OSO at the Botanical Gardens

Our Outings for Seniors and Others (OSO) group travelled downtown to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens on April 26th.

Photos by Mary are now online in the church's new photo album at Flickr. These photos are part of the OSO - Botanical Gardens "set" of photos.

As with the Congo missionaries' blog, you can now always get the latest photos uploaded by going to our photo album's new main address: http://flickr.com/photos/apmethodist/ and you can get a nice (OK, really "neat") Flash slideshow of the latest uploaded photos by using the companion address: http://flickr.com/photos/apmethodist/show/ .

We have a "Pro" subscription, so we can have unlimited photos and unlimited photo "sets" (groupings). As time goes on look for sets by the year as well as by topic.

Easter Sanctuary

Many people helped make the sanctuary look beautiful for the Easter service. The flower cross was formed on a bed of Magnolia leaves, with gorgeous flowers on top. Barbara and Marty followed Hilda's lead and expertly arranged the blossoms. A large potted flower array decorated the chancel area, with the Easter Lilies forming a white cross in the arrangement.

The full effect of following Jesus

Rev. Owen Skinner, Associate Pastor, Snellville UMC, gave an unusually captivating devotional as part of Avondale Pattillo UMC's Lunch Lift Devotions during Holy Week. His devotion, "The full effect of following Jesus", was inspired by a church Palm Sunday pageant that included Jesus riding into the sanctuary on a donkey.

What followed was fuel for Rev. Skinner's amusingly aromatic anecdote about the full effect of following Jesus not being what we may expect. It was also a reminder that Jesus' procession in to Jerusalem was probably also filled with smells -- from masses of people as well as the animals. And as a sidebar, the anecdote served to also remind us that we all have some manure in our lives that may need to be cleaned up.

Our Lunch Lift devotions were preceeded by a light lunch that the church provided and featured United Methodist clergy from the general area.

Palm Crosses for Passion Sunday

As people entered the sanctuary this Passion Sunday (Palm Sunday), ushers gave each a palm cross. Jesus entered Jerusalem amidst shouts of, "Hosanna," and the laying of palm branches on the road before him. These palm crosses are a reminder of that time. They also have a unique history.

In 1965, Anglican priest Father Alan Talbot encouraged poor people in nine mud villages near Masasi, Tanzania to weave palm crosses as a way to add to their meager farming income. Often, whole families weave these crosses. The African Palms USA organization uses lots of volunteers to reduce costs and let more non-denominational self-help grants reach the people who make these.