Pastor Malinda's musings ...
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Meet Our New Staff Members
Dear Church Family and Friends, I’m very excited to introduce you to some new additions to our Avondale UMC Team! We’ve had hiring teams for Music Ministry, Nursery, and ASP who’ve worked diligently over several months to interview candidates for several positions that we had open. Their dedication paid off,
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We’re All in this Together!
Dear Church Family and Friends, This Sunday is Pledge Sunday. This is the time of the year when everyone is invited to prayerfully consider what they can commit to giving to the church for 2022. The phrase “We’re all in this together!” is especially true in the life of Avondale
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Giving Thanks
Dear Church Family and Friends, We may never appreciate the power of gathering together in person more than we do today. Although the pandemic has filled our lives with challenges and concerns, one good thing it has done for us is that it made us all thankful for things that
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A Future with Hope
Dear Church Family and Friends, I’m starting to feel like the fog is lifting, and I am seeing bright glimmers of light. For so long I’ve felt as though we were all walking blindly through this dense COVID fog. When we first went on lockdown, I didn’t think the isolation
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Update: COVID Protocols
Dear friends, Throughout the pandemic our church has worked hard to keep our congregation and community as safe as possible from COVID. We’ve sought and continue to seek to follow one of John Wesley’s (our Methodist founder) simple rules which is to “Do No Harm.” Given the spike in COVID
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Return to Sanctuary
Dear Church Family and Friends, The week has finally come for us to return to in-person worship in the sanctuary. We’ve been through a long winter since the beginning of the pandemic, and in many ways, I’ve felt like the apostles of the early church as we’ve sought to find
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Garden Refresh
Dear friends,The Great Garden Refresh of 2021 is underway on our street corner, and it’s looking quite lovely. Several folks had been talking for a few years about needing to replace some plants in the beds that had long since seen better years and were starting to wane. Plus, we’d
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Worship – New Location
Dear Church Family and Friends, If COVID has taught me anything, it’s to be flexible. For the most part, I’ve always been a “roll with it” kind of gal … but throughout the pandemic, I’ve had to roll-with-it more than ever before. This past Sunday was another roll-with-it kind of
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ReOpen Update
Dear Church Family and Friends, I’m writing to keep you updated on a timeline for returning to worship in the sanctuary. Some of you may be wondering how the decisions are made about Virtual Worship, Worship on the Lawn, and Worship in the Sanctuary … is Pastor Malinda making these
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Easter Worship & Reopen Update
Dear Church Family and Friends, Monday marked one year since COVID-19 forced us to suspend in-person worship in the sanctuary. I remember that weekend well as I agonized with church leaders over whether to suspend worship or not, and then ultimately realizing on Saturday evening that it was the only
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All Our Losses, All Our Griefs
Dear friends, This week has been a tough one in the life of our congregation. Complications from COVID-19 took the life of our second oldest member, Bill Copeland. Just last summer, his beloved wife of 72 years, Betty (our third oldest member), died as well. Compounding our grief is the
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What Love Looks Like
Dear friends, Christmas will be different this year, but it can still be meaningful. There were no holiday traditions on that first Christmas when Emanuel was born in a stable and cradled in a manger … no figgy pudding, no tinsel, no presents underneath a tree. And yet, it was
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You May Say I’m a Dreamer … But I’m Not the Only One
Dear friends, It’s hard to believe that it’s already the Second Sunday of Advent. Some days I struggle to believe that we’re in December. Since March, time feels like it has slowed down in many ways, but because most days feel like Groundhog’s Day (a repeat of the day before)
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Those Who Dream
Dear friends, Today marks the first Sunday of Advent. It’s the season that begins the Christian year as we wait with great hope for the celebration of Christ coming into our world. This year we wait in a different posture than we’ve done in previous Advent seasons. Pre-pandemic many of
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Giving Thanks
Dear friends, Worship is at the heart of who we are as followers of Christ. These past few months have definitely been a challenge as we’ve had to pivot to find new ways to worship outside our beautiful and beloved sanctuary in the midst of a global pandemic. I’m thankful
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Stronger Together
Dear friends, During this very strange and unprecedented year, I am extremely thankful that I serve a congregation that is both flexible and supportive as we navigate this uncharted wilderness together. While there have been many challenges along our path, there have been many more opportunities before us to serve
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Thin Spaces
Dear friends, It’s been a strange week in our nation … a presidential election unlike any other, anxiety and uncertainty as we await the outcome, concerns about unrest and violence from people who may not be happy with whatever the outcome may be. Add to all this the fact that
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Living with Hope
Dear friends, This year has felt like we’re living upside down. Our whole world has changed in a way that most of us never imagined possible. We have experienced turmoil, tension, and loss and, as a result, we have experienced the deep grief that comes with these. One scripture that
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Gather ’round the Table
The first Sunday of October has been observed since the 1940s as World Communion Sunday. This year, it promises to be more poignant than ever before. Because of the pandemic, most of us have not been able to receive communion together; and those of us who have been able to
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We interrupt your regularly scheduled life to bring you this message …
Dear friends, Some people view the pandemic as an interruption. Others view it as a disruption. I heard this thought recently during a professional development seminar, and it resonated deeply within me. The speaker put into words the dichotomy I’ve been experiencing among friends, congregants, colleagues, community members, etc. over
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It’s Beginning to Feel Like Fall
Dear friends, The meteorologists are predicting a wonderful weekend that feels like fall. I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for some cooler outdoor temps. While things feel quite different this year – can you say, “college football”?? “People decorating for Halloween in September”?? “Virtual school”?? – one thing
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Human Life Has Changed, but God Has Not
Dear church family and friends, The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all of us greatly. It has presented us with numerous challenges, entirely changed our way of living, and distanced all of us from being together in community. Because humans are adaptive and resilient, many of us have for the most
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God-sized Ministries
Dear friends, Not sure how many of you watched my #EastSideLIFELINE last Wednesday, but it was me reflecting on how much our church and ASP (our mission arm – Avondale Samaritan Place) is moving and shaking this summer. Y’all … God is doing amazing things that we never could’ve imagined
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The Church Has Left the Building
Dear Church Family and Friends, It’s now been 13 weeks since we last worshiped together in the sanctuary. I remember vividly that last Sunday, March 8, standing in the back of the sanctuary during the closing hymn and wondering if this might be the last time we worship together in
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Kyrie Eleison
The past few days I’ve struggled to find words as I’ve watched our country explode from the underlying racial tension that has been brewing for far too long. I’ve prayed for the families of George Floyd, of Breonna Taylor, of Ahmaud Arbery … that God will comfort them in the
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