April 27

 

Yes, Church Family, all of God's creatures DO have a place in the choir. And we'll find that out this Sunday as we have our second Earth Day Worship Service — this one focusing on animals!

Last Sunday, we celebrated Earth Day with the help of Green Team chair, David Alley. In last Sunday's service, David interviewed two of our church members who have invested much of their lives working in and celebrating God's creation. Bill Anderson and Ellie Covington shared their concerns about the environment, challenged us to do better in caring for the world, and offered us signs of hope.

I'm excited that we will be showing some of Bill's incredible photographs of birds this Sunday at Coffee Hour. So, head to Holliday Hall after the service to see Bill's photographs on our wonderful new screens in the Social Hall.

We also highlighted the great work that church member Suzie Williams has done throughout her life regarding the care for our environment. Here's an article about the Savannah Tree Foundation - an organization that Suzie formed with two other women:

 https://www.connectsavannah.com/community/savannah-tree-foundations-green-gala-celebrates-40-years-aims-to-show-how-events-can-be-eco-conscious-18234043

As we continue to celebrate God's creation this Sunday, August Alderman will be sharing about all God's creatures, Rev. Lynn Drake will be praying for us, and the choir will be singing for us. They will be singing an old Peter, Paul, and Mary song called, All God's Critters Got a Place in the Choir. And then we get to see Bill's pictures after the service in the social hall. It's going to be a great day! 

There's another reason Sunday's service is going to be wonderful. The good folks of our sister church, Wesley Oak, will be joining us! This weekend, the Wesley Oak sanctuary will be getting a new roof. Due to the construction, the sanctuary will not be able to be used this weekend. So the congregants who normally worship at our Wesley Oak campus are invited to come worship at their other campus — Asbury Memorial. 

Next Saturday, May 4th, we will be hosting the morning session of Congregations In Service. CIS is an interfaith effort to bring people together from different faiths to work together in the community So there are two main purposes of CIS: to get to know people of different denominations and faiths...and to work together in helping our community. The event starts at Asbury at 8:00 a.m. as we gather together for coffee and fellowship. We'll have a very brief ecumenical, interfaith ceremony that will send us forth into the community for different projects. There will be different projects to choose from. If you prefer to work indoors, there will be some indoor projects for the community that will be done at Asbury.

There will be a free lunch offered at noon at First Christian Church on Victory Drive. It would be helpful to have a count as to how many people from Asbury and Wesley Oak will be participating. If you plan to participate, please email me at bghester3@comcast.net. Thanks! 

Although Asbury Memorial and Wesley Oak are no longer part of the United Methodist denomination, we still are concerned about our former denomination and pray that it will become more inclusive and not discriminate against LGBTQ people. This is an important week for the denomination as it holds its long-awaited General Conference in Charlotte, NC. The denomination is trying to give different areas of its global church more autonomy regarding some issues...so that, at least, LGBTQ people will be accepted in the churches in the United States. It seems that the denomination may be heading down this path. It's not perfect, of course, but at least it's a step in the right direction. Please be praying for the folks at General Conference.

During Sunday's service, we will be announcing the 4th and final musical we'll be using for the God On Broadway Services in October. Rumor is that it is a musical we've never used before for God On Broadway. So far, we've revealed three of the four musicals. They are Oklahoma, Finding Neverland, and Avenue Q. We'll find out what the 4th musical is on Sunday! 

Love and Blessings to all!
Billy