THE CARILLON Page 1

MARCH/APRIL 2021

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Pastor’s Page 1

Member and

Worship News 2

Monthly Card

Shower 3

Poetry by Jane 3

O.N.

Committee 4

EDS News 5

Easter Lily

Order form 5

Greetings in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ!

As we enter into a new season of Lent, the journey from Ash Wednesday to Easter, I

hope you all plan to travel with Jesus from the recognition of our own mortality to a

new sense of joy in the resurrection. I think this journey is especially important this

year, as we continue to look forward with hope. We hope for spring and warming

weather. We hope for a more stable government and diffusion of angry rhetoric and

conflict. We hope for an end to racial tensions and financial worry. And certainly,

all of us hope for an end to COVID restrictions and opportunities to gather safely

with others. I know I am hoping for an Easter celebration that will include singing!

It seems perfect that at a time when the world needs so much hope, we would enter

this holy season looking ahead, hoping ahead, to a resurrection. But whether we are

talking about a resurrection and restoration of life to our physical, political or social

environment, new life only comes through a period of sacrifice and change. Unless

we embrace the fact that Jesus suffered on the cross for all of our sinful selfishness,

the resurrection of Easter has no meaning. Without death, resurrection isn’t even

necessary. During this season of Lent, regardless of where your sense of loss and

hope may rest, I would challenge all of us to let this be a season of surrender. Just as

winter requires leaves to fall and flowers to surrender their blooms in order to make

way for the new growth of spring, let’s all make Lent 2021 a season of surrender.

Let’s surrender our prejudices and political bias, surrender our fear, surrender our

anger and judgment, surrender our plans and expectations for our lives and our

church. Most of all, let’s surrender all of ourselves to Jesus. Let’s offer Him

everything and allow him to take each of us, and all we carry that would separate us

from him and the future he has planned for us. Let’s surrender and allow him to take

each of us to the cross with him. Let’s surrender so that on Easter, we can truly say,

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The

life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave

himself for me” (Galatians 2: 20).

For the next six weeks, I will be praying John Wesley’s prayer of commitment and

surrender daily…

(prayer cont’d on page 5)

God’s Peace & Blessings,

Pastor Saunnie

March/April THE CARILLON

T h e C a r i l l o n N e w s l e t t e r

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† Palm Sunday – March 28, @ 11 am

† Maundy Thursday – April 1, TBA

† Good Friday – April 2, TBA

† Easter Sunday – April 4, @ 11 am

Lee Ann Bennington March 5

Barry Howlett March 6

Charles Hurd March 8

Amy Demeter March 10

Tom McNeilan March 13

Marilyn Sarko March 13

Donna Phaneuf March 16

Wendy Holley March 19

Ann Gatling March 29

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Joan Harris April 7

Jonathan Ramey April 15

Peggy Sumner April 17

Ronnie Bagwell April 18

Lana Ives April 18

Mark Sumner April 20

Parker Bagwell April 22

Anna Lee Bamforth April 22

Bryan Graves April 23

Linwood Tabb April 25

Jane Edwards April 26

Holly Pennington April 27

Cathy Grieve April 29

M ARCH Bi r th da ys APRIL Birthdays

WE EXTEND OUR CHRISTIAN SYMPATHY TO:

Family and friends of Mary Lee Lowe, who died on

February 5, 2021. May God comfort them

in their loss.

Directory Update:

Marilyn Sarko 101 Roscoe Crossing Apt. #215 Williamsburg, VA 23188-7023

March/April THE CARILLON

T h e C a r i l l o n N e w s l e t t e r

Page 3

H – L send to:

Ms. Louise Gwaltney

c/o F.X. Shannon

10 Applewood Drive

Hopewell, N. J. 08525

Ronnie Bagwell

8719 Tidewater Drive

Norfolk, VA 23503

M - Q send to:

Mary Banks

350 S. Ridgewood Avenue #208

Ormond Beach, FL 32174

McLean VA 22101

Make someone’s day special by participating in our monthly

“Card Shower”

for members either in Health Care facilities or Homebound (our Missing Angels)

A – C send to:

Ann Gatling

5417 Wesleyan Drive #204

Virginia Beach, VA 23455

Marilyn Sarko

101 Roscoe Crossing, #215

Williamsburg, VA 23188

D – G send to:

Beverly Smeltzer

310 24th St., #102

Virginia Beach, VA 23451

Ms. Nora Roadcap

5598 Lawson Hall Rd.

Virginia Beach, VA 23455

R – Z send to:

Ms. Elinor Edwards

538 Washington Park, #B1

Norfolk, VA 23517

Jane Lewis

6311 Granby Street, Apt. #221

Norfolk, VA 23505

HE IS NOT DEAD!

"Peace, peace! He is not dead, He doth not sleep-----

He hath awakened from the dream of life----------

"Tis we, who, lost in stormy visions

Keep with phantoms an unprofitable strife

And in mad trance strike with our spirit's knife

invulnerable nothings."

--Shelley

Note:

Shelley's poem is so appropriate for Easter:

He is risen! He has awakened from death!

Let us do the same: rise above the "dead"

thoughts and actions from useless circumstances

that sap our energy and dilute our faith------------

redirecting our goal to a life of purpose and joy!

---Jane Edwards

March/April THE CARILLON

T h e C a r i l l o n N e w s l e t t e r

Page 4

The community food pantry aka the Blessing Box (located on the Freemason St. side of the church) has been quite a success. Not only are our congregants participating by donating food, but by advertising the Blessing Box, the community and our day school has been made aware and are contributing as well. This is an ongoing project of the ON Committee. Don’t forget we can always use the following:

Spring is coming soon and with it, new hope. During this season of Lent we have so much to reflect on, and making new commitments as we journey to Easter.

During the “new normal” phase, we’ve been forced to come up with new and creative ways of implementing our Outreach and Nurture projects. Online drives and fundraisers, reaching out through media, doing meetings via Zoom.

Always check the weekly e-news, The Epworth Connection, the church FaceBook page, our bulletin board (located just outside of the Southgate Chapel) and/or the Sunday worship announcements for the latest O.N. Committee project and how you can help.

And one other thing, we are always open to new ideas and new ways to engage with our community and our members!

Donna Benken, 2021 Outreach Chair Mary Baker, Jackie Fulcher, Mary Lee Howlett, Ann Long, Karen Ward,

Ann Gatling and Carolyn Rogers, Members Emeritus

Food Items Needed: (collection box for donations located in sanctuary):

Juice Boxes, bottled water Pop top cans tuna, chicken Snack crackers Pop top cans chili, spaghetti, soup Snackables packages of fruit/jello

------------Help Fund Mission Projects by Shopping------------

KROGER COMMUNITY REWARDS PROGRAM

Epworth is part of the Kroger Community Rewards Program.

Every dollar you spend at Kroger Grocery store earns money toward our mission projects.

To register your Kroger Plus card visit: krogercommunityrewards.com and enter NPO/Pin #EY815.

When you shop AmazonSmile, 5% of the purchase price will be

donated to Epworth United Methodist Church.

To shop at AmazonSmile, simply log onto

https://smile.amazon.com/ch/54-0534400 to receive donations from eligible purchases.

iGive is a free service where shopping at any of 2357 stores like

Travelocity, Macys, Overstock, Cokesbury and many more, means a

donation to your favorite cause. Help Epworth UMC every time you shop by

visiting https://www.igive.com/EpworthUMC?jltest=1

March/April THE CARILLON

T h e C a r i l l o n N e w s l e t t e r

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Lent is a very special season for the Church and as individuals. It is a

time to look at our relationship with the Holy Trinity, and to express to

Jesus our deepest gratitude for what He did on the cross as He shed His

blood for us.

For our children at Epworth Day School, we want this to be a special season also. Our young children do not

grasp the concept of death, but they do understand love, warmth, support, encouragement, and relationships.

I want the children to know that God loves them, and how very special each one of them is to Him. I want

the children to know that they can have a personal relationship with God the Father, Jesus, the Son, and the

Holy Spirit. That’s why Jesus died; so that we could have a relationship with the Holy Trinity!

Ellen Belfi, Director

Epworth Day School

edsdirector@gmail.com

757-313-5301

EASTER LILIES You are invited to place an Easter lily in the Sanctuary for Easter Sunday.

Please submit your check payable to Epworth UMC and mark it “Easter Flowers.”

Deadline for orders is Sunday March 21

Please place: (number of) _________ 6” Lily(ies)

In honor of/memory of (circle one):--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Given By: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

______ Please take my Easter Lily(ies) to an Epworth shut-in or sick member. (tax deductible) $10.00 ea.

______ I will pick up my Easter Lily(ies). (non tax deductible) $10.00 ea.

Paid: _____________ Ck# ______________

(please cut out & mail to: Epworth UMC,124 W. Freemason St, Norfolk, VA 23510, or place in the Sunday offering).

(Cont’d from page 1)

I am no longer my own, but yours. Put me to what you will, place me with whom you will. Put

me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be put to work for you or set aside for you, praised

for you or criticized for you. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me

have nothing. I freely and fully surrender all things to your glory and service. And now, O

wonderful and holy God, Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, you are mine, and I am yours.

So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it also be made in heaven. Amen.

I challenge each of you to join me in this daily discipline during Lent. Let’s pray and surrender this season

and then, together, watch and rejoice in the resurrection and new creation that begins in each of our lives and

in the life of Epworth church. Let us surrender and put our hope in the resurrection. Let’s surrender and

allow God to move each of us and our church from ashes to beauty.

Grace and peace,

Pastor Saunnie

March/April THE CARILLON

T h e C a r i l l o n N e w s l e t t e r

Page 6

The Carillon newsletter is

published bi-monthly.

Articles for the May/June

2020 Carillon are due no later

than April 19th.

Epworth United Methodist Church 124 W. Freemason Street Norfolk, VA 23510 (757) 622-2970 Email: epworth@epworthva.org website: www.epworthva.org Address Service Requested

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