A thought for the Second Sunday in Lent

We're Cleaning the Church House

A cold day in McCamey!

It was a cold and snowy morning here in McCamey, but that didn't stop the good people at the Friendship Center from putting in an afternoon of effort!  Thanks to these faithful people trying to make a difference in their community!

The First Lenten Study

We enjoyed our first session tonight of our Lenten study "Christianity & World Religions: Wrestling with the Questions People Ask."  It was great to have folk turn out to learn more about this important topic!

Worship Service at the Convelescent Home Today

A Good Sunday Worship Service!

Praise be to God for His faithful servant who lovingly prepared the table for today's worship service!  

A thought for the First Sunday in Lent

"The problem for most of us is that we cannot go straight from setting down the cell phone to hearing the still, small voice of God in the wilderness. If it worked like that, churches would be full and Verizon would be out of business. If it worked like that, Lent would only be about twenty minutes long."

~Barbara Brown Taylor

Christianity and World Religions Study Starts Sunday

Who: Anyone interested in learning

What: Learn more about Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, & Islam. What they have in common, and what makes them unique.

When: Sundays (Feb. 21 - Mar. 28) @ 5:30 pm

Where: First United Methodist Church - McCamey (1601 S. Burleson)

Why: Wrestling with the questions people ask.

How: Bring a ""brown bag" supper, watch a dvd/video presentation by the Rev. Adam Hamilton, and share in a discussion. Child care will be provided.

Ash Wednesday at FUMC - McCamey

Look in the mirror and see the face that is the canvass on which an ashen cross might be drawn.  Pause for a moment and remember that we will once again be fitted with new sandals for our forty-day Lenten journey. Repentance bows our heads low.  God's love, grace, and forgiveness lifts our heads up again.  Today is Ash Wednesday.

The Rev. Anna Murdock, Statesville, NC

Badgers for Christ at First UMC (Feb. 17)

The February edition of Badgers for Christ took place this afternoon with over 50 students, staff and FUMC members in attendance.  Pizza was on the menu today, along with homemade cookies and cupcakes for dessert.  Thanks to our many adult volunteers who come out each month to support this ministry!

We were also visited today by Maggie Rogers (in the bottom picture with Belinda), a representative of the Methodist Children's Home (located in Waco, Texas).  After the Badgers had returned to school, Maggie shared with Pastor Charles and several FUMC members about the ministry being done in Waco and around Texas and New Mexico by the home.

Ash Wednesday 2010

Please join us tonight (Feb. 17) at 7:00 pm for our Ash Wednesday service.  The service will include Holy Communion and the imposition of ashes as we begin the Lenten journey.

Finance Committee meeting

There was a great turn-out for today's Finance Committee meeting.  The meeting was held in the newly refurbished children's classroom, a great place to explain to explore the impact of our finances on the ministries of the First UMC - McCamey.  Thanks to everyone who came out on Fat Tuesday!

Study Begins This Sunday: Christianity and World Religions!

Here's the church announcement that is being featured on our television's local community station, channel six.

Ash Wednesday Service Time

Here's the church announcement that is being featured on our television's local community station, channel six.

Fat Tuesday Prayer

Mardi Gras ("Fat Tuesday") and Carnival ("Farewell to Meat") precede Ash Wednesday and Lent around the world, even where Lent has ceased to have much religious meaning.

The following prayer for Mardi Gras is from the Creighton University (Omaha, Nebraska) Online Ministries page:

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Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation, for it is from your goodness that we have this day to celebrate on the threshold of the Season of Lent. 

Tomorrow we will fast and abstain from meat.  Today we feast.
We thank you for the abundance of gifts you shower upon us.  We thank you especially for one another.

As we give you thanks, we are mindful of those who have so much less than we do. As we share these wonderful gifts together, we commit ourselves to greater generosity toward those who need our support. Prepare us for tomorrow. 

Tasting the fullness of what we have today, let us experience some hunger tomorrow.  May our fasting make us more alert and may it heighten our consciousness so that we might be ready to hear your Word and respond to your call.

As our feasting fills us with gratitude so may our fasting and abstinence hollow out in us a place for deeper desires and an attentiveness to hear the cry of the poor.  May our self-denial turn our hearts to you and give us a new freedom for generous service to others.

We ask you these graces with our hearts full of delight and stirring with readiness for the journey ahead. We ask them with confidence in the name of Jesus the Lord.  Amen.

Great Parish Valentine's Day Fellowship!

More Parish Valentine's Day Fellowship!

Parish Valentine's Day Fellowship!

It was a wonderful time of food, fun and fellowship at the McCamey United Methodist Church this past Sunday.  Praise be to God for wonderful cooks and a loving parish church family!!!

Happy Valentine's Day in McCamey

St. Valentine's Day came to McCamey with a flourish today!  Our worship service was blessed with musical offerings of our choir under the leadership of Louise Carll and the additional musical offerings of Cytha Peters on flute and her friend Mike on piano. 

Following the service, we adjourned to the fellowship hall for a fantastic potluck meal.  Thanks to Mary Witcher for coordinating the amazing array of food and the decorations, and to Bobbie Lester for providing the background mood music (with a Valentine's theme).

A number of folk accepted Belinda's invitation to tour the parsonage.  Pastor Charles was more than willing to offer a guided tour of his button collection to all who were interested!  And there was even an "official" button-viewing guestbook for them to sign to commemorate their visit!

Prayer for Transfiguration of the Lord Sunday

(Church of the Transfiguration, Mt. Tabor - Israel)

Transforming and Holy God … The glory of Your Presence is much too brilliant for our stammering words to make sense in telling others. We find ourselves face down in awe and yet these moments become our faith story. With tremendous love, You have whispered "Shhh… Listen."

With tremendous love Jesus lifts us up and veils Your holy radiance once more so that we might keep our eyes upon Him. And with tremendous love, Your Son walks to the cross for us. O God, help us see Your Presence with a brilliance that is unmistakable. Be with us in our silence as we soon prepare to step out on our Lenten journey.

Form our sentences in Your most perfect of timing, sending us out to tell what we have seen as truth. Give us blessed eyes to see Your Holy Presence around us and a renewed understanding of what You would have us tell others. Amen.

(The Rev. Anna Murdock, Broadstreet UMC, Statesville, NC)

Prayer asked for Russell Memorial UMC

Only days after fire destroyed their historical sanctuary, Russell Memorial United Methodist Church (Wills Point, Texas) members move forward with their mission and ministry. During worship service on Sunday morning, the church offered prayers and began the healing process as over 300 persons gathered only yards from where agents for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms sought the cause of the fire. 


“They got the building – not the church,” stated member Nathan David only hours after the Thursday morning, February 4, blaze. Even as the fire still burned and the church roof collapsed, church members were already witnessing to God’s presence in their midst as they began setting up chairs in two-year-old Dean Hall in anticipation of Sunday worship.

(To the rest of this story, please see this link)

Moving out in faith!

There was a visitor to the First UMC in McCamey this afternoon in the form of a Road Runner!  Perhaps this will be the reminder that the people called United Methodists in McCamey are really moving out and moving forward in ministry!

Saint Valentine's Day Potluck:  Our church family will be welcoming First UMC-Iraan and many others with a pot luck following the 11:00 service. 

Ash Wednesday Service:  We begin the Lenten journey on February 17th with a service of prayer and communion.  The service will begin at 7:00 pm.

Lenten Study:  Each Sunday evening in Lent (starting the 21st) we will be gathering at 5:30 pm for a "brown bag supper" and an informative time of study.  We will be using "Christianity & World Religions: The questions people ask" as our resource for this exciting study.

Sunday school:  We have one adult class on Sunday morning, soon to be joined by the return of children to our classrooms!  If you are a Christian, you need to be involved in furthering your faith and the faith of others.  See you in school!

Church Sign Improvement!

This last month, it was noticed that a light had burned out behind the words "First Methodist Church" on our church sign.  It was replaced, and now we are all lit up:  A shining witness to the community of what we are all about... a church for God!  Praise be to God!!!

(Note:  We have a beautiful vintage church sign.  It reflects our history.  It is vintage because our denomination ceased to be the Methodist Church in 1968.  That year, The METHODIST CHURCH merged with the Evangelical UNITED Bretheran Church to become the "UMC!")