Started in 1971 by
Dan and Fran McElheny to help celebrate the Lenten
Season. They were the guiding force that established the Lenten
Luncheon “Tradition” at Asbury. They served in this leadership
role for 26 years.
In 1997, due to
failing health, they handed the reins to Jack Cooper.
In 2002, because
of business pressures, Jack reluctantly asked Bill Erdman
to take his place. His last luncheons were held in 2019.
Following the 2019
sessions,
Tom
Moore
took over the responsibilities of coordinating the Luncheons. His
first session was February 26, 2020 which, unfortunately were
interrupted by the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic. See
below
for "New Normal."
Up to this point, our average attendance
was between 90 and 100 people each Wednesday.
Format 1971 to 2020:
1971 to 1997 the
basic format was using well-known, local speakers and clergy to bring a
timely message each of the 7 Wednesdays of Lent. A buffet luncheon was
provided and an offering was suggested to defray the costs.
1997 to 2002 the
Luncheons continued using a similar format but concentrated more on
active and past-pastors of Asbury. This often provided mini-reunions of
the congregation with well-loved pastors and assistant pastors who had
moved on to serve other churches.
From 2002 on the
availability of “former” pastors became a problem as Methodist ministers
were being moved less often and our older pastors were no longer
available. Special guests were often used as fill-ins but they were not
always focused on the Lenten message. A new source of speakers was
needed.
Reluctantly, much
to the concern of some Asbury members, we were lead to a marvelous,
available, untapped and untried reservoir of talent - at marvelous,
available, untapped and untried reservoir of talent were the men and
woman of Asbury! The “Laity” in other words. The term “Laity” caused
panic among those of us that dislike change but the results proved to be
excellent. It turned out that we were blessed with meaningful,
understandable and sincere messages delivered from the hearts of people
just like us.
We continued
drawing on “simple folk” to share with us what the Easter message means
to them. The format in 2019 was very unusual as it was totally
video driven with the messages being developed by Lay People commenting
on the clips.
See
below for
new formats determined by COVID-19 requirements.
Responsibility
for the Luncheons 1971 to 2020:
Foremost in
importance was that the Lenten Luncheons were always an autonomous
feature at Asbury, independent of the Pastor(3) and staff of the church.
Other than the dates, times and location of the luncheons, every aspect
of the sessions were powered by the direction of the Holy Spirit in the
hearts of those that give their time and talents to the meetings. Each
individual session leader was guided by his or her love of the Gospel and
other than trying to keep within the suggested themes, shared from their
experience and beliefs. We started just before Noon and ended before 1:00 -
Because everyone would have left then anyway.
We did utilize the
speaking talents of various staff members but they were some-times more
readily available than many of our talented, but shy, lay people.
Over the years we
developed a simple, nonthreatening format. In most sessions the
format was: “Hello”, “Turn off cell phones”, Grace, eat, music then
message or message then music, donate, “Goodbye”. Pretty
sophisticated—developed over many, many years. We started to begin to
commence with the Imposition of the Ashes on Ash Wednesday. We met the
next six Wednesdays, ending on the Wednesday before Easter with a
modified Seder Meal provided by UMW.
Cost of Luncheons
1971 to 2020:
The Luncheons were self-supporting from the very beginning. Proceeds go to the
office, never to be seen again. There is a line item in the budget but
it has been used only rarely. Two instances come to mind: When we used
visiting pastors and provided honorariums for travel expenses and when
we paid an audio technician to display the 20 videos used during the
2019 sessions
All layout designs
for session bulletins, all webmaster costs for Asbury’s Lenten Luncheon
web site, all cost for the web site and all scheduled notifications to
the congregation were donated over the years.
Basically, the first 49
years of Lenten Luncheons were a no-cost operation, dedicated to
God’s Glory.
Music 1971 to 2020:
Music is extremely
important in bringing Jesus’ message to all. No set format was “normal”,
we just tried to fit the music to the message. Usually the Speaker
was the
person that determine who and what was to be used to supplement their
message. The talented artists we have heard over the years have been
superb - We’ve had soloists, duos, trios, quartets, quintets, sextets,
septets, octets, nonets and dectets. We have had marvelous
instrumentalists also - Pianists, flautists (Preferred to flutist),
guitarists, harmonicists, trumpetists and even a steel drummerist.
Food 1971 to 2020:
Food preparation
was the glue (No pun intended) that bound (No pun intended) the sessions
together. We were blessed abundantly by the women and a few men
that have worked wonders in our kitchen to prepare, serve and clean up
for each Lenten Luncheon. Unfortunately this key ingredient (no
pun intended) was no longer convenient or safe with the threat of COVID
starting in 2020.
No amount of
applause or accolades will ever express the gratitude we have for these
magnificent people who prepared countless meals. The number of ladies that have helped over the year
is in the neighborhood of 700 - remember most of them served multiple
times each year. At the end of 2019 we will have served 336 luncheons -
at an average of 100 people per luncheon - that is over 3,500 servings!
A lot of dirty dishes to clean!
For the
years 2010 t0 2020 the UMW faithfully provided a modified Seder meal on
the last Wednesday of each session. Those that disdain cutlery say this
was the best meal of each session.
Food Preparation
was vital but we must not forget that those place mats, silverware,
napkins, condiments and flowers did not spontaneously appear just prior
to 11:45 am every Wednesday of Lent. It took a special female talent
to put all that stuff where it belongs. It was also a daunting task to
find all of the stuff that manages to be put away in different places
each week. The list of faithful women that have undertaken this menial
job is quite long.
Lead Pastors over
the years:
Hugh Lake
Dennis DeLacure
Craig Ford
Al Davis
Hubert Floyd
Paul Dickinson
Scott Harris
Cameron Lashbrook
Mike Luzinski
