April 7 (Good Friday and EASTER)

 

The first time I experienced a Good Friday Tenebrae Service was on April 9, 1982, at Marble Collegiate Church in New York City. I will never forget it. I had heard about the "Service of Shadows" and how meaningful it was. But nothing could have prepared me for what I experienced. And I will not try to explain what it was like. You just have to experience it yourself. 

So, I encourage you to come tonight at 7:30 p.m. for two reasons: 

 

1) The Tenebrae Service will impact your life.

 

2) The Tenebrae Service will make your Easter experience more meaningful.

I hope you will invite family members and friends to the service. Please note that we do not recommend children attending the service because the atmosphere could be frightening and intimidating for them. The service atmosphere is shadowy dark and has an audio presentation of Jesus' crucifixion. We want our children to have fond, happy memories of their church, not scary ones. 

You are invited to bring flowers to church Sunday morning to place on the large cross that will be in the courtyard on Easter. The beautiful flowers with all of their diverse colors and textures will be on display in the courtyard. Please feel free to take pictures of you, your family, and friends in front of the Living Cross.

The Easter Egg Hunt that we were planning to have at our Wesley Oak Campus on Saturday may need to be postponed due to poor weather conditions. We will send another email out later today with the final decision about the event.

Hopefully you received a letter from me about this year's Easter Offering. Asbury's tradition of having a special offering at Easter started long before I arrived on the scene in 1993. This year's offering will go towards developing our Online Campus Ministry. If you did not receive a letter, please feel free to call me or one of our staff members if you have questions about the Online Campus and/or the offering. 

Wonderful news!!! Asburian Travis Dodd had a successful kidney transplant this past week at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. Thank you for all of the prayers that you offered for Travis and for the Surgery Team. 

Chris Kincade has done another great job as editor of our newest monthly newsletter. You can find the office. We thank Rev. Richard Allen for his stewardship article, and we thank photographer John Mason for all of the wonderful pictures. Be sure to read the newsletter to see who is having a birthday, anniversary and who is asking for prayer.

Please try to attend the Nehemiah Action event on Monday, April 24th at First African Baptist Church. The lot at the Civic Center will be made available for parking. This very important event is sponsored by JUST (Justice Unites Savannah Together). We will be meeting with city leaders to focus on two main issues: Affordable Housing and Education. We are hoping that more than 700 people from various congregations in Savannah will be in attendance to show how important it is for action needs to be taken in these areas. Please try to attend and sit with the Asbury/Wesley Oak group. Let's have at least 50 plus people from our congregation in attendance.

If you are looking for a church home, we would love for you to be part of the Asbury-Wesley Oak Family. We offer New Member Classes three times a year. The next classes will be on the last two Sundays in May. If you would like to attend, please contact staff member Candace Jenkins by calling of emailing the church office.

I hope to see you at the Good Friday Service tonight and at the Easter Service on Sunday. Don't forget to bring flowers for the Living Cross if you are able. If you can't worship with us in person, we look forward to having you with us through our Online Ministry. If you are able to chat online before the service, the chatting usually starts at 11:00. Asburian Terry Harman and my wife Cheri Hester will be facilitating the chats. They would love to have you join them...and we'd love to connect with you.

Love & Blessings,
Billy