Wow, what a week it has been. We went through the massive rain storms that were caused by remnants of Hurricane Ida. The church and parsonage did not have any flooding but I know many in our church family were not so lucky. Please let us know if there are needs that you think our church family can help you with or just areas where prayer is needed for recovery.
This last week at the Promised Land we had a burial at the cemetery of a son of former church members, a wedding of 2 church members who have lots of friends and family that are part of our church, and unfortunately a man took his life at the cemetery. The man was found at the cemetery by members of our Young Adult Sunday school class where they have been meeting during COVID. As you can imagine it was a very traumatic scene for those that found the body but they are doing ok. The man was 49 years old and lived in Westminster and at this point we do not believe there is any connection to our church or those buried in the cemetery. By Sunday we might have a name for this man and we will be lifting his friends and loved ones up in prayer in their time of loss.
And in the coming weeks we will be having many events at the Promised Land like Family Fun and Movie Night and the Concert on the Hill. We are trying to reach people be increasing our outreach and ministry into the community. We need volunteers to help with craft activities, food preparation and distribution, running cotton candy machines and popcorn machines, etc. At the Family Fun Night, on September 11th, we will have a 20 foot screen we will be showing movies on drive-in style. We are not allowed to put the names of the movies on any advertisement because of copyright laws but I can tell you that we will have a Double Feature. The first will be a classic uplifting movie "UP!" and it will be followed by a movie named "Soul" that came out in the last year with a great musical score in the background and good overall message. At this event we are going to invite people to come to our church the following Sunday, the 19th, for Round-Up Sunday. On the 19th, we will be kicking off our One Room School House, offering Nursery, Children's Church, and that evening Youth Group. While we should always be inviting people to come to church, we are asking people to Round-up people and invite them to join us for this Sunday. We are encouraging people to wear country outfits like cowboy boots and hats. We have bandana's and cowboy hats for any who want to get into the Round-up spirit....YEEEEE HAWWWWW!
Oh, and the following Saturday the 18th at the Promised Land we will have another Concert on the Hill with food at 5pm and the Hyssongs in concert at 6pm. God has blessed us with an amazing property and a wonderful pavilion and we are utilizing in more ways than ever!
Now onto our time of worship this Sunday. We have an amazing church secretary who has been working on a revamp of our church bulletin. We have been using a simplified bulletin during COVID in order to save resources and to make things easier. As we have been getting into a more normal rhythm we are going back to a more normal bulletin style BUT have revamped it to make it more vibrant and easier to use. All people ever see is the finished product but know that it took a lot of time and effort to do this reformatted bulletin. While the bulletin looks amazing it makes it harder to view as an attachment to this blog. Since the new bulletin is folded, the way you have to lay it out before printing does not flow when you look at it before it is printed and folded. Yet, all the information is contained on the attached bulletin, it will just take a little bit of getting used to.
This is a Communion Sunday and just like last month we will be offering it in many ways. I will offer the bread of life to all who come up BUT we will also have bags of individual bread on the table for any who want to be more COIVD safe. On the table will be 2 chalices that you can dip your bread into. There will also be a ceramic container that will hold individual cups of sealed juice for those that want to be more COVID safe. For those that want communion but are trying to be extra, extra COVID safe you can come up after the service and receive from the table elements that were consecrated for you to take with you. Those of you joining us from home please feel free to assemble elements to be blessed and join us at God's Table of Grace that extends to meet us wherever we are.
On the first and third Sunday of the month we are having the full choir at 8am and the full praise team at 10:30am. So we will be blessed to have them this Sunday as we have vibrant worship.
We are not passing offering plates so the wooden boxes are available to put your offering in. Of course you can also give online, use text to give (844-406-0358), or mail in the offering to church. In addition, we will be collecting prayers in the prayer box on the table in the parlor. Also, if you have announcement that you need to be shared please write them down and give them to me before the service. This will be an ongoing practice for prayers and announcements to help ensure that they are heard and understood by all (especially those worshipping with us virtually).
If people are not able to join us in the sanctuary for worship we continue to livestream at 8am (it will be available to view after too) services via Facebook ,(https://www.facebook.com/tomscreekumc) or YouTube(https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX6E7eCwH2ZGYspkSCF0CGw). If you join and follow our Facebook page or subscribe to our YouTube channel, they will let you know when we are live. You can always watch any videos we post later because we leave them up. Also Sunday afternoon a shortened version is available on our website and on YouTube.
Worship is a time that should allow us to let go of the stress in our lives and come give it to God. We need worship more than ever with all that is going on in our lives, community, nation, and world. Worship is a time for us to be reminded of God's presence in the midst of our lives and to allow God to give us strength and nourishment to wade through the waters of life. Come join us in worship as we journey together!
Blessings,
PH
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