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Monday, May 31st (Memorial Day) at 7:30am-11am come have all-u-can-eat pancakes for just $8 a plate. All proceeds go to help raise money for the summer camp going on at Hope Park in Eastpoint. This camp will focus on getting kids closer to the Lord and becoming familiar in the Word of God. The camp will have field trips, activities, games, theme weeks, and more….. it will be a blast! Please come out and help us raise the money we need to make this a success.
At last! We are reopening for public worship this Sunday, July 19th. So many of us really long to be together and so we are truly excited. However, the safety of our congregation and everyone who attends is our first priority. We all need to be as safe as possible and adhere to the social distancing guidelines as well as our safety precautions we have established for our outside service.
The Myer’s have graciously agreed for us to use their restaurant for worship so we will be meeting at Doc’s at 9am.
The following is a list of precautions to follow if you plan on attending service with us:
Let us come and praise the Lord together. Let’s show our love for our community by being a witness to others that we are in this together to stop the spread of COVID-19, and that we will do what we can to aid in that. Hope to see you there!
In His Love,
Pastor Bob
Tindale (850) 933-7955
SGIUMC
What would I do without you?
Where would I go, east or west, north or south?
I’d be lost in a world cold and lonely at best;
Wandering, and confused by unrest.
When suddenly I hear your tender voice,
“Rejoice and be glad for you belong to me.”
Belonging to you, Lord. Yes, belonging to you. I was born from your heart; there’s no doubt in my mind. Going home to your mansions when my last breath is done is a gift from our Father to his daughters and sons.
I cry out to you in trembling and fear.
My God! My God!
Why have you forsaken me?
There’s a God-sized hole in my heart.
Then, tenderly you whispered in my heart,
“My child!
Oh, my child the desert will lead to me.”
Belonging to you, Lord. Yes, belonging to you. I was born from your heart; there’s no doubt in my mind. Going home to your mansions when my last breath is done, is a gift from our Father to his daughters and sons.
The gift of your love brings me life and
freedom from sin and despair.
For I’m washed in your blood,
Pure and holy in your sight and your grace
Is sufficient for me.
Then blessed by your peace my heart sings its’ song:
Rejoice and be glad for I belong to you.
COPYRIGHT Words/Music inspired by and dedicated to the Holy Trinity by Marilyn McCann
Prayer about the Holy Spirit
Dear Heavenly Father, as a child I was afraid of suffocating. My older sister would come up behind me, covering my nose and mouth with her hands, watching me squirm and squeal. I was a reluctant swimmer, cautious about putting my head under water, always fearful I’d drown. Even now, I get panicky when I have a head cold, lying awake, monitoring my breathing.
What about those suffering from COVID-19 and the symptoms they may experience?. Problems with breathing, loss of oxygen in their blood, and the need for supplementary oxygen. Some even undergo intubation so a ventilator can breathe for them. How terrifying it must be to lose the very breath of life!
Lord, You have given us a ventilator that infuses us with Your breath–the Holy Spirit. This is Your true presence, filling us with Your purpose and love. In Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was a rush of wind, inflating the souls of the disciples, giving them the gifts of language to speak Christ’s message. I crave that same spiritual fulfillment so I too can speak more effectively of Your love. Now, more than ever, I am gasping for Your presence—fearful, weak, alone.
I recognize , Lord, there are those suffering from a spiritual virus. They may choose to wear symbolic masks of doubt and rejection, closing themselves to Your life-affirming Spirit. Some experience spiritual hypo-ventilation, the failure to breathe in the breath of God. Reluctant to accept the gift of God’s inspiration, choosing to live lives apart from God, they never appreciate Your gifts of love and hope, Your promise of salvation.
During these crucial times, Lord, we need Your Holy Spirit more than ever. Just as virus patients may require supplementary assistance in breathing, we too need the support and the vitality Your breath provides. Because we can’t gather to reinforce one another’s faith, it is more important than ever we seek Your supply of the Holy Spirit. Studying the Bible, especially verses like the 23rd Psalm, provide comfort, linking us with the Holy Spirit. Connecting with one another by whatever means possible provides the spiritual ‘oxygen’ our souls require. And most of all, prayer is the ‘ventilator’ of spiritual connection. When we pray, deeply and honestly, we can find an infusion of Your spirit, giving us the strength and courage to carry on, no matter how overwhelmed we may feel.
This is the time to inhale deeply, to fill ourselves with Your blessed Spirit.
I remember the lines of one of my favorite hymns:
“Breathe on me, Breath of God, fill me with life anew
that I may love what thou dost love, and do what thou wouldst do.”
After 4 wonderful years at St. George Island UMC, Pastor Brian Brightly will be retiring for the second time. Pastor Brian has been a blessing to SGI and has been the push of many successful missions that have been achieved in our community.
His participation and dedication to Franklin County will be missed! Rev. Bob Tindale will be the interim pastor for SGIUMC from July to the time the church is able to select a permanent pastor. Rev. Tindale will be a great asset to SGIUMC and is very familiar with the people of Franklin County. We are excited for the change and warmly welcome him to the family.
An After-Easter Prayer
“Behind him [John] came Simon Peter, and he went straight into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the cloth which had been around Jesus’ head. It was not lying with the linen cloths but was rolled up by itself” John 20:6-7
Dear Lord, I’ve always wondered about this detail in the Easter story. John describes the cloths so carefully, as if they have significance. What if the new year begins the day after Easter? Jesus went through abuse, torture, and crucifixion for my sake, because He valued me highly. Why? Why go through all that agony for me? Having learned of His sacrifice, what’s expected of me? How am I supposed to live my life Post-Easter?
The period following Easter is the perfect time to self-examine, determine the issues and problems that trouble my life. There are weaknesses requiring treatment, behavior I need to cast off. Those discarded funeral wraps Jesus left behind are a symbol of sins in my life, sins making my life tattered and soiled. As an example, forgiveness is difficult for me; I claim I’ve forgiven individuals, but again and again I focus on their behavior and become angry once more. It’s not only others I can’t forgive, Lord. I accept your forgiveness, I try to convince myself you’ve washed me clean, but things I’ve done still trouble me, making me ashamed. I need to take off that wrapping of guilt and hardness of heart—leave it behind and work to forgive myself and others.
We’re told to love; love is the most emphasized gift of the Holy Spirit. I know this and yet I love like a miser, carefully weighing slights, balancing my love against the love I receive. I accept the endless love you have for me, Dear Lord, but I distribute love as though it’s a finite amount, against your infinite love. My failure to love with abandon is another layer of torn wrapping that needs removal, cast off and left behind in an empty tomb.
Judge not, we’re told, but my judgment is immediate and stern. How easy to win my approval—do what I do, think as I do, and behave as I prescribe. For ‘the other’, those who don’t behave as I like, my judgment falls hammer-like. I understand in my heart it’s wrong to be self-righteous, but breaking away from old habits is difficult. This too, Lord, needs to change. I want to accept others without assessing their ‘value’ to me. Help me strip away my soiled coat of judgment, leave it behind, old and out-dated.
I know, Lord, change will be difficult. How can I battle these old, familiar sins and become the resurrected woman you want me to be? Please lend me that linen cloth, a cloth that covered your face, a cloth so carefully folded and set aside. Let me use that cloth to cleanse, to give me a clean purpose once I’ve discarded those raggedy clothes. Only with your help, Lord, can I dress myself in a new Easter outfit, clad in your gift of redemption and grace. With your help I leave behind the tomb rags of the past and move into new life.
Prayer for Easter
Dear Lord, every Easter card shows flowers blooming, bright sunshine, and smiling disciples. But it wasn’t that way, was it, Lord. It was chilly and dark when the women went to the tomb. In their scarves they carried gums and spices to undo the abuse and torture your body had suffered two days earlier. So much fear! The boulder blocking the tomb, the soldiers guarding it, the Roman soldiers patrolling and then, to add to the fear, an earthquake.
They whispered to one another as they walked. Hopeless. Disappointed. The loss of everything they believed. Jesus wasn’t powerful as He seemed. He could heal and restore and feed and make people believe—but it all came down to this—a broken body in a borrowed tomb. Here was the hard truth; Jesus was a mortal man like every other man. Shivering in the darkness, bent over as they hurried, eager to have this business finished, to show their respect for a dear friend who had taught them so much.
It’s ironic, Lord, isn’t it, that none of the followers coming to the burial site in small, separate groups, expected an empty tomb. Though Jesus had told them repeatedly, at least nine times, that he would rise from the dead, they didn’t believe him. In fact the only ones who heard Jesus’ message were the Jewish rulers. The high priests and Pharisees warned Pilate Jesus spoke of rising from the dead. They heard the message, though his followers didn’t. To prevent their stealing the body, Pilate posted guards.
When they reached the tomb in separate groups, there was no sudden epiphany, no delirious shout of joy over what had taken place. No. Fear, confusion, disbelief overwhelmed the followers as they scuttled back and forth, reluctant to believe the angel’s message. Only John announced his belief as did Mary Magdalene after Jesus spoke her name. It took hours, days, weeks in some cases, before skeptic followers could believe in the living Jesus. Even those who saw Jesus in person were reluctant to believe!
And what of us, Lord, what of our disbelief? All the Easters since that first morning and we continue to wonder, still question if it’s real. Like those followers we grope in the chilly darkness, doubting the value of life, despairing of purpose. We go to wrap the dead, not celebrate the living. The search is the same, Lord, a hunt for meaning. Strangely enough it is only an empty tomb that contains all we need to know. In that emptiness lies fullness and joy—promises kept and new life given.
Easter isn’t a one-time event; it is a repeated search whenever we forget the promise or reject its premise. Each time we face that empty tomb, we find a living Lord who is among us, loving us, forgiving us. Dwelling with us until the end of time. Never has empty space held so much. On this Easter morning may each of us find our way to an empty tomb regardless of the pain or doubt that drives our search. With courage we look inside rediscovering the life that lies beyond. “He is risen!” So will we.
Sandra Ratliff