2330 South Jefferson Street
Roanoke, Virginia 24014

Phone: (540) 344-4437
Fax: (540) 345-8041

Then they seized him and led him away    Luke 23:54a

I have not yet seen Mel Gibson’s movie, The Passion of the Christ,  but I have read the narrative on which it is based a number of times. As a matter of fact the church has the opportunity each year to experience the story on Passion/Palm Sunday. This year, April 4, we share the reading of the Passion Narrative as it is found in the Gospel of Luke. Although I take heart in the success of the movie in the hope that this reflects a deep longing in the culture for things eternal, I worry that any prolonged focus upon the suffering and death of our Lord may diminish the emphasis upon has resurrection. The church has taught us that you can dwell upon the passion and linger at the cross at the expense of the power of the risen Christ.
    On Holy Thursday, April 8, at 7:00 PM we will share together in our Lord’s last supper. As you sit at his table with eleven other brothers and sisters you will enter into his disciples’ experience as their Lord shared his last meal with them. But you have an advantage even his own disciples did not—as you eat and drink in remembrance of him, you remember his resurrection.
    A large wooden cross will be draped in black that same night in remembrance of his suffering and death. As you gaze upon it, you will anticipate its transformation by the fresh flowers you will bring on Sunday morning as it is covered with color and life in celebration of Easter.
    On Good Friday, April 9, you are invited to pray for 30 minutes as our community holds a Prayer Vigil 6:00 AM—6:00 PM in the sanctuary. You pray with his disciples who were invited to watch with him in the garden in his last hours; but you will be watching for his rising.
    As people who do not deserve his sacrifice on our behalf we give thanks for love that surpasses all. But as we commemorate his passion we are not called to dwell on it. In his resurrection he overcame suffering and death and transformed its experience forever. That is what the church is called to remember in this Season of Lent. That is what the church commemorates during Holy Week. We are not the people of the passion, we are the people of the resurrection.
    My wife, Cheryl, has said that she will eventually see the movie, but perhaps at home after it is released on video/DVD. She wants the opportunity to be free to pause from the sheer intensity of the experience she anticipates it will bring. I may well join her in that opportunity. In the meantime, it is my prayer that any experience of the passion and death of our Lord will fulfill yet again the hope, promise, and power of his resurrection this Easter and always.

Thank You, Thank You

Talent Show—May 16

    Back by popular demand, the South Roanoke Methodist Talent Show!  Get out your tap shoes, batons, musical instruments, comedy, whatever talent you can share with your church friends. We’ll love you, no matter what! Help us pick the new “American Methodist Idol”. Sunday, May 16 at 6:00 is the date to reserve. Potluck supper at 6:00, followed by a night to remember. Sunday School classes and other groups are invited to entertain the screaming fans. Start practicing now and get ready for the fun!

    We will also invite any visual arts to be displayed in the fellowship hall that night. Our congregation is blessed with many talented people, young and old, many of which are still hiding in the closet. Please share some of your work with us that night. We will all be amazed at the paintings, ceramics, scrapbooks, photography, etc. that are out there.

    Please submit your talent entry to Becky Austin (342-8101) at Bittsy Hall (982-6725) by Sunday, May 9.

PASTOR TO LEAD WORKSHOPS
WITH CHURCH LEADERS

Vacation Bible School 2004

Conference-Wide Prayer Vigil

Hosanna Choir Activities

     We are going to end our choir year with a bang! The Hosanna choir will present a short musical on Palm Sunday to begin our service. We will not meet on Palm Sunday or Easter evenings. On April 18 and 25 we will be playing Orff instruments and end the year with a party for all those who have participated through the year. Don’t miss these last two rehearsals!

     Looking ahead: We are joining with Southview UMC for a Music, Arts and Drama week, July 19-23, in which we will do a fully staged musical; and I encourage our children to attend the Music & Liturgical Arts Week (June 20-25) at Lake Junaluska. (There are information sheets in the choir room.)

We Need Your Stuff!

The SRUMC annual Miracle of Missions rummage sale is coming up June 4-5. The proceeds will go to support ministries in our Sister City of Kisumu, Kenya. The ministries include the Agape Children’s Home, the Salem Orphanage, TEMAK (Teenage Mothers Assoc. of Kenya), the New Life Baby’s Home and Kisumu Hospice. We also hope to provide support to missionary Dr. Jerome Freund who will serve for a year at Maua Methodist Hospital in Kenya. 

Please help us help our friends in Kenya by cleaning out your closets and donating to our sale. You can bring items to the church fellowship hall as early as Saturday, may 29th. If you need help with larger items or boxes, please call Diane D’Orazio (775-9886). We also need your help in sorting and pricing items the week before the sale and we need volunteers to help man shifts one or both days of the sale.

Youth News

Confirmation Class 2004: Fifteen youth are attending this year’s confirmation class every Sunday night, 4:30-6:00 PM, for ten weeks of study, overnight retreat at Camp Alta Mons, collect food for the Presbyterian Community Center during April, and spend time with new adult mentors. Please keep these youth in your thoughts and prayers.

Awakening 2004 (April 3-4): Six of our youth and adults are attending a Praise & Worship Gathering at Virginia Wesleyan College in Norfolk, VA.  3, 000 youth from across the state will listen, sing, dance and worship with Christian artists from all over the country.

Youth Room Makeover!: Our 8th and 9th grade youth are giving our Junior High Youth room a coat of paint on April 23-24.

PM&Ms: Our tenth annual PM&M Overnight is April 30-May 1 at the Wallaces’ farm in Fincastle. We’ll be celebrating a year of ministry together and graduating our fifth graders into the Junior High Youth Group. On Wednesday, May 12, the PM&Ms will be leading our CWS.

Roast & Toast (May 2): Join our youth as we celebrate Youth Ministry at SRUMC. We have ten seniors that we will be roasting as well as twelve 8th graders who will be moving up to Senior High School. We will meet in the fellowship hall, 6:30-8:30 PM, for skits, awards, slide shows, and lots of memories.

Jubilee (Aug 1-7): It’s time to sign up for our 10th annual summer mission trip. If you like to help people, eat good food, or hang out with a great folks, you need to join us in Sneedville, TN. Anyone over the age of fourteen is eligible! Sign up with Penny in the church office.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

GUESTS and VISITORS are welcome to join us at South Roanoke for worship and fellowship. We invite those who have no church home to make South Roanoke your church and add your witness to ours.  And for a modern worship experience, join us each Wednesday evening at 7:00 p.m. for our contemporary service.

PLEASE SEND ARTICLES for the May issue of the Tower Times by April 15 to Joe Kennedy, or email to joesrumc@aol.com.

FAMILY MINISTRIES is looking for volunteers to help with upcoming events. This is a fun and rewarding way to be involved with the life of the church. If you are interested, please call Bittsy Hall (982-6725), Becky Austin (342-8101), or Lee Anne Steffe (344-4477.) 

Prayer Vigil Sheet: The church sanctuary will be open on Good Friday, April 9, from 6:00 AM—6:00 PM for prayer and meditation. There is a sign-up sheet in the narthex. We ask that you sign up for 30 minute interval. More than one can sign up for a particular time.

THE AFTERCARE SOCIAL CLUB will NOT meet at their usual time in April. They will have a special meeting on Thursday, April 22 for a dance at the Club House. If you would like more information regarding our Social Club call Bonnie Dayton, 981-0237. 

The United Methodist Men will meet on Saturday, April 17, at 8:00 AM for breakfast and a program.

The Friendship and Upper Room Circles will meet on Tuesday, April 20, at 10:30 AM in the Wimmer Room for the final meeting of the book study of The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren.  The Circle meetings in May will be separate and the specifics will be announced in the next Tower Times.

THE ADULT FELLOWSHIP GROUP  will be going to the Booker T. Washington Farm on April 22, 2004. We will leave at 9:00 to arrive for a walking tour at 10:00 at the farm on Rt. 122. Enjoy springtime at the lake as we have lunch at the West Lake Country Club with Tom & Norma Ruble as our hosts. Sign up on the board by the church office if you would like to attend. All adults of the church (of every age) are welcomed.

THERE IS A new greeter sign-up calendar on the bulletin board by the church parlor. Please check your schedules and sign up to serve as a greeter one or more Sundays during the year. We need some greeters for March. 

SOME PHYSICAL HANDICAPPED EQUIPMENT is available for members of the congregation who  need to borrow it. There is a quad cane, tub chair, side pull for metal bed, tow bar attachment for wheelchair, egg crate mattress pad, a tray for a wheelchair, and a wheelchair. Please check with the church office if you would like to borrow any of these items. 

DURING LENT THE SENIOR PASTOR will begin teaching workshops entitled, “Healthy Congregations,” with our church leaders (Lay Leader, Lay Member of Annual Conference, and Chairs of Administrative Board, Council on Ministries, Finance, Trustees, and Staff-Parish Relations.) “Healthy Congregations,” developed by Dr. Peter Steinke based upon the family systems theory of Dr. Murray Bowen and as applied to congregations by Dr. Edwin Freidman, is a series of six workshops which have proven to be effective in promoting communication and unity within a congregation. 

OUR SUPPLIES for the Interfaith Hospitality Network are running low. Please help out by picking up an extra item or a few the next time you are at the store. Choose from the items listed here. Leave your donations in the church office, and be sure they are clearly marked. Call Dawn Long, 989-2837, if you have any questions. Thank you! Juice or drink boxes, individual sized boxes of cereal, snack foods for lunch boxes (cracker packs, granola bars, Little Debbies, chips, applesauce, etc.), half gallon bottles of apple juice, paper towels, tissues, toilet paper, plastic wrap, sandwich bags, foil. 

A new church directory will be published soon! If you have a change or addition to make to your address, phone number or email address, please call the church office as soon as possible.