A newsletter of Kanawha United Presbyterian Church CONNECTIONS November 2015

Celebrating the Tiffanys! (See page 3.) Photos from www.kanawha-church.org MY COMMENTARY by Steve Payne A note from our Pastor

IN THIS ISSUE Writing the November newsletter message can be a challenge when it Pastor’s Note ……………..1 comes to deciding what the theme should be. Of course, there is the Spirituality Corner….…...2 Thanksgiving holiday, which always pro- KUPC and the Great War..3 vides many possibilities. And then there is the end of the liturgical year and the The Tiffanys ………………..3 beginning of Advent, similarly replete Church Election ………..…4 with avenues for exploration. This year, however, I decided to take the advice of All Saints Day …………..… 4 one of our Adult Sunday School lessons 2016 Stewardship ……….4 and go in an unorthodox direction, at The Rev. Patterson Lyles least by the standards of the liturgical/ CE and Mission ……………6 secular calendar. Picnic Pics ………………….7 Not that I have ever had much trouble doing that, but I was prompted by my recent blood donation – and as an editorial Calendar..…………………..8 aside, if you can give blood, please consider doing so, because the need is always great. Lying there on the cot, waiting for the 1009 Virginia St., East unit to be completed, I was reminded of the title of an old hymn Charleston, WV 25301 once sung with regularity, “There is Power in the Blood.” To be (304) 342-6558 www.kanawha-church.org honest, I’ve never much cared for it, but there is an undeniable “Like” us on Facebook truth in the title. (Cont’d. on page 2.) Follow @KanawhaChurch on Twitter A note from our Pastor (cont’d.)

There is power in the blood, for it is a vital ele- different components coursing through our veins ment of the human body, watering all our cells and was shared by the man we call Jesus of Nazareth. organs with its life-sustaining essence. Like the rest He was human just like us, something that is of our bodies, we usually don’t pay it much atten- often eclipsed by our affirmation that he was God tion, until you get a paper cut, or slice a finger in from God, Light from Light, in the beginning with the kitchen, or some other minor accident occurs. the Father. Of course, our worship of Jesus as Lord As a common phrase puts it, we all bleed red, a is an irreducible part of our faith, yet that affirma- reminder that beyond all the differences of skin tion cannot be separated from his humanity. Be- color, nationality, etc., at heart (no pun intended) cause Jesus was one of us, he knows our struggles the human race is one. and temptations, the joy of friendship and the pain Some well-known lines from Shakespeare’s The of betrayal, what it is to sweat and bleed, to feel Merchant of Venice give voice to this truth: “I am a tired and alone. He can help us at all times and in Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, all places, not just because of his “Godness,” but organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? also because of his humanness and the power of the fed with the same food, hurt with the same weap- blood that unites us, now and in the life to come. ons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the “For we do not have a high priest who is unable same means, warmed and cooled by the same win- to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have ter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, one who in every respect has been tested as we do we not bleed?” are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the While the aforementioned hymn focuses on the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may re- blood shed by our Lord on the cross, there is an- ceive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” other meaning that I think is equally profound – – Hebrews 4:15-16 the fact that the same combination of some 4,000 Grace and Peace, Patterson

EVANGELISM CORNER People are tired of words, especially now. They hear them all the time, filling the ai