By Randy and Sue Smith

News from Paxton Methodist, June 20

June 21, 2021 - Grace and peace from our friend and brother Jesus. Today was the fourth Sunday after Pentecost (and also the real Father’s Day). I had been thinking it was Father’s Day all last week and ended up using some FD material in last week’s sermon. That didn’t make sermon writing any easier this week. But as we see in today’s scriptures, things are not always meant to be easy.

News from Paxton Methodist, June 6

June 7, 2021 - Grace and peace from our friend and brother Jesus. Today was the 2nd Sunday after Pentecost. This Sunday is sandwiched between two family holidays—Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. And yet the Gospel lesson for today deals with conflict in the family. Today was also D-Day. That date will always be remembered by people of my parent’s generation—just like later generations remember when President Kennedy was killed and when the twin towers came down.

News from Paxton Methodist, May 31

May 31, 2021 - Grace and peace from our friend and brother Jesus. It is Memorial Day morning, and I am running late with my newspaper article and weekly church newsletter. Sam, Gunter, and I finally made it to the park for our morning walk in the beautiful weather. I finished some of my early chores and decided to sit down to write the News from Paxton Methodist. Saturday we had a phone call from one of our favorite people—Ms. Hilda! She sounded really good! At church Joy said she called Hilda during the week, and they had the nicest talk.

News from Paxton Methodist, May 23rd

May 24, 2021 - Grace and peace from our friend and brother Jesus. May 23rd was the Day of Pentecost on the Christian calendar. Traditionally this marks the beginning of the Christian mission: Some call it the Christian faith’s “birthday.” Next Sunday is Trinity Sunday. I no longer even pretend to understand the concept of the Trinity—well, not exactly true, as I keep trying to understand.

News from Paxton Methodist, May 16

May 16, 2021 - Grace and peace from our friend and brother Jesus. May 16 was the 7th Sunday of Easter, as well as Ascension Sunday. In bygone days Christians would go to their places of worship last Thursday to celebrate the Day of Ascension, when Jesus left his friends behind. Last week I had no article in the paper and no weekly newsletter because my four-legged friend Sam and I went to Dallas right after church. I had a really nice visit with my daughter, son, future daughter-in-law, sister-in-law, and brother.

News from Paxton Methodist, May 2

May 3, 2021 - Grace and peace from our brother Jesus. Sunday was the 5th Sunday of Easter. Springtime has come to East Texas! The temperatures have warmed into the 80s, and we have had plenty of spring rain. My garden looks so good. I notice when I am driving around how pretty people’s roses are this year. My roses have been fantastic. I don’t know if it is really true, but it seems that the best-smelling roses have the most and meanest thorns (should be a life lesson in there somewhere).

News from Paxton Methodist, April 25

April 26, 2021 - Grace and peace from our brother Jesus. Sunday was the 4th Sunday of Easter. Springtime and Easter certainly go together like peas and carrots! With the rain and the warmer temperatures, we see rebirth and renewal all throughout nature—a vital and sacred part of God’s Kingdom. With our brutal cold snap earlier this year, I thought I lost many different plants in my garden. Thankfully that wasn’t the case. One set of bushes that I slated for the chainsaw has budded out—a wonderful sight.

News from Paxton Methodist, April 18

April 20, 2021 - Grace and peace from our brother Jesus. Sunday was the 3rd Sunday of Eastertide: We are still dealing with resurrection and what that means to 21st century Jesus followers. I think we can all agree that spring time is the right time for resurrection and rebirth. Martin Luther said that the Lord wrote the promise of resurrection not only in books but in every leaf of springtime.

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