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FUMC Friends and Family,
This Sunday is All Saints Sunday, the day Christians remember the saints from local congregations who have died in the past year. In worship, we will call the names of forty-seven saints from our congregation. At the pronouncement of each name, a chime will ring in their memory. Candles representing each person will be lighted on the altar. Our choir will honor the legacy of our saints with glorious anthems for the reading of our beloved saints. We will hear the words of comfort from Revelation, which speak of a new heaven and a new earth where tears will be no more. Suffering and death will be swallowed in Resurrection victory for all eternity. This is our great hope in Jesus Christ. This is the legacy of faith left by our saints.
Our role in worship Sunday is essential. We gather around the family members who have lost a loved one, and we raise our voices in song, and creed, as a reminder that no one walks through life’s valleys alone. When one of us hurts, we all hurt. When one is unable to pray, we pray for that person. When the waves of grief lap at the shores of one’s heart, rendering one unable to sing, we sing for her and him. Doing so reminds us that we are a family, and we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses called the saints. When we gather for Holy Communion this Sunday, we acknowledge this holy mystery, by faith. Your presence in worship Sunday will be a balm for families, a voice of blessed assurance to our church family, and a blessing in your own life.
The names of our saints who have transferred their membership from FUMC Montgomery to the Church Triumphant are listed below. In your reading of each name right now, take a moment to reflect on their memory and their life of faith among us. Then, offer a prayer for their family as we all prepare to surround them with love this Sunday.
With Joy,
Jay
SAINTS:
Gayle Murrah Horner
Thomas Rogers Shanks Sr.
Mary Hope Harris Curtis
Carolyn Kate Slater
Robert Darren Dillon
Ann Williams Wells Arant
Miriam Milam Adair
Vivian Ann Donan
Douglas Emmett Lindley
Turner Chapman Seale Sr.
Warren Robert Mitchell
Crawford Nathan Steinberg
Grace Virginia Hammond Simpson
Allen Adair Tubbs
Bobbie Warren Carter
Betty “Beebe” Merrill Phillips
Elbert Rice Hughes Jr.
Judy Means Wagnon
John Douglas Yelverton Jr.
Martha Sue McCorkle
William Kendrick Upchurch Jr.
Sarah Prentiss Fain
Joan Elaine Beasley
Charles Nelson Prudames Jr.
Charles Taylor Phillips
Josephine Crowe Shipp
Robert Louis George II
Kerry Hancock Payne
Barry Lewis Wilson
Frances T. Macomber
Ernest Wayne Russell Jr.
Charles Britton Savage
Warren Bradley Moody
Rachel Elisabeth Schell
Gordon McLeod Amsler
Susan Lee Beeson
Royce Gideon Kershaw Jr.
Frances Folmar Miller
Barbara Latiker Jacobs
James Benjamin Massey Jr.
Gloria Stuart Walker
Jeanne Friesen Fincher
Dorothy Jo Burford
Judy Lumpkin Rigdon
Harold E. Neal
Marianne McDonald Leach
Michael Anthony Luna
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