April 16, 2022

Blessings to you on Holy Saturday. I am still processing and giving thanks for the spirit-filled services we had on Thursday and Friday. If you were not able to attend the services or experience them when we live streamed them, I encourage you to watch them. We thank Barri Marshall, our Live Stream Minister, for recording the services and making them available for us. Here are the links:

Maundy Thursday Service: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WmRxIPFwgk 

Good Friday Service: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwUHwuVTPzw

I'm very excited about tomorrow's Easter Service. Last year, we had to experience Easter away from each other and away from God's sanctuary. How good it will be to be together and to gather in God's house on the corner of Henry Street and Waters Avenue. Thank you to those who supplied the Easter Lilies that will fill the sanctuary reminding us of new life. Inside tomorrow's bulletin will be an insert with the names of the Loved Ones we have remembered and honored with lilies.

Ray Ellis and the choir inspire us each Sunday with their music, and tomorrow will especially be inspirational as a number of musicians will be joining the choir in lifting us up. We will also be singing wonderful hymns: Christ the Lord Has Risen Today, Lord of the Dance, and the Hymn of Promise. The service will conclude with the Hallelujah Chorus. 

We will continue our great tradition of creating a Living Cross before the worship service on Easter. You are invited to bring flowers to be placed on a cross - flowers that will transform the cross into a creation of beauty and life. Bring your flowers to the courtyard where the cross will be placed. After the Living Cross is completed, please feel free to take pictures with it after the service.

(If it is raining, the cross will be in Holliday Hall instead of the courtyard. We will decorate it there before the service, and it will remain in the social hall for pictures during Coffee Hour.)

Join us in the courtyard after the service for a time of fellowship and refreshments. We will have cookies or cake or some other Easter treats to tie us over before your lunch. Hope you will stay and celebrate Easter with old friends and new friends!

If it is raining, Coffee Hour will be held in Holliday Hall.

The majority of people who visit church for the first time do so because someone invited them. And the two days when people are most likely to come to church are Christmas Eve and Easter Sunday. If you have a friend who isn't involved in church, I encourage you to invite them to join you for worship tomorrow. 

Visitors often tell me how welcomed they felt when they attended Asbury. Thank you for your love, care, and hospitality for others. As you know, many people have had bad experiences with churches and religion. So let us continue to strive to be a welcoming and loving community. Introduce yourself to someone tomorrow that you do not know.

For those who live far away or who are homebound and cannot worship with us in person, please know that you are with us in Spirit. We miss seeing you, but we are encouraged and uplifted knowing that you are there praying and worshipping with us. 

God bless us all as we celebrate the Risen One!

Love,
Billy