May 28, 2018 - Sunday was Trinity Sunday. There are six major festival days of the Christian Church. The big two are Easter and Christmas. The others are the Epiphany, the Ascension, Pentecost, and Trinity Sunday. The only festival that doesn’t center on an event is Trinity Sunday, which centers on a doctrine of the church. The concept of the Trinity was put into words in the fourth century with the Nicene Creed. So we recited the Nicene Creed during the Church Service. This creed was supposed to settle once and for all what was to be the “correct way” to understand the nature of God. The creed didn’t settle the raging debates but did become the orthodox way for Christians to understand God. The Old Testament Lesson from Isaiah 6:1-8 doesn’t discuss the idea of the Trinity but certainly speaks to the mystery which is God. Isaiah also answers the question that God poses, “Who shall I send?” Isaiah answers that God should send him.
We finished the Spring Quarter of our Sunday School lessons. The title of the lesson was “Rejoicing in Restoration.” The main part of the lesson was Psalm 34: 1-10, one of the David poems. In this poem David rejoices even though he is going through a rough patch: He knows that God will help him overcome his fears.
Joy and Gene are back from their European cruise. Gene wasn’t at Sunday School, but Joy assured us she did not leave him in Germany—he was home cooking dinner for the VFW. We missed Gene, Carolyn, Vera, and Keith and hope to see them soon. I hope that everyone has a good Memorial Day. During the church service Joe and Hilda teamed up for a special. We really appreciate their extra efforts. Next Sunday is the first Sunday of June and will be Communion Sunday. All the month of May we have collected cans of fruit, which we’ll deliver to Community Christian Services. Next month we will collect toilet paper and paper towels.
Last week was our program at Lakeside Assisted Living. As usual, we had a lot of congregational singing—with Hilda on the piano to keep us moving along. Nora and Gene chose songs from Heavenly Highways as solos but kindly invited us to sing with them if we wanted. Nora’s was actually a switch: Sue chose “America” for us after Fannie read a patriotic piece, thus stealing Nora’s first choice special. Ollie read a selection about a grandpa explaining his hands to his grandson, and Sue read Ruthie Bon Bair: Don’t Go to Bed with Wringing Wet Hair. A new contributor, Stella Walker, sang “His Eye Is on the Sparrow,” and Gene, Maggie, and Hilda did “It Is Well with My Soul” by special request after the program. I closed us out with a prayer, a benediction, and our usual ending song: “God Be with You.”
“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. Godspeed.
Randy & Sue Smith
Paxton Methodist Church
