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HFPC's Christian Education: |
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Come, develop into a small group that share together, pray together and grow together in Christ
Traditional Adult Class
Jim Thurston is leading an eight week study on the book of Mark. This educational opportunity will continue through Novem- ber 22, 2009 in the Library after our worship service. The class will continue again early next year.
DsTny Discipleship Discussion (3D)
DsTnY Discipleship Discussion (3D). 3D begins with a three song music set followed by a prayer, short message, and a one half hour discussion.
Children and Historic First Presbyterian Church:
At Historic First Presbyterian Church, we affirm that God lovingly created all children, and faithfully abides in them. We want our church to be a place where children experience in special ways the God who is with them every day, in every place. We also want Historic First Presbyterian Church to be a place where children discover what it means for them, as children, to live in God’s way of compassion and justice as Jesus did.
Worshiping Together:
All ages worship together at HFPC. At our 9:15 a.m. worship service, we invite children to worship God, just as we invite youth and adults to worship God. And we believe that children worship God as children, not as “little adults!” Whether they are coloring a piece of paper, leafing through a songbook, counting the number of flowers in the sanctuary, or standing in the aisle to get a better view of the bread being broken, children are indeed taking it all in, and they have profound gifts to share with the adults in the congregation. May we continue to grow into a worshiping body that receives and honors the gifts of all children, no matter how messy or unpredictable or unruly those gifts may be!
Growing in Faith:
On Sunday mornings, from 10:30-11:15 A.M., children ages 3 years through 4th grade are invited to grow in their Christian faith through our children’s educational program.
Encountering the Resurrected One: I wonder where a child might see herself in the story of Mary Magdalene weeping at the tomb? I wonder where a child might see himself along the road to Emmaus?
The Good Shepherd: The Good Shepherd leads us, and invites us to feast at the table of life. Surely Jesus experienced God as a good shepherd, and invites us into the same relationship with God.
The Ascension: I wonder why the early followers of Jesus told a story about Jesus ascending into the clouds? I wonder what the story means for us today? I wonder what the story means for the children in our midst?
Pentecost: Pentecost is about power! The symbols of Pentecost are wind and fire. As adults, we tend to want to “tame” the Holy. May the children remind us that God is a Pentecost God, a God who empowers and who turns things upside down.
Baptism: We belong to God, the God whose loving power we describe as “resurrection.” Through baptism, we are reminded that we belong to God. Through baptism, we say NO to everything that gets in the way of our life with God. Through baptism, we say YES to God’s ways of compassion and justice.
A Prayer for Children by Ina Hughes
We pray for children
who sneak popsicles before supper,
who erase holes in math workbooks,
who can never find their shoes.
And we pray for those
who stare at photographers from behind barbed wire,
who can’t bound down the street in a new pair of sneakers,
who never “counted potatoes,”
who are born in places we wouldn’t be caught dead,
who never go to the circus,
who live in an X-rated world.
We pray for children
who bring us sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandelions,
who hug us in a hurry and forget their lunch money.
And we pray for those
who never get dessert,
who have no safe blankets to drag behind them,
who watch their parents watch them die,
who can’t find any bread to steal,
who don’t have any rooms to clean up,
whose pictures aren’t on anybody’s dresser,
whose monsters are real.
We pray for children
who spend all their allowances before Tuesday,
who throw tantrums in the grocery store and pick at their food,
who like ghost stories,
who shove dirty clothes under the bed and never rinse out the tub,
who get visits from the tooth fairy,
who don’t like to be kissed in front of the carpool,
who squirm in church or temple and scream in the phone,
whose tears we sometimes laugh at and whose smiles can make us cry.
And we pray for those
whose nightmares come in the daytime,
who will eat anything,
who have never seen a dentist,
who aren’t spoiled by anybody,
who go to bed hungry and cry themselves to sleep,
who live and move, but have no being.
We pray for children who want to be carried
and for those who must,
for those we never give up on and for those
who don't get a second chance,
for those we smother and for those
who will grab the hand of anybody kid enough to offer it.
[The prayer was written following the Oklahoma City bombing by Ina Hughes, columnist for the Knoxville News-Sentinel.]