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Compiled by the Faith Newsletter editor: Burt Pearson
Contents:
From your Pastor
The Altar
Change of Address
Women of Faith
But My Work Did Not Die
Website Statistics and News
From the Decorating Committee
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From your Pastor |
The other day I was thinking about the well-known saying, '"time flies when you're having fun," when I realized that we have been enjoying our newly renovated sanctuary for about a year now. It doesn't seem all that long ago that we first began the project. I trust that you are enjoying the new facility as much as I am. During the planning phase of the renovation, the leadership tried to take
into consideration all the potential impacts to our worship services and the overall use of our facility. For example, a main concern of ours was to prevent the loss of any seating, and even gain a few seats if possible. We were not able to accomplish that goal, however, because our new chairs, though very nice, were larger than our old ones. Therefore we lost at about one chair per row.
Another space problem we faced was the pulpit area and choir seating. This area needed to be larger, with full access from the floor, in order to accommodate our children's programs and other events. This change, though necessary, made the space for the communion table (where we always placed it before) much smaller. Therefore, I moved the table to the north side of the room with the baptismal font, and eventually into the back room until communion Sunday. Now, as you can see, it is back where it always was, and we have made adjustments to the seating to make room. Some of you probably do not really care where we put the table as long as it is available for communion Sunday. Others have voiced concerns about the table's absence-some with great passion. The Session, having discussed these concerns raised over the communion table, has decided to bring the table back out for the following two reasons, which have nothing to do with anyone's preference.
1) We believe that the Word and the Sacraments (Baptism and Communion) represent the whole gospel. The pulpit, with the Holy Bible, symbolizes the written and the spoken word. The Word of God, of course, is the spoken gospel through which we are saved upon hearing it and upon Holy Spirit applying it to our lives. All of Scripture points to the Person and the Work of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Baptism is a sign and seal of the covenant of grace, of our in-grafting into Christ, of regeneration, of remission of sins, and of our giving up unto God, through Jesus Christ, to walk in newness of life. [WCF 28.1] This sign represents the blessings of the covenant, and is a means of grace to the believer. The baptismal font, though it has no intrinsic value or sacred significance (although it does have sacred significance if it is in use), has symbolic value and significance in the worship service, and therefore we want it to be visible in the worship service even when it is not being used.
Communion is a sacrament in which those who worthily partake (through faith in Christ alone) spiritually feed upon the body and blood of Christ to their spiritual nourishment and growth in grace. Through this sacrament believers have our communion with Christ confirmed, and we testify to, and renew our thankfulness to God, along with our mutual love and fellowship with each other.
Although the communion table itself has no intrinsic value or sacred significance, (unless of course the elements are on it) has symbolic value and significance in the worship service, and therefore we want it to be visible in the worship service even when it is not in use.
2) The Session did not, nor would ever, want to give the impression that Communion is unimportant, or less important than Baptism. (In fact, speaking only for myself, I think Communion is so significant that I wish we observed it every week, although I was not raised in a tradition that observed it that frequently.)
Namely, both sacraments are visual representations of the gospel, and are a means of grace for our spiritual nourishment and growth in grace.
In summary, the pulpit, with the Holy Bible, symbolize the written and the spoken Word. The Pulpit is elevated and placed so that it symbolizes the dominance of God's Word in our worship. The Lord's Table, symbol of Communion, occupies a place of honor. Note, however, that it is not placed on a platform or other elevation. It is in the midst of the people and on their level, signifying that God's presence in this sacrament is with the people. Also the table is not an altar-there is no altar. "Christ comes to His Church in Word and in sacrament. Let me add that strictly speaking, the table should be, and should look like, a table. Moreover, only those things pertaining to the Lord's Supper should be on the table -in other words, this is not a place for candles, flowers, crosses, or collection plates.
I could not possibly get into a lengthy explanation of Reformed worship in this short newsletter article. I hope this article has been helpful. I wrote it in the spirit of love, in an attempt to address any concerns, and clear up any possible confusion that may have resulted from the table's disappearance and reappearance.
The arrangement of the place for worship, as well as the form of the worship service, does make a theological statement. At Faith, we aim to be theologically sound in every thing we do. I will say in closing, that if we really wanted to present traditional Reformed worship, we would need a significantly different facility than we currently have--just something to think about in the future.
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Grace and Peace,
Pastor Adams |
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The Altar |
An altar, bimmah" is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices and votive offerings are made for religious purposes, or some other sacred place where ceremonies take place. Altars are usually found at a shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship. Today they are used particularly in the religions of Buddhism, Hinduism, Shinto, Taoism, as well as Christianity, LaVeyan Satanism, Thelema, Neopaganism, and in Ceremonial magic. Many historical faiths also made use of them, including Greek paganism and Norse paganism.
The first altar recorded in the Hebrew Bible is that erected by Noah (Genesis 8:20). Altars
were erected by Abraham (Genesis 12:7; 13:4; 22:9), by Isaac (Genesis 26:25), by Jacob
(33:20; 35:1-3), and by Moses (Exodus 17:15.
Alters (Hebrew, "a place of slaughter or
sacrifice") in the Hebrew Bible were typically made of earth (Exodus 20:24) or unwrought stone (20:25). Altars were generally erected in conspicuous places (Genesis 22:9; Ezekiel 6:3; 2 Kings 23:12; 16:4; 23:8.)
In Protestant churches from Reformed, Baptist, Congregational, and Non-denominational traditions, it is very common for the altar to have on it only an open Bible and a pair of candlesticks. Many of these groups use a very simple wooden table, known as a Communion Table, adorned perhaps with only a linen cloth, and would avoid any suggestion of a sacrifice being offered. Such Communion Tables often bear the inscription: "Do This in Remembrance of Me" (Luke 22:19, 1 Corinthians 11:24), indicating the belief in Holy Communion being a memorial rather than a sacrament. Such a table is normally not consecrated in any manner, and may be temporary, being moved into place only when there is a Communion Service. Many Protestant denominations have no altar at all, the sanctuary being dominated only by the pulpit.
As the article suggests we have only a Communion Table, which we move for not only room but for visual effect as well.
What is vitally significant is that in the future temple of God there is no need for an altar of burnt offering, since atonement is now complete and the re-establishment of a sacrifice would violate all the canons of NT thought. The atonement of the great altar of burnt offering is no more. It has been accomplished once and for all by the sacrifice of God’s Son.
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Respectfully submitted by;
Carl E. Thornton Jr. |
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Change of Address |
Mrs. Seeta Richardson, who formerly attended our worship services, has been moved recently from the Senior care facility on Crockett Blvd. to The Autumn House which specializes in Alzheimers patient care. If you would like to visit or send a card, her new address is:
Mrs. Seeta Richardson
The Autumn House
7999 Spyglass Hill Road
Viera, Fl. 32940 |
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Women of Faith |
Please mark you calendars for Saturday, September 26th for our Fall Prayer Breakfast
It will take place in the Ministry Center from 9:00 - 10:30 AM
A sign-up sheet will be available, but just come morning of, if the Spirit moves you. Our topic will be, "My Heart - Christ's Home. " It is a little booklet by Robert Boyd Munger Everyone will get one for their private devotions.
Looking forward to seeing everyone. Please email me with any suggestions you have for our group.
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In His Love,
Linda Seiffer |
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But My Work Did Not Die |
Please make sure to mark Saturday, October 24, on your calendars for the annual Faith Presbyterian Reformation Celebration. This year there will be an additional reason to attend. The children of the church are working on a special play, “But My Work Did Not Die”, which they will be presenting after the meal that evening. They are learning about five of the leaders of the Reformation movement these next weeks and would like to share.
Please come out and learn something about the men (and their wives) whom God used hundreds of years ago who are part of our faith legacy and still making a difference today. Make this a special reason to invite your friends and family.
If you have renaissance-type costumes that you could loan for the play, I’d really appreciate it. Additionally, any black robes would come in handy. And finally, if you’d like to help with designing and building some minimal sets, I’d really appreciate it.
In His Love -
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Marilou Richardson
453-5191 or 960-6772 |
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Website Statistics and News |
Statistics
For the month of August (through August 27), our website received 15842 hits, 823 visits and 305 unique visits.
Website "hits" is always the larger number and is the number that people use frequently to bolster the view of a website's importance and performance. On occasions, I'll either hear on the news, or read in an article that "such and such site gets fifty thousand hits a day - fifty thousand! (gasp)". I begin to think, well ok, but how many visitors does it get?
Website hits are very different than website visitors. Hits don't accurately describe the number
of visitors viewing the website - they are actually just a mathematical tabulation of the many requests made to the website server. Say you visit the website and view the Welcome and Sermon pages, and download a sermon - you just generated 3 hits. Not only are requests made for website pages, but also for all the images and other files associated with viewing a single page. Therefore, one page view could actually result in tens of hits, and, if a single user visits many pages on the website, this visit could generate many hits. This can excite some website owners, but this number is not a reliable indictor of how many people have actually visited the website.
What about the remaining two terms: "visits" and "unique visits"? The term that we want to focus on is the amount of "unique" visits that are generated by our website. A unique visit will measure the number of "new" people visiting the website and is based on their IP address, browser, and operating system. Let's say that you visit the website for the very first time, the "unique" counter is incremented by one. Also, because you are a visitor, the "visitor" counter is incremented by one. If you visit the site later in the day or at any other time during the same month you are tallied simply as a "visitor". Each month the statistical counters are reset and all information is cleared. So, although you were a visitor previously, when you visit again in a new month, your first visit is counted as ''unique''. Therefore, the number of unique visits gives us a much better idea of the amount of new traffic our website is generating, and the number of visits provides the amount of repeat traffic
Our church website received 823 total visitors (unique and returning) during the month of August, of which 305 were unique.
Now that you know the difference between a a "hit", "visitor", and a "unique visitor", let me share a snapshot of our website's statistics for the year:
Month |
Unique
Visitors |
Total
Visitors |
Hits |
| JAN |
266 |
584 |
15569 |
| FEB |
287 |
627 |
24112 |
| MAR |
304 |
713 |
27999 |
| APR |
314 |
733 |
16073 |
| MAY |
272 |
695 |
16489 |
| JUN |
261 |
649 |
16286 |
| JUL |
349 |
874 |
15842 |
| AUG |
305 |
823 |
15842 |
What pages do people view the most? It should be no surprise that the "Home" page is the most viewed. The following predominant pages are listed in their order of viewing: "Home", "Sermons", "Calendar", "Prayer Chain", Member Login, "Directory", "Deacons" and "Welcome Letter".
Based on hourly statistics, did you know that the most active times of the day are: 8am, 6pm and 8pm?
Upcoming News
Our church Elders have been circulating books and audio among themselves and the deacons for spiritual growth. Often, the only time they get to comment on this material is during their scheduled meetings. They are looking for a way to provide feedback and communicate their thoughts and comments in a timely manner. As a result, they are looking into using the website as a tool to promote this dialog and exchange of ideas.
A website forum, or message board, is a web application managing user-generated content, called "posts", for online discussions. A post is a user submitted message enclosed into a block containing the user's details and the date and time it was submitted.
The "forum" will be open to all who view the website, but unless you are logged in as a member
the forum messages will only be able to be seen and read. Logged in members, will also be able to add, edit or delete their own posts.
So, a forum addition to the website is being designed now. As the website forum takes shape and gains approval, look for a future article that explains its use.
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Al Spengler,
Webmaster |
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From the Decorating Committee |
Many may not know that there is a Faith Decorating Committee. We would like to share what our duties and responsibilities are and to ask for your input and cooperation.
Some history… With the completion of the beautiful remodeling job, the Session felt it was important to ensure that the sanctuary maintained a worshipful atmosphere, in line with the majestic, holy Lord we serve. With that in mind, they requested a committee be set up to oversee the decoration of the sanctuary and narthex areas. Marilou Richardson was asked to chair the committee. She accepted, not because she was competent to make any decisions on her own, but because she knew that Faith was blessed with talented persons who could work together to ensure a worshipful setting.
We held our first committee meeting September 13, 2008, and started the planning for Advent and Christmas. I hope you all agree that the greening of the church last Christmas time was tasteful and drew attention to His birth and our worship of Him who is worthy. We also decorated for Lent and Easter with the same ends in mind – always to assist in our worship.
The committee has its plans approved by the Session and currently our Session member is Tony Chambers. Additional members include Susie Adams, Jean Poole, Liz Spengler, Melissa Banks and Amanda Richardson. Ursula Acker, Linda Seiffer, Tracie Holmes and Dawn Gallogly have also served. If you are interested in serving, please feel free to call me (Mari @ 453-5191 or 960-6772) or just attend the meetings.
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Finally, we request your assistance. Before moving anything in the narthex or sanctuary, please contact Tony Chambers, Jean Poole or Mari Richardson for approval. Both areas are the responsibility of the committee and the committee needs to be involved in any alterations. We will definitely work with your requests and try to ensure that your needs are met while the goals of the committee are maintained. Thanks so much.
Our next meeting is following Sunday worship, September 6 in the choir room. See the bulletin for future meeting notices.
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In Him -
Marilou Richardson |
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