January 31, 2022 - I have started writing my newspaper article on Saturday, and it sure is cold this morning! Our gauge said 24 degrees! But my faithful friends, Sam and Gunter, accompanied me to the park so I could walk my two miles. I try not to miss a day regardless of cold, rain, sleet, and snow—just like the postal workers—well, maybe not sleet. As I am writing, the sun is shining brightly through the window of my home office, but my hands are still frozen. I am hoping they will thaw out the more typing I do. Speaking of typing, I am so happy my dad made me take it in high school. I resisted, but as usual, he was right.
Tuesday will be the first day of a new month. Next Sunday Paxton Methodists celebrate Communion. In fine Methodist tradition, all are invited to the Lord’s table. During January we have been collecting cans of tuna for Community Christian Services. February will be soap and shampoo. Later in the week I will deliver tuna and a couple of checks to CCS. I was so saddened to hear of the death of Deryl Bishop. She was a wonderful lady, volunteering often at CCS. I know CCS will miss her, as will her church and community.
Sue came with me to Sunday School because our car is acting up—she didn’t want to get off to the far reaches of Paxton and not be able to get home. We certainly miss Joe and Carolyn in our little class. Carolyn is in Pennsylvania with her sister; Joe is at Focused Care, getting some therapy and building up his strength. Our lesson came from Revelation 19: 1-10: The scene is a little bit strange to us (it’s Revelation, after all), but it certainly says that God is worthy of our worship and trust. Our writer reminds us that we can see God’s radiance and glory through other people; hopefully, we can reflect that “spark of divinity” to others. Most of all, we must try not to let circumstances define who we are and what we believe.
Sunday was the 4th Sunday of the Epiphany. My sermon was once again about love—that is what God is—the Essence of Love. I am indeed a “one note preacher,” and my note is that God is Love. I started out using last week’s Epistle Lesson, where Paul compares the Jesus community of Corinth to a human body. Every person has a part in this analogy, as the body will not function correctly unless each is present. As the fictional Detective Bosch says, “Everyone matters or no one does.”
The actual Epistle Lesson for the 4th Sunday of the Epiphany is 1 Corinthians 13: 1-12. This is one of the most famous and beloved scriptures in the New Testament. In the beautiful hymn, Paul says that faith, hope, and love are the three greatest things, with the greatest being love. As liturgist, Sue read today’s scripture. She read this scripture at my father’s funeral and years later, it was part of my mom’s funeral. It is truly a lovely poem. It often appears at weddings, but it’s really about compassionate love in a community. Our songs today echoed this topic: “Jesus Loves Me” and “O How I Love Jesus.”
The Gospel Lesson today was Luke 4: 21-30. How quickly can public opinion change! The home folks of Nazareth went from praising Jesus and marveling at his wisdom to wanting to throw him off a cliff—all in the space of a church service. Part of my sermon dealt with that quick change as well as the slower one of maturing, which is present in Paul’s 1 Corinthians. Mirroring this was Stephen Colbert’s quote in our bulletin: “Thankfully, dreams can change. If we’d all stuck with our first dream, the world would be overrun with cowboys and princesses.”
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.
