By NANCY PATRICK I recently noticed, sitting on the church pew behind me, a young man I had known since his childhood. His mother introduced the beautiful young woman with him as his fiancée. My husband whispered in my ear, “Should we ask John Michael if he’s spray-painted any mailboxes lately?” He was referring to an incident when John Michael,
Read moreBy MIKE PATRICK Psalms of lament typically begin with gloom and end with gladness, sorrow ends with shouting, tears turn to triumph. However, Psalm 88 is the only Psalm that ends in gloom, that ends with a word of darkness. Famous theologian Walter Bruggemann says, “Psalm 88 is an embarrassment to conventional faith.” The psalmist’s lament reeks with honest misery,
Read moreBy Loretta Fulton Jim McDonald served on the steering committee that formed the Abilene Association of Congregations in 1985, was a member when it began a year later, and stepped aside as the outgoing president during a ceremony Jan. 9. But he made it clear in his last remarks as president that the association’s history isn’t as important as its
Read moreBy Mike Patrick Evelyn Bailey became a well respected artist in San Antonio. Her father deserted the family for another woman and left her mother to raise the children. In addition to enduring that difficulty, Evelyn (as well as one of her sisters) contracted polio as a child. Following experimental surgeries, she had a severe limp the rest of
Read moreBy Loretta Fulton The season of Advent, the four-week period of anticipation and reflection leading to Christmas, got off to a joyful, musical, and fun start in Abilene Dec. 3. Several churches held events that ranged from a bell choir concert to messy, but fun, chrismon-making, to an auction of chocolate “church mice” and other goodies. The Canterbury Adult Bell
Read moreBy Loretta Fulton Just days before Thanksgiving, Santa’s elves were already busy in Abilene, getting Operation Christmas Child boxes packed with goodies and ready to ship. First Baptist Church and Wylie United Methodist Church served as dropoff locations for churches and organizations in the Abilene area. On Dec. 15 volunteers will tow trailers loaded with packed boxes to a
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Spirit Of Abilene 