The Outreach Committee is having a Coat Drive during the month of October. They hope to collect coats for area school children who need them. Please help collect new or good condition, clean used coats for this cause.
Pastor Ken and Judy Lunsford attended a covered dish dinner on Monday night, 9-17, at Eastland First United Methodist Church. It was the annual get together for the clergy and spouses in the West District of the Central Texas Conference.
We have another work night scheduled for 9-26 at 6:00 p.m. Mark your calendar and be there to help.
Kaitlyn Gordon and Norma Sharp shared the same birthday on 9-18.
The sanctuary flowers were placed there in honor of Norma Sharp in celebration of her birthday by her children; Donna and Charles Starkey, Frank and Louise Sharp, and Leta and James Sage. They are a wonderful honor the entire congregation can enjoy.
Our congregation sends their profound sympathy to the family and friends of 13 year old Pablo Marquez. Remember to contribute to a fund established to defray his funeral costs. Let’s be good neighbors and pull together for this family.
During the offertory Pat Beaty sang “Seek Ye First” and accompanied herself on the piano and we all benefitted from her talents.
“The Tongue Is a Fire!” was the title of Rev. Ken Lunsford’s sermon and he again went to the book of James for inspiration.
The lesson from James talks about the power the human tongue has. It says the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! The tongue is called a fire in the book of James, humans have tamed every species of beast and bird, but no one can tame the tongue. With our tongue we can bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. James says “My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so.”
Pastor Ken said most everyone here today has been bombarded by political ads every day. They are debates, debacles and declarations in deafening decibels all over the airwaves. Free speech is one of the hallmarks of our political system, but vicious verbal attacks leave our souls with a black eye and our communal bodies with a bruised heart.
The body of Christ should be telling tales all over town. We should be telling the Gospel. We should be proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ.
When was the last time you “told on” someone who offered a gracious act on your behalf? What if just wailing about the rude driver you witnessed about someone who held the door open for an older person?
If our tongue is set ablaze by hell, heaven help us. If our tongue is set on fire by the Holy Spirit, the gates of hell will tremble.