May 7, 2021
Dear Prairie Avenue Family,
Happy Mother's Day weekend! It looks like our May flowers will be soaking in May showers in the forecast, but it will be nice and dry inside the sanctuary (or as you connect with us online in whatever shelter). There is a significant increase in telephone use throughout the nation on this particular weekend, and usually, a few more people join their mothers in Sunday worship. I am calling on all mothers to use that very persuasive, "I know I do not ask for much..." invitation to ask their children and grandchildren to join them in worship this weekend, reminding them what time worship service is (Saturday at 5 pm, Sundays at 8 am or 9:30 am). Who can truly resist the quiet (but insistent) request of their mother to take them to church?
With the final cables and connections in place, our weekend worship services will have quality sound and broadcast. You will no longer see Amanda on the laptop on the platform! She can now control the slides and videos on the sanctuary television from the sanctuary balcony. Our videos will be in full stereo rather than mono (and at times silent) presentations of the last couple of weeks. I thank Wayne Rutherford of Rutherford Photovisual for his remarkable work in establishing our live stream studio production. As Patrick turns in his Mac IPAD at Eisenhower high school today, I recall when we first started posting just the sermon on our youtube channel in February 2018!
Worship This Weekend:
Witness: Living in a Postresurrection World
True Friendship
Whom do you call a friend? Do you get a friend request from someone you have no clue how they know you, nor do they have any mutual friends with your Facebook profile? Just looking at my Facebook profile this morning, I apparently have 609 Facebook "Friends."
Now I have a few guidelines when it comes to accepting friend requests on Facebook. My childhood friends and classmates, family and relatives, professional networking, congregation members and clergy colleagues, and civic groups or organizations. It is odd that you can become friends with organizations, businesses, etc. Of course, some are closer than others. And many close friends have grown apart as our lives entered different chapters and careers. Many times we call something or someone a friend when any measurement of relationship would identify it as an "acquaintance."
Our weekend lesson is about friends. Jesus makes a remarkable statement to his worried disciples on the last night together: they are his friends, not servants. The assurance of friendship will remain as long as they also remain in loving relationships with each other. It is the only commandment Jesus gives in the gospel of John; love one another as I have loved you. It is not what we condemn, whom we exclude, rules we create, or practices we identify. Love to one another is the identity of being a follower of Jesus.
As we continue to encounter the post-resurrection Jesus, the way he returns and is seen among us is how we love others. When loving others is present, Jesus is present.
And the most revealing act of love: when we give up our lives in order to save others. True friendship is a willingness to serve and sacrifice--even one's own self-interest and life--for the good of another.
Congratulations to our High School Graduates!
Patrick Wayne Butterick, Eisenhower HIgh School
Abraham Elijah Long, MacArthur High School
90TH BIRTHDAY CARD SHOWER FOR RAY MADDOX
Ray Maddox will be celebrating his 90th birthday on Wednesday, May 12! To celebrate this special occasion, the family has requested a birthday card shower from his church family. Ray served as Elder, as Treasurer/Secretary of Disciples Men Fellowship, and groundskeeper for many years.
His Address Is:
2245 N Seminary St, Apt. 416
Galesburg, IL 61401
2021 PENTECOST OFFERING: Be the New Church
Sunday May 16 & May 23
From hospital and prison chaplains to tri-vocational pastors, courageous new church leaders have answered the call to be the new church.
To support them and their efforts to continue the new church movement, please contribute to the 2021 Pentecost Offering, which we will collect on Sundays, May 16 and May 23.
Each year, half of the gifts made go to your own Region to support local new church development. The other half goes to New Church Ministry, which trains, equips, assists, and multiplies new church leaders. Through programs such as Leadership Academy, New Church Hacks, and Water the Plants, your gifts
make a difference across the life of the Church. By participating in this Special Day Offering, you ensure the viability, vitality, and sustainability of unique new church plants in your area and in
states, provinces, and territories far away.
Please give generously. Let’s all be the new church, together.
Adopt-A-Street
Saturday, May 15, 10 am
They will know we are Prairie Avenue, a group of learning, loving, and serving disciples of Christ by our love for others and acts of service. Nolan's Community Clean-up group will join us. Litter gitters and COVID-19 measures in place.
Worship Leaders Needed
Our in-person services need worship leaders to assist in speaking the call to worship, invocation prayer, and the call to worship for each of our services: Saturday at 5 pm or Sundays at 8 am or 9:30 am. These materials are prepared each week by Tuesday afternoon, so you do not have to create your own! You can sign up a particular Sunday of the month, a particular time, or which service you already (or will eventually) attend in person. Contact Barb Hodges at 217-620-3268 if you would like to sign up or have questions.
Parking Lot Attendants / Greeters Needed
We need smiling faces and joyful hearts in greeting and security. I need two parking lot attendants to greet our guests and assist them with their entrance. Once service begins, these parking lot attendants will secure all entrances to the building, locking the doors, closing the garage about 15 minutes into the worship services. I would like to have attendants for each service -Saturdays at 5 pm and Sundays at 8 am & 9:30 am. Contact the church office (217-428-3327) if you are interested in helping assist in guest/welcome services.
Music Ensembles To Resume Wednesday, May 5, 7 pm
I would like to have a music ensemble for each worship service: Saturdays at 5 pm and Sunday mornings at 8 am and 9:30 am. These groups are tentatively called Meadowlands 1, 2, & 3. You will lead the congregation in singing the hymns and leading our expanding list of familiar praise songs and choruses. While the ability to read music is helpful, and holding a musical pitch (no matter what size bucket) is expected, all those willing and able are welcome to join these small ensembles.
Building Fund Needs
Thank you for your generous response to our campaign! We have collected $1300 of our $5000 goal. The final cost of our circulating pump repair was nearly $2,300. Our building fund is not as robust as it should be to handle this expenditure in addition to anticipated capital needs associated with the elevator modernization project later this year. I am asking you to consider a one-time special offering or a recurring gift to increase our building fund balance by $5,000. Each donor with offering envelopes has building fund envelopes included to solicit support for costly maintenance and anticipated replacement, remodel, and repair costs outside of the operating budget. Please mark your donations "building fund" if not using a building fund envelope.
Invite friends to join you for worship this weekend, in person, online
In-person on Saturday at 5 pm, Sunday mornings at 8 am or 9:30 am (masks and social distancing required).
See you this weekend online or in person,
Blessings to you all,
