August 22nd, 2025 | Rev. Rachel Williams

Dear Friends,  

This Sunday, Pastor Charlie concludes our series on the Three General Rules. Can you name them? Without Googling them?

Let’s review them together:

Rule 1: Do no harm.

Rule 2: Do good.

Rule 3: Attend to the ordinances of God or stay in love with God or immerse yourself in the practices of God.

From those three sermons we then turned the rules to how the church can heal the harm and offer the good of Christ. As Pastor Charlie mentioned Sunday, you’ll have to join a service and hear how the third rule has been applied. When we apply all three rules together, as a means of responding to God’s grace and unconditional love, we realize something incredible. We grow closer to God through the love we share with God and our neighbor.  

These rules take practice. They are certainly not easy, but if we wake up every day with intention, reviewing the rules, asking ourselves where it might be that we do not uphold these rules, figuring out how we can move forward into greater devotion to God we start to build ritual and a rhythm of life centered around the framework of these three rules.

One way in which you can build a new rhythm to your week (or continue in your current rhythm) is by attending our Wednesday night dinners and classes. Not only is this a wonderful way for you to fellowship with your church family from across all of the services, but this is a way to grow as a deeply rooted disciple. Join us for dinner and classes beginning September 10th at 5:30PM. Dinner is ten dollars for adults and free for children and youth, so bring the whole family. Childcare will be provided for the class portion of the evening. Come explore Scripture, learn about Methodist history, or join in the book study for The Case for Christ. If you’ve never participated in a study before, let this be your opportunity to try something new. I hope to see you there in a few months! 

With love and grace,  

 Pastor Rachel  

August 15th, 2025 | Rev. Dr. Mark Charles

Dear Memorial Family,

Margaret and I returned on Tuesday evening after two wonderful weeks of rest, reconnecting with friends and family, and celebrating a lovely family wedding. A real highlight for me was attending worship at Ballynahinch Methodist Church, the place that first formed faith in me.

The congregation was small, and the service was led by a retired pastor with pre-recorded hymns. You might think it would have been an underwhelming experience, but it was anything but. God was very present.

As I always do there, I found myself looking around and remembering significant moments: the first time I knelt to receive communion, the years I sat on the steps for Children's Moments, and the memorial services for my parents. Ballynahinch Methodist Church is a sacred "thin place" for me—a place where I meet God and am reminded of God's closeness.

I also noticed the furniture. The pews, lectern, and pulpit had been moved from a church in Belfast that closed in 1980. This got me thinking about all the good news preached from that pulpit and the prayers prayed from that lectern over the generations. I was reminded of the enduring faithfulness of God and the countless Methodists who have sought to "do no harm, do good, and attend to the ordinances of God."

The people in Ballynahinch are still gathering to seek God and serve their community, and here in Fernandina Beach, we are doing the same. This Sunday, we’ll continue our journey through the General Rules, revisiting "Do Good" and thinking about how we can offer the good of Christ to the world around us.

I hope you’re planning to join us.

See you there!

Blessings,

Pastor Charlie

The Good News: Memorial Help #LoveShowUp for Area Teachers

Nearly 100 local teachers, representing 4 counties and 27 different schools, picked up free school supplies for their classrooms on Sunday, August 3^rd during Memorial United Methodist Church’s annual Free Teacher’s Supply Fair. Members of Memorial’s congregation donated and gathered thousands of classroom supplies and then offered them all for free for any teacher who could use them.  It was the largest collection of supplies by the church to date. The nearly 100 teachers in attendance came from Nassau, Duval, Glynn, and Camden County school districts.

Teachers were invited to “shop” for free from the items donated by the church. They picked up much needed supplies like reams of paper, earbuds, pencils, dry erase markers, folders and more. Each teacher also received a bag full of cleaning supplies with items like tissues, paper towels, hand sanitizer cleaning wipes, and magic erasers. The educators were also treated to free Italian Ices from Jeff Cirelli and Little Jimmy's Italian Ices. The local Harris Teeter also donated shopping bags for the event.

Associate Pastor, Rev. Rachel Williams, was encouraged by the way the church was able to help area teachers. ”We have been overwhelmed by the generosity of this grace-filled family at Memorial. They brought in more supplies than ever before for our local teachers. The need is so great and, as we say here at Memorial, this is a way for us to help ’love show up’ for our community.”

Lucinda Lautz, Mission Coordinator at Memorial, says that events like this are important ways that the church can support a healthy community. “We know being a teacher comes with many expenses. That's why we're committed to helping as many local educators as we can stock their classrooms before the first day of school,” she said. “Our goal is to ensure that teachers can focus entirely on teaching and inspiring our children without the stress of worrying about missing essentials.”

Along with the Teacher's Supply Fair, groups from Memorial also worked alongside other area volunteers to help clean up the campus of Yulee Primary, our church/school partner, before the students arrive back! And last Friday, a group for the church provided a brunch for the teachers at Yulee Primary on their first day back to school! Memorial is thankful for our local teachers and the opportunity to support them as they support our area children!