Pastoral Prayer – by Rev. Martha Dye
Liturgy of the Palms – by Rev. Martha Dye
Liturgy of the Passion – by Rev. Martha Dye
Good Saturday Morning, Whitesburg UMC!
Are y’all ready? We are putting on our shoes and getting prepared to walk into a week that is unlike any other week of the church year: Holy Week. This is the week we literally put all else aside and walk in gratitude and love with Jesus during the last week of his life on earth. It’s a week full of light and darkness. It’s a week full of unbelievable pain at how cruel the world can be as well as unbelievable joy at the depth of the love God has for the world. I want to encourage you to continue with your daily practice of devotional reading and prayer. But I also hope you will be a part of all the church is doing this week as well.
Every church lives out the week differently depending on their traditions and situations.
Here’s what the week looks like for us at Whitesburg:
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Pastoral Prayer – by Rev. Martha Dye (Edited Version) (An unedited version can be found in the “Church Members Only” section of this website)
Reading of Scripture – Acts 9:1-18 – by Mrs. Jackie Pate
The Third Day: Paul – Sermon by Rev. Martha Dye
Greetings, Whitesburg UMC, on this dreary Friday afternoon!
Sunday is St. Patrick’s Day! And no, before you ask……….we won’t be changing the paraments in the Sanctuary from purple to green!!!!! But feel to wear it! Or not. St. Patrick’s special day is one of those days that is of great importance to some and little or none to others! I know a guy who gathers with his friends every year without fail for food and green beer at their traditional table at the Irish Pub here in town. My niece lives in Savannah and always shares on Facebook the morning mass they attend, the parade news, the pictures of her house filled with guests (it looks like so much fun)! I never had fun like that. But I do remember as a child being told I had to wear green so I wouldn’t get pinched. St. Patrick is cool! It is said he got rid of all the snakes in Ireland. Not sure that’s true, but it is not something just anyone can put on a resume!
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Pastoral Prayer – by Rev. Martha Dye (Edited Version) (An unedited version can be found in the “Church Members Only” section of this website)
Reading of Scripture – Luke 24:13-32 – by Mr. Jim Dye
The Third Day: Emmaus – Sermon by Rev. Martha Dye
[Luke 24:13-32 NIV] 13 Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16 but they were kept from recognizing him. 17 He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?” They stood still, their faces downcast. 18 One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” 19 “What things?” he asked. “About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people.
Good Friday Morning!
I hope you are all well and are discovering the surprises that this season of Lent can bring when we simply let ourselves be and walk with Jesus each day. Along with “The Sanctuary for Lent”, which is the little devotional book that we all were given a few Sundays ago, I am reading a book called “A Different Kind of Fast”, by Christine Valters Paintner. Instead of inviting me to fast from some of the things I possess (or eat/drink!), she invites me to fast from some of the things I do……usually things that really are not that good for me. For example, for the third week of Lent she has invited me to fast from speed and rushing, and to instead embrace slowness and pausing.
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Pastoral Prayer – by Rev. Martha Dye (Edited Version) (An unedited version can be found in the “Church Members Only” section of this website)
Reading of Scripture – John 20:19-31 – by Mrs. Beth DeStasio
The Third Day: Thomas – Sermon by Rev. Martha Dye
Good Morning, My Friends!
I hope this email finds you safe and dry and warm and full of the knowledge of the deep, deep love that God has for you. As we live in this world that is filled with controversy and anger and violence and division, that lovely fact is one we simply cannot afford to forget. I have spent the morning trying to help a homeless man find a place to sleep tonight. No easy task! Realizing that he is only one – only one out of the millions who are homeless or poor or hungry or in the midst of warfare that has destroyed their homes and their cities, or migrants who are seeking a safe place to live and raise their families……. The list can go on and on. Well, it’s enough to make you want to cry.
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Pastoral Prayer – by Rev. Martha Dye
Reading of Scripture – John 21:3-19 – by Mrs. Diane Nicholson
The Third Day: Simon Peter – Sermon by Rev. Martha Dye
[John 21:3-19 NIV] 3 “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. 4 Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. 5 He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” “No,” they answered. 6 He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. 7 Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water.
Greetings to All!
Hope you are all well on this lovely sunny Wednesday. Cissy and I are going to go for a walk in a little while. I think walks are wonderful! They are a time to breathe deeply, to put one foot in front of the other and open our eyes and allow ourselves to see God: a bird in the tree, a bloom on a vine, the sparkle of light on the water, the smile of someone we meet on the way. Walks are good for us – they make us feel better………………….and they are always a time of prayer.
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We apologize… due to technical issues, we do not have the “Pastoral Prayer – by Rev. Martha Dye” this week.
Reading of Scripture – John 20:1-18 – by Mrs. Sandy Chambers
The Third Day: Mary Magdalene – Sermon by Rev. Martha Dye
[John 20:1-18 NKJV] 1 Now on the first [day] of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw [that] the stone had been taken away from the tomb. 2 Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.” 3 Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple, and were going to the tomb. 4 So they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first.
Morning Everyone!
Burrrr!!!! It is cold outside! The wind is blowing and it is (at least right now) a dreary looking day out there. We are still wiping the ashes off our foreheads, knowing that the season in the church called Lent has begun. As I remember, what I told you the other night at the Ash Wednesday service is that we can’t get to Easter without first going through Lent. In order to really, really, really appreciate the gift of Christ, we have to do some serious thinking and some authentic prayer about what had to happen before the empty tomb. If you didn’t get one on Wednesday night, there is a little Lenten Devotional Book waiting for you at the church. I hope you will use it each of the 40 days of Lent to help in your following Jesus to the cross. It is a deep and beautiful journey!
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Reading of Scripture – Joel 2:1-2 / 12-17 – by Rev. Darryl Hessel
Epistle Reading – 2 Corinthians 5:20-21 / 6:1-10 – by Mr. Jim Dye
Reading of the Gospel – Matthew 6:1-4 / 6:16-18 – by Mrs. Bev Bynum
Pastor’s Meditation – by Rev. Martha Dye
Invitation for the imposition of Ashes – by Rev. Martha Dye
[Joel 2:1-2 NIV] 1 Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy hill. Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming. It is close at hand– 2 a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness. Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes, such as never was in ancient times nor ever will be in ages to come.
Pastoral Prayer – by Rev. Martha Dye
Reading of Scripture – Mark 9:2-9 – by Mr. Jim Dye
Mountain Trips – Sermon by Rev. Martha Dye
[Mark 9:2-9 NIV] 2 After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. 3 His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. 4 And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus. 5 Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters–one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 6 (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)
Hey Y’all!
Sunday is Transfiguration Sunday. Jesus goes up on the mountaintop with Peter, James and John for a little get away that turns into something they never expected! Not in a million years. So, this week I’ve been thinking about mountain trips. When I was a kid growing up in Bowdon, my mom worked at Sewell’s in the Pants Shop. Sewell’s vacation week was, as I recall, always the week of July 4. We didn’t go every year, but I can remember packing up my little Samsonite overnight bag, climbing in the backseat of the car (with my mother’s pimento cheese sandwiches and fried chicken and pound cake snuggled in around my sister and me) and heading to the mountains. I was always so excited! My bag was packed by the middle of June and I was imagining all the things I would see.
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Pastoral Prayer – by Rev. Martha Dye
Reading of Scripture – Isaiah 40:21-31 – by Mrs. Bev Bynum
Remember Who You Are! – Sermon by Rev. Martha Dye
[Isaiah 40:21-31 ESV] 21 Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; 23 who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. 24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble. 25 To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One.
Pastoral Prayer – by Rev. Martha Dye
Reading of Scripture – Mark 1:21-28 – by Mr. Kurt Nicholson
Be a Blessing – Sermon by Rev. Martha Dye
[Mark 1:21-28 NASB20] 21 They went into Capernaum; and immediately on the Sabbath [Jesus] entered the synagogue and [began] to teach. 22 And they were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as [one] having authority, and not as the scribes. 23 Just then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, 24 saying, “What business do You have with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are: the Holy One of God!” 25 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!”
Pastoral Prayer – by Rev. Martha Dye
Reading of Scripture – Mark 1:14-20 – by Rev. Darryl Hessel
Gone Fishin’ – Sermon by Rev. Martha Dye
[Mark 1:14-20 NIV] 14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” 16 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 18 At once they left their nets and followed him. 19 When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. 20 Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.
“Permissions.” Blue Letter Bible. Web. 13 March, 2023.
Pastoral Prayer – by Rev. Martha Dye
Reading of Scripture – 1 Samuel 3:1-20 – by Mrs. Beth DeSasio
It’s Just Me, T Cake! – Sermon by Rev. Martha Dye
Testimony by Rev. Martha Dye – (Edited from Rev. Dye’s Sermon at the Community Thanksgiving Service on Nov. 19, 2023)
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