From the Pastor

Upon hearing of the Pauls Valley High School incident last week, the first thing I did was call around to the parents of all of our FPC youth to check up on them. I am, along with everyone in the community, grateful that none of them and none of any of the kids at PVHS were hurt, physically. I pray that any psychological trauma might also be minimal for them and the entire Pauls Valley community. We are all grateful for the heroism of Kirk Moore and the others who ended th

Many hands have been involved in all our Holy Week worship services. Our normal worship committee volunteers always pull together excellent worship experiences by producing the bulletin, running the sound, lighting, and Facebook livestream technologies, turning on and setting up the sanctuary, lighting candles, singing and playing instruments, greeting people and handing out bulletins, and regularly preparing and serving communion. Holy Week has been extra work all around,

At our March youth event we talked about symbols of the Lent and Easter seasons. The Easter Egg is the sealed tomb from which new life emerges, and the baby chick is like Jesus. We talked about butterflies emerging from their chrysalis. We talked a little bit about families of bunnies bursting into bunches of babies and emerging from their warren. It is true that the resurrection is life emerging from death, and this is what we celebrate on Easter Sunday morning. Christ

How's your Lent going? Did you give up something for Lent? Has it been hard, doing without? Did you take up something for Lent? Are you in the habit of adding good works to your daily living? Have you been looking within? Have you been examining yourself and measuring yourself against the person you want to be? Have you been measuring yourself against the person Christ wants you to be? Have you been loving your neighbor the way Jesus would want you to? Well, as for m

The magi came on Epiphany and told us--told everyone they met including Herod--that they knew the king of the Jews was born. "Where is he who is born the King of the Jews? For we have seen his star." Who is this baby born to Mary? He is the King of the Jews. Epiphany, the word, has to do with revelation. The revelation of Christ by the magi to be the King of the Jews is THE revelation that gives us the name of the religious day on January 6th. Epiphany can also be the re

In January, we train and install and ordain the officers we elected at the congregational meeting in December. What does "to ordain" mean? It comes from the same root as the word "order." Presbyterians get teased somewhat justifiably for trying to do everything "decently and in order." The image is an organization full of too much bureaucracy, taking too much time in deliberation, keeping around too many documents and minutes of meetings. This is in contrast to a lighter

Last New Year's Day I challenged you to take up the New Year's resolution to read four chapters of the Bible per day. I did this with you and finished back in October sometime. I will be starting this again on New Year's Day and invite you join me again. But this year, I am not so much inviting you make a resolution to read four chapters of the Bible per day as I am inviting you to make a resolution to read the Bible on an ongoing basis. If you read with me last year, then y

We've made it to Christmas and we celebrate the birth of Jesus. God became incarnate; the unlimited became limited in the form of a baby boy. Matthew says this fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah that "the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel." Let's dig a little so that this does not become a cliché. In Isaiah, God tells Ahaz to demand a sign. Ahaz, by the way, is NOT a good king. One way to tell that in this Isaiah passage is that Ahaz do

Hello, friends, The Family Night Dinner was lovely last night. The catered food was tasty, the homemade food was even better, and best of all was the fellowship. We expressed appreciation for people who worked to bring it together, Christmas carols were sung, and photos were taken with the guy in the red suit. Also at the Family Night Dinner, the congregation honored the staff. Speaking on behalf of the staff, we ARE honored to serve this great congregation. We also great

Along with Lent, the liturgical color for Advent is purple. The purple seasons are seasons of preparation. In both seasons, there is a theme of introspection. In my experience, Lent tends to be a time of very personal introspection; we think out our sin and how to live a more righteous life and we prepare for remembering Jesus' death in Holy Week and his resurrection on Easter so that we can be personally more grateful disciples, better disciples, so that we can celebrate

Hello, friends, Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you're with family or friends--people you love and who love you. I hope you're being filled with that love and, yes, with good food, too. I'm thinking today about one of the most important gifts that God has given humanity. Of course, when we think of what God has given us, we tend to think first of things we need: food, shelter, clothing, protection from our enemies. If we went just a little farther in that kind of thinking, I

There's a lot of remembrance at this time of year. October 31 is the date Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the church at Wittenburg, and so we remember the start of the Reformation on Halloween, or the closest Sunday. Of course, "Halloween" means "Hallow's eve," or the day before All Saints' (Hallowed persons') Day. On All Saints' Day we remember those who have died in the Lord before us. We believe that "the work begun in their baptism is complete," that