Shelby County Today

“If you won’t forgive men of their sins, the Father won’t forgive you…” Matt. 6:15

January 17, 2022 - Most of us would like to have a better memory. The art of remembering (called “mnemonics”) is taught in the Bible and was once taught in public schools. My Pastor often told me, “When someone introduces himself to you, don’t you dare walk off and forget his name!”

But there’s another art taught in God’s Word. It should be taught in our churches, schools, and homes. It’s the art of forgetting. Many church members become unfit for kingdom work because of an unforgiving spirit. I once knew a deacon who stayed out of church 27 years because of an argument over a bird dog.

God has forgotten our past sins and promised to remember them against us no more…forever. (Heb. 8:12) Forgetting hurtful words and deeds against us isn’t easy…but it’s the Christian way. Newspaper editor Webster Hays once told me of a lady who came forward during a revival and expressed a desire to patch things up with a fellow church member. “I’m willing to forgive and forget,” she wept. “But I still think I was right!”

The year of 2022 would be a good year to unclench our fists, bury the hatchets, and by the grace of God forgive and forget. A heavy load is lifted when we bury old grudges. How high we can leap when the burden is gone! And remember: if we don’t forgive those who sin against us…

… God won’t forgive us.

January 10, 2021 - Today is the Sunday we celebrate the Epiphany of the Lord. Actually the Epiphany has a set date on the Christian Calendar: January 6. However, Methodists usually don’t attend church on the actual date to celebrate this festival day. This year the news concentrated on that dark day—January 6, 2021, and the attack on the US Capitol. People of my generation will always remember November 22, 1963, and September 11, 2001—now adding January 6, 2021. But it is a new year, bringing hope and a promise that things will be better.

We at Paxton are collecting cans of tuna for Community Christian Services this month. Last Wednesday, after I got my hair cut, I stopped at CCS to unload cans and boxes of soup and give them two checks from the church. The man who helped me unload my truck asked me if I remembered him. I did and was delighted to see him so many years after I was his high school principal. John and I reminisced a little bit about times past. At church Sunday I read aloud the letter from Joaquin First Baptist, thanking us for helping with the kids’ Christmas giveaway. It is a real joy for our small church to have a part in the wonderful work CCS does for our area.

The Sunday School lesson came from Isaiah. This book of the Jewish scriptures is the most quoted book in the Christian New Testament. Our author explains that most Old Testament scholars believe that the extensive book was actually the work of three authors over a long period of time. I didn’t remember that the first Isaiah was a priest and a prophet. Our author says a priest was to speak to God on behalf of the people, while a prophet spoke to the people on behalf of God. Those two jobs must have been hard to balance sometimes.

Our two CD song selections were “Blessed Assurance” and “Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus,” two old favorites that we know well. Sue plays the CDs for our hymns and also the Gloria Patri and the Doxology. Our third hymn was one we listened to, “We Three Kings,” sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. That song is on my phone: My daughter gave me a bluetooth speaker, so anything I can download to my phone, I can play for church. Today, Epiphany, our scripture was Matthew 2: 1-12.

Only in Matthew do we find the wise men. Luke had his shepherds in the fields watching their flocks; Matthew had magi watching the stars—and one star in particular. Matthew doesn’t tell us how many wise men there were, where they came from, or how long their journey to reach Bethlehem lasted. But we know that when they finally arrived, they went to a house to visit the young Jesus. Did their journey take a week, ten days, three months, six months? We are not told. But we know they didn’t meet up with shepherds at a barn/stable on what is now called Christmas Day.

Whoever you are, in whatever faith you were born, whatever creed you profess; if you come to this house to find God you are welcome here. Paxton United Methodist Church is an inviting church that takes to heart the idea of “Open Doors, Open Hearts, and Open Minds.” Worship begins at 10:00. Our email address is paxtonumc@yahoo.com. If you would like the weekly email newsletter about Paxton Methodist, you can send your email address to the Paxton email address, and I will add you to the list. God’s Speed.

January 3, 2022 - Happy New Year! I stayed up until around 11:00 New Year’s Eve and just pretended it was an hour later. I am writing the first part of this article on Saturday evening and kept checking the outdoors for that cold front. My daughter in Dallas said it was windy, cold, and rainy this evening so I guess it is coming our way. We have had such a weird winter so far with temperatures hitting heat records several days for December. With a new year and a new month, we at Paxton are going to collect cans of tuna for Community Christian Services. Sunday morning we will load up my truck with soup. I plan to deliver cans of soup and a couple of checks to CCS on Wednesday.

Sunday morning it was definitely winter! When I went outside I could hear ice pellets and sleet falling on the metal roof of my back porch; on the way to church, snow was swirling in the air, and tiny ice balls littered the front steps. Sam and Gunter were not interested in going outside early this morning, but by 8:30 they were ready to venture out with Sue. (My wife is the dog walker on Sunday mornings while I get ready for church.) I got communion bread and juice ready for the morning services, and when I took everything out to the truck, I started the heater. I know Ms. Fannie will have the heat going at Paxton Methodist.

Our Sunday School lesson came from the Jewish hymn book—the Psalms. Gene read Psalm 19: 1-6, and once again Fannie had a very meaningful lesson. Fannie usually asks what was something we, the students, got out of the lesson. I liked that this psalm said we are to affirm God as creator and sustainer of everything—but also said there are no speeches, words, or voices that can adequately describe God’s holiness.

Sue and I appreciate the church giving us last weekend off so we could celebrate Christmas with our Dallas and Denton folks. It was a small group that gathered last Sunday, but they got to hear Larry McNeill’s remembrances of Christmases past. He emailed the text to me, which I also appreciate: My wife says the only bad thing about getting family time off from church is that we miss one of Larry’s excellent talks.

Today is the first Sunday after Christmas, when the Luke gospel gives us our only look at the preteen Jesus. The Gospels don’t share much about Jesus’ upbringing, so we must use our imaginations and our knowledge of how folks lived back then. Our reading from Luke begins with the Holy Family getting ready for their pilgrimage to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. Much of Nazareth would shut its doors, close up, and go as a group—an extended family—for a two-week adventure. But later Mary and Joseph have a “Home Alone” moment and must return to the capital looking for their lost boy.

Our two CD song selections were “Open My Eyes” and “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name,” which were in the Methodist Hymnal and the Cokesbury songbook. We used the Service of Communion and Remembrance that begins on page 12 of the Methodist Hymnal. The quote in this Sunday’s bulletin was once again found in the comic strip Mutts. The last frame of the comic had another Meister Eckhart quote: “And suddenly you know; It’s time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings.” Have a good 2022!

Whoever you are, in whatever faith you were born, whatever creed you profess; if you come to this house to find God you are welcome here. Paxton United Methodist Church is an inviting church that takes to heart the idea of “Open Doors, Open Hearts, and Open Minds.” Worship begins at 10:00. Our email address is paxtonumc@yahoo.com. If you would like the weekly email newsletter about Paxton Methodist, you can send your email address to the Paxton email address, and I will add you to the list. God’s Speed.

“Bodily exercise profits for a little while: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.” 1 Timothy 4:8

December 27, 2021 - After my open heart surgery many years ago, I began to slowly gain weight… and lose energy. It became a real struggle just to walk up the steep steps onto the porch or into my shop. I had gone on the Adkins grease- cheese and meat diet a few years ago and just couldn’t stick to a life without vegetables. So I decided to try a slightly modified South Beach approach with plenty of chicken and vegetables but no bread, potatoes, or sugar (low carbs).

I was surprised at how easy the new eating approach was to maintain. I didn’t go hungry, but slowly began to drop off the pounds. Pam and I started walking a mile and a half each morning and doing some light exercising. I couldn’t believe the difference this new life style began to make on my life both emotionally and physically. Within six weeks, I had lost over twenty pounds and felt better than I had felt in many years. Zipping up the steps beam effortless and my desire to work in my shop and do things I used to do became easier for me and I began looking forward to the activities of every new day.

I finally realized that if I wanted to stay healthy I’d have to eat right, exercise and control my weight. By the way, I found that the scripture “bodily exercise profits little” actually reads “profits for a little while” in the original Greek text. In other words, it will profit us as long as we are on the earth, but won’t be necessary when we get to heaven.

So I won’t have to make a new resolution to eat right, lose weight and exercise this New Year but will resolve not to stop doing what I have done for the last months. This new life style will help me maintain spiritual fitness too… the kind of exercise that profits… not for a little while… but forever.