Latest news with #UnitedMethodistChurch
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
On the road to Edinboro…
Another great group of seniors, this time at the United Methodist Church in Edinboro, invited me to speak on this damp and chilly day. Of course, we talked tornadoes and severe weather, including viewing or Spring Weather Show-A Look Back at the Tornadoes of May 31, 1985. As usual, these folks had some great weather stories to tell, not only from that day but from years of living in that famous snowbelt town. Thanks to Albert for inviting me, Mark for his photography, and all the kind folks who shared a nice time of weather memories and questions. See you all next time in the Boro. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Historic East Nashville church survives disaster, prepares for homecoming
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — After surviving decades of disaster, East Nashville's former Tulip Street United Methodist Church building is preparing for a special homecoming. 'It's a remarkable survivor for well over a century,' said Jim Hoobler, retired senior curator for the Tennessee State Museum and Tennessee State Capitol. Built in 1891 on Russell Street, Hoobler said the building is one of the most historic churches in East Nashville. Its original congregation—organized in 1859—moved in after it outgrew its previous building on the other end of the block. Clock over East Nashville High School honors 59 killed in WW II 'It's Richardsonian Romanesque, which means that it's architecture before gothic. So it has rounded arches, and some beautiful terracotta — that's glazed clay,' Hoobler said. Hoobler pointed out a variety of life-sized elements including cherubs, figures of the archangel Gabriel holding a trumpet and a dragon holding up a balcony. More than three decades after it was built, the church's stunning features were faced with one Nashville's most devastating tragedies — the Great East Nashville Fire of 1916. According to Hoobler, the fire is rumored to have been started by a child playing with a ball of yarn that caught fire near lumberyards by the Cumberland River. 'Bam! With all of the wind, a huge fire started. It swept through this area. It burned 650 buildings and 3,000 people were homeless,' he said. But, miraculously—the church survived. And more than 80 years later, it made it through yet another disaster in 1998. 'When the tornado came through here, it decimated the building. It blew out the entire east wall of the building, and the stained glass was lying in the street, the sanctuary was wide open,' Hoobler recalled. Why these cottage-style homes were once gas stations Still though, the church was rebuilt and remained standing. Ultimately, it wasn't a force of nature that closed it's doors in 2017, but rather low attendance. The Methodist Church decided its congregation was too small, and moved in another congregation—one that just happened to have been started at this very same church, and lost their building in a 2020 tornado. 'A church that was formed here, East End Methodist, lost their building. So they are now coming back to their mother church, and they will be worshipping in here at Tulip Street once again,' Hoobler said. East End United Methodist Church confirmed they have purchased the building and are in the process of renovating it —what Hoobler estimates is a $4.5 million project. The congregation declined a full interview with News 2 as they are in the middle of the process, but did provide some insight into their plans. | READ MORE | East End Rev. Brandon Baxter said in a statement he believes this is the congregation's best pathway forward. 'After our historic sanctuary was catastrophically damaged in the 2020 tornadoes, we had a strong desire to remain in ministry in East Nashville,' he said. Baxter added East End plans to fully renovate the building for ministry to the community while maintaining its historic character, restoring elements like the Jardine organ in the sanctuary. 'Jardine organs are late 19th century organs. It's remarkable that one of those still survives, that they've maintained it all of these years and it's still playable,' Hoobler said. Until the renovations are complete, Baxter said East End will continue to worship one block away in the auditorium at Warner Arts Magnet Elementary School. Hidden Tennessee | Discover some of the Volunteer State's best-kept secrets Hoobler said survivors like the former Tulip Street Church building show us who we are; a sentiment best portrayed by John Steinbeck in a quote he shared from 'The Grapes of Wrath.' 'She says, 'How are you going to know where you come from, unless you remember where that was?' And that's what historic structures tell us. They tell us where we came from, and they help us remember where we are,' Hoobler concluded. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Chicago Tribune
18-04-2025
- General
- Chicago Tribune
Hundreds join in New Lenox Good Friday Cross Walk
The New Lenox Ministerial Association Good Friday Cross Walk has been around a long time. How long? That's a tough question to answer. There is no official record so guesswork and memories are the best options at this point. Lincolnway Christian Church Pastor Steve Baker, who helped organize this year's walk, wasn't sure when the first steps were taken. 'It's been going on longer than I know,' he said. 'It's been going on forever.' Maryann Matysac of New Lenox, who brought nine family members with her on the walk, said she's attended for 30 years, so that's not a bad guess. But 81-year-old Jeanie Scherer of New Lenox is convinced that it started 47 years ago. 'My son (Ralph) helped carry the cross when he was 15,' she said. 'He's 62 now. I can't do the math.' She might not do the math, but she can remember that it was the first walk. She said Sister Madelyn Gould of St. Jude initiated the project of getting the churches and community together for a walk and it took off from there. No matter when it started, hundreds of people joined together on a cloudy Friday morning with temperatures in the 70s, sang hymns and listened to passion narratives at St. Jude, United Methodist Church of New Lenox, Maplewood Cemetery and Trinity Lutheran Church. Other participating churches were Grace Episcopal, St. John's Orthodox, New Life and Peace Lutheran. Baker said the walk attracts 400 to 500 people each year. 'Seeing the community come together is awesome,' Baker said. 'In past towns I've been to, I haven't seen the churches working together like this. It's pretty cool to see the Catholic churches working with the Protestants churches and the Lutherans — it's just a beautiful community event.' Matysac and her family have made the walk a tradition, which started when she walked it with her father, the late Victor Magero. He was able to walk it into his 90s. She said every Good Friday, she remembers her dad and the family lunch that followed prepared by her mother, Virginia. On Friday, Matysac, her husband, Patrick, two daughters-in-law and six grandchildren from New Lenox and Glen Ellyn were headed to a Barraco's restaurant for some meatless pizza after the walk. The meatless part, a Catholic tradition on Fridays during Lent, caused some sour faces with some of the grandchildren, although one was looking forward to putting pineapple on her pizza. Maryann enjoys the yearly tradition of people from different churches getting together. 'I like that we visit other churches,' she said. 'We encounter other people from other religions and we see how they worship. We all come together as a community to commemorate the passion.' She members what the walk was like 30 years ago. 'When I started walking with my dad, there were only 30 or 40 people,' she said. 'It has grown exponentially through the years.' Scherer also noticed the growth and said she has only missed a few walks. 'I love the idea of the community getting together and sharing the event after Christ died for us,' she said. It's an event that features all ages and one of four teenagers who carried the cross this year, Luke Strahanoski, was happy to be asked to help. 'My twin brother (Caleb) and I have been doing this Good Friday walk ever since I can remember,' Strahanoski said. 'They asked us if we wanted to carry it and we jumped at the opportunity.' He said carrying the cross was like 'being one with Christ.' 'It's beautiful,' he said. 'This is, by far, my favorite walk. We always sing, 'Were You There?' Now we're carrying the cross.' Baker said the walk is a time for fun and a time for reflection. 'Walking with neighbors is great and everyone has fun,' he said. 'But during the stops, we have the gospel stories and that's a little more solemn but it's cool to see the kids and different families walking.'
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
These days, my Easter ‘suit' includes Jordans
OPINION: When I was young, my Easter suits were always very traditional—now my 'suits' are appropriately pastel but a lot more casual. I have vague a recollection of my first 'Easter suit.' Almost everybody in the Black community, regardless of what kind of church you go to (or if you even celebrate Easter) is aware of the annual tradition of dressing up in your Absolute Finest—not to be confused with your Sunday's Best, a step down and fine for regular old church Sundays and Christmas—to pull up to the stadium (church) for Christianity's Super Bowl Sunday. The church crowns crown a little bit harder on Easter Sunday and the suits are a little bit sharper and flyer and crispier. The dresses on the little girls are their frilliest, as all children tried not to get dirty until after church. I don't know who started the sub-tradition of pastels for Easter, but that person deserves a Nobel Prize for Culture; at some point Easter became so synonymous with pastel colors that even AFTER church, I come home and throw on some colors that represent the day. To this day, when I think pastels, I think Easter. Oh yes, back to my first Easter suit and that vague recollection. In my mind, it was gray, likely off the rack from the Post Exchange on base where my family was stationed in Frankfurt, Germany—but as clean as ever. I loved a good gray suit. I also loved a good turtleneck but I can't see my parents letting me go to church on Easter, of all days, in a turtleneck. What is more likely is that I wore a gray suit with a nice white shirt and a clip-on tie with with some fly new Hush Puppies or something. My dad, though…THAT man was the Easter suit king. Unlike the memories of my get ups, I have VIVID memories of my father's clothing choices. My dad's suits were noticeable (in a good way) and fit for a man who understood the assignment—every time. And don't even get me started on his Stacy Adams footwear. As we like to say in the Black community, the brotha was 'casket sharp.' I don't have the same relationship with Easter suits at this point in my life. Most of that departure from 'tradition' is because of the type of church I go to. I attend a church in the suburbs of D.C. that is non-traditional in every way. I grew up in a United Methodist Church in Madison, Alabama. The reliance on tradition was high. My current church is come as you are and eschews the rigid, protocol-based nature of the church I grew up in, in favor of praise and worship, offerings and the sermon. It's more streamlined in every way, intended to reach more people and it works; this church is always full at each of its three services, and ESPECIALLY so on Easter—the overflow rooms tend to be overflowing. On Easter Sunday now, as opposed to the traditional suit-and-tie-and-hard bottoms I grew up with, I focus on Easter-appropriate colors, but in more of a business casual sense. It's not uncommon to see parishioners wearing jeans with their new, flyest Jordans and nice polo shirts. The pastels are still present and accounted for, but the style of dress isn't 'traditional,' so to speak. It works perfectly for me and my family. My kids are dressed well, of course—there are no jeans and typically there are new shoes. The shirts are button-ups and the pants are khakis; the kids look sharp. But there is a part of me that longs for the tradition I grew up with. There was something about getting that Easter suit and having it sit there in the closet—untouchable—until Easter Sunday morning. As I got older, I remember going with my parents to pick it out; we'd make a specific trip just to get that one new suit that was somehow more special than any other suit I already owned. My Easter suit was different. As I got older, I also realized the dressing up tradition's connection to Blackness across the country. When I got to Morehouse College, while all of my friends were from different places, one thing we all had in common was getting super fly with a new Easter suit. It was connective, it was cultural. It was like an understanding head nod to another Black person in an all white space. If you know, you know. My kids don't have that experience because our life doesn't call for it the same way. Some of that is probably because while I'm from down South, my kids aren't. Church, for a lot of us, is also different. So many churches nowadays are less formal, less concerned about how you show up—they just want you there. When I was a teenager, 'Come As You Are' was every 4th Sunday, Youth Sunday. On that day, the youth choirs sang and we ran the service. Even in that sense, there was only so much 'come as you are' in how we showed up. I think the kids wore jeans and appropriate t-shirts, but our parents often dressed a step down from Sunday's Best. For my kids, every Sunday is 'Come As You Are.' Most of the churches that I've attended over the past twenty years haven't been concerned at all about a dress code. Even the pastors wear sneakers and hoodies and jeans. And that's changed the relationship with Easter, because while we all know to get fly for the day, it just looks different for my life now. Of course, my concern about what Black traditions my kids will be familiar with by the time they go out into the world is probably unfounded. They're still my kids and they're still living the Blackest existence they can. And they're from Washington, D.C. But as we prepare for Easter Sunday and pull their clothes together so they can be their flyest selves, I'm always tempted to go look for a suit that's a little bit nicer than anything else they have. Then again, I'm also looking through my stacks of Jordans for my 'Sage' Jordan 5's because pastel and because Easter. Maybe that can be our new Easter Suit tradition—pastel Jordans. What will never change though, and maybe this is the point, is that we go to church on Easter Sunday—that's the most important tradition. In our pastels, of course, but we'll be there. Happy Easter (to all who celebrate).More must-reads: Florida State University shooting suspect thought Rosa Parks was 'wrong' and Black people were ruining his neighborhood Will Michael B. Jordan and Ryan Coogler's 'Sinners' see $45 million for its opening weekend? Strange sell-off in the dollar raises the specter of investors losing trust in the US under Trump
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
At Southfield Target, protesters call for boycott after retailer rolls back DEI
About 50 protesters spent Saturday afternoon outside of a Target store in Southfield, protesting the retailer for rolling back its DEI initiatives and encouraging would-be shoppers to join their boycott. "We're here to make good trouble," said Dale Milford, an organizer and associate minister at Nardin Park United Methodist Church. Milford said he and his congregation have sought to refrain from shopping at Target during Lent, while others present at the demonstration are engaged in an outright, nonreligious boycott. Milford is among many participating in a nationwide protest movement against Target. In January, Target was one of several American companies that backtracked on their DEI initiatives amid federal pressure from the Trump administration to end what President Donald Trump called "illegal DEI discrimination and preferences." To Milford, standing with DEI "is not about being woke; it's a movement to overcome discrimination." Kai Paige, the co-chair of the Fems for Dems Political Action Committee, said she was at the demonstration to stand up for DEI, and to stand up specifically for Black women. Protests in Michigan: Thousands protest Trump, Musk across Michigan Students sue DHS: 4 University of Michigan, Wayne State international students sue Homeland Security "Black women make up only 4% of executive leadership," Paige said. "I mean, come on. They use us all the time for DEI brochures, but when it's time to promote us, they overlook us." For much of the protest, advocates stood on the grass near Southfield Road, taking turns speaking through a microphone. Doctors, religious leaders and protest organizers encouraged the crowd to use the power of their dollar as a means of protest. Melodie Knappe, a 21-year-old student at Wayne State University and vice president of WSU's Disability Justice Coalition, said direct action in the form of boycotts is key to making their voices heard. "I'm putting my money where my mouth is," Knappe said. "I cannot support any corporation so apathetic it would turn its back on the values it once championed." Knappe, who is disabled, told the Free Press that her goal is not to just dissuade shoppers in Southfield for an afternoon — the goal is to be heard by Target executives. "This is not about the individuals, this is about the 1% at the top. We want to show them: This is what the bottom looks like," she said, gesturing toward the crowd of protesters. Among them was Patricia Coleman-Burns, an African Methodist Episcopal pastor, who incited a 1966 speech from Martin Luther King Jr. "King said ... 'Don't sleep through the revolution,' " Coleman-Burns said. "What's important is that these people understand their own power — that we not sleep through the revolution. We're in it." After the speeches, organizers said they would move closer to the store and stand in front of the doors, encouraging people entering the store to reconsider their choice to shop at Target. The protesters walked from the street across the parking lot and up to the front doors. Others placed magnetic signs on their cars that read "BOYCOTT TARGET" and drove around the parking lot. The protesters at the front door were quickly asked to leave by Target staff, who indicated they would call the police. Protesters asked the staff on scene for phone numbers of managers and executives but were denied. After about 20 minutes, the protesters dispersed from the parking lot while several Target employees lined the path leading to Target's doors. Media representatives at Target did not return phone call requests for comment. Contact Liam Rappleye: LRappleye@ This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Target rolls back DEI programs, and metro Detroiters boycott
