Rev. Janet Mueller

When you enter the sanctuary each Sunday morning you see big, beautiful banners displayed on either side of the chancel. Others hang around the sanctuary walls.  Ever wondered how they got there? Meet our hard-working volunteer worship-visuals expert, Blanche Shannon, who is a member of the Worship Committee.      Blanche moved here from southern California in the early 1980’s, is married to Chuck, and works full time for a financial planning firm. At one time an entire Worship Visuals Committee designed and created those wonderful banners – there are dozens of them hanging on a specially crafted rack in the sacristy. Some pastors wanted banners changed each Sunday, others asked for them to coincide with seasons of the liturgical year. We have banners created for weddings, funerals, baptism, and other special seasons and events in the life of our church. One of our Davis UMC banners was proudly carried and displayed at Davis & Sacramento anti-Prop 8 rallies over the last few years.        There is an art to taking banners down from that rack, lifting them up over one’s  head to hang them on the wall hooks, and then putting them back up in the rack to keep them in good condition. Blanche tells me some of the banners are double-sided!  Over the years members of the committee died or moved away, the committee has not met since they stopped making new banners (because there’s no room in the sacristy for more) and Blanche now carries our liturgical banner responsibilities herself.       Not only does she change banners, this lady shows up every single Saturday in our sanctuary to make sure candles on the Lord’s Table are ready for worship. Leading up to Easter and Christmas she puts in many more hours of behind the scenes volunteer work for us! She orders all the Easter flowers, picks them up from the florist, carries them back to the sanctuary, and arranges them. During Advent she picks up greens and arranges them in sprays and makes the Advent wreath herself. Evidently she doesn’t like to ask for help, but this is a big job and she might enjoy a Sunday off!      And if that weren’t enough, when Mae Etta was no longer able to do so, Blanche took on the responsibility of recruiting and coordinating acolytes for the 11 am service. She was so pleased to tell me that Melanie anticipates an acolyte training will be offered soon for all church youngsters in 3rd grade and up.      And there’s more! She volunteers as a greeter on Sunday mornings too!     Blanche is modest and self-effacing about the many hours she puts in to make our worship experience beautiful, but admits it might take a little pressure off if she didn’t have to do it all herself. Talk to her about helping out now and again!                 Thank you, Blanche, for all you do for us at Davis UMC.  BIBLE QUIZ:  How many books of the Bible begin with the letter “E”? (can you name them?) a. zero   b. two   c. five    d. six From Last Month we asked you what Biblical word means “anointed”?             The answer is:   b. Messiah