April 4, 2022 - Grace and peace from our brother Jesus, Amen. It has been two weeks since I wrote the Paxton article and weekly newsletter because I was out of town visiting family. I saw my kids and my brother and sister-in-law, getting caught up on all their doings. I also made several stops at plant nurseries and a bookstore. It goes without saying that I came back with more plants to be planted. Playing gardener is my pandemic therapy. Having these nice days full of warmth and sunshine is good for the soul.
Sunday was the 5th Sunday in Lent, and the scripture moved to John’s Gospel—a familiar story of Jesus and his followers stopping to visit Mary, Martha, and Lazarus in Bethany. It is nearly Passover, and they are very close to the capital. One of the few historians of this time, Josephus, says that Jerusalem was a city of around a 100,000 people but during Passover held as many as 500,000 pilgrims! I think that Jesus was ready to just relax around friends, and he had no better friends than Lazarus, Martha, and Mary. The dust-up in our story occurs when Mary rubs very expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet. Judas complains because what was spent on the perfume was equivalent to a year’s wages for most people. Shouldn’t such money be used to help the poor? John portrays Judas as already dishonest and thus discounts his objections. I hope the rest of the visit was calm and peaceful for our brother, Jesus, before he faced the tumult of the next week.
We had a visitor a week ago Sunday at Sunday School and Worship. Claudia lives close by, and we had such a good time getting acquainted with one another. Claudia came again this morning! Gene read the Sunday School scripture from Mark 13: 5-8, 28-37, which encourages us not to try predicting the future but to have faith in God’s goodness. He also warns of those who seem to proclaim the same message that Jesus is preaching but really are not. We are urged to be alert to the ways God breaks into our lives, our communities, and our world.
This being the first Sunday in April, we celebrated Holy Communion. We began the service with the Gathering Words based on Psalm 132. The Gospel lesson was John 12: 1-8. Our first song this morning was “Blessed Assurance,” a comfortable and rhythmic tune. Then came “Nothing But the Blood,” which had no pauses or places to catch our breath. We Southern folks need some resting spots in our songs! I used a Service of Communion & Remembrance that begins with words from the medieval mystic, Teresa of Avila. She reminds us that we are now the hands, feet, and eyes of Christ and must be about doing good as Jesus did. Our bulletin quote was advice from Arthur Ashe on how to accomplish that: “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”
While I was gone earlier this week, Sue took the March checks and canned chili to Community Christian Services, where Mayor Frank Cooper helped her unload. We will be collecting toothpaste and toothbrushes for CCS during the month of April. Ben called Fannie and gave an update on our good friend Joe. From what Ben said, Joe is doing much better and is getting settled in.
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.
