November 23

There is a GLORIOUS AROMA of fresh baked Pecan Pies filling the halls of Asbury Memorial....which means several things:

Tomorrow is our THANKSGIVING SERVICE. It's one of my favorite services of the year. As you can see from the picture to the left, it was one of my mother's favorite services too. As we sing the opening hymn, "Come, Ye Thankful People, Come", I'm sure she'll be singing right along with us from heaven — listen for that one note that's held a little longer than the rests! 

Tomorrow is COMMITMENT SUNDAY when we rededicate our lives to serving God through the ministries of Asbury Memorial and when we bring our financial pledges for 2025 and have the opportunity to pray at the altar. 

Tomorrow is PICK UP YOUR PECAN PIE SUNDAY! 

I guarantee that you will leave Sunday's service on a HIGH! Seeing the harvest brought to the altar as we sing the opening hymn will do the trick. But there a lot of other wonderful things that will be happening. The choir will be singing two great songs: "Great is the Lord!" and "All Good Gifts" from the musical Godspell. Our Stewardship Chair, Sandra Katz Barrett, will be sharing with us. Rev. Bob Chvatal will be praying for us. And we'll be experiencing the scripture lesson in Tableau Style. PLUS, I have a pretty good sermon for you. I encourage you to invite others to this special service. 

I hope everyone will try to to be present this Sunday as we rededicate our lives to serving God through the ministries of Asbury Memorial. Part of this process is bringing our 2025 financial pledges to the altar. If you cannot attend the service and you mailed your pledge form to the church, we will be sure to place it in the basket with all of the other pledges. This is also true for any of our Online Worshippers — we will be sure to put your pledge form with all of the others. 

Thank you to all of the people who baked Pecan Pies at the church all day Friday. The church smells yummy! And thank you to everyone who helped pick pecans — you all did a great job!

Holliday Hall has been turned into the Asbury Market so you can get your pies, bags of pecans, and bottles of Heavenly Honey for Thanksgiving and for Christmas gifts. 

Parents, we want the children and youth of the church to continue our great tradition of bringing the harvest to the altar on the opening hymn of the service. We would LOVE for your child or youth to participate. All they need to do is go to the Waters Avenue side of the narthex at 10:55 a.m. Randy Canady, Dottie Kluttz, and Claudette DeLong will be there to guide them.

Next Sunday, December 3rd, is the first Sunday in the season of Advent. That means we need to get the church decorated for the Advent and Christmas seasons. We will start decorating tomorrow after Coffee Hour at 1:00 pm. If you can help, please stay and join us. It's a great way to build comradery with members of your church family. 

All members of Asbury Memorial and Wesley Oak are encouraged to attend our December All-Church Meeting on Tuesday, December 3rd at 6:30 p.m. One of the purposes of the meeting is to elect new people to serve on our administrative committees. All church members have a vote. 

I want to take this opportunity to thank the members of our incredible choir for singing at the Jewish Food Festival last Sunday afternoon. The choir and its songs added so much to the wonderful festival. And thank you to all of the Asburians who came to see and support the choir.

I also want to thank Tom Lewis and everyone else who helped get the play Anne and Emmitt to be performed at Asbury last Sunday. The play was powerful and meaningful — as was the Q & A that was held with the cast after the performance.

Lastly, I want to thank therapist Ruthie Deffley, for leading the Support Group this past Wednesday for people with post-election fears and anxiety. About 25 people attended. Others who could not attend have asked if it could be held again. We will plan on hosting another one sometime in December.

Join us every Sunday for fellowship and education as we discuss segments from the great study series, Living the Questions. We meet in the social hall (Holliday Hall) at 10:00 a.m., and we'd love for you to join us. Come have a cup of coffee at 9:45 A.M. as we gather together. 

Can't wait to be with you at the church that smells especially good tomorrow!

Love,
Billy