The Flame Deadline: May 21st

Burns Memorial UMC 2372 Lumpkin Road Augusta, GA 30906

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Church Phone: 706-798-1454 Daycare Phone: 706-798-9843 Church E-mail: burnschurch@comcast.net Church Website: burnsmemorial.com Pastor’s Cell Phone: 706-421-6339 Pastor’s Email: john.donaldson@ngumc.net

Office Hours: Monday - Friday: 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM

Rev. John Donaldson—Pastor Dee McDaniel—Administrative Assistant

Mike Kelley—Music Director Martha Francis—Organist

Mary Guilfoyle—Preschool Director Delon Hampton—Custodian

From The Pastor

May 2020

of Burns Memorial United Methodist Church

On Fire for Christ Issue Number 172

The birds nest beside the streams and sing among the branches of the trees. Psalm 104:12, NLT

It seemed appropriate to me that shortly after Earth Day (April 22), came the birthday of John James Audubon (April 26). Audubon was an immigrant to America from Haiti by way of France. He was a businessman whose hobby was painting birds. A business failure when he was 45 years old left him free to start over, and he decided to make his hobby his calling. The year was 1820, and he said he would paint every bird of North America. He travelled the country, amassing a collection of 435 paintings. He is even credited with identifying 25 new species. These paintings and accompanying descriptions of the birds would be printed in a color-plate book entitled “The Birds of America” (1827-1839). His book was enormously successful and is still the standard by which every bird artist would be measured. Sadly, Audubon’s book includes pictures and descriptions of six now extinct birds: Carolina Parakeet, Passenger Pigeon, Labrador Duck, Great Auk, Eskimo Curlew, and Pinnated Grouse. In his later years, Audubon became an advocate for the protection of bird habitat, and his book and advocacy became the inspiration for the Audubon society. I have paid more attention to birds lately with the quiet mornings at the house. Did you know that the first bird of the morning is the whippoorwill? We have one that sings at about 6:15 AM, every day. It is also the last bird at night. I am not sure what it does the rest of the time. It is named onomatopoeically, after its song. The picture to the right is Audubon’s drawing of the whippoorwill. To see a photo and hear the call, use this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_whip-poor-will Several birds are easy to identify; the “crah, crah, crah” of the crow, the “who, who, who” of the owl”, and of course the “honk, honk, honk” of the Canadian geese that have a nest down on the lake. Thanks to Lori, I have now learned to identify one other bird lately, the quick, repeated, high “chirp, chirp, chirp …..” of the Kingfisher. There are still at least eighty percent of the birds in the morning bird orchestra that I cannot identify, yet. All I can say is that they seem mighty happy and excited about the new day!

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Have you ever stopped to think about what a beautiful world God made? And the beauty is not just visual. It is in the smells of the flowers and the songs of the birds. Maybe the birds singing morning and evening are to teach us something of the rhythm of life and the importance of beginning and ending the day in praise. This planet is a beautiful place, yet fragile. Species that God made can be lost. Protecting the

natural habitat is important. The first command God gave to Adam was to “tend the garden.” Friends, the earth is the garden and we are to take care of it. And maybe, like John James Audubon, the first step is to take time to notice how beautiful it is.

Grace and peace, Pastor John

burnsmemorial.com

Please check out the new web page, burnsmemorial.com. We have been working with 3M Adver-tising out of Augusta, and they will be doing weekly updates to our website. As soon as we get back together we will have some new pictures to add! Notice the new page has a link for Media, with connections to view our service, news and current announcements. The new page also has a

Members area, with minutes from various committee meetings and the current church phone direc-tory. Call Dee for the Members Page Password.

Our New Website

6 Lianne Price 7 Patti Stewart 12 Fredda Jackson 14 Linda Agee 20 Dottie Hilliard 21 Miranda Young 26 Harold Hoover 28 Sophie Adams 31 Bennie Agee 31 Adam Stewart

Office Hours

John and Dee are going to start having office hours one day per week each. If you need us any other time, please call us and we will be available for you.

John will be in the office on Wednesdays from 9 AM to 5 PM.

Dee will be in the office on Fridays from 9 AM to 5 PM.

Public services and events will not resume until the Conference gives the go ahead. Thank you so much to my Burns Church Family, for all the prayers, cards and calls during my Mom’s illness and passing. We really felt those prayers and appreciated every one of them. God bless each of you! Much love, Dee

Thank You

Thanks to the many folks who have worked hard while the church has been “closed.” Special thanks to Charlie for keeping the grass cut, Delon for polishing the floors, Bennie for handling all the property issues (we put a new roof on the old parsonage), Tom, Nate, & Jordan for filming the

services, Joey & Mike for continuing to provide special music, and Dee for continuing to publish the newsletter and pay the bills!

Many Thanks

12 Bruce & Evelyn Moore 26 John & Lori Donaldson 28 Wayne & Jeanette Jackson 30 Fred & Debra Welch