Eusebia Presbyterian Church

09/04/2026

I hope you can join us for the great fundraiser for A Place to Stay!

09/03/2026

Dear Eusebia Facebook Friend,

I hope that your week is going well.
A few weeks ago Christy Martin, a dear friend of Eusebia (and mine), shared on her Facebook that this September is the 25th anniversary of the events of 9/11. In her post, Christy asked folks to share about where they were and how they felt as that evil tragedy took place. I shared about my inability to comprehend the deaths of so many, played out for all the world to see on television. I shared about the following evening, during a called Wednesday night worship service at the church I was serving in Cleveland, TN, when I was able to read from Psalm 46 only in a mere whisper, that I could barely speak the words, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble.”
Then, a couple weeks after reading and sharing on that Facebook post, I read an article from one of my favorite writers (and one I often quote), Cameron Trimble, who writes daily meditations on her Piloting Faith website. In that article, as she talks about the long and fruitful relationship between the United States and Canada, she references a small town in Canada that hosted many people during 9/11. That small town is Gander, Newfoundland. And as fate or luck or something more would have it, I had just picked up a book about the events around 9/11 in Gander. That book had been recommended by someone else, a church member at Highland, on her Facebook post.
The book is entitled The Day the World Came To Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland. When the realization arose that the events of 9/11 were acts of terrorism, the US government ordered the grounding of all aircraft, and the US was made a no-fly zone for any incoming flights. That included about 400 international flights who were heading to the US. Unable to land in the US, about 250 planes were diverted to Canadian airports. 38 of those planes, carrying over 6000 passengers, landed in Gander, Newfoundland, whose population was barely 10,000. One year after 9/11, a writer flew to Gander, to talk with the folks of Gander, as well as talking with many of the passengers who had flown to Gander. The result of these conversations is this book, written by Jim Defede.
Defede shares in his introduction, “For the better part of a week, nearly every man, woman, and child in Gander and the surrounding smaller towns…stopped what they were doing so they could help. They placed their lives on hold for a group of strangers and asked nothing in return.” Community centers, churches, and homes were opened up, rides were given, food and drink were provided, travelling pets were cared for. I am afraid if I start giving examples of some of the remarkable expressions of hospitality that were shown, I won’t quit writing. What a wonderful book, and what a wonderful reminder that even in times of tragedy, the goodness of people arises. As the time gets closer to the 25th anniversary of 9/11, and we are reminded once again of the horror of that day, and the horrible reactions that followed, I encourage you to read about Gander, Newfoundland.
I finished this wonderful book last week, as I was also preparing for my sermon this past Sunday. One of the Greek words in the long list of Greek words that the apostle Paul lifts up in Romans 12 is the Greek word philoxenia. Philos means “friend” and refers to the kind of love that one has for a dear friend. Xenos means “stranger”. Philoxenia literally means “love of the stranger”, we translate it as “hospitality.” In Romans 12, Paul is reminding the church of its call to practice genuine love, without hypocrisy, and the doing of hospitality is one expression of such genuine love.
Where in our community, where in our nation, where in our world might there be strangers to whom we the church are called to practice hospitality? Strangers descending upon us by thousands might not happen as it did in Gander, but strangers in need of comfort and rest and care and friendship are very much among us. May God open our eyes for ways for us to practice hospitality.
Words to think on.

As for the goings-on at Eusebia in the near future, this Sunday is the first Sunday of the month of September. And the first Sunday means recognizing September birthdays, celebrating communion in worship, and gathering after worship for a meal together in the fellowship hall.
Another important first for this first Sunday is that Maurice is restarting the adult Sunday school class, at 10:30am, with a video discussion series, “Reading Scripture Together.”
And yet another first for this first Sunday is a new food item for CROSS. September’s food item is rice.
Also, there are still tickets available for the Blessing Bowl fundraiser for A Place to Stay, which will take place on Friday, September 18 at Monte Vista Baptist Church in Maryville. Which church-Eusebia or Highland-will win the wonderful (?) opportunity to hear me sing in worship?

I hope to see you soon!
Scott

08/27/2026

Dear Eusebia Facebook Friend,

I hope that your week is going well.
I don’t know what has been going on in your household this week, but my house has been filled with songs and documentaries and movies involving all things Dolly Parton, ever since my wife Beth heard the news about Dolly’s death. And while I am not nearly the Dolly fan that my wife is, I must admit that, as I was in my truck listening to my rock ‘n roll station, the DJ played the song “Freebird.” But instead of Lynyrd Skynyrd singing their most well-known song, Dolly was singing it. And I gotta admit, she sang it better than Ronnie Van Zant.
I read a tribute to Dolly this week, in one of my daily readings. The Rev. Cameron Trimble writes that Dolly “farmed happiness.” Trimble shares some of the many ways that Dolly gave of her time and money for others, all of which grew out of Dolly’s generous regard for life and people. Trimble says this,

All of us are farming something with our lives. Every conversation plants something in another person. The way we spend our money grows something. The stories we tell, the grudges we hold, the people we encourage, the institutions we support, the attention we give, and the kindness we show all become part of the field we leave behind. Over a lifetime, those small plantings add up….Maybe that’s how we can tell if a life has been well lived. It’s not about how much we collect, but about how much life grows around us because we were here.

The article closes: Dolly spent eighty years planting. Now the field belongs to us. May she rest in peace. And when the grief softens enough for us to ask, maybe Dolly leaves us with one simple question:
What are we farming with our lives?
Words to think on.

This coming Sunday, we will be hearing about a wonderful fundraising event for A Place to Stay. You will even hear about a competition that Eusebia will be challenged to participate in regarding this fundraiser.
Also, this Sunday will be our last Sunday collecting cans of soup for CROSS. Starting the next Sunday, September’s food item will be rice.
And to peek ahead to that first Sunday of September, Maurice will launch a fall video discussion series, "Reading Scripture Together", at 10:30am. Following worship that Sunday, we will gather in the fellowship meal for our monthly meal together.

I hope to see you Sunday!
Scott

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08/20/2026

Dear Eusebia Facebook Friend,

I hope that your week is going well. Before I share with you what I shared in my weekly article at Highland, I wanted to share my appreciation for our time of great food and fellowship last Saturday at the church picnic. Although everyone pitched in in so many ways to do so many different things, I want to especially thank Dawn for getting the ball rolling that ended up being that great time on Saturday.
I hope you can join us this Sunday for worship! And our CROSS food item is still cans of soup.

Blessings,
Scott

Now, what I wrote earlier this week:

Last Sunday, as I was hurrying down 411 following worship at Highland and on my way to Eusebia, I was running a little late and my mind was all over the place. Fortunately, I had turned on a podcast to listen to on the way, because something I heard on the podcast still sticks with me two days later.
The podcast was Fresh Air, an NPR podcast, and the host was interviewing Clint Smith, an African-American scholar and writer. I had read one of Smith’s books, How the Word is Passed, a few years ago and was interested in what he might have to say. During the podcast, I found out that not only was he a scholar and writer, he is also a poet. He read one of his poems on the podcast, and that poem is what has stayed with me these past days. It’s a reminder that the roller coaster that is life will have its ups and downs, sometimes at the very same time. And while the poem doesn’t say this, I would suggest that our God is with us during the whole roller coaster ride.
I hope you find this poem as meaningful as I have.
All at Once, by Clint Smith
The redwoods are on fire in California. A flood submerges a neighborhood that sat quiet on the coast for three centuries. A child takes their first steps and tumbles into a father’s arms. Two people in New Orleans fall in love under an oak tree whose branches bend like sorrow. A forest of seeds are planted in new soil. A glacier melts into the ocean and the sea climbs closer
to the land. A man comes home from war and holds his son for the first time. A man is killed by a drone that thinks his jug of water is a bomb. Your best friend relapses and isn’t picking up the phone. Your son’s teacher calls to say he stood up for another boy in class. A country below the equator ends a 20-year civil war. A soldier across the Atlantic fires the shot that begins another. The scientists find a vaccine that will save millions of people’s
lives. Your mother’s cancer has returned, and doctors say there is nothing else they can do. There is a funeral procession in the morning and a wedding in the afternoon. The river that gives us water to drink is the same one that might wash us away.

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08/13/2026

Dear Eusebia Facebook Friend,

I hope that your week is going well.
Last Saturday, I attended the quarterly Presbytery meeting, at Northside Presbyterian Church in Chattanooga. One of the memorable moments for me took place during the worship service. We sang a hymn that I didn’t know, but it was a great hymn. We’ll be singing it in a couple weeks; I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.
Another memorable moment also took place during the worship service. Jocelyn Shockley is a Commissioned Lay Pastor in our presbytery and serves at Northside. Rev Shockley preached during worship and used as her text these verses from Isaiah 43: Do not remember the former things or consider the things of old.19 I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth; do you not perceive it?
The setting of Isaiah 43 is a time of Israelite captivity in Babylon. A time when Israel is isolated from its homeland, whose Temple had been destroyed by the Babylonians. A time when many of the enslaved Israelites had given up hope that God still cared for them. Some turned to the gods of Babylon to provide meaning for their lives in exile. But Isaiah proclaims a message of hope to these captives, that God is about to do a new thing. Isaiah calls on the people to forget what had been and seek out the new thing that God will be doing.
In her sermon, Rev Shockley reminded us that our awareness of God’s presence comes among us most acutely during times of transition in life. During times of grief, as we mourn the loss of what had been, God comes among us in expressions of love and care from others, all of which remind us that a new day is coming. When occasions of life tear us down and we feel hopelessness settling in, Isaiah reminds us that God is not done with us, that God is never done with us. God is always bringing about God’s new thing.
Churches are no different in this respect. Folks who have been in a church a long time remember when the church pews had a lot more people on Sunday mornings, a time when there weren’t as many gray-haired folks in the pews as there are today. The question becomes, How might God be doing a new thing? Where in the life of Eusebia might God be doing a new thing? Where in our community might God be about something and calling Eusebia to be a part of it?
This Saturday is our annual church picnic. We will meet around 5:00pm. Because it is so hot outside right now, our picnic will take place in the Brown Memorial fellowship hall. I think everything is set as far as food and such, but feel free to reach out to Dawn if you would like to bring something.
And remember, the CROSS food item for August is cans of soup.

I hope you can join us on Saturday and Sunday!

Blessings,
Scott

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07/30/2026

Dear Eusebia Facebook Friend,

I hope that your week is going well.
One thing that I have learned in the past few weeks is that we have some great gardeners and canners in our congregation. Vivian has shown her talents at pickling, she makes some yummy sweet pickles and dill pickles. Maurice makes killer peach jam. And Jill and Lester nurture some wonderfully tasty tomatoes. (I had read somewhere that you know a tomato is a good one when you have to eat it over the sink because of all the juice that comes out of it. Well, Jill and Lester’s tomatoes passed that test!) I want to thank all of our growers and canners, and of course our cooks as well. Eusebia does not lack in its food abilities.
Speaking of food, our next fellowship meal will take place on Saturday, August 15, at 5:00pm, for our summer picnic. A sheet to sign up to bring something will be available soon.
This coming Sunday is the first Sunday of the month. That means that we will celebrate communion this Sunday. And hopefully we will remember to sing Happy Birthday to all our August birthday folks.
The CROSS food item for August is cans of soup.

I hope you can join us on Sunday!

Blessings,
Scott

PS:

Last Saturday, several Girl Scouts gathered at the Eusebia cemetery, to clean some of the gravestones. I received an email from their Scout leader Beth, who shared that 5 Scouts worked on several of the gravestones and will plan on coming again to clean some more. Thank you, Girl Scouts, for your dedicated service.

07/23/2026

Dear Eusebia Facebook Friend,

I hope your week is going well.
I early voted yesterday, at the Blount Co library. I got there about 11:30am and waited about 20-30 minutes total. Here are some things that I noticed as I waited:
There was a great diversity among the people. There were people around my age, there were people a good bit older than me. There were people younger than me, there were a few who I wouldn’t think were old enough to vote. There were various ethnic and racial differences among the voters. I enjoyed listening to a couple Black ladies, one who was in front of me and the other a couple people behind me. They caught up on all things church and family and friends. It was neat seeing them act like little kids as they talked so excitedly. (They were both older than me.) People were dressed up in all manners of clothing. People in dress shirts, some in dresses, others in jeans and t-shirts. (Of course, no one could match my Braves shirt and red crocs, worn with white socks.)
The people who were working at the voting station were exceedingly kind and patient. Eager to help people who were wheelchair-bound, friendly to us folks in line. I know that these folks were a lot more patient than I would have been, after working as long and as hard as they were.

Who were these folks voting for? I have no idea, and I never heard anyone talking about their political choices as we waited in line. After I left, I did wonder if any of these folks are among the folks who get on social media and spend so much time bashing people who support the opposing side of the political aisle. Sometimes I miss the days before this ability to post awful things from the comfort of one’s chair, without having to see and speak to the people they are bashing.
I think that is why I will always prefer gathering together, in person, with folks on Sunday. Yes, there might be places on social media where I will agree more with those folks than with some of the folks that I see in person. But I think that we have been wired to be a people who come together, in person, with others, and our time of worship on Sunday is the best place, for me anyway, to gather. (Of course, in 44 days, when my Dawgs tee it up for our first game, I will prefer, for a few hours anyway, being away from some of you….)

I mentioned in my letter last week about the Girl Scout troop who will be partnering with the Veteran’s Heritage Site Foundation to clean gravestones at the church, from 9am-noon. We have been welcomed to join them for this great work.
I also mentioned last week that our next fellowship gathering will be on Saturday, August 15, at 5:00pm, for our summer picnic. A sign-up sheet about what you might bring will be available soon.
Lastly, this Sunday is the last Sunday to bring July food items for CROSS. Starting next week and for the month of August, the food item will be cans of soup.

I hope you can join us on Sunday!

Blessings,
Scott

07/16/2026

Dear Eusebia Facebook Friend,

I hope your week is going well.
Tomorrow morning I am driving with a friend here, down to Atlanta to see the Braves play tomorrow night. It will be the first time that I have been in this new stadium (“new” as in built in 2017). I am sure that we will have a good time, especially if the Braves win, but I will also enjoy reminiscing about earlier times. Going to games with my dad when I was a kid, back when the Braves were terrible and it was easy to get in and get out of the stadium. Always buying a bag of boiled peanuts from the man in the wheelchair who sat at the gate outside the stadium. Or listening to the games at night as I went to sleep, I could hear the game on the radio from my parents’ bedroom. I’ll think about throwing the baseball in the front yard with my dad, dad throwing me a pretty good knuckleball. (Dad knew that my favorite player was and is Phil Niekro, the knuckleball-throwing Hall of Famer who played for the Braves.) And I am sure I will think about going to my first World Series game, when the Braves played Toronto, going with my mom to that game.
I could go on and on about my memories of the Braves, memories inseparable from my being with important people in my life. I think that when the church is at its best, the church’s time of gathering embraces the practices of faith among the people of faith, creating and re-creating memories that guide us along the way. I am grateful that Eusebia is such a place.
Last night, a Girl Scout troop leader reached out to me through the church’s page. On July 25, her Girl Scout troop will be partnering with the Veteran’s Heritage Site Foundation to clean gravestones from 9am-noon. (She assured me, and Johnny, that they will be using a chemical that will not hurt the gravestones or the grass.) She also has invited anyone who might be interested in joining them for this “simple but messy process with an amazing result.” I am grateful for these Girl Scouts!
As a reminder, we will not have a July fellowship meal, but we will have our annual church picnic on Saturday, August 15. (I am not sure of the time…)
I hope you can join us on Sunday!

Blessings,
Scott

PS: The CROSS food for this month is canned pasta.

07/09/2026

Dear Eusebia Facebook Friend,

I hope your week is going well.
This week I was able to visit some of our church’s homebound folks (2 from Eusebia, 2 from Highland). I talk over and over in my sermons about the vital role that interpersonal relationships play in the life of the church, that our interpersonal relationships are surrounded by and endued with the presence of God’s love. Well, my visits this week reminded me once again of that which I talk about all the time.
Because most of the folks that I saw this week are church members, I am guessing that they might appreciate having their minister stop by for a visit. However, I can avow that I enjoy these visits at least as much as they might. Listening to stories of faithfulness over many years, expressions of gratitude for life even in their less-active years, sharing memories that bring joy and occasionally expressing sorrow.
I hope that you have had a chance to watch the video that Carson Hunt made about Eusebia and our 240th. One thing I said in that video is that what is most special about Eusebia is the people of Eusebia. Thank you for being among those of Eusebia.
This coming Sunday, hopefully somebody will remember for us to sing Happy Birthday to our July birthday folks (both Kendal and I forgot last week…).
We will not have a fellowship meal this month, but we will have our annual summer picnic, on Saturday, August 15. A sign-up sheet for the picnic will be out soon.
I hope to see you Sunday!

Blessings,
Scott

PS: The CROSS food for this month is canned pasta.

07/04/2026

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Eusebia's 240th! Thank you, Carson Hunt

As America celebrates its 250th anniversary, Eusebia Presbyterian C...