asburyfirst.org
(585) 271-1050
Summer Schedule begins May 24! 9 am Worship will take place outdoors on the East Ave lawn
MAY 2026
Asbury First's summer tradition of hosting our 9 am worship service outside on fair Sundays continues this year from May 24 to September 6 (Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend). We will assemble in front of the 1050 building. We ask that you bring your own lawn chair or lawn blanket if at all possible—toss them in your trunk now!
Accessibility at Asbury First: Hearing Loop Active
We are pleased to offer a hearing loop system for those with hearing loss. This system delivers audio directly from our microphones to your personal hearing aid or cochlear implant. Please switch your device to the 'T' (Telecoil) setting. If you do not have a T-coil, please see an usher to borrow a portable receiver.
NEWS SHEET
You're invited! Join us for upcoming worship, fellowship, and fun.
NEWS SHEET | MAY 2026
Banned Book Club: That Librarian by Amanda Jones
The Columbarium & Memorial Garden
NEWS SHEET | MARCH 2026
Storehouse Geranium Sale
Monday, May 18, from 7 to 8 pm in the Red Room , join the Banned Book Club for a discussion of Amanda Jones' That Librarian, a memoir by a Louisiana school librarian who became a target of harassment after defending LGBTQ+ and diverse books. It chronicles her fight against censorship, the resulting threats, and her legal action against her accusers.
The Storehouse Geranium Sale once again helped the Community Outreach Center to Do More Good. If you ordered geraniums, you may pick them up on Saturday, May 16 from 9 am to 11:30 am in the Red Room of the COC. Call the Church Office at (585) 271-1050 for more information.
Spring is here, and with it, a first chance for the Memorial Garden to grow into its new home in the newly opened Columbarium, a sacred place to pray, reflect and meditate. Niches can be reserved for yourself or a loved one. Contact Kathy Thiel to reserve your niche or learn more at kthiel@asburyfirst.org or call (585) 271-1050 x106
Asbury Women's Art Class Fridays, 1 - 3 pm in Room 205 (1040)
For just $15 in materials, we'll meet every Friday from 1 - 3 pm in Room 205 (the Bell Room in 1040) to explore art as a spiritual practice while connecting with other women in a welcoming, creative space. Questions? Contact Linda Clemow at programs@asburyfirst.org
Morning Prayer – Thursdays at 9:30 am
If you are experiencing grief and would like a place to talk about it and share with others, you are welcome to attend on Wednesday evenings from 4 to 5 pm in the Library (1040) and via Zoom. All are welcome. Questions? Contact Rev. Kathy Thiel at (585) 271-1050 x106 or kthiel@asburyfirst.org.
In these turbulent times of shifting headlines and unsettling political events, our pastoral staff feels called to help our community maintain spiritual grounding. We invite you to join us for Morning Prayer every Thursday from 9:30 - 10am in the Meditation Chapel (within the Sanctuary). This simple service offers a space to center ourselves in God's presence, solidarity, compassion, and love. No special preparation needed—come as you are, whenever you can join us.
Grief Group Wednesdays, via Zoom and in the Library
Are you shocked by the rise in homelessness across America? Have you noticed it’s happening even here on the Asbury First campus? You can learn more in adult Sunday school classes April 26 – May 19 at 9:45 am in person in Fellowship Hall and on Zoom as we consider the 2023 book, Rough Sleepers, by Tracy Kidder. Our four sessions will include a videotaped interview with the late author and the subject of the book, Dr. Jim O’Connell, who practices medicine with people living on the streets of Boston. We will also tap into people who do similar work in Rochester and provide some rough sleeping 101 information. Finally, we hope to discuss advocacy steps. Please contact programs@asburyfirst.org to learn more.
Adult Sunday School: Rough Sleepers
Join the AFUMC Civics Team to help write postcards for the Progressive Turnout Project. Meet us in the Red Room (1010), Thursdays from 10 am to Noon. Just bring your pen, your best printing skills and your enthusiasm. And if you don’t find yourself called to printing postcards yet still want to support our effort, consider buying and donating postcard stamps (not first class stamps). Stamps can be left with Holly Temming in the Church Office (1050).
Postcarding Resumes!
A Note on Sound in the Sanctuary
We are aware of concerns with the temporary sound system which will be in place until a new permanent system can be installed. Our Tech Team is doing its best to adjust the system to our needs. If you find yourself seated in an area of the nave where the sound is muddy, please don't be embarrassed to get up and move to an area where you can hear more clearly. Thank you for your patience!
We're so excited for Asbury First's Summer VBS! Children in grades Pre-K (age 4) through 5th grade are invited to join us August 3–6 from 9 am to Noon for fun, faith-filled days exploring the Bible through arts, crafts, games, and more! Registration fees can be paid online via credit card or bank account through this form, or select "Pay Later" to mail a check to Asbury First United Methodist Church, 1050 East Ave, Rochester, NY 14607, Attn: John Ormsbee. For questions, email programs@asburyfirst.org.
Join us for our Spring gathering of worship, lunch, and fellowship! Please RSVP to Barbara Eltinge by Wednesday, May 6 by calling (585) 737-8775 or email programs@asburyfirst.org. Please indicate any dietary restrictions.
Older Adult Spring Worship and Lunch Wednesday, May 13 at 11 am in the Sanctuary Noon lunch in the Gathering Center
Summer VBS is coming!
Each month we collect different needed supplies for the ministries of the Community Outreach Center. For the April COC Chapel Challenge, we will collect sweatshirts and hoodies of all sizes. A list of other specific items is available at asburyfirst.org/coc. Please drop them off near the rail in the front of the Children's Chapel before or after services. Thank you for caring for our neighbors!
May COC Chapel Challenge
Youth Music returns on Wednesdays with a new time: 6:30 – 8 pm. We're preparing for Youth Sunday in June and would love to have all interested youth join us! 6:30 – 7 pm — Nosh and Conversation in the Gathering Center 7 – 8 pm — Choir and bells rehearsal in the Education Wing music rooms Feel free to bring a snack to contribute to the Nosh. We look forward to making music together! Contact Carol Lamica at clamica@asburyfirst.org with any questions.
For over 12 years, Asbury First's Grocery Bag Ministry has assembled thousands of grocery bags for families in need across Rochester. Join us the second Saturday of each month at 8 am in the Dining & Caring Center to help pack grocery bags distributed to partner churches and refugee families through the Keeping Our Promise program. Our next gathering is May 10. Come feed your neighbors.
Calling All Youth - Youth Music Resumes! Wednesdays, starting April 15 from 6:30 to 8 pm
Grocery Bag Ministry Meeting the Second Saturday of Each Month
KOP is seeking 4 groups of 3 volunteers each to be part of a caring circle for new families. Under the Welcome.US program, we can help, but we officially need three volunteers per family. This will guarantee a family $1,000 per person in resettlement funds within 2 to 3 weeks from the Welcome Corps. Please reach out to friends and community members if you can help by being part of a caring circle. For more information, call or text Cindy Malone at (585) 645-4060.
Keeping Our Promise Seeking Volunteers
VOLUNTEERING OPPORTUNITIES | MAY 2026
Connecting Through Volunteering
Looking for a deeper way to connect? Volunteering at Asbury First is more than helping out—it’s about building friendships, discovering joy, and growing in faith. Our Volunteer Engagement Committee is here to match your gifts and schedule with opportunities across the church. Whether you have an hour once in a while or time each week, there’s a place for you: greeting on Sunday mornings, singing in the choir, teaching, cooking, office help, or serving with Outreach ministries. The best part? Volunteering is flexible and rewarding. You’ll bless the church with your presence—and find yourself blessed in return. Ready to find your place? Reach out to the Volunteer Engagement Committee and discover the joy of serving together. Call the Church Office to be connected with someone who can help you find your place at (585) 271-1050.
Asbury First's collaboration with Habitat for Humanity began around 1990, when Rev. Margie Mason invited Habitat supervisor Rick Kuempel to speak to the congregation and recruit volunteers and sponsors. Over the following decades, Asbury First — working alongside faith-based alliances — helped build more than ten homes across the city. Early in that partnership, Rochester Habitat committed to constructing 100 homes in the JOSANA neighborhood within a half-mile of School 17. The 100th home was completed in 2021 with financial and volunteer support from Asbury First. Our presence in that community has remained steady through the Help Me Read Program, the Tyshaun Cauldwell Memorial Scholarship, and ongoing Habitat construction projects. Habitat is now focusing its efforts in the EMMA (East Main Merchants Atlantic) neighborhood, and Tyler is a prime example of the people being served there. Tyler currently works as a Junior Site Supervisor with Greater Rochester Habitat for Humanity — but his connection to the mission goes back further than that. A Rochester native and Edison Tech alumnus, he completed the Catholic Charities YouthBuild program in 2021, where he first worked alongside Habitat mentors before officially joining the organization. In April 2024, Tyler was accepted into the Homebuyer Program. Since then, he has shown remarkable dedication: attending financial literacy courses, completing his sweat equity hours, and steadily saving for his down payment. He currently lives with his mother in the same neighborhood where he will soon own his first home. Tyler deeply values what homeownership represents and is excited to make the space his own — from a Ravens-themed mancave in the basement to personal touches throughout the house. His new home also marks a milestone for our organization and for the city: it will be the first two-story modular home built within Rochester city limits. As part of its effort to expand affordable housing, Greater Rochester Habitat for Humanity has begun incorporating modular construction into select projects. Prefabricated homes cost less to build and come together much faster than traditionally built homes, according to Clayton Cloen, Habitat's interim executive director. While Habitat values modular homes for projects that call for a quicker turnaround, Cloen noted that the majority of new builds will continue to use conventional methods — because volunteers genuinely love the hands-on work of framing and finishing a house. "There will be plenty of opportunities to swing a hammer for the foreseeable future," he said.
ARTICLES | MARCH 2026
ARTICLES | MAY 2026
There are moments this time of year when I find myself stopping mid-step on our campus, almost surprised into stillness. After two years in Rochester, I am still not accustomed to the way spring arrives here—not gradually, not timidly, but with a kind of quiet brilliance that feels both gentle and unmistakable. The trees do not simply bud; they unfurl. The light shifts. The air itself seems to soften. Rochester's vernal display is breathtaking, and with what feels like a park on every other block, Spring is everywhere! Asbury First United Methodist Church sits in the midst of this unfolding beauty in a way that continues to catch me off guard. The first hints of green along East Ave, the flowering trees scattered across our grounds, the way the sunlight filters through just-emerging leaves—it all creates a sense that something is waking up, right in front of us, day by day. There is a holiness to it, not in any grand or dramatic sense, but in the steady, faithful return of life. This season invites us to pay attention, not just to the color and the light, but to the rhythms we share with the created world. After the long stretch of winter, there is something deeply reassuring about watching the campus come alive again. It feels like a reminder we are meant to receive: that renewal is not an abstract idea, but something we can see, touch, and walk through together. Even now, I find myself lingering a little longer between meetings, taking the long way across the property, or pausing at the edge of a garden bed just to take it in. Two years in, and I am still marveling! And perhaps that is part of the gift of this place and this season—that it does not lose its ability to surprise us, to draw our attention, and to quietly proclaim that new life is always possible.
Wednesdays, 10–11:30 am , 1010 Red Room and Zoom (zoom.us/j/8924819492) PW 578697) This group meets on Wednesdays morning between Labor Day and Memorial Day. It is primarily a book group that is open to all. The group considers and chooses the books to read for the coming year each spring. They spend several weeks on each book, focusing on a few chapters each week. For more information, please contact Mike Mullin at mmullin@asburyfirst.org.
Lectio Divina
CONTINUING CLASSES, GROUPS, AND EVENTS
Fridays, 1 – 3 pm, 1040 Room 205 (upper level, bell choir room) Meeting on Friday afternoons, the Asbury Women's Art Class explores creation through a variety of art mediums. Please email Linda Clemow at soulsourcestudio1@gmail.com for more information and to register.
Tuesday Women’s Fellowship
Looking for a way to stay connected to your Asbury First friends during the week? Want to meet new Asbury First friends? All women, all ages, are welcome to join the Tuesday Women's Fellowship via Zoom, 9:30–10:30 am each week. Bring your coffee or tea, and perhaps a treat, zoom in and enjoy an hour of devotion, sharing, and connection. If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Elizabeth Church, coordinator, at emchurch418@gmail.com. Hope to see you soon!
Tuesdays, 9:30-10:30 am, Zoom (zoom.us/j/8347173468 PW 200)
Lectio Divina is a contemplative practice on reading scripture. A passage of scripture is read, then there is silent meditation, then the passage is read again, then more silence, and then discussion. The silence is an opportunity to reflect upon what you experienced in the scripture. This half hour opens and closes with prayer. All are welcome. For more information please contact Rev. Kathy Thiel at kthiel@asburyfirst.org or at 585-271-1050 x106.
Wednesday Morning Study Group
Tuesdays, 8:30–9 am, Zoom (zoom.us/j/8347173468 PW 200)
Asbury First Women's Art Class
Tuesdays, 2:15 - 3:15 pm, Zoom (zoom.us/j/8347173468 PW 200)
Men of all ages are welcome to join us on Wednesday mornings via Zoom as we discuss topics of faith, life, and more. Each week, a different member of the group leads us in a devotion for our time together. These can be instructional, reflective, conversational, and more. This is a wonderful group to make and build connections, and we hope that you will drop in to join us! or more information, please contact Mike Mullin at mmullin@asburyfirst.org.
Have you ever wondered what the Bible really says—and if it truly has any meaning for us in modern times? If so, then you’re not alone. Most Christians have never really read the Bible, and many wonder if its antiquated teachings truly transcend time. If you would like to grapple with these questions, then you are encouraged to join in the Disciple Bible Study. Disciple IV spends the first half the year looking at the Wisdom Literature of the Old Testament, and the second half of the year focused on the Gospel of John and Revelation. The Disciple IV Bible study will be starting later this spring. Please contact Mike Mullin for more information or to sign-up contact mmullin@asburyfirst.org
Disciple IV Bible Study
Men’s Devotional Group
Wednesdays, 7 am, Zoom (zoom.us/j/8347173468 PW 200)
Yoga at Asbury First
Tuesdays, 3 pm, Gathering Center, $10 pay at the door
Join us for our weekly sessions of Gentle Yoga. This gentle attention can help both to bring inner awareness to your body, as well as clarity and peace to the mind! Classes are an hour long and open to participants at any level. $10 at the door, you're encouraged to wear comfortable loose-fitting clothes, and to bring a towel and water with you.
Carvers of Hope is a wood carving ministry that helps people who find themselves in the very difficult places of life. Its members carve handmade crosses as a reminder of the hope Jesus brought to us through the cross. All materials, wood, and carving tools are provided, as well as carving lessons. No prior skill is needed to carve crosses with this group. If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact John Smalt at jhsmalt@gmail.com.
4th Tuesday of the Month, 6:30–8 pm, Room 203
As The Spirit Moves Us
Prayer Shawl Ministry
Asbury First's LGBTQ+ Advocacy Group continues to hold meetings seeking new ways to support the LGBTQ+ community. Meetings are held in the Youth Room (in the lower level of the church). Anyone affiliated with LGBTQ+ community and allies are welcome to attend. We will be planning for events, outreach, and educational opportunities in our community. Youth and adults are welcome! For more information, please contact Deb Bullock-Smith at (585) 271-1050 x117 or at dbullocksmith@asburyfirst.org.
4th Wednesday of the Month, 3–4:30 pm, Library
3rd Sunday of the Month, at 9:45 am, 1040 Youth Room (lower level)
LGBTQ+ Advocacy Meeting
Sundays, 9:45–10:45 am, Room LL03 and Zoom (zoom.us/j/6174865464 PW Disciple) As The Spirit Moves Us is a class founded on forming a welcoming community to study Biblical events through scripture as well as Christian-based literature. All are welcome, and every voice is heard as we become better together. For more information about this class, please contact Mike Mullin at mmullin@asburyfirst.org or at 585-271-1050 x105.
Carvers of Hope
A prayer shawl is a simple shawl or a lap blanket knitted by members of our group. It is symbolic of an inclusive, unconditionally loving God. The knitting itself is very simple and we have “experts” on hand to help you if you are a beginner. The group meets monthly on the fourth Wednesday. Clergy and lay members of our church identify those who may benefit from our ministry and a shawl, and they're delivered by ministers or congregation members. Questions? Contact Meredith Pixley at meredithpixley@gmail.com.
To submit an announcement, email communication@asburyfirst.org, call the church office at (585) 271-1050, or fill out the online form at asburyfirst.org/bulletin-announcement. If you'd like to receive regular paper communications, please call the church office at (585) 271-1050.
ALTAR FLOWERS The flowers on the altars are given to the glory of God and in gratitude of past and present church members. If you would like to place flowers on the altars, please contact Jeanne Ristau at (585) 223-4356, preferably two weeks ahead of requested date. Prayers and Concerns We offer our prayers and concerns for all those who are ill at home, hospitalized, or in hospice care. Our hearts and prayers are with the friends and family of Melissa Oskvig who died on Monday, March 16. A Memorial Service will be held April 25 at 3 pm in the Sanctuary. Our hearts and prayers are with the family of Terry Badger who died on April 4. A Memorial Service was held Monday, April 13 at Anthony’s Funeral Home. Our hearts and prayers are with the family of Jan DeJager who died on April 5. A Memorial Service to celebrate her life will be held at Asbury First on Monday, April 20 at 11 am. We want to be able to visit and pray with those who are in the hospital. If you know someone who is in the hospital and would like a pastoral call, or if you yourself are in the hospital or have a date for surgery, please call Rev. Kathy Thiel who will be most glad to be with you in that moment. (585) 271-1050 x106.
Celebrations and concerns
Stay up-to-date with events, links, and information with our online calendar, or call (585) 271-1050.
asburyfirst.org/events