Shelby County Today

July 18, 2022 - Grace and peace from our brother and our teacher, Jesus. Amen. Sue and I spent a couple days this week in Kilgore, at the Texas Shakespeare Festival seeing two great plays. One, of course, was Shakespeare’s play, Taming of the Shrew. It was really funny, even for people who were watching hundreds of years after it was written. We also saw that great American musical, The Music Man. The actors, orchestra, scenery, singing, and dancing—all were amazing. Sue and I have been humming Music Man songs ever since.

The heat is downright oppressive. On a regular weekday I get up early to do my walk. Of course Sam and Gunter, my trusty dogs, accompany me. I do a little work outside, like watering my plants, but then take refuge inside until that evening. My afternoon walk with the dogs has turned into a 7:30PM walk. One of the TV stations said Shreveport has had fourteen days over 100 degrees so far this year and that every day next week will see highs in the hundreds. Dallas has an upcoming day forecast to be 108 degrees—no telling what the “feels like” temperature will be!

We had a good Sunday School lesson. The title of the lesson was “The Quest for Inclusive Fellowship.” Gene read our scripture, Acts 11: 1-19. After a vision, Peter comes to embrace new Gentile converts to the Jesus community. The author said that the early Christians saw themselves as believers in a New Covenant. And the overarching teaching of Jesus is to love God and love one another (even us Gentiles).

Carolyn was off with family on an adventure: We really miss her ideas and insights when she isn’t there. We hope Fred will be better soon—he and wife Sue are two of our favorites. Several of us had spoken with or emailed other absent members—Joe, Hilda, and Lillie. Like they say about prizes, “need not be present to win,” these folks are close to our hearts even when not physically among us.

We began our services with a responsive reading based on Psalm 15, in which the poet asks who gets to live in God’s tent and on the holy mountain. For our affirmation, we had the Apostles’ Creed, the most used statement of faith in the Christian Church. As usual, we sang the Gloria Patri and the Doxology; hymns today were “Amazing Grace” and “Blessed Assurance.” We did a pretty good job with all the songs, as they are quite familiar to us. With only scant room on the front of the bulletin, our quote from Suzy Kassem, an American poet, was brief: “Truth can only be seen by those with truth in them.” The longer one on the inside of the bulletin was by Tim McGraw, country singer: “Blind faith is not true faith. Asking questions and dissecting faith—and still having faith? That represents a truer faith.”

Sue read the Gospel story from Luke 10 about Martha and Mary, which was also the main focus of my sermon. We know that Martha was busy preparing a meal for Jesus and the other guests while her sister Mary sat at Jesus’ feet, drinking in every word he said. Martha wanted Mary to help, but Jesus told her Mary listening to and visiting with him was the “good part.” I have always heard that Mary chose the “better part,” but I read several writers who said “good” was a more faithful translation of the Greek. The point was that we need to make time to feed the spiritual, contemplative side of our beings, just as important as living the Gospel and working for the kingdom.

All during the month of July, Paxton Methodists will be collecting cans of spaghetti, ravioli, and other Italian foods for Community Christian Services. Sue or I also check the Blessing Box in downtown Joaquin just about every day. Many people work at keeping the box full of food basics; there is also a new annex for fresh produce, most recently, watermelon, tomatoes, and cantaloupe. Right next to the Blessing Box is the Little Library where you can take a book or put a book in. This is Sue’s special project, and it is getting some traffic. I read that teachers in Joaquin ISD will head back for in-service on August 1st. Boy, summer vacation is going to have an abrupt end pretty soon! However, I really like Joaquin’s school schedule the last few years where the kids and staff go for six weeks and then get a week off. It works out to the same number of days but allows periodic R and R to help recharge.

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.