Our annual Salad Luncheon  this past April (April 22nd) was a huge hit!  We served over 300 guests yesterday and had a very successful day.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the 2010 Salad Luncheon by selling tickets, posting flyers and advertisements, making salads, serving guests and cleaning up afterwards,  or by purchasing tickets and making monetary donations. It couldn’t have happened without all of your help and we hope you enjoyed all the wonderful salads.  There were over 100 selections to choose from at this year’s luncheon.

Special thanks go to our talented musical guests for their wonderful program. We truly enjoyed it.

The youth would like to thank everyone for making Cooking Wonderland a great success this year. All told, the youth made right at $1,400! We would like to thank everyone who came and bought cookies from us, everyone who spent their time baking cookies for us, and everyone who helped us make the event wonderful. We would specifically like to thank: Carolyn Gray for doing a wonderful job decorating for the event, Sandra Gage for teaching us how to run Cookie Wonderland, Debra Dezendorf for helping to pull it all off, and Mr. Jamie Dunn for the loan of the scale.

What wonderful worship services we had this past week. If you missed them, it was a shame.

The special sung by Living Proof in the early service was outstanding. The choir sang the best cantata ever. The play and program that evening was funny and wonderful. We would leave someone out if we tried to name all involved. From the cast and readers, to the leaders and directors, to the musicians and singers, God bless and thank you for a wonderful week-end of worship.

For one and all: Thank you for all your hard work, worry and ministry.

I love thinking about time. I know, I need to better a life but that is another issue. Time is both a commodity and a tool. It is something we have created, something we are given, and something that we can use. It really is quite useful.

 Think of some of the uses we have in our language. “Time is off the essence.” “If I had a nickle every time I …”  “Time is on my side.” “Time out taken by the Dallas Cowboys.”  I think you get the idea. Now it is time for me to move on to the main point of the article.

It is Christmas time so it is time to think about the timelessness of the Christmas story. Now, I am not going to recant the story. I am only going to point out some time issues. First, it took place at night. That is a time issue not to be ignored. God often told His greatest stories at night. Much of the arrest and trial of Jesus takes place in the night. Plus even though He died in the afternoon, God made the day dark as night upon His death.

The Resurrection took place in the dark of night. The angel coming over Egypt that became the Passover took place at night. In the beginning God created the light and it divided night and day and He did all of His creation in one of God’s weeks. Get the idea about the night and how important it is to God and His plans?

It was Mary’s time to deliver. The shepherd’s took time from their duties to go and see what God has done. It was the time of the census.

You may want to read the story again and think about all the time issues that are there. While you are at it, you might have a great time rediscovering the timelessness of the miracle of Christmas.

It would be time well spent.
Peace and Grace. Reed.

This Sunday Evening our praise band Living Proof, The Handbell Choir, Our Children’s  Choir, and members of the church as cast members will be performing “The Cop And The Anthem” a comedy about a hapless hobo and Christmas. It may sound strange but it has a great Christmas message. The play was written by O’Henry and performed some years ago on the Red Skelton Show. The music will be a mix of traditional Christmas Songs and some songs not a traditional.

 Mark your calendars and plan to come. Be sure to invite someone to come with you.

The Chancel Choir will be presenting a Cantata this Sunday. The music is being performed by the Sanctuary Choir and promises to be one of the best we have put on in years. Try and come and invite someone to be with you.

Wednesday nights are busy nights at FUMC and September 9 was no exception.  Choir practice and youth activities occurred after TNT.  September 9 was the first night of the new school year for Terrific Nights Together, our weekly fellowship meal, and a nice crowd enjoyed the spaghetti, salad, bread, and desserts (especially the ice cream).  The Women’s Bible Group also began a new study.  Following the meal, the Faith Builders’ team met to plan the next project for October 17.  Faith Builders will be working on their 2nd project of basic repairs on homes for people who may need some help.  Following are some pictures from the evening:

Crank up your ice cream freezers, purchase your favorite flavor, or bake your favorite dessert for the annual Ice Cream Social on August 30.  We’ll even take sandwiches or other snacks for this fun, end-of-summer event.  This year the youth plan to provide and/or sponsor some entertainment in the form of a talent show.  Please join us at 6 p.m. on Sunday evening, August 30. 

The United Methodist Women Salad Luncheon was held Thursday in the Family Life Center. This annual event was very well attended with 320 people receiving excellent salad lunches. Scenes from the event follow:

We purchased some special passes to go see the Texas Rangers baseball team play. We have all kinds of deals at very attractive prices. If your class or group in the church are interested, contact the church office and we will set up a deal with you. You can even get a club suite with a $250 discount!! It would be fun to take a group and see the Rangers play. There are some restrictions like the Yankees and Red Sox coming to town.  So just call or come by the office and LET’S GO RANGERS!!