November 14, 2021

 Guess what we will be doing tomorrow?

Singing a hymn together!

It's been a long time since we've been able to sing together in our sanctuary with its wonderful acoustics.

We're going to start slow. We're just singing one hymn during our worship services for a while. But I promise you, we'll make it count. It will be a doozy! We'll also sing the Doxology and Here I Am, Lord at the end of the service. 

So what song should be our first hymn to sing together?

Since we haven't been able to sing for such a long time, I thought it needed to be a hymn we could really sing out on. Two favorite hymns came to mind: Blessed Assurance and How Great Thou Art. I was leaning towards Blessed Assurance, but then something happened this week with my old church in New York that changed my mind. I'll tell you about it on Sunday. And I'm glad I did switch because God has helped see us through the pandemic and get us to this new place. It will feel so appropriate to say, "How great Thou art!" 

Another great thing that will be happening tomorrow is that people will be taking the step to become members of Asbury Memorial/Wesley Oak. They are wonderful people with incredible stories. I'm excited about them being part of our faith community and excited about their walk with Christ.

This will be the second Sunday that members of the church have the opportunity to bring their 2022 Pledge Card forward and have it dedicated. We realized that if we only have one Sunday to bring our pledges forward, not everyone will have the opportunity to participate in this important ritual. So this year we’re having three opportunities (Nov. 7, 14, & 21). After you place your pledge in the basket at the front of the sanctuary, you will have the opportunity to pray at the altar, if you desire to do so 

A pumpkin will be in the narthex prior to the worship service and in the courtyard after the service. Using a Sharpie that the church will provide, you are invited to write one word of gratitude on the pumpkin. What is something that you are thankful for and gives you a grateful heart? Share it on the pumpkin. We filled a pumpkin with words of gratitude last Sunday. We have a new pumpkin this week, so keep those words of gratitude coming! We’ll be placing the pumpkins on the altar on our Celebration-Thanksgiving Sunday on November 21st. 

Wesley Oak Church will be celebrating its 111th year this Sunday! Wesley Oak is a small congregation, but just think how many people have been touched by its ministry in 111 years. If you would like to celebrate with Wesley Oak this Sunday, the worship service is at 9:30 a.m. We're excited that Wesley Oak will have many more years of ministry and that Asbury Memorial will get to be part of its future. 

Last Sunday, we remembered our Loved Ones and the eternal Cloud of Witnesses that surround and support us on our faith journey. I want to thank Claudette DeLong for the work she did to gather all of the names that were read in the service. We had 13 members of Asbury pass since last All Saints. We read their names and read 86 names of family members and friends of church members who had died. "Thank you, Claudette, for keeping records and for organizing the names for us." And we thank Randy Canady for organizing and reading the names of the people who were killed by guns in Savannah this past year. Thanks, also, to those who arranged the flowers that were brought to the altar. And finally, thanks to all of you who brought flowers that were then arranged and taken to bless others. If you haven't had a chance to experience the service, I encourage you to do so. The music supplied by our our choir members, musicians, and soloist Danny Beam was outstanding and so meaningful for this particular service. Here is the link for it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLTxpojh6O8 

I believe I heard that Asbury's Heavenly Honey and our seasonal pecans will be available to purchase after the service tomorrow. So get some for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Thank you to all of our sorters and baggers!

A week ago, one of our members asked me to re-preach a sermon I did many, many years ago titled, Hannah Rose. I told the person that Advent is coming up, so it will have to wait until the new year...sometime in January or February. Then I opened the lectionary to see what the texts were for this Sunday so I could work on Sunday's sermon. Amazingly, the Hebrew lectionary text for tomorrow is the text for the Hannah Rose sermon! (I've stopped trying to figure out how these things happen.) So tomorrow, I'm preaching Hannah Rose. It won't be exactly like the sermon I preached before because a lot of time and events have happened since then. But I do believe its message will be just as meaningful. 

It's going to be another great day at Asbury tomorrow. I can't wait! Hope to see you on the corner of Henry and Waters Avenue.

In Christ’s love,
Billy