Jinkins, the president of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, suggests, it could be that those of us inside the church lack to the courage to proclaim the radical truth of the gospel.
I think of the angel coming to a young teenager named Mary to announce news that was impossible to believe. She said, "Here I am, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." Mary did not ask to be chosen. We don’t ask to be chosen either. The radical truth of the gospel is we don’t go to church because we have to; we go because we, like Mary, have been chosen. We can fight it and stay in our pajamas, or we can do as Mary did and say, "Let it be." If we do as Mary did, then the miracle of Christmas not only reshapes our world it also reshapes our lives.
John