Letters to the editor

Thanks for reminding us about culture, Christmas
I was very impressed with your Dec. 14 comments (“Let’s not let secular culture blunt our Christmas witness”). Thank you for putting into words what so many of us feel but keep to ourselves “for fear of upsetting someone.”
In the mail yesterday I received a package inviting me to order items for Lent. My first thought was, “You’ve got to be kidding!” I tossed it into my “to do” pile and went on working on daily tasks.
However, upon reading your article, I realize I was sliding into what the secular world does daily—taking care of today and letting tomorrow worry about itself!
Without the Lenten season and the reminder of Christ’s incredible gift for each of us, we wouldn’t even be celebrating Christmas. Thank you for helping me get my head in the right place! We all need to be reminded from time to time exactly how blessed we are.
Candace Wilson
Seguin

We’ll start 2008 by reading full Bible to Corpus Christi
I read with interest your Dec. 14 article (“Let’s not let secular culture blunt our Christmas witness”) and thought you would appreciate knowing what we are planning at First UMC, Corpus Christi, as a witness to begin the New Year.
Beginning New Year’s Eve at 12 a.m. and continuing for the next 80 or so hours, we will read the Bible from Genesis through Revelation to the city of Corpus Christi from a tent on church property along South Shoreline Boulevard. The reading will take 160 to 168 volunteers, working 30-minute segments, to accomplish this goal. We should finish sometime Friday morning, Jan. 4.
Since Nov. 25, 124 people have signed up to read, including Bubba Stahl, pastor of First Baptist Church.
We will follow up this reading with a “come and go” time of prayer and discernment in our Sanctuary from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Jan. 5.
Steve Fieldcamp
Corpus Christi

I join Ralph Thompson in concern about articles
From the Nov. 9 Viewpoint page came an eloquent message from Ralph Thompson (“Let’s stop picking at Bible, start doing what it says”).
I agree with his article. I join him in concern that so many Witness articles fail to lift Christ and our text, the Bible.
I also understand when he mentioned that many United Methodists have stopped reading the Witness because of articles that are negative to the basics of Christianity. I join Mr. Thompson when he states that “a first-time reader is quite likely to walk away with a negative opinion of The United Methodist Church.”
Doris M. Orr
Bastrop