​

Happy Summer to you all!  I always am amazed at how quickly time flies by!  The kids are out of school and will be busy with sports camps, vacations, hopefully attending VBS and also church camp.  Kaia Patton is attending CYF camp the week of June 15th.  I am so proud of her for deciding to go to camp and representing our congregation in the process!

Other activities going on in June are:

Volunteering at Samaritans:  June 4th from 3 to 6 p.m. and June 9th from 9 to 12.

Worship at The Willows: June 3rd at 10:30 a.m.

Men’s Breakfast – June 14th at 9:00 a.m.

Annual Business Meeting and Pot Luck Fellowship Meal:  June 14th immediately following worship

Wild Bunch June 16th at 6:00 p.m. at Alissa’s in Wynnewood

Chalice Youth will not be meeting in June or July and will resume in August, but we will be doing some things with the youth during June and July.  The youth will be collecting deodorant for our service project in June. 

Water Weekend at Lake Texoma will be June 26-28th. Any youth interested in attending need to let me know ASAP so you can get registered. Our church will be providing food for one of the meals at Water Weekend. There is a need for boats at this event, so if  you have a boat and are willing to help that weekend, please let me know, also, ASAP.

I hope you have had an opportunity to check out our YouTube channel. I have been posting weekly devotionals on Thursdays and have enjoyed sharing the prayers and poems from Ariane Braithwaite Lehn’s book, “Ash and Starlight”.  Also, I encourage you to let your friends and family know about our YouTube channel and the opportunity that they have to watch our worship services each Sunday. Tim and David have been working hard to get us online each Sunday and their efforts are a blessing!  Thank you, guys, for sticking with the goal to get us online. We may not have a ton of followers yet, but if we have reached at least one person who was in need of hearing about the love and grace of God through his Son, Jesus Christ, then all of our efforts have been successful!  You can access our channel either by going to our church website and clicking on the link there:  www.fccpaulsvalleyok.org or search for our channel: @FirstChristian-Church in YouTube.  Be sure and hit the subscribe button! 

Another way you can support our congregation is by your willingness to give what you are able in the form of monetary donations.    This is our church’s QR code that will link you to Vanco which is the format we use for digital donations.  Stewardship of our resources, whether they are in a monetary form or in the form of personal service to the church is just one way to help us spread the Good News of Salvation, Grace and Peace to the ends of the Earth…just as Jesus asked his disciples to do.

The General Church voted at the 2025 General Assembly to change the format of how we gather as a denomination.  It was decided to have in-person assemblies every 3 years and to have annual online assemblies each year between the in-person meetings. This July, the 10th and 11th, will be the first online General Assembly meeting. Our congregation is entitled to 3 delegates plus the minister. Currently, Judy Powers is registered as a delegate and of course I am registered also to represent our congregation. We are open to 2 other people agreeing to serve as delegates. These online assemblies can be viewed from the privacy of your home or you can join me as I go to FCC in Norman and watch “online” together with other disciples in Oklahoma. Judy will be going to FCC in Edmond to participate. General Assembly is the opportunity you have as a Disciple of Christ to learn more about our denomination, to have an opportunity to meet new people and to see how others worship. Please let me or Judy know if you are interested and we will get you registered! 

In closing, I want to share scripture from Romans 8.  This is a chapter in the Bible that I encourage you to seek out and study.  Today, I concentrate on verses 26 and 27:

26 In certain ways we are weak, but the Spirit is here to help us. For example, when we don't know what to pray for, the Spirit prays for us in ways that cannot be put into words. 27  All of our thoughts are known to God. He can understand what is in the mind of the Spirit, as the Spirit prays for God's people.

We just recognized and celebrated Pentecost and discussed how the Holy Spirit is in and around us. As you take your concerns and joys to God in prayer in the coming weeks, remember the words of this beautiful scripture as well as the fact that in all you do, God is there with you to strengthen you and to give  you peace.

Blessings & Grace!

Pastor Elaine Howsley