May 30th, 2016 - Sunday was the 2nd Sunday after Pentecost. The Gospel Lesson was Luke 7:38-50. Luke often has the Pharisees in his stories but doesn’t paint them all bad. Simon invites the celebrated traveling preacher to his home so he and his friends can decide for themselves about this Jesus. Despite some doubts they are willing to give him a hearing until… The woman who is a sinner throws herself at Jesus, washes his feet with oil and tears, and dries them with her hair. She is not the only woman in the Gospels to do this. Jesus allowing this to happen makes Simon and his guests really doubt Jesus as a true rabbi. Of course, it becomes a teachable moment for Jesus.
Our Sunday school lesson also dealt with a dinner invitation. In this Luke story Zacchaeus climbs a tree in order to get a better look at the young rabbi. Jesus tells him to come down and get ready because he, Jesus, is coming to dinner. This well-loved story brought up many questions during Sunday school. The people that day in Jericho were amazed and taken back when Jesus chose to go to the home of a hated tax collector.
Our numbers swelled at church when Lillie, Mike, and Liz came up from Houston. Liz and Mike’s daughter Barbara was with them, along with Barbara’s son Collin and his friend Colby. What a nice surprise to see them! They gave us the latest information about the flooding in and around Houston, which certainly sounded bad. Collin has a birthday this week, so we sang “Happy Birthday” to him. Gloria and Joe Fiedler will also have their 63rd anniversary, and we serenaded Joe with “Happy Anniversary to You.”
Since this was the last Sunday in May, we carried the cans of fruit out to my car so I can deliver them to Community Christian Services. Luckily, we had lots of help—those cans are heavy! Next month we’ll be collecting paper towels and toilet paper (a much lighter load).
We had many volunteers join us at Lakeside last Thursday despite the rain and dark clouds. We got nearly 4 inches at our house. I got tired of the rain but tried not to complain: I am sure that in about a month we will all be wishing for some wet weather. The winds blew down one of my apple trees, but my garden really enjoyed the soaking. We had many stories and songs at Lakeside, and the hour went by quickly. A big thank you to all those who came out and helped with the program.
“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!
