West Main

LET US ALL BE GOOD EXAMPLES

I spend a lot of time around kids. It could be my own, or those in the youth ministry. I learn many valuable lessons from them. I also observe a lot. One thing that is clear in this country, is the younger generations are immersed in a culture trying its best to teach them that faithfulness and commitment are not that important.  It teaches them to flee any semblance of obligation. It is a “me first” culture, driven only by what makes the individual feel good.

This is obviously a problem, because even if it seems these folks only care about themselves, EVERYONE still wants to be loved and to love! That never changes. That is built into us by design. So while we may not find it a big deal that a whole generation is scared of committing to a job, a church, a school, or sports team, something very scary lurks in this culture. What is going to happen when these people have marriages, families and careers?

Commitment’s loss means that the future may hold much more heartbreak and loss than anyone has ever imagined! They need to learn to say yes and mean it, and they also need to learn this includes learning to say NO!

For example, saying yes to a date night means saying no to a night out with friends. It means saying no to buying a new CD for yourself, so there will be money for a date. It means saying no to answering your phone, texts or tweets and taking constant glances at the TV behind your date’s head during the course of the evening.

II Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” Let it teach us! God wants to help us understand how to have the best relationships possible. God challenges us to say no to things like cheating, lying, sex outside of marriage, breaking promises, being selfish, acting out of anger and ignoring problems. The Word really steers us toward intentionality and making deliberate, specific choices toward lasting love.

This is just part of what we are trying to teach our young people in our Chastity series. May we ALL be good examples to them of Godly commitment and choices.

– Pannell

Resting at the Bottom of the Sea

A truth I keep coming back to in life and that is growing larger and larger in my mind concerns the nature of God.  The truth that is looming ever larger in my mind and life is represented well by the literary critic, Terry Eagleton, who says, “For Christian theology there is no necessity to the world at all . . . He [God] created it out of love, not need.”  God is not a reason, answer, or an explanation for life. Rather, God is life.

In other words, God is not the final result of an equation, the conclusion to a philosophical riddle, or a scientific solution. You have heard me say on a number of occasions, “God is not the answer, because God is bigger than the question.” What I find so invaluable about God being larger than the questions of life is the fact that nothing in life therefore can rob God of life. Yet we experience much in this life in terms of tragedy and heartache that seems to strip many of hope in this world. Thus, we often want an explanation for everything under the sun, and so there is a human impulse and tendency to try and answer every difficulty, riddle, and mystery in order to cope.

Our compulsion as human beings to seek answers to all of life’s questions is understandable. We not only want to cope, we also want to control the future.  If I know the reason “why things happen,” and the “reasons for things happening,” then I think I can increase the good and decrease the bad happenings in my life.  Or if I cannot prevent or predict the trouble I experience, then I can at least cope better and deal with life knowing “why” things turned out the way they did. To put it another way, I need to know that what I experience in life has a purpose.

However, the necessity for understanding the purpose of our life events can bring us into emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually troubled waters. Like a boat being tossed back and forth in stormy waters we often flay about seeking answers and resolutions to our troubles. The old expression, “Any port in a storm will do,” is an apt description of our frequent desperation to escape our difficulties with solutions. To put it simply, we are not comfortable not knowing why something difficult is happening to us, and so will latch on to any answer that would appear to solve the problem or question.

The patriarch Job, along with his four would-be comforters, is a prime example of desperately seeking an explanation to life’s struggles. After Job exhausts his friends’ attempts at explanations for his sufferings and Job concludes his experience is unjust, God speaks. What is particularly interesting about God’s response to Job is the fact that God never answers why or to what purpose Job suffered.  Job simply confesses to God, “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 424-6).

God does not answer the mystery of Job’s life. God is bigger than the question and bigger than life itself. What Job and all of us need to learn is that God in and of Himself is more than what is needed in this life. If there is necessity in this life, then the only necessary necessity is God. Everything and everyone else is ultimately unnecessary.  Sadly, it often seems necessary to go through the shortfall of all our explanations and proposed solutions to arrive at what is only truly necessary: the presence of God.

In keeping with our sea analogy, we may often be tossed to-and-fro by the waves and winds of life’s struggles. Yet, despite the emotional, psychological, and spiritual hurricanes we encounter, the bottom of the sea where God is present is calm, still, and at peace. We can only manage life’s storms for so long with our answers, solutions, and resolutions. If we do not make our way to the necessity of God’s presence at the bottom of the sea, then we will eventually discover our proposed answers have shipwrecked our faith. Let us therefore abandon the ship of answers, resolutions, and solutions, and come to rest at the bottom of the sea where God is present in peace and rest.

– Terry

PARENTING SEMINAR -- Please mark your calendars for our upcoming Parenting Seminar on November 10, 12, and 13. We will begin at 7:00 p.m. in the auditorium.  Child care will be available.  Please watch for more details to come.  Parents of all ages are welcome to attend.

ANNIVERSARY SUNDAY  --  West Main will celebrate sixty-one years as a church family this Sunday, October 30^th.  Please invite your friends and former members to come celebrate our special day with us.  We will have a potluck luncheon following services, so please bring lots of your favorite foods to share.

*** There will be NO CHILDREN'S WORSHIP SERVICE this Sunday due to the Anniversary Potluck Dinner following services.***

TRUNK OR TREAT  --   Monday, October 31, 2011, is “Trunk or Treat” in the Church Parking Lot from 6:30-8:30 p.m. “Trunks” need to  arrive at 6:00 p.m. in order to be ready for “Treaters” by 6:30 p.m. See Stephen or Diane Liles to sign up or call Diane.

THANKSGIVING DINNER  --  If anyone would like to coordinate the Thanksgiving Dinner at the church building, please contact Lance Lake or the church office.

PARENTS OF KIDS IN YOUTH GROUP  --  Please remember to pick up your weekly hand-out of the class in the hanging file at the bottom of the stairs.  Thank you, Pannell

PRAYER REQUESTS . . .  Cooper Albright is in NYC to have anti cancer treatments this week...For Dominic Cardoza, a five-year old boy who has stage four cancer...For Lillian Casebier as she recovers from back surgery...For Mandy Briethaupt’s daughter, Vicki, as she recovers from radiation treatments...For Sharon Schreiber, a friend of the Dunlaps, who has terminal leukemia...Terrie Becker has not been feeling well...For Karizma Kelsey, who wants to go live with her sister in Washington...Ethel Fisher is in Medford Rehab recovering from two fractures in her left hip...Larry Gilley, who suffered a stroke and is in critical condition.  Pray for his family also.

Thank you for all your prayers, cards, phone calls and good wishes while I was recovering from my surgery.  They were all greatly appreciated.  With  love,  Sharen Rose