SCRANTON, Pa. — Every year for Veterans Day, the Asbury United Methodist Church in Scranton hosts a concert in honor of all the veterans and family members of veterans in the congregation.
Monday night's concert was the last one to be held here because, after 148 years, the church is closing.
"As a veteran, you know, this means a lot. And one of the reasons why is because they, here, really go all out to serve the veterans. They sing songs from WWII on up, and they're a terrific group of singers," said Joe Sylvester, a veteran.
Last month, the decision was made to close the church at the end of the year.
"It's hard, it's heart-wrenching in some cases, you know our people who can't get here anymore we do broadcast over Facebook but not every elderly person has access to Facebook," said Thomas Taylor, Pastor at Asbury United Methodist Church.
"I feel real bad; I could see it coming; I just didn't know when. It's going to be a sad day here, the final day, when we close," said Gary Williams, a Congregant of the church.
Pastor Taylor says one of the reasons why the church is closing is due to low attendance.
"People aren't available to do things that need to be done in a church this size; we just don't have the people that are able to do that,” said Taylor.
One congregant who has been coming to this church since the 1950s has noticed the lack of attendance.
"On certain Sundays half the balcony could have been filled or the whole balcony. Over the years, with attendance, little by little, I saw it slipping until it worked its way down where our attendance got low," said Williams.
Although the church will close, the concert will be hosted at the Dunmore United Methodist Church for at least next year. The final service for the Asbury United Methodist Church is Dec. 29.