West Main

There is a common story often told of two salesmen from the 1900’s who went to Africa to see about the business opportunities for selling shoes. After surveying the scene one of the salesmen wrote back to the home office, “Situation hopeless. They don’t wear any shoes.” The other salesman wrote, “Glorious opportunity! They don’t wear any shoes yet!” Apparently, our perspectives can and do differ widely.

What about our perspectives concerning our place, role, and responsibility in the local congregation, or more specifically in the West Main Church of Christ? Do you see glorious opportunities or a hopeless situation? Do you feel you have a place, a role, and a responsibility within the body of Christ at West Main? Or in other words, what is your identity in the West Main Church of Christ?

In our last couple of bulletin articles we have been wrestling with what it means to see our lives and even our identities within the context of the local congregation. I want to keep stressing the local congregation as I am personally convinced our North American experience of Christianity is in danger of being spiritualized away. In other words, we generally have a tendency to dodge being responsible and accountable for one another in concrete, local, and specific ways. There is a human propensity to treat our calling in Christ’s Church in an abstract manner. Loving the “universal body of Christ” is easy. Loving the brother or sister in front of me is costly and messy.

The challenge that faces us as a body of Christ in the Rogue Valley is being precisely a body. A physical body needs a center, ligaments, and skeletal structure and muscles to function. A body needs a nervous system and life’s blood. Most of all we need the Spirit of God to grant us a living being. While I think we readily understand body imagery for our individual lives, Scripture is typically thinking of body imagery to describe our individual identities as a congregational identity.

The apostle Paul describes our congregational identity in a bodily way: “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love” (Ephesians 4:15-16).

If I were to try and diagnose the fragmentation that plagues the local congregation today, then I would conclude we have a love problem. The love of God, love for God, and love for one another is what will give our local body its identity. God’s love is eternal, our love can be fickle. Perhaps part of the problem is not recognizing how God’s love is experienced in receiving the love of our brothers and sisters in the exercise of their God given gifts (Eph 4:1ff). If God is love (1 John 4:16) and love is sacrificial (John 3:16), then the question of our identity in the local body comes down to what are we willing to sacrifice in love for one another?

– Terry

**Please bring lots of your favorite finger foods to share at our party in the Fireside Room following the program. (We will have a special guest in attendance during our fellowship time.)**

Our Candlelight Devotional Service will be held on December 23, at 6:00 p.m. This special Christmas service will feature inspirational music, scripture, poems, and visuals that will lead the worshiper into the nativity experience. All families are encouraged to join us for this special spiritual event.

Our Angel Tree is at the back of the auditorium. Check it out to see how you can help a family in need. There are lists for food items to bring as well. If you would prefer to give a cash donation, please give it to Brian. All items need to be at the building by December 16. For more information or to suggest names for baskets please see Brian.

James II Pantry Needs: Hot or cold cereals, peanut butter, jams or jellies (not homemade), pancake mix and syrup. Thank you for all of your help.   :)

Tuesday Morning Ladies Class  -- Our last Ladies Class for this year will meet on Tuesday, December 11. We will resume our class on Tuesday, January 8. Please mark your calendars for our beginning date in the New Year!

Bulletin News: No Wednesday Bulletin will be published on December 26. If you have any news or announcements that need to be published for the latter part of December or for the early part of January, please have those announcements turned into the office by Tuesday, December 18, for publication on December 19.

Calendar of Events:

Dec 9: Rehearsal; 4:30 p.m.; Auditorium

Dec 11: Last day of Tuesday Morning Ladies Class;

              Class resumes on January 8, 2013.

Dec 15: Christmas Program; 6:00 p.m.;

              Fingerfood fellowship following program.

Dec 16: All items for the Angel Tree need to be at the building by this date.

Dec 23: Candlelight Devotional at the Building; 6:00 p.m.