August 10, 2026
Quick! Name the top 10 people you can invite to church this week. If you find yourself only being able to name, one or two, you probably aren’t alone. But ask someone else to- a family member or another church goer and you will probably figure out the people you left out. Okay, without scrolling to the bottom of this article, give me a list of 10 songs about the state of Alabama. Was that a bit easier? You may find yourself listing some others as the day goes on. This week, Paste Magazine, an American monthly music and entertainment digital magazine, based in Atlanta, Georgia, came out with a list of the top 10 songs about Alabama. Quickly point out the songs from your list that you think are on their list! Nope, that one isn’t on their list. And no, that song wasn’t on there. Neither was that one. In fact, I would surmise that your list will look a lot different from theirs. To tell you the truth, I had only heard a couple of these songs and the list I made has some truly classic and well-known songs. Why did they leave these best-loved songs about Alabama off of this list? I suppose the writer was so knowledgeable about music that they composed the list from a critic’s perspective. But they left off some really great songs! Perhaps being “in the know” can make you blind to what people already like or even the best of the best. In that sense, you can easily leave someone or something out. We in the church are those in the know. But we often are blind to how we tend to leave people out of our blessings and our church family. We think about who we can ask to church and find ourselves naming then rejecting possibilities. That person is too conservative, they won’t accept a female preacher. That person likes contemporary worship and won’t like our choir. That person usually works on Sundays. That person lives too far away. They already go somewhere to church or they have children could be your reasoning. However, the point is to invite without leaving someone off the list and out of the possibility of coming to church. You are capable of inviting someone to lunch afterwards. You can provide transportation. You can even invite them to watch online if they need to stay at home! An invitation is just that. It isn’t asking them to commit to membership or sign on the dotted line. In fact, you can start with a social event, like this week’s Summer Sunset Social at 5:00 on Saturday. Pick a song to sing with them! You can go to YouTube and look up the name of the song with the word Karaoke. This would be a great way to show how much fun we have together. Think again about who you can invite to church. As I said, ask someone else to help you with this list. You will be amazed at the list of the people who could be left out. Invite someone to church this week! PS Here’s the list from Paste Magazine 1. Boulder to Birmingham- Emmylou Harris 2. Angel from Montgomery- John Prine 3. The Three Great Alabama Icons- Drive by Truckers 4. Alabama- John Coltrane 5. Guitar Man - Jerry Reed 6. Alabama Pines-Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit 7. Alabama Rain - Jim Croce 8. Midnight in Montgomery- Alan Jackson 9. Alabama Sundown - Dolly Parton 10. Saxophones- Jimmy Buffett 
July 20, 2026
Dear OxFUMC Friends in Christ, When I first came to serve as an Interim Pastor here at OxFUMC last year, we were in the midst of the Christian season of Lent. Then we had Easter, Pentecost and the time of our 150th birthday. It was all about preparing our hearts, celebrating and giving thanks. I can’t remember what scripture I used for my sermons but I know they focused on many of those topics. In other words, we worked hard, prayed harder, worshipped together and had a party! As many of you know, I have been appointed as Interim Pastor for OxFUMC for one year. I am glad to be back - I missed you all and it is good to once again be worshipping and leading all of you special people. This time for longer than 5 1/2 months! And now that I am back, we find ourselves in Ordinary Time. What I mean is that we are in the time of the Christian year called ordinary time - the period between Trinity Sunday (the Sunday after Pentecost) and the last Sunday of the Christian year which is Christ the King Sunday (the Sunday before Advent begins). The liturgical colors of this season are green - you will see this reflected in the paraments on the altar and the pulpit. And I have been following and preaching from the Lectionary, the three-year cycle of Biblical readings for each Sunday. This is the first year of the cycle and we are reading and hearing from the gospel of Matthew. The idea of the Lectionary is that you will read the entire Bible in worship within three years. Each Sunday there is an assigned Old Testament, an Epistle (Letter) reading, a Psalm and a Gospel text. I don’t believe the entire bible is covered but it does come close. Right now we don’t read all the scriptures in worship - maybe we can later in the year. I know I’m not supposed to have favorite books of the Bible but I can admit that the gospel of Matthew is not one of them.However, it seems fitting to be in Matthew while we focus on the ordinary -the day-to-day life of the congregation and ourselves. Matthew has a particular Jewish viewpoint - he is often comparing Jesus and his ministry with Moses and the journey of the Israelites. I consider Matthew to be a “talky” gospel - there seems very little action and the gospel sounds to my ears fairly preachy. The flip side is that sometimes it is good to study and contemplate the ordinary, the preachy scripture as we live out our ordinary, sometimes talky, lives. Coming back to talk about Matthew’s gospel is good for the soul - yours and mine - as we tackle the ordinary issues of being Christ followers. Jesus walks with us on our daily journey - it isn’t as fun nor as flashy as a significant milestone, but since we live in the day-to-day, it is good to hear how God is guides us and is present with us right now. Blessings on you in this ordinary time - it is good to be back! 
Amelia's Weekly Messages |
