October 23, 2017 - Sunday was the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time. It was a rainy Sunday morning, but no one was complaining. We needed rain as drought conditions have really set in during September and October. We had a great surprise when Hilda’s sister Linda came in with her—so nice to see Linda again.
The Epistle Lesson for this Sunday was 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10. My sermon was based on the Gospel Lesson—Matthew 22:15-22, but I wanted to pay homage to Paul’s letter. According to what I read, this was the first letter we have from Paul, making it the oldest surviving Christian writing. I imagine that Paul would be flabbergasted to know that two thousands years after he wrote the letter, people around the world are still reading it. It was a very upbeat letter: Paul was full of thanks for the Jesus Community that he and Silas had founded.
The Gospel Lesson is one of my favorites. The Pharisees and Herodians teamed up together to try to trip Jesus up. They asked whether they should pay the hated tax to Caesar. Jesus famously said to give Caesar what is his and God what is his. When Jesus asked for a coin, a Pharisee gave him a Roman coin with the emperor’s image on it. Since they were on sacred Temple ground, the Pharisee violated both the first and second commandments by producing an image of a pagan god. Remember the emperor was thought to be a god or the son of a god.
The Sunday school lesson looked at that unique covenant God had with David. It is obvious that God has a great love for David despite David’s shortcomings. I guess we can all say that. Among the various things discussed was when David decided to build a temple to God. God let it be known that it wasn’t David’s decision to make—and that he was not to build the temple. David had so many successes that maybe David was just a little too full of himself and his importance.
Our ministry to Holiday Nursing Home was last week, with Hilda, Fannie, Jo, Nora, and Sue bringing the program to them. Hilda played piano for the congregational singing, including some requests. Nora found an old songbook and chose “Pop Goes the Weasel” from it, followed by a recitation and singing of two hymns. Fannie told a sweet story and read some of the “45” list that I excerpted for my sermon and recorded in their entirety in the church newsletter—a newspaper column that Sue’s cousin passed on to us. In my absence, Sue emceed and also read a Halloween book that was loosely based on the Polar Express one. Jo sang a little solo of a children’s song that her mom had sung to them. The program this coming week will be at Lakeside Assisted Living.
“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.
