IPC Family E-Update September 29

 There is a lot going on at IPC inspire of COVID-19! Check it all out below. Call the church or the Day School if you have any questions  about anything you read below.

THIS WEEK CLICK HERE for Zoom link for live Zoom meet up with Miss Beth and Stacy, TOMORROW at 5:00 p.m. If you did not purchase a drum kit, you can still participate in our Live Zoom using anything you can find around the house! Pre-registration required to receive secure Zoom link Registration is open for October. (You only have to register once.) We ask that you register so that we can send out a secure Zoom link for those families participating. In addition to the weekly Sunday morning Zoom Virtual Atrium lessons, we will be sending out follow up emails with cultivated materials to reinforce what we have learned on Sundays to all registered families. STARTS NEXT WEEK SAVE THE DATE FOR PARENTS CLICK HERE FOR FAMILY SMALL GROUPS BROCHURE All IPC Day School and church mothers are invited to a discussion of Jen Hatmaker's "Out of the Spin Cycle: Devotions to Lighten Your Mother Load". This group will meet in-person at Highland Hall on the patio. Email Stacy Pulliam for childcare.  IPC DAY SCHOOL The Day School children are getting used to the routine of school. The Three-Year-Olds are learning their colors as well as working on fine motor skills. Every Friday is a different color day and the children come to school dressed in the color of the day. This year each child has their own set of supplies to help keep germs to a minimum!  SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES Did you know that socks are the most requested and often the least donated items at shelters serving the homeless in communities across the country?  During October, we are asking IPC members and friends to donate new socks for men, women and children. We will distribute donations to local shelters as well as to our homeless neighbors sleeping on the street. Your donations will help keep feet warm And dry as cold weather approaches. You can drop socks at the church offices a Monday through Friday or drop in the labeled bin under the covered walkway. Thank you for your generosity! To pack these bags, we need five volunteers on the following dates from 4:30 - 5:30 p.m.: Wednesday, October 7 Wednesday, October 21 Please email Mimi Fullan if you have any questions!

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A Home For Faith Mom's Group

 

All IPC Day School and church mothers are invited to a discussion of Jen Hatmaker's "Out of the Spin Cycle: Devotions to Lighten Your Mother Load". This group will meet in-person at Highland Hall on the patio. Email Stacy Pulliam for childcare.  About Jen Hatmaker's "Out of the Spin Cycle" Book Study: Motherhood sometimes feels like a laundry list of expectations. In this book, Jen Hatmaker takes the words and deeds of Jesus directly from scripture, adds the humor of Mom Life, and offers messages or grace and encouragement. Covering issues like worry, priorities, marriage, money, and the comparison trap, Hatmaker brings Jesus’ message alive in short, to-the-point devotionals for a Mom’s busy life.

Weekly IPC E-Update

 

WELCOME. eUPDATE  PREPARING YOU FOR SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27 WORSHIP BULLETINS  |   LEARN IN CLASS |  CONNECT BY SIGNING UP   MY LOVE FOR YOU IS MOST LASTING OF ALL Dear Friends, as you can imagine, I am filled with many emotions right now as I prepare to retire from IPC. I realize that while it is perfectly natural to think of a sermon or a baptism or pastoral visit as being my “last one” at IPC, this is not the best way to retire.  Instead, I have been focusing on the experiences and images that will be the lasting ones in my heart and mind.   I wish I knew how many miles I had walked down hospital corridors during the thousands of hospital visits I made. Many of these visits remain etched in my memory, but more than the individual visits, the privilege of entering your hospital rooms, standing at your bedside and holding your hands while we prayed is what will remain with me forever.  I will never forget the joy of working with some of the most creative members of IPC and in the community as the labyrinth and prayer garden moved from the desire of one loving, generous couple for the church to have a beautiful place to pray to the lovely reality that it is. Little did we imagine then what a gift it would be to our neighborhood during a pandemic. Many long-time residents as well as passers-by have found refuge and peace there.   So many of my lasting memories are of worship services. Watching the candlelight slowly fill the sanctuary on Christmas Eve as the acolytes pass the light of Christ among you. 68 baptisms, 48 weddings and more memorial services than I can count. Watching the new Dobson organ being constructed and listening with awe as its sound filled the newly renovated sanctuary. The laying on of hands during the ordination of Elders and Deacons.  The privilege of offering the Great Prayer of Thanksgiving and the Words of Institution during the Eucharist.  The joy of hearing every anthem I have heard the choir sing. The special peace of the choral evensong services and the sacred sound of the IPC Camerata. The excellent work of the housekeeping and maintenance staff, many of whom are among the staff members with the longest tenure at IPC, adds to the holiness of our spiritual home. The rest of the staff must be mentioned as well for they are among the finest people I have ever served with. Their commitment to excellence, the attention to detail, a devotion to God, a calling to use their many and varied gifts in selfless ways. Their partnership has meant more to me than I can say.   And, finally, the beauty of your faces as I looked out over the congregation on Sunday mornings and evenings. Your expectant hearts that we ministers, mere mortals, would bring to you the word of God fill us with a fear and trembling that only the Holy Spirit can vanquish. There is more that I could say, but the memories would fill more pages than I am allotted here. Let me just say that my love for you is most lasting of all. Grace and peace,  Lucy STAFFING UPDATE Having just read Lucy’s last words to you, I suspect you are wondering “Who’s minding the store?” My first response, as terse as it sounds is “God.” Although I admit sometimes it feels like God is an absentee landlord when it comes to minding these things, I have faith He is more like an unseen, unheard, and inconspicuous presence who empowers us to help manage things, if we are open to it. In this sense, I believe God has been with the staff at IPC during these crazy COVID days by helping us discover our gifts and our calling in more directed, defined and accountable ways. Through the consulting help of Alison Grizzle, the wisdom of the HR Ministry Team, the support of the Session, the hard work of the staff, and God’s guidance, we have developed plans to “mind the store.” I will outline the details of what’s what in next week’s eUpdate. For now, rest assured that, at least during this COVID-19/interim time, we’ve got things covered in ways that will help connect and energize the programs and people at IPC.  Gratefully,     Steve Lucy has dedicated most of her more than 16 years at IPC to caring to our members when they need it the most. In honor of Lucy’s retirement, we are establishing a Pastor Care and Counseling Assistance Fund in the IPC Foundation to provide pastoral care and counseling for those in need.  To donate, click on the link below and select "Lucy Turner Foundation Fund" from the fund dropdown. Donate to the Fund TWENTY-SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME OUTDOOR WORSHIP | 8:30 AM | RESERVATIONS REQUIRED CLICK HERE Masks required. No childcare or livestream. Download a bulletin for September 20, 2020 at 8:30 am LIVESTREAM WORSHIP | 11 AM Download bulletin for September 20, 2020 at 11 am via livestream.  Livestream Link Prayer of Preparation: O God, I enter the City gate with the blind given back their eyes, with the lame walking again and the deaf hearing, with the lepers made clean, but I am more wonderful than they are, for I am a wandering child come home again, I am a sinner made whole. Amen. ~ Dr. Henry Edmonds Scripture: Philippians 2:1-13 Sermon: "WORKING IT OUT"..... Dr. Steve Goyer, Interim Senior Pastor, preaching. SAVE THE DATE!  THE TABLE 5PM OUTDOOR WORSHIP SERVICE SUNDAY, OCT. 4 Click here for Weekly Update COUNTING OUR BLESSINGS The IPC Stewardship Team is Counting Our Blessings with help from Music & Fine Arts director Dr. Jeff McLelland.  OCTOBER IS SOCKTOBER Did you know that socks are the most requested and often the least donated items to a shelter? During October, we are asking IPC members and friends to donate new socks for men, women and children.  You can drop socks in the labeled bin under the covered walkway. Thank you for your generosity! ~ Rev. Susan Clayton, Director of Community Ministries CLICK HERE to view other ways to serve under "Volunteer Opportunities." PRAYER LIST Prayer list is  available here. To submit a prayer request, click here. BAPTISMS James Barnett Chenoweth IV Son of Megan & James Chenoweth  Grandson of Suzanne & Jim Chenoweth  September 23, 2020 BIRTHS Claire Lakin Lyerly Daughter of Ashley & Michael Lyerly  Sister of Christine Lyerly September 15, 2020 The sympathy of the congregation is extended to Mary Tom Stubbs for the death of her sister, Myrtle Fain Matthews, on September 19, 2020. THE FLOWERS in chancel September 20 were given to the glory of God and in loving memory of Charles Swift Northen III. THE FLOWERS on the War Memorial were given to the glory of God and in loving memory of Rear Admiral Edward Anderson Wilkinson, Jr. United States Navy, an Annapolis graduate, an aviator primarily serving in antisubmarine warfare with retirement in 1990 after 35 years of active duty, the brother of Martha Wilkinson Reeves.. CONNECT WITH US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

WEBSITE COVID- 19 THE WINDOW LIVE STREAM Independent Presbyterian Church 3100 Highland Avenue South Birmingham, Alabama 35205

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