Thoughts and Musings from My Faith Journey
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Previous worship services can be found at abilenefirstumc.org/onlineworship/.
Tomorrow, I’ll be preaching on Jeremiah 33:14-16 and Luke 21:34-38. The first Advent candle will be lit by the Vinduska family at the 8:15 service and the Holt family at the 10:30 service. Shauni Larson and Joy Clemence will be liturgists. The choir will be singing “Our Hope is in Emmanuel” and our hymns will include “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” and “Joy to the World.”
Below is one of my favorite prayers of thanksgiving. I wanted to share it with you today.
All things come from you, O God,
and with gratitude we return to you what is yours.
You created all that is, and with love formed us in your image.
When our love failed, your love remained steadfast.
You gave your only Son Jesus Christ to be our Savior.
All that we are, and all that we have, is a trust from you.
And so, in gratitude for all your gifts,
we offer you ourselves, and all that we have,
in union with Christ’s offering for us.
By your Holy Spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other,
and one in ministry to all the world; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
— Hoyt L. Hickman [1]
[1] The United Methodist Book of Worship (Nashville, TN: United Methodist Publishing House, 1992), 552.
Because so many people have already left town, we will not be having Wednesday Night Bible Study or Holy Communion tonight (November 24, 2021). Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
If you want to follow along with bulletin you can follow this link or the link in the menu above.
If you’re having trouble streaming our worship videos, you may want to simply download the entire video to your device and then play it. You can do that by clicking on the link in the Vimeo logo above and then selecting download.
You can make a contribution online via tithe.ly. Other options can be found here.
Previous worship services can be found at abilenefirstumc.org/onlineworship/.
Tomorrow is Christ the King Sunday. I’ll be preaching on John 18:33-38, and the other scripture readings will be from the lectionary readings for Thanksgiving Day. We’ll also be welcoming the First UMC Praise Band back to lead us in music and song.
We’ll hold our third Wednesday Night Bible Study at 5:15 tonight (November 17, 2021). It’s part of a five-part series on Exodus 34:6-7 that looks at the Character of God. Tonight we’ll be talking about God’s grace.
Today’s video: https://bit.ly/3HvHLN2
The entire series can be found here: https://bit.ly/3q3QZth
This morning I received word that J. M. Frey has passed away. Funeral arrangements are pending. Please keep Louise and the rest of his family and friends in your prayers.
If you want to follow along with bulletin you can follow this link or the link in the menu above.
If you’re having trouble streaming our worship videos, you may want to simply download the entire video to your device and then play it. You can do that by clicking on the link in the Vimeo logo above and then selecting download.
You can make a contribution online via tithe.ly. Other options can be found here.
Previous worship services can be found at abilenefirstumc.org/onlineworship/.
Worship tomorrow promises to be a treat with the Bell Choir playing “For the Beauty of the Earth” and the choir singing “It Is Good to Give Thanks.” I’ll be preaching on Luke 6:27-38 and talking about how the measure we get back is far greater than the measure we give.
From Andrea Purvis, Chair of the Mission and Outreach Team:
The Mission and Outreach Team is putting together some care packages for our local healthcare workers as a thank you for their continuing hard work during this pandemic. We are seeking volunteers to help us form an assembly line/team to put together the packages. We plan to meet at the church on Saturday, November 13, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. in room 200 to put them together. Hope you can join us!
Elinor Haas has passed. There will be a graveside service tomorrow (November 11, 2021) at 2:00 p.m. at Mount Hope Cemetery in Enterprise. The obituary can be found here.