Worship

A PALM SUNDAY PRAYER

O Lord, you who were cheered and jeered by the very same crowd, have mercy, I pray, on my own duplicitous ways: confessing one sin openly, while hiding another;

blessing God out of one side of my mouth,

while cursing my neighbor out of the other;

smiling in public but raging in private;

lauding justice but denying it in practice;

loving God and money equally much; and all other sins besides.

Grant me the grace of integrity,

of being one thing through and through, no matter what the cost.

In the name of the One who loves us to the end. Amen.

This Sunday in Worship

This Sunday will be a glorious one at Farmville UMC! We will celebrate Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem with the waving of palms and the singing of songs of praise, as Holy Week begins.

Another celebration: Jack Porter will receive the sacrament of baptism, and Reagan Tibbs, Susan Cook, and Noah Blakely will be confirmed in the Christian faith and received into membership in our church.

Jacob Farmer-Rylands, a recent graduate of Longwood University, will also be confirmed, and received into membership. Jacob will be leaving to attend seminary this fall at the Boston University School of Theology. We are pleased to serve as Jacob's sponsoring church, and will be holding him in prayer during his studies in Boston.

The Rev. Josh Blakely will lead worship. His sermon is titled, "A Day Like No Other."

Please plan to join your church in worship at 10 AM this Sunday! Can't make it to 212 High Street? Join us online on Facebook live: https://www.facebook.com/farmvilleunitedmethodistchurch

Sunday Worship - Farmville UMC

Palm Sunday

Confirmation Sunday

March 24, 2024

GATHERING

WELCOME and ANNOUNCEMENTS -Rev. Josh Blakely

PRELUDE   Christ Blesses the Children - Dr. Gordon Ring

- Gordon Ring

CHORAL INTROIT Hosanna to the King - The Chancel Choir

-Dan Forrest

CALL to WORSHIP*                                        Jack Porter

This is the day that the Lord has made! 

      We will rejoice and be glad in it!

The Lord is our strength and our song; he has become our victory!

You are our God, and we will praise you;

You are our God, and we will exalt you.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!

His faithful love endures forever!

OPENING HYMN              #278 Hosanna, Loud Hosanna

and the PROCESSION of the PALMS*         

PROCLAMATION OF GOD'S WORD

THE CHILDREN'S MOMENT - Susan Cook

PRAYER for ILLUMINATION - Jacob Farmer-Rylands

SCRIPTURE READING   Mark 11:1-11     Jacob Farmer-Rylands 

SERMON            "A Day Like No Other" Rev. Josh Blakely

RESPONSE TO THE WORD 

HYMN*        #277   Tell Me the Stories of Jesus 

OFFERING OUR GIFTS         The Confirmands 

OFFERTORY             The Chancel Choir

DOXOLOGY* #95 UMH

BAPTISM, CONFIRMATION, and RECEPTION of NEW MEMBERS

Receiving the Sacrament of baptism: John Graham Porter

Receiving the Rite of Confirmation and Reception:

John Graham Porter

Reagan Catherine Tibbs

Noah Benjamin Blakely

Susan Louise Cook

and Jacob Farmer-Rylands

SENDING FORTH

HYMN* #89 Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee          - verses 1, 4

Susan Cook, Flute; Noah Blakely, Clarinet, and Jack Porter, Trombone

CHORAL BENEDICTION*    Hosanna to the King - The Chancel Choir

- Dan Forrest

BENEDICTION*        Rev. Susie Thomas

POSTLUDE   Grand Recessional  -   Dr. Gordon Ring

- Dale Wood

*Please stand as you are able.

Charge Conference to be Held April 2

A called charge conference will be held via Zoom on Tuesday, April 2 at 7 pm for the purpose of ratifying a salary increase for Rev. Susie Thomas. Our District Superintendent, the Rev. Jay Carey, will preside.

The meeting is open and if you’d like to receive the Zoom link, please contact the church office.

We thank you for supporting the mission and ministry of FUMC!

Your Generosity Supports Our Church!

 Consider setting up an EFT with your bank for scheduled automatic giving.

Giving & Donations:

Your donations can be mailed

to the church at 

P.O. Box 64

Farmville, VA 23901

or given electronically through

e-giving at

FUMC e-giving or with the 

Giving App "GivePlus Mobile" at

844-987-3237

Rev. Justin Hicks to Lead Worship

at Lenten Gathering

You’re invited to join friends and neighbors for a Lenten worship service during Holy Week: Rev. Justin Hicks, Wesley Foundation Director, will lead worship on Weds., March 27 at noon in the sanctuary.

A soup and bread luncheon will follow in the Social Hall, in the basement of the Education Building. Contributions will be accepted at the service and the luncheon to assist those in our community who need help with their utility bills. 

A Capital Campaign Update

Dave Wagner, our Capital Campaign chair, reports on our indebtedness on our $1.2 loan for extensive building repairs and improvements. We are down to $16,000, give or take! 

We hope to have our note entirely paid off very soon, and in line with that hope, we ask that you check to make certain you have fulfilled your Capital Campaign commitments. Do you have any money outstanding on your pledge? If so, would you fulfill that pledge and help our church to reach this awesome goal. Thank you!



Connect

Church Office Hours

Monday through Thursday

9:00 AM - 1:00 PM

Our Nursery Needs YOU!

Please consider volunteering for a shift in our newly- reopened Nursery. No need to be a parent or grandparent of children in our church - the only job qualification is a heart for kids!

Please sign up here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jvZjQYUBI2RGjart35aHun_Zs2sAu1JYbU29bdv5MlA/edit?usp=sharing

Would you like to volunteer in the nursery and be contacted via email? Please fill out our short volunteer form here: https://forms.gle/nnqCRju8kiQ2v1vu6

Thank you to all who have continued to support this valuable ministry!

MORE Easter Candy

Needed!

Thank You for Your Donations!

Keep ‘em coming! Easter Sunday is just a week away!

Do You Have Extra Yarn…

… or knitting needles or crochet hooks that you’re not using? Donate them to the Knit In! ministry!

Our knitters and crocheters gather each Monday at 2:30 PM to create blankets and scarves for our church and for the needy. They would really appreciate your gifts of unused yarn or other supplies. Please drop your donations off in the church office.

You’re Invited:

Vacation Bible School Planning Meeting

It's time to do our hands-on Vacation Bible School planning!

We are looking at July 7-11 as our dates. Something new this year: an evening Bible school, from 5:30 to 7:30 each evening.

WE NEED YOU!

You're invited to join us on Sunday, April 14, right after worship at 11:15 in the Fellowship Room, on the first floor. We'll watch a short video about Camp Firelight, this year's VBS program, and we'll talk about all the volunteer opportunities available. Let's come together to make this a memorable week for our kids - and for our community.

We can hope to do a four-or five-day VBS only if we have a sufficient number of volunteers! Please put April 14 on your family calendar - we'll have child care available during the meeting.

Hope to see you then!

Holy Week at Farmville UMC

 - March 24 -10 AM - Palm Sunday AND Confirmation Sunday.

 - March 27 - 12 Noon - Brief worship service in the sanctuary, followed by a soup lunch in the Fellowship Room. Rev. Justin Hicks, Wesley Foundation Campus Minister, to preach.

- March 28 - 7 PM - Maundy Thursday service at 7 PM in the sanctuary; Rev. Josh Blakely will preach and Holy Communion will be served.

 - March 29 - Good Friday - Good Friday worship at 7 PM in the sanctuary. A service of tenebrae, or "shadows." Rev. Susie Thomas, preaching.

 - March 31 - 10 AM Easter Sunday Worship - Easter Egg Hunt following worship, Longwood Colonnades .

Around FUMC This Week:

Cindy Davis celebrated her 65th birthday with a party on Sunday! Her Sunday school class, the McCraw-Haga class, served a luncheon complete with this cat-themed veggie tray. Happy birthday, Cindy!

Two additions to our Lenten altar are the crown of thorns and nails. Good Friday is near.

Ten members of our United Women in Faith unit attended the Living Waters Prayer Breakfast at Ocran, UMC outside Petersburg, on Saturday.

Our Confirmation Class Makes Stoles

Our confirmands decorated fabric stoles last Sunday that they will wear on their confirmation day - Palm Sunday, March 24. Here, Noah Blakely draws a scallop shell, symbolic of baptism.

Reagan Tibbs is adding some colorful touches.

Susan Cook filled her stole with colorful symbols of the Christian faith.

The stoles for the class were sewn by Hedy Thomas and Rebecca Maxwell - we are very grateful for their handiwork!

FYC Discusses Who Jesus Is

The members of the Farmville Youth Collective were asked last Sunday evening who Jesus is, in their lives. The FYC is meeting on Sundays at 6 PM, Farmville Baptist Church.

Thank you to Jason Tibbs, who grooms our bushes and puts down new mulch every spring!

Our Randolph Street beds look great, as springtime nears!

Continuing Prayer Concerns

Linda Sue Lewis needs prayers as she battles cancer.

Happy Birthday to All!



Celebrations

Please hold in prayer our confirmation class: Noah Blakely, Susan Cook, Jack Porter, and Reagan Tibbs. Our confirmands have been meeting every Sunday morning for a month now as they prepare to claim the Christian faith as their own, on Palm Sunday.

Many have kindly asked where they might send cards to Rev. Susie’s mom, who will be celebrating her 100th birthday next month. She’d love to receive cards! Her birthday is March 27. Thank you!

Peggy D. Hiss

Apt. 474

Pickersgill Retirement Community

615 Chestnut Ave.

Towson, Md 21204

Attention Gardeners: Plant a Row for FACES!

It’s almost time to start your seedlings - this year, please remember the FACES Food Pantry and the neighbors it serves. FACES always needs and appreciates being able to distribute fresh produce to its clients. You can help by “planting a row for FACES” this spring!

With food prices still high, your garden-grown veggies will be even more appreciated at FACES. Thanks for thinking of our hungry neighbors, this spring!

Creation Care Tips for March, 2024

• Track the sun at your home and plan to grow something. For example, Minneapolis has numerous front-yard gardens, which provide the added benefit of opportunities to connect with neighbors to share the food, to perhaps share the work, and to build community.

• Connect children to nature through a pizza garden. Engage young ones in planning, planting, and watching the growth of tomatoes, peppers, onions, and herbs. At the ripe time, have a homemade pizza party. Offer a blessing and so connect children to the Giver of all growth.

• Plan to observe Earth Hour Saturday, March 23, from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm local time. Along with millions of other people around the world, switch off every single light and talk about being good stewards of the Earth. Think together about what you individually, as a family, or as a church community can commit to doing for a sustainable future.

• Investigate solar for your home, business, and church. New funding is now available, so now is a good time to look at the possibilities that you can make happen.

Ways YOU Can Be Involved in Missions in Our Community:

March Mission Opportunities

• FUMC distribution day for FACES is now the 4th Saturday of each month. Join the Seekers SS for our FACES food distribution day, Saturday March 23, 2024 7:30-10:30 a.m. Contact https://www.facesfoodpantry.com/volunteer.

• Help Women of Faith (UWF) in collecting items for the recently released from incarceration, a program sponsored by LOC Family Services of Farmville. Especially needed: deodorant, toothbrushes and toothpaste. Items can include soap, toothpaste, mouthwash, a washcloth, deodorant, a hand towel, lotion, powder, a comb, pads or tampons, hand sanitizer and/or any other personal hygiene item you may wish to add, also $10 cell phones (Walmart) and phone cards. Collection bin is in the Mission Center.

• Elwood’s Cabinet (Wesley Foundation/LU and HSC students) needs requested items that include:

• Snack foods (things they can throw in their backpack);
• Frozen vegetables;
• Gift cards to buy milk;
• Frozen dinners

They can be placed in the FUMC Mission Center. Monetary donations are also helpful in keeping the cabinet stocked.

• FACES Food Pantry is in need of snack foods for the School Backpack Program. Boxes of individual serving Goldfish and granola bars are much appreciated and can be left in or near the closet under the stairs where egg cartons are left for pickup. Thanks for supporting Prince Edward school children!

• Prince Edward County Public Schools FeedMore Food Market will be open on Thursday, March 28, 2024 from 2:30 p.m.- 5:00 p.m. (while supplies last). We are in need of volunteers beginning at 2:30p.m. To sign up for a shift on Aug. 31, please respond to this email, [email protected], with your availability. Once the market begins, families will park and enter the facility to shop for themselves in a farmer's market-style atmosphere. Volunteers will be available to help pack, carry, and load groceries, as needed.

• Volunteer shifts will operate as follows:

⩥ 2:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m.: Set up tables & parking lot

⩥ 3:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m.: Food distribution & clean up

⩥ 4:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m.: Food distribution & clean up

The Food Market will be held at the Fireman's Sports Arena, located at 1328 Zion Hill Rd, Farmville, VA 23901.

PE’s Kids seeks to provide Prince Edward County Public School students with assistance with needs like field trip money, appropriate clothing, hygiene items, etc. because we know that a little help goes a long way.To Make a Contribution: By Mail: PO Box 524, Farmville, VA, United States, Virginia, (434) 414-1163 and [email protected]

Your involvement as a VOLUNTEER can make a valuable contribution to education in Prince Edward County.

While volunteer tasks vary with the needs of individual schools,

we welcome volunteer assistance in all of our schools.

If you would like to volunteer in Prince Edward County

Public Schools, please complete the online PECPS Volunteer Application. If you have any questions, please reach out to

Mrs. Eanes- Walton by calling 434 - 315 - 2100.