Weekly Newsletter - October 8, 2026

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News of the Church

 

Second Sunday Lunch


Join us this Sunday, October 11 for Second Sunday Lunch, our monthly potluck lunch! Immediately following worship, you are invited to join us in the Fellowship Hall for this monthly time sharing a meal together. Bring a side dish or dessert to share, or just bring yourself!

UWF Equal Exchange Sale This Sunday


This Sunday during Second Sunday Lunch United Women in Faith will be selling Equal Exchange products: Coffee, Tea, Hot Cocoa Mix, Chocolate Bars, and Olive Oil. Come shop with us; these products make great gifts or just enjoy for yourself. Profits go toward UWF mission projects. Cash, checks or credit cards using our QR code. Come see us! Thanks! 

2026 Blessing of the Animals - Location Change!


On Sunday, October 11 at 5 PM, bring your furry friends for our annual Blessing of the Animals! We will have a brief service where we thank God together for our pets and their presence in our lives, and our pastor will offer a blessing over them. All creatures big and small are welcome!


**In anticipation of possible rain, we are moving the service to under the Portico at the back entrance of the church!**

October Worship & Prayer


Join us for our October Worship & Prayer service Wednesday, October 14! We will share a meal and then move into a time of meditation, silent prayer, and worship. We engage with many different practices throughout the service, drawing from ancient traditions of prayer. Come center yourself in song and prayer! This month we will be led in worship by Rev. Hannah Pye, the director of the Wesley of Macon college ministry!

Dinner begins at 5:30 pm, and the service starts at 6:15 pm.

Charge Conference on Monday, October 19


Mulberry St. Charge Conference will take place Monday, October 19 in the Fellowship Hall at 6:00 p.m. Our District Superintendent Rev. Jeff Cook will be present to lead us as we celebrate the ministry of our church for another year. All elected leaders are encouraged to attend, and the meeting will be open to all others.

**Please note updated time & location**

Esther Grace Circle October Meeting


Esther Grace United Women in Faith will meet on Friday, October 9th at 11:30 in the conference room. Bring your lunch and drink if you would like. We will by studying the second chapter of Short Stories by Jesus by Amy -Jill Levine. Please join us; we welcome new members to our group!

Sign up to Volunteer!


We are looking for volunteers to help out with our annual Fall Festival! It takes all of us together to bring this event to the Macon community, and there is a spot for you to help out! Sign up at the link below - trunk-or-treat cars, face painting, games, the popcorn machine and more!

Candy Donations Begin This Sunday


We are collecting candy for the trunk-or-treat! Please bring individually-wrapped bags of candy and drop them in the marked bins in the church Narthex & Atrium.

A place to share happenings in Macon & what the Mulberry community is up to!

Something you'd like highlighted? Email to Millie Thompson.

Deanna Weber begins her chemo treatments this week - if you would like to bless her with some meals or money towards food delivery/take out, there is a meal train signup available. Drop offs will be at Allyson Moody’s house off of Wimbish Road, she will send you an email once you sign up with instructions. Sign up at https://mealtrain.com/196g85 .

 

A Bicentennial Moment

In conjunction with Mulberry’s Bicentennial Celebration, The Leonard Hill Cochran Historical Room presents a moment from Mulberry’s history.

Carolyn Kennedy Dominy, Church Historian


Below are excerpts from the 2012 Winter copy of The Mulberry Quarterly:


“Mulberry’s Stained Glass Windows ‘The Resurrection.’

Mulberry owes much of its sanctuary’s beauty to the fine stained-glass windows which enhance each worship service with their exceptional details and glowing colors. All of the windows in the sanctuary, save one, were created by The Payne-Spiers Studios of Patterson, New Jersey.


However, ‘The Resurrection’ is the work of Mayer & Company of Munich, Germany. Franz Mayer windows are noted for the detail in the faces of the figures depicted and installed in hundreds of cathedrals world-wide, including St. Peter’s in Rome. ‘Munich Style” windows were enormously popular throughout Canada and the United States during the late 19th century and early decades of the 20th century with thousands exported to North America.


In the world before printed books, stained glass windows were created not only honor members of congregations as memorials to loved ones but to teach. Stained glass as an art form, reached its height in the Middle Ages when it became a major pictorial form and was used to illustrate the narratives of the Bible to a largely illiterate populace. 

‘The Resurrection’ is our finest, most valuable window and the 1st piece of true stained glass placed in the church. It was given in memory of Samuel Scott Dunlap in 1902, twenty years after the existing walls of the sanctuary were erected. 


Samuel S. Dunlap, born in 1803 and died in 1902, was prominent in the business and civic life of the Macon community. He moved to Macon in 1849, was owner of Dunlap Hardware and a vice-president of The Exchange Bank. During the Civil War, he recruited and equipped a company of soldiers at his own expense. The site of the old Dunlap Farm, the scene of some historic battles of that war, is located within the boundaries of Ocmulgee National Monument. He was a long-time member of Mulberry and the father of 5 children. 


On many a cold windy winter’s morning during Sunday services as the sun goes in and out behind the clouds, these beautiful glass creations will darken, then lighten again and almost seem to come alive at the special hour of our expression of devotion and allegiance as we bow our heads in prayer to our Heavenly Father.”

 

Memorial Fund

In memory of Betty Morris by Leon and Christy Henderson


Macon Outreach

In honor of Greg and Cindy Elliott from Paul Alton Basilico.

 
 

Sunday Worship

October 11, 2026

Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

  

Rev. Jack Varnell, preaching

“The Gift of Salvation” 

Acts 16:25-34


Assisting with Worship

Ushers

J.B. Easterlin, Bill Jarrard, Tim Anderson, Eric Hefner, Bill Henderson, Stephanie Henson


Acolytes

Baxter James, Candle Lighter


Flowers

The flowers on the altar are given to the glory of God and in appreciation of our church staff by Beth and Waverly Golson.


11 a.m. Worship Service will be Live-Streamed and available on Facebook and YouTube.

Prayer List

Scott and Wanda Fitzgerald  

Jarrod Heggins  

Jimmy Roach 

Freeda Chapman 

Thomas Marlow 

Linda Sankey 

Eddings Smith  

Sharon and Tony Marks, sister and brother-in-law of Kathy Welch 

Mable Mashburn, Kathy Welch’s mother  

Charlotte Barker  

Susan McIntosh, Daniel’s mother 

Ray McIntosh, Daniel’s sister  

Ruth Beeler, Daniel’s grandmother 

Edith Smith, mother of Hinda Ramsay 

Kay Harris  

Russell Sanderson, Wende Meyer von Bremen's brother, 

Luis and Janice Morales-Hill's great-granddaughter, Carter 

Michael Slonecker 

Bert Thompson 

Harold Downs 

Clyde Marlow 

Judy Freeney 

Erin Heggins 

Sylvia Hathcock 

Alton Basilico 

Jim McLendon 

Dunham Peeples 

Gabriel Eisner 

Laurie Smith 

Lynn Rankin 

Ronnie Wynn 

Family of Edyth Snow  

The family of Todd Passey, brother-in-law of Heather Evans 

The family of Elizabeth "Betty" Baker Morris 

Mary Hurt 

Dr. Deanna Weber 

The family of Graham Mulling 

Bill Jackson 

 

The United Methodist Church, Bishop Robin Dease 

District Superintendent Jeff Cook 

 

Our church, its clergy, and its members 

Our community of Macon  

Coming Up at Mulberry

Oct 11

Blessing of the Pets


Oct 14

Worship & Prayer

On Call Line

478-219-9926

Check out what's going on in Realm!

Be sure to check out the News feature on Realm!

If you need help getting connected, contact the church office at

478-745-8601.

Ainsworth (Adult) Choir Rehearsal

Wednesdays at 7:15 pm in the Choir Room!

We welcome all who like to sing and want to be part of music ministry in worship. Come join us! Please contact Terre Johnson, Director of Music, for questions.

**Nursery is provided during Choir Rehearsal for any parents wanting to join!

Weekly Prayers & Scripture

 

Week 48: Power


Day 1. Jeremiah 32:17 (Morning); Psalm 65:6 (Evening)

Day 2. Isaiah 43:13 (Morning); 1 Corinthians 6:14 (Evening)

Day 3. Psalm 74:13 (Morning); 1 Peter 1:5 (Evening)

Day 4. Ephesians 1:18-19a (Morning); Isaiah 40:26 (Evening)

Day 5. 2 Corinthians 12:9 (Morning); Ephesians 3:20 (Evening)

 

Morning Prayer of Petition

Great and awesome God, in your wisdom you created the earth and by your power you sustain it. I am learning to trust you and to rely on your power at work:

  • those who are suffering from illness,
  • those struggling with stress and anxiety,
  • people who are wrestling with addiction,
  • those without access to affordable housing or healthcare,
  • systems of inequality in my community and in our world.


Just as you created all that is, God, may your Spirit come and redeem all things. Amen.

 

Evening Prayer of Gratitude

Mighty God, as I remember the way that you have guided me in the past, I find power to live in the present. Thank you for the ways that your power was made known to me today:

  • for moments that brought me life,
  • for people who support me,
  • for those who challenge my way of thinking,
  • for moments of resilience and strength.


Thank you for blessing me with the power of your Holy Spirit. May I continue to live out of that power and not merely my own. Amen.

Taken from The Methodist Book of Daily Prayer

 

Donation Needs

Macon Outreach Needs

**Plastic Bags**

Cereal

Pop tarts

Canned peas

Canned black eye peas

Canned collards

Jelly

Cases of bottled water

Financial Donations

Cereal

Hamburger helper

Cornbread mix

Condiments

Cake/cookie/muffin mix

Snack items

Daybreak Needs

Individually-wrapped snack items

Sugar

Vinegar

Volunteers!!!

Canned or fresh fruit,

fruit cups

Applesauce (individual containers)

Jelly

Vienna sausages (4.6 oz.)

1 min. Instant Grits

1 min Instant Oatmeal

Chips (individual bags)

Snack items (individually wrapped)

Gatorade (Powder)

Muscle Cream (Biofreeze, Icy Hot)

Disinfectant Spray/Air freshener

Women underwear (New) M,L,XL

Bug Spray

Aleve (Ibuprofen)

Pine-sol

Liquid Laundry Detergent

Hydrocortisone cream

Dish detergent

Paper towels

Resources & Links

South Georgia Advocate

The South Georgia Advocate, a twice monthly online news publication, is the official news source of the South Georgia Annual Conference and a ministry of the Office of Connectional Ministries.

SGAUMC Resource Toolkit

As part of this year's conference focus of "Unto the Least of These", the South Georgia Conference is providing monthly resources designed to empower each of us in our mission of making meaningful connections and living out transformative discipleship. Each toolkit presents a challenge questions & resources tailored to address that challenge.

Have an addition to the newsletter?

Email Millie Thompson at mthompson@mulberrymethodist.org

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