All Services Halted at MPC

We all know about Noah and the flood. The rain that rained for 40 days and 40 nights. The flood that covered every living thing on the earth. When the rain ceased, I imagine everyone walked outside and blinked into the sun. And then, they waited for the waters to recede. It took 150 days. On the 17th day of the 7th month, we're told, Noah's ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. By the time the earth had dried sufficient for Noah, his family, his weary horde of animals to disembark, one year and 27 days had passed.

We here at Marshall Presbyterian have a new compassion for this. It has only been a little over a week since the flooding of Marshall as well as many communities throughout Western North Carolina. But the recovery will be long, very long. 

Our church will be closed for the foreseeable future. We will not be having Sunday worship services, Gentle Faith classes, or choir practice at the church; community events will not be held until our church has been restored to a safe place. 

The Process of Discernment

As you all know, we are in the process of discernment regarding our next pastor at Marshall Presbyterian. This process is uniquely Presbyterian and prayerful.  To that end, we requested our transitional pastor, Rev. Merriam Alexander, to write some words to help us all better understand this process. Currently, we are at the very beginning stages: we will shortly be appointing the Mission Study Team, which is the very first tangible step in the process of embarking upon our Search. Merri wrote the following letter to our congregation, shared with you all below.

As you will read, the primary action we are asking for at this time is "to be diligent in prayer for the work of the Session, the Mission Study Team, and the Pastor Nominating Committee members." Prayer is an action step, and one that we must not minimize or skip over. "Nothing to do but pray," is often what we say when we feel powerless to take any action. But prayer is an action, a very powerful one indeed. Please join us as we continue to pray for God to lead us in discernment. We promise to keep you all updated as we move through this journey together.

July 25, 2024

Dear Friends in Christ,

Thank you for your gracious and warm welcome as your part-time transitional pastor at Marshall Presbyterian Church. It has been a joy for me to get to know you a bit as a congregation, to work with your outstanding Session, and to enjoy learning about the ministry here through our Sandwich Session Sundays we’ve enjoyed so far.

One of the burning questions on everybody’s mind is about finding your next pastor. As Presbyterians, we have a process which we follow in our pastoral search that does take some time but is well worth it in the long run. In fact, these “Sandwich Sessions” Sunday conversations have been our first step in that direction. The information gathered as people answered the questions when we met will be valuable to the Mission Study Team when they begin to write the church’s Mission Study Report (MSR).  That document describes Marshall Presbyterian Church’s ministry as you look to the future and begin to discern God’s call to this congregation for the coming decades of ministry. Once the Mission Study Report is written and approved by the Session, it goes to the Presbytery of Western North Carolina for approval. 

Our next step will be for the congregation to elect a Pastor Nominating Committee (PNC). It is the PNC that carries out the actual search for the pastor on behalf of the congregation. Their first task is to develop what is called the church’s Ministry Discernment Profile (MDP), which when completed and approved by the Session goes to the Presbytery of WNC for approval. When approved, the MDP is submitted to our PCUSA office in Louisville, KY where it is matched by computer with the personal discernment profiles of ministers who are active call seekers. The PNC will carefully review all the forms it receives, and the members will discern together the candidates they wish to talk with by zoom or in-person and will set aside those they believe are not a good fit for MPC. That process will continue until the PNC finds the right person God is calling to be the next pastor for the Marshall Presbyterian congregation. At that point the PNC notifies the Presbytery of WNC of this find. The Presbytery does its work of due diligence, background checks, and examining the candidate on their journey of faith, faith statement, theology, polity, bible, etc. Once the Marshall PNC receives the go-ahead from the Presbytery of WNC, the Session will call a congregational meeting to recommend to the congregation the candidate the PNC believes is the person God has called to serve the Marshall Presbyterian congregation as you move forward in your ministry here. The congregation will vote on the recommendation of the PNC to call the candidate. Assuming the vote is affirmative (and hopefully unanimous), the call is officially extended to the pastor, who is installed as your new pastor. 

The steps of our search process. We are only beginning the first step! 

As you might imagine, this process can take a bit of time! Generally, it takes at least a year and can sometimes take longer. It really depends on how quickly the Mission Study Team does its work and how quickly the Pastor Nominating Committee does its work. 

The most important thing the congregation can do during this process is to be diligent in prayer for the work of the Session, the Mission Study Team, and the Pastor Nominating Committee members. The work they do is vital to the life and future of this congregation’s ministry in Marshall and Madison County. 

I hope this is a helpful description for the work that is ahead. I am delighted to talk with you at any time about the process and answer questions you may have. In the meantime, we will still worship together, study together, pray together, sing together, and serve God together!

Grace and peace, 

Merri

August Newsletter

This is the season of plenty: plenty of fresh produce pouring from our gardens, plenty of daylight in which to harvest and put up for the distant dark days to come, plenty of work to be done in our yards and gardens and homes, plenty of heat, plenty of rain, plenty of stinging insects, plenty of lightning bugs if only we can stay awake long enough to see them rising against the night sky. It can be exhausting to have so much. 

But the days are already growing shorter, the fireflies have dimmed, children will return to school on the 19th of this month. Let's remember that these days will not always be with us:    

Teach us to number our days

so we can have a wise heart. 

(Psalm 90:12)

Photo by Melinda Young Stuart, "Misty Mountains"

Late summer in Big Ivy, far northeast Buncombe County

Download your newsletter here: August 2024 Newsletter

Gentle Faith: Who Is the Presbyterian Church USA Today?

Standing on our previous discussion "What Does it Mean to be a Presbyterian?" we now turn to exciting new ways that we are joining in community and worship. Each Sunday morning at 10:00, we'll be learning about new ways that today's Presbyterian church has innovated, created and re-created, practiced being the church in a secular world, and expanding traditional modes of worship to include all God's people. We'll be led in discussion by Rev. Merri Alexander. Please join us! All are welcome. 

July Newsletter - Hot off the Presses!

Time to check your emails, or click on the link below for our new monthly newsletter, "I Lift Mine Eyes..." That title will be familiar to any reader of the Psalms, for it is the start of the beloved Psalm 121: I l lift mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help? My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth." 

The idea behind the title is to evoke the beautiful mountains in which our town and our church building is nestled, somewhat closely, against. But it's also an invitation to recall the remainder of that verse, which reminds us that our help comes not from tangible things we can see and touch, not from politicians or financial securities, not from nations or states, but from the mysterious, all-loving, all powerful creator of all that is and ever has been, all that ever will be, seen and unseen. We make our plans and schedules---indeed, you'll find many of them carefully noted in this newsletter!---but ultimately we are here to serve our Lord and our neighbors in ways both large and small, and to love one another as we are loved. 

"Blue Ridge Splendor" - painting by Pat Gower, currently on display at Zuma's coffeeshop

Download your newsletter here: July Newsletter

 

The "Sandwich Sessions" have begun!

On Sunday June 2, we kicked off the "Sandwich Sessions," a series of church-wide conversations we're having regarding who Marshall Presbyterian has been, who we are currently, and who we envision becoming in the future. We're engaging in these discussions as a vital part of the process of discerning who might be our next pastor. You can see from the photos that it's not all hard work!

Sandwich Sessions will be held on the first Sunday of every month following the 11:00 worship service. Join us for our next session, July 7. You don't have to bring a thing: sandwich makings, soup, and sides will be provided!

Introducing a new MPC monthly newsletter!

This is the first of what we hope will be a monthly newsletter from Marshall Presbyterian. Let us know what you think!

I Lift Mine Eyes - June 2024

What does it mean to be Presbyterian?

Questions are a valuable part of our faith journey as we seek to understand more clearly who we are as Christians. Ours is a “faith seeking understanding” as the classic definition of theology suggests. The nature of our faith to impels us to search for answers to our questions. We are people who seek to grow in our knowledge of who God is, what God has done in Jesus Christ and what it means to be Christian in the 21st century.

People arrive in Presbyterian pews from a variety of faith traditions and Christian traditions with great questions such as: What do Presbyterians believe? What is the “Reformed Tradition” and what beliefs are essential? What practices do Presbyterians share with other Christian churches? What is the authority of the Bible and how is it lived out in everyday situations? How do beliefs about God, Jesus Christ, the Spirit, and the church affect my values and decision making? 

These are among the questions we will explore in the “Gentle Faith” discussion at Marshall Presbyterian Church on Sunday mornings at 10:00 beginning April 7*. The door is open, the coffee is hot, and all are welcome!  Please join the discussion.

*Please note: MPC will be sharing services with Walnut Presbyterian, at Walnut, on Sunday April 21, so no Gentle Faith class will be held on this day. 

Welcoming Rev. Merri Alexander as our Interim Minister

Since the retirement of Rev. Melissa, we at Marshall Presbyterian have been enjoying hearing from a range of excellent ministers. Honestly, it's been invigorating to receive the Good News of the Gospel in so many different "dialects," since every minister has their own voice, their own preaching styles. We're now ready to enter the next phase of our church life together. 

We're delighted to announce that Rev. Merri Alexander has accepted the charge to shepherd us through the process of searching for a permanent pastor. She'll be leading us in worship on Palm Sunday, and again on Easter Sunday, before formally starting on April 1. Please join us in welcoming her to our congregation, and our Madison County community! 

One of the first things she told us is that God has already chosen our next pastor. We can't help but think that Holy Spirit has led us to find Merri as our interim pastor as well. 

"I’m convinced without a doubt that God has already chosen your next pastor. The trip you’re on is to journey towards that person. That person has no idea yet that they’ve been chosen to be your minister." 

Merri Alexander is a retired minister member of Western North Carolina Presbytery and currently serves as the chairperson of the Committee on Preparation for Ministry. Most recently specializing in transitional ministry, Merri has served congregations in North Carolina and Tennessee as they journeyed through changes in pastoral leadership. Prior to entering pastoral ministry, Merri served over a decade as a vice president at Montreat Conference Center responsible for adult conferences, partnership development, and Sunday worship. Merri holds degrees from the Southeastern Center for Photographic Studies, St. Andrews University, and Union Presbyterian Seminary. 

Join us Easter Sunday with musical guests Newfound Gap

 Please join us for our Easter Service on Sunday, March 31 at 11:00. We'll be led in worship by Rev. Merri Alexander, and special music will be provided by siblings (who also happen to be award-winning musicians) Bayla, Sylvie, and Judah Davis who perform together under the name Newfound Gap. Some of you might remember them from the Christmas Concert Fundraiser for Neighbors in Need, where they brought the house down! Others may have heard them play at venues including Merlefest, The Earl Scruggs Festival, Folkmoot, Woodsongs, The Mountain Dance and Folk Festival, and many more. 

We're very excited to welcome them back to Marshall Presbyterian. 

Taizé Services during Lent

Gather together Sunday evenings, at 5:00 p.m., through March 24  for quiet, meditative Taizé  services.

Taizé is a simple, meditative form of worship that prompts us to dwell deeply on Christ’s presence—around and within us.  It’s based on an ecumenical style of worship developed in the 1940s by the Taizé community, located in eastern France, in Burgundy, among rolling hills covered with vineyards.  This service is comprised of sung prayers, music, silence, and prayers.