Our montly newsletter is ready for perusal. Have a blessed day in your walk with Jesus Christ. Thank you Jan Day once again.
Posts Tagged ‘christian’
Newsletter, Bazaar, Pecans, Walnuts
November 4, 2015Our Newsletter for November has been uploaded. Just remember to go to pages found on the right side of the Blog page and you will find the Monthly Newsletter link. Click on it and it will bring up the Newsletter then just click on the page you would like to read and it should expand out on the screen. Or you can look below and do the click and expand function.
Remember to get your order in for Pecans and Walnuts. One pound packages at 9.50 for pecans (halves or pieces) and walnuts for 8.50.
Pastor’s Ponderings, Wonderings, Wanderings
April 25, 2015
Wesley United Methodist Church served 239 students at The Wesley Student Center of Lamar University in Beaumont. While I did not get pictures of the students (we were kind of busy) I did get this picture of the Churches members, plus 1, serving. From right to left is Pastor Randy Branch, Jean Koontz, Katy Beckett, Jan Neely, Rev. Anjelita Dirden (the plus 1), Wanda Barron and Harvey Wilson. We enjoyed being able to serve those students and it is always well received with many thank you’s from the students. A blessing to all of us who served and we hope a blessing to the students. Thanks to Pastor Anjelita for being such a gracious host and spiritual leader to all youth at Lamar University.
On a not so positive note we also heard that the district is shutting down the Wesley Student Center. Pastor Anjelita will be moving on to another place of ministry. I am not privy to all of the reasons why but I am sure the District Superintendent will let us know at our District meeting tomorrow. I am sure that there are some very good reasons for this closing of the student center but it does seem to me that when we take away opportunities for people to be touched by Christian love we are hurting the world. Seeds planted many times do not grow until years later. With so many different ethnic groups coming through that serving line I cannot think of a better way to touch the hearts of so many from so many different cultures.
Pastor Randy
March Newsletter
February 23, 2015Read the March Newsletter here are go to the Newsletter page found in the right hand column.
Thanks and have a blessed day,
P
astor Randy
Pastor’s Ponderings, Wonderings, Wanderings
October 27, 2014We will be voting soon, so:
Matthew 22:34-46:
When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. ’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it:‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself. ’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
We Are Citizens of This World
In an invocation prayer at the United States Senate, Peter Marshall said, “Lord Jesus, Thou who art the way, the truth, and the life, hear us as we pray for the truth that shall make men free. Teach us that liberty is not only to be loved but also to be lived. Liberty is too precious a thing to be buried in books. It costs too much to be hoarded. Make us to see that our liberty is not the right to do as we please, but the opportunity to please, to do what is right.”
It is unthinkable that a Christian would not vote! It is unthinkable that Christians would not run for public office! It is unthinkable that Christians would withdraw from the responsibility of taking part in public life. The Christian has a responsibility to Caesar for all the privileges which the rule of Caesar brings. We are citizens of this world and must be good ones, if we are Christ’s disciples.
While we may not all be suited to public office, we must all vote. It is not only our right to go to the polls and vote but it is our responsibility as Christians to go vote our Christian values. I will not tell you who to vote for but I will tell you that if we love God with all our heart, soul and mind then we must reflect that love in the life we lead and the things we do to make life better for all of God’s children. For us as Christians we must not vote by party lines but for individuals who best reflect God’s will in this world. It is your choice, it is your conscience, it is your relationship with your God that will lead you to vote for who best reflects your relationship with God.
Have a blessed month in Jesus Christ,
Pastor Randy
Request from the Bishop-Janice Riggle Huie
July 29, 2014My thoughts on this letter from the Bishops:
I know that pride is something that is usually frowned upon and that we are supposed to live our lives humbly but when we say we are proud of America and that it was founded on Christian values and that it is a Christian nation then we must follow Christian values. The letter below addresses those values. We must reach out to those who are disenfranchised and offer them help. The children who are coming may be coming illegally and we can have our own political views but as Christians we must stand up for them and offer them help until our political system deals with the issues that their presence brings. The United Methodist Church is doing just that and as Christians first and United Methodist’s second we must support the aid that they are offering and look for ways that we as a United Methodist Church can participate/help in those efforts.
Have a blessed day in Jesus Christ, Randy
July 17, 2014
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Today a humanitarian crisis is unfolding on our southern border with the arrival of tens of thousands of unaccompanied children. Many of you have communicated with us about your heartfelt desire to provide compassionate care for the unaccompanied children who are suffering in our midst. As bishops we have been conferencing with each other about how the people of The United Methodist Church might respond in a manner that is most faithful to the gospel. We have also been in conversation with the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), community leaders, and government officials. Our colleague, Bishop Jim Dorff, and other leaders in the Rio Texas Conference have just returned from three days on the border assessing the situation and representing the gospel and the church and encouraging people in a Christ-like response.
Let us be guided by the Biblical witness of faith:
A Pastoral Letter from Your Bishops to the People of The United Methodist Church in Texas
Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me for to such belong the kingdom of heaven.” (Luke 18:15-16) Jesus instructed us to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe those in need, visit the sick and those imprisoned. Then he said, “When you have done it for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you have done it for me.”(Matthew 25:40)
We are to extend hospitality to strangers. (Romans 12:13; Hebrews 13:12)
We do not understand all that these children have experienced in their home countries or in their arduous journey to our borders. We do know that their plight breaks the heart of God. Children are some of the most vulnerable members of the global community. Many come seeking to survive. They all need our compassion and care. At a time of concern about a struggling economy and national security, it is easy to give in to fear and to let that fear, rather than God’s heart, shape our hearts and our response. “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind.” (II Tim. 1:7). As followers of Christ, we have the power and wisdom of God to care for these unaccompanied children.
As the Bishops of the United Methodist Conferences of Texas, we call on the people of The United Methodist Church to:
- Pray regularly for the physical, emotional and spiritual well-being and healing of these children and families, wisdom for our government officials, and peace for the countries from which these children have come;
- Work with faith and community leadership to provide housing, life necessities, pastoral/spiritual care, and as stable an environment as possible for these children and families while their long-term status is being resolved;
- Be attentive to seeing Christ in the faces of these children;
- Be alert for specific opportunities to offer ministries of compassion and care, which share as needs emerge.
In the words of John Wesley, founder of the Methodist movement,
“Do all the good you can by all the means you can in all the ways you can in all the places you can at all the times you can to all the people you can as long as ever you can.”
In the name and spirit of Christ, we join with you in Christian love for these children. God bless you.
Earl Bledsoe
Bishop of the New Mexico and Northwest Texas Conferences
Jim Dorff
Bishop of the Rio Grande and Southwest Texas Conferences
Janice Huie
Bishop of the Texas Conference
Mike Lowry
Bishop of the Central Texas Conference
Mike McKee
Bishop of the North Texas Conference
Lectionary Scriptures for Holy Week – Monday thru Saturday
April 14, 2014Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Maundy Thursday
Good Friday
Holy Saturday
Wesley United Methodist Church, Orange TX 