January 4, 2015 - Sunday was Epiphany Sunday. Happy New Year wishes to everyone. I really don’t know what happen to 2015 it went by far too quick! In fact every year since 1999 seems to just fly by. Today is the Sunday that we remember the wise men who came to Bethlehem to see the new king. To find this story we must read from the Matthew Gospel as it is the only one that mentions wise men. Tradition says there were three wise men but actually Matthew doesn’t tell us. I guess it could be thirty. The light draws them to Jesus and the dawning of a new age—the Kingdom that will be central to Jesus’ teachings some thirty years later.
Joy and Gene’s kids, their spouses and grandson Austin were up from Houston to celebrate the New Year. It is always great to see them. Austin spoke the Lord’s Prayer perfectly and so clearly—pretty impressive. We don’t often have school age kids but I looked and found a red bucket with a bulletin to color, colors, a little game, and a puzzle book. Fannie had a good lesson taken from Genesis. So many things from these old texts confuse and bother us modern folks. But you can always pull from the words a valuable spiritual lesson. Joe and Hilda brought us our music this morning and we sang two Fannie Crosby songs.
We have three birthdays coming up. We send out Happy Birthday wishes to Bill Thompson, Jake Watson, and Steven Joe Watson. In January we will be collecting cans of tuna for area food pantries. We have three ministry opportunities this month. On Monday, January 4, we will visit Green Acres starting at 2:00. On Tuesday, January 19 at 2:00, we will visit Holiday . On Thursday January 28th we will visit Lakeside Assisted Living. All are welcome to join us.
In fine Methodist fashion, pastors have been working on and putting together “end of year” reports. No matter how big or small, Methodist churches answer pages and pages of questions. I had really good help from Gene who keeps the church’s financial records. Not too many years ago, all pastors went to the District Office on “Report Day” and the records were audited. Today, all that information is done with computers.
“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, Open Minds.” Sunday School starts at 9:15 and 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 me your email address to the Paxton email address and I will add you to the list. God’s Speed!
Randall Smith, Pastor
