February 26, 2018 - Sunday was the Second Sunday of Lent. It was a cold and rainy morning, but we were in double digits again. That is very exciting for a small church like Paxton. Lillie, Liz, and Mike were still in East Texas and were once again at worship with us. They unfortunately had a second funeral to plan for last week. We love having them, but we know they are more than ready to get home for some down time. It was wonderful to see Vera and Keith this morning; they have had a tough beginning to 2018 health-wise, and we all hope they are on the mend!
The Gospel lesson for the 3rd Sunday of Lent was Mark 8: 31-38. This bit of scripture is one of the hard sayings of Jesus, in which he shares with his followers what is in store for him as he takes the Good News of the Kingdom to Jerusalem. It is certainly not something they wanted to hear. But Jesus said that to be a faithful disciple, one must take up the cross and follow in his footsteps. Most of us really don’t want to hear about that difficult path, preferring to concentrate on the love and joy part of his message. But there is much to a deeply spiritual life, even though some of it is difficult.
During the month of February we have been collecting soap and shampoo for Community Christian Services. During March it will be cans of chili. We decided that a bowl of hot chili sounded like a pretty good lunch on a cold and wet day like today. We are planning to restart our nursing home ministries in March after a couple of months of having and/or avoiding sickness and the flu.
“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 Speed.