July 25, 2016 - Sunday was the 10th Sunday after Pentecost. The Gospel Lesson for this Sunday was Luke 11: 1-13. After Jesus had gone to a quiet place to pray, his disciples wanted Jesus to teach them to pray. The prayer Jesus teaches them is what we call the Lord’s Prayer. It is a very simple prayer that has become part of most Christian churches’ worship services. The request for the Lord to teach them to pray may seem an odd one. All of them had been taught as children how to pray the Shema, which was to be prayed three times a day. They certainly were taught the various prayers for the many high holy days of the Jewish faith. It was how Jesus prayed that intrigued the disciples, and they wanted to be able to have that connection to the Divine that Jesus obviously had. My sermon next week will be on the same Gospel Lesson and will look at the various petitions in the prayer and how the Luke Gospel’s Lord’s Prayer differs from the Matthew Gospel version.
Our Sunday school lesson continued Paul’s letter to the Romans. This letter was certainly thought to be crucial to Protestant reformers like Martin Luther and later John Wesley. In the first verse of Chapter 5, Paul says it is by Jesus’ trust in God that we are made one with God. Through Jesus’ faith, we have peace with God. Our lesson focused in on the word “hope” and how important hope is in one’s faith story. Troubles are real—sometimes too real and overwhelming. But the answer to trouble is hope. Joe selected hymns from the Cokesbury Hymnal. The first one I didn’t really know but it was a wonderful, musical song; we sang all five verses sounded pretty good! We always appreciate Hilda coming to worship with us at Paxton after having played the piano at Tenaha Methodist’s worship service—I guess we owe her overtime!
Last week several volunteers went to Holiday Nursing Center for songs, stories, and fellowship. It really seemed like everyone enjoyed themselves. Sue read a Dr. Seuss story and Nora sang a patriotic song, a song about peace, and then her own version of “Take Me Home, Country Road.” Pastor Matt shared with the group about his plans for the coming week which includes a family get- together in Austin. One could tell that he was really looking forward to this special family time and also a break from all his studies. This coming Thursday we will head to Lakeside Assisted Living Center for our monthly ministry. Our program will begin at 2:00. We certainly missed Sylvia at Holiday and hope she is feeling better soon.
“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 9:30 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!
