A Gift From Us to You!
December 16th, 2011
Please enjoy some FRESH and FREE new tunes from our worship artists at West Salem Foursquare.
Pass them on. Tell a friend. Wake a neighbor.
Be blessed this Christmas season!
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“One and Only” by Curtis Crittenden (Right Click to Save)
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“Your Glorious Grace” by Cory Knowland (Right Click to Save)
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“I Heard The Bells” by Cory & Cathy Knowland (Right Click to Save)
Hello Friends: 12.15.11- Just the Beginning
December 15th, 2011
Hello Friends,
“When the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci went to China in the sixteenth century, he brought along samples of religious art to illustrate the Christian story for people who had never heard it. The Chinese readily adopted portraits of the Virgin Mary holding her child, but when he produced paintings of the crucifixion and tried to explain that the God-child had grown up only to be executed, the audience reacted with revulsion and horror. They much preferred the Virgin and insisted on worshipping her rather than the crucified God. As I thumb once more through my stack of Christmas cards, I realize that we in Christian countries do much the same thing. We observe a mellow, domesticated holiday purged of any hint of scandal. Above all, we purge from it any reminder of how the story that began at Bethlehem turned out at Calvary.” (Taken from The Jesus I Never Knew by Phillip Yancey)
How true this is? How quickly we tend to forget that the birth of Jesus was really the beginning of the end. And the beginning of the end for Jesus was most certainly the starting point for those that would come to believe in the Son of God. The miracle of his Birth has everything to do with our salvation, restoration and Kingdom welcome.
The facts of Christmas, rhymed in carols, recited by children in church plays, and illustrated on cards, have become so familiar that it is easy to miss the message of the cross.
That is the purpose of his coming.
That’s why we call him Emmanuel: God with us.
Take time during this Christmas season to rediscover Christ in Christmas and may the journey lead you to a point of confession that HE IS LORD!
Blessings,
Pastors John & Denise
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Hello Friends: 12.8.11 The Red Cup
December 8th, 2011
Hello Friends,
Ah…
The Red Cup.
You know what Red Cup I’m talking about, don’t you?
Not the Red Solo Cup that you find at parties, ala Toby Keith.
Instead, I’m referring to the Red Cup at Starbucks. Many folks have come to believe IT is the official beginning of the Christmas season.
More than Christmas music, frosty sidewalks, Black Friday sales, or precariously hanging lights from the eves. I’m here to declare that the new official start to Christmas has become the Red Cup….or so I’ve been told (don’t shoot the messenger).
And if that is indeed true then we’ve placed a lot of symbolic weight upon a circular piece of graphically enhanced cardboard with a plastic lid and overpriced java within. Don’t get me wrong: I’m a fan. I’ve dropped quite a bit of cash for that designer caffeine fix. The baristas know me by name and often have my drink ready when I walk in. I have a Starbucks Gold Card for crying out loud.
So, I too have waited with bated breath for the Red Cup to usher in the days of Christmas.
But hopefully Christmas doesn’t begin and end with a Red Cup. Hopefully there is more to this season than that. More than a cup. More than lights. More than gifts. More than shopping. More than church services. More than family meals. More than white elephant exchanges, office parties, fruitcake and figgy pudding (what IS that stuff anyway?!?).
Hopefully JESUS is in the mix.
He is the whole point of Christmas. Everything else is…well…a Red Cup. The point is, plain and simple: JESUS.
Be excited about JESUS. Anticipate JESUS. Talk about JESUS. Put down the Red Cup and LIFT UP JESUS!!
Blessings,
Pastors John & Denise
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Hello Friends: 12.1.11- Grasping the Ungraspable
December 1st, 2011
Hello Friends,
Christmas is crazy. I’m not necessarily referring to the hustle and bustle of the season. Not to mention the overspending. Who can understand the frenzy at Wal-Mart to get a cruddy DVD player? Why all the hype? Does the holiday music really have to start filling the stores around the end of October?
The first and foremost one is that God would become a baby. Please don’t miss the magnitude of this:
God and Baby.
Big and Little.
Powerful and Weak.
Go figure. How is it possible to have the fullness of the Godhead reduced down into an 8 pound 10 ounce bundle of energy? It’s similar to the task of putting a nuclear power plant into a thimble! In the end we are grasping the ungraspable and that might be just how God wants it. In Ephesians 3:19 the reader can find two tension-filled concepts that emphasize the absurdity of the Gospel. In Paul’s prayer he asks “that Christ might dwell in our hearts and that we might be able to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.” This prayer seems simple enough. It’s the desire of earnest, growing believers to have Jesus be at home within our hearts. And we most certainly want to have the love of Christ flowing in and through us.
But then it gets weird. Paul goes postal and the Bible gets bizarre. It’s says, catch this: “and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
How does one know what can’t be known? The love of God surpasses knowledge according to this passage. So how can we know it then? It’s like roping the wind or catching a sunbeam or defying gravity. Doesn’t this sound absurd? But wait, there’s more…
Try comprehending how we as humans can be filled with all the fullness of God. Finite simply cannot contain the infinite. Right? That goes back to the whole nuclear power plant/thimble scenario! I can understand how we could have a part or portion of God fill us up. In Exodus 33, Moses was allowed to see only God’s back side because if he saw the magnitude of God’s being then he would not live. The fullness of God’s presence is simply more than we can handle. And yet Paul has the audacity to pray for us to be filled with the full measure of God! Can we really handle it?
I’m convinced that God thrives on this craziness. He loves the tension and the absurdity because it fuels the mystery and feeds our faith (or lack thereof). Just when we think we’ve got God all figured out we unwrap another layer of his complexity. That’s what makes Christmas so ‘wonder full’ – the knowing what can’t be known – the being filled with someone so much bigger than ourselves.
This is grasping the ungraspable and that might be just how God wants it to be.
Join us at our services over the next few weekends and at one of our Special Christmas Services on Friday, Dec 23 at 6:00 & 7:30pm and Saturday, Dec 24 at 4:30 & 6:00pm as we try to grasp the ungraspable LOVE OF GOD together!
Merry Christmas you and yours.
Blessings,
Pastors John & Denise
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Hello Friends: 11.24.11- A Heart of Thankfulness
November 23rd, 2011
Hello Friends,
May I recommend a few basic things for your Thanksgiving Day? It’s a day for the most basic things. The basics are always best.
Thanksgiving Day may be the best of all our holidays. There is no confusion about the purpose of this wonderful, uniquely American day. It’s all about a few basic things, shared by family, friends, and guests.
Here’s the basic picture: Our family’s good china and silverware, passed down two or three generations. Turkey with stuffing. Mashed potatoes with turkey gravy, butter, salt and pepper. Sweet potatoes with marshmallow and molasses sauce. Green beans. Cranberry sauce slid whole from the can onto a small garnish dish to be sliced and served on the table. Golden brown crescent rolls by the dozens. Three kinds of olives. Two kinds of pickles. A variety of six or seven cut vegetables on a sectioned relish platter. And of course, pumpkin pie with your choice of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. Sparkling cider in crystal stemware during dinner and coffee after. Turkey sandwiches later on in the evening. It’s a wonderful life…
Add to this scene one more basic thing, not just for this one day of course. Nurture this one basic thing, whether or not you gather with family, or have the big overflowing feast. Add this one basic thing to your lifestyle and your character…
A heart of thankfulness.
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God; and the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6 – 7
“Give thanks for all things, for this is the will of God concerning you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:17
A heart of thankfulness will settle your focus. If you set your heart to be thankful, putting sarcasm and harsh opinion aside, then you’ll more easily focus on the Lord Jesus and give Him thanks.
A heart of thankfulness will settle your differences. If you set your heart to be thankful, putting your family and relationships up to the Lord Jesus in prayer, then you’ll more easily love and serve those with whom you’ve had differences up to now.
And, well… basically, a heart of thankfulness will settle your dinner. If you set your heart to be thankful, then you’ll rest when you would have been worrying and your Thanksgiving dinner will just sit better.
The basics are always best. Stick to the basics. Seek to grow in a heart of thankfulness.
Blessings to you and your family, especially that you would have a thankful heart.
Pastor Rich and Sandy Marshall
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