The main purpose of the blue moving blankets on the pews in the sanctuary is to minimize the echo in a sanctuary nearly emptied by COVID-19. The problem is that I don’t have enough moving blankets, and the echo remains a problem. I’ve been thinking about it, and one possibility would be to replace the few moving blankets we have with a plethora of quilts (which would probably do a better job of dampening the echo). If you have a quilt you would like to display and share, please let me know at john@revcollins.com. If I can locate enough quilts, we’ll move forward and replace the moving blankets. If not, I’ll buy a few more moving blankets.
Category Archives: Worship
Conference Online Communion Service
Received from the Great Plains Annual Conference:
Bishop Ruben Saenz Jr. invites clergy and laity of the Great Plains Conference to a special online communion worship service as an act of pastoral care and encouragement after a contentious election season.
Please prepare to virtually join together in worship by securing bread and grape juice for when the bishop consecrates and distributes the elements that night. Substitutes include crackers and water.
The worship service will be livestreamed from the conference website and from the conference Facebook page beginning at 7 p.m. Thursday.
Links:
https://www.greatplainsumc.org/livestream
https://www.facebook.com/GreatPlainsUMC
Worship Video — October 31, 2020
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.
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/.
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.
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.)
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.
Amanda Cormack Preaching Tomorrow
Amanda Cormack will be delivering the message during our livestream tomorrow (Sunday, October 18, 2020). I’ll be back in the pulpit the following week as we return to in-person worship. Links to watch the livestream can be found here.
Worship Video — October 11, 2020
We had some difficulties with our livestream yesterday. Above is the best video we have available. You can view this video and previous worship services on our Vimeo page at vimeo.com/abilenefirstumc.
The Ten Commandments, Part 2
For my sermon tomorrow (Sunday, October 11, 2020), I’ll be preaching Exodus 20:1-17 with a focus on commandments 5 through 10. We’re still virtual only, but you can stream the service online. You can download a bulletin and—if you want—make a donation.
Links:
https://abilenefirstumc.org/live/
https://abilenefirstumc.org/bulletin/
https://abilenefirstumc.org/giving/
Why We’re Not Singing
Dr. Brian Holmes asked me to share this article with you. It explains why he’s asking us not to sing when we get back to in-person worship (October 25, 2020, at the earliest).
Link: https://bit.ly/2GOO4jS