Maywood News
We are having typical Missouri spring weather this week—some very hot days, some chilly days, some nights below freezing. Daffodils and
dandelions are blooming, and every day feels like we’ve travelled to a different climate!
Today was Palm Sunday, and South Union Baptist Church celebrated with a concert by The Lesters, a family gospel group. Jonathan and Bailee Lester and their children live in Lewistown, and the Lester Family has been sharing the message through gospel music for more than 100
years. Before the concert, the children gathered to paint palm leaves in celebration of Palm Sunday, and Luke helped accompany the congregation on the hymn, “King of Kings.”
Following the concert, many stayed for fellowship and lunch catered by Myrtle Mae’s Restaurant, and the children had a nerf gun war outside in the beautiful spring weather. The Lesters will next be singing at Meramac Caverns for the Easter weekend, where they will have a passion play on
Saturday evening and a sunrise service in the caves on Easter Sunday. Today’s Palm Sunday celebration was well-attended, and the church
was so grateful to all who came to celebrate Easter week and support the Lester Family in concert!
South Union Baptist Church will be hosting a Good Friday service with traditional music on Friday April 3rd at 6 pm. On Easter Sunday, April
5th, a fellowship with Easter Donuts will be held at 10 a.m. prior to the worship service. All are welcome! Also mark your calendars for May 22-
24, when Pastor Randy Davis will be leading a chalk art revival at South Union Baptist Church. There will be free meals during each service!
Rick and Mauvoreen Meyer attended the final competition of the winter season of timed events at Rockin’ A Arena in Palmyra on Saturday to watch their grandchildren compete in several horse and rodeo-related events. The grandchildren had much success and brought home several belt buckles and other prizes!
Many area children attended the Easter Egg Hunt at the school in Philadelphia last Friday, where Kate Doughtery and her committee had
hidden 6000 eggs! Although some of the hunt had to be held inside due to weather, the children still had a great time and received lots of candy!
Luke, Jacob, and Elijah Shepherd attended the Easter party at Gem City Gymnastics on Friday. The event was well-attended, and all the
children seemed very worn out from all the jumping and games by the end of the party!
Seeing the children in our church enjoying the Lesters concert today reminded me of the many southern gospel concerts I attended with
my parents and grandmother back in the 1970’s and 1980’s. I cannot find (yet) any writings of Mom about those concerts, but many of them
were at Quincy Junior High and organized (I think this is correct) by Margaret Askins and her daughter Vicki. We saw the Thrasher Brothers
many times as well as the Cathedrals and the Blackwood Brothers; and in later years, we travelled to Springfield and St. Louis to see the
Gaither Homecoming Tours. Often during the concert, there was a funny song performed for children of all ages, like the Laughing Song, by
the Cathedrals’ George Younce, which thankfully is still available on YouTube. Today, the Lesters continued that tradition by playing “The Wal-Mart Song,” which led to gales of laughter from the children in the front row. There’s something very uplifting about watching children enjoy the same types of funny gospel songs that were just as funny more than fifty years ago!
“Do you think, Mr. Carson, for one moment, that that little donkey thought the crowd was giving him the praise and glory instead of Jesus?” Mother Teresa, when interviewed by Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show, and asked about how she’d handle the accolades that came with winning the Nobel Peace prize.
