Top 5 @ SPUMC

We had over 1000 people worship with us on a beautiful (and warm!) Easter Sunday. It all started in the Garden with our 6:30am Sunrise Service where it was light enough to see each other for a change (Easter was late this year) and warm enough that our fire was for atmosphere only. At 8am, we moved inside and Rev. Lee asked us "Where Is the Alleluia?" in her excellent sermon on Mark's resurrection account. Then at 9:15am, SPARK Worship led us with a musical set that reflected the energy and life of the day (thanks, Meg & team!). At 10:45am we pulled out all the stops at our 10:45am Festival Service, with brass, choir, bells and the Hallelujah Chorus to close the celebration. In spite of the lack of AC in the Sanctuary (it got toasty!) and some tech problems in FH (thanks for bearing with us on both fronts!), it was an amazing day.

THE 8th ANNUAL BLESSING OF THE ANIMALS takes place this Sunday, April 27 at 5pm in our Memorial Garden. This is always a fun afternoon as you get to show off your furry (or feathery or scaly) friends to one another and it’s a great event to invite your friends and neighbors to attend. Some pets have been with us every year since we started and we always have newcomers, too. Join us!

Our Spring Missions Garage Sale is less than two weeks away on Saturday, May 3, 8:30am-1pm. We need hundreds of volunteers April 30 - May 2 to help receive, sort and price donations and on the day of the sale, as well. Donations can be dropped off beginning April 30, 5-8pm; May 1, 8am-8pm; and May 2, 8am-2pm. The proceeds from the sale support the outreach work of Volunteers in Mission (VIM) and the United Women in Faith (UWF). Sign up to help and find out more here. 

Our Easter EGGstravaganza was a huge success as kids played games, made crafts, munched on donuts holes and found the thousands of eggs that had been scattered outside (in about 3 1/2 minutes). Over 200 people of all generations filled Fellowship Hall for this annual fun-fest. Special thanks to Erica Benjamin and her team for such a great event for our families!

Holy Week was full of sacred moments, some planned and others totally unscripted. Our Maundy Thursday crockPOTluck meal provided an array of delicious culinary options and the service that followed didn't disappoint, either. The children delighted us with their impromptu dance party in the back and serving one another communion around our tables was a fitting remembrance of the Last Supper. On Good Friday, we had a beautiful afternoon to solemnly process through the Stations of the Cross along the banks of the Severn River with Christians from many area churches. And then the haunting and poignant music of the cello (Ty Young), the choir (under the direction of wife, Laura Young) along with Rev. Byron's sermon ("There Was Only Silence") drew us into the drama and pathos of Jesus' crucifixion at our evening service in the Sanctuary.  

O sacred Head, now wounded, with grief and shame weighed down, 
now scornfully surrounded with thorns, thine only crown...