The video above, from Saturday, October 31, 2020, follows the same order of worship as the Sunday, November 1, 2020 service. You can view this video and previous worship services on our Vimeo page at vimeo.com/abilenefirstumc.
Daylight Savings Time Ends Tomorrow
Don’t forget to enjoy an extra hour of sleep tomorrow (Sunday, November 1, 2020) as daylight savings time comes to an end and we “fall back” one hour.
Communion and Non-Communion Services This Weekend
First United Methodist Church has long sought to be a place where everyone can feel welcome. During this pandemic, we’ve also sought to be a place where everyone can feel safe. That’s one reason (of several) why we’ve required masks and social distancing throughout COVID-19. Because we want everyone to feel safe, we have done our best to offer a quality worship experience to those who need or want to stay home via online video and the radio broadcast. (We have not always succeeded, but we have always tried, and we are getting better).
Recognizing that different people have different levels of comfort with in-person worship, we’re going to split the difference this weekend and celebrate communion at the 10:30 Sunday Service, but not at the 10:30 Saturday Service. Even at the Sunday service where we’ll be taking communion, we’ll use the small, prepackaged communion cups and keep our masks on as much as possible. As your pastor, I would encourage you to participate in worship to whatever extent you feel safe doing so.
Important Worship Reminder
We’ve reopened the sanctuary to in-person worship. We still wear masks and practice social distancing, but we no longer take temperatures or confirm attendance (reservations). There are two in-person worship opportunities. One service will be on Saturday morning. The second service will be at 10:30 on Sunday morning.
If we have enough interest in an 8:15 Sunday morning service, we can start one. We’re adding the Saturday service so that it can be recorded, processed, and uploaded to Vimeo and Facebook by the following day (Sunday). This same service will be aired in our 10:30 Sunday slot on KABI.
You can watch the Saturday morning worship service here: abilenefirstumc.org/onlineworship/.
Wednesday Evening Activities
I wanted to issue a friendly reminder of two regular (every week) Wednesday evening activities: communion and Bible study. Both of these are held online over Zoom. And you’re free to join in either one (or both) every week or hit and miss whenever you can make it. The information is below.
Wednesday Communion
Wednesdays from 6 p.m. to 6:15 p.m.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/93709987388?pwd=WTBpTTh0TEUrVTI0dzRlbXdvYU80UT09
Meeting ID: 937 0998 7388
Passcode: 67410
One Tap Mobile
+13462487799,,93709987388#,,,,,,0#,,67410# US (Houston)
Manually Dial In With a Touch-Tone Phone
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
Meeting ID: 937 0998 7388
Passcode: 67410
Wednesday Bible Study
Wednesdays from 6:15 p.m. to 7:15 p.m.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/93191165788?pwd=TTlHZkFTOXRVUzh6a20wL3dxU0R1dz09
Meeting ID: 931 9116 5788
Passcode: 67410
One Tap Mobile
+12532158782,,93191165788#,,,,,,0#,,67410# US (Tacoma)
Manually Dial In With a Touch-Tone Phone
+1 646 558 8656 US (New York)
Meeting ID: 931 9116 5788
Passcode: 67410
Worship Video — October 24, 2020
The video above from Saturday, October 24, 2020, follows the same order of worship as the Sunday, October 25, 2020 service. You can view this video and previous worship services on our Vimeo page at vimeo.com/abilenefirstumc.
Drive-Thru Trick Or Treat Posters
If you want a poster to hang on your front door to tell potential Trick Or Treaters that you’re supporting our drive-thru Trick Or Treat event you can download this Drive-Thru Trick Or Treat Poster.
Clark Will Be Singing this Weekend
Clark Williamson will be singing the hymns at both the Saturday and Sunday services this weekend (October 24-25, 2020). There is still reason for abundant caution, so the congregation will not be joining in, but it’s a start. (Clark will be 25+ feet away from everyone else and masked even while singing.)
Looking for a Liturgist
We’re looking for a liturgist (scripture reader) for the 10:30 a.m. worship service this coming Saturday, October 24, 2020. We already have a liturgist for Sunday, October 25, 2020.
Worship Video — October 18, 2020
We again had some difficulties with disruptions in the livestream yesterday. We’ve spliced things together as best we can. Next week we’re going to pre-record the service instead of live-streaming it. The quality of the recording should improve considerably.
You can view this video and previous worship services on our Vimeo page at vimeo.com/abilenefirstumc.
In-Person Worship This Coming Weekend
We will reopen the sanctuary to in-person worship this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, October 24-25, 2020. We will still wear masks and practice social distancing, but we will no longer take temperatures or confirm attendance (reservations). There will be two in-person worship opportunities. One service will be on Saturday morning. We’re adding this service so that it can be recorded, processed, uploaded, and “premiered” on Facebook Live at 8:15 a.m. the following day (Sunday). This same service will be aired in our 10:30 Sunday slot on KABI. The second service will be at 10:30 on Sunday Morning. If we have enough interest in an 8:15 Sunday morning service, we can start one.
Clarification: the Saturday and Sunday services will both be at 10:30.
What Happened to You?
The chair of our Board of Trustees, John Purvis, has written a blog post about his experience with COVID-19. You can read it here.
Link: https://bit.ly/3nZBGhY