Peace At Home (11AM)

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Peace At Home (11AM)

January 7, 2024 • Kathaleen McFarland • Romans 5:1–5

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When do you feel most at peace? Is there a particular place, a particular time, when you experience peace? Are there particular friends and relatives who, when you are with them, elevate your sense of peace? How long does that peace last?

Let me also ask how you would define peace? For those who rarely, if ever, experience the kind of peace God intends, their definition of peace is reduced to a fragment of what it is meant to be. There is a temptation for all of us to settle for discounted peace. That’s understandable when the peace we look for depends on the actions of those around us, and our own choices too.

Some world religions and philosophies attempt to provide a path to peace by counseling us to disconnect from all desires, and, in some instances, to disconnect from the world itself.

Christian faith offers a strong voice in the opposite direction. What we need first is Peace with God. And, God made that possible. Once we begin to embrace that, our view of ourselves, others, the city and world we live in, even hostility and aggression, begins to change. Christian faith claims that until we experience Peace with God, until we surrender in our war against God, until we acknowledge Him as the Victor, as the Lord of all, as our Only hope, any peace we experience will be temporary and defined by circumstances around us, and the turmoil in us. When we embrace the peace that God offers we begin to see things differently. We discover a more profound sense of Peace. Our understanding of the frailty and fear that fuels competition, aggression and conflict grows. Our compassion deepens. We offer grace more freely. Peace with God leads us into our troubled world, not away from it. Peace with God drives us into relationships in our community, even with those who do not like us and may even attack us. Peace with God gives us a clearer sense of who we are and how valuable, and loved, we are. Peace, lasting peace, real peace, is a gift of God offered to us through Jesus.

Peace At Home (9AM)

January 7, 2024 • Kathaleen McFarland • Romans 5:1–5

We live in a world that talks a lot about peace but has very little peace, if any, to offer. On the global scene, whenever two or more gather, conflict, disturbance, frustration, anger, bloodshed and war, often follow. That’s also true on the streets of our cities, in our neighborhoods, in our homes, and in our own souls. There is, at times, a lack of peace even in churches that exist to extend the peace of God. When do you feel most at peace? Is there a particular place, a particular time, when you experience peace? Are there particular friends and relatives who, when you are with them, elevate your sense of peace? How long does that peace last? Let me also ask how you would define peace? For those who rarely, if ever, experience the kind of peace God intends, their definition of peace is reduced to a fragment of what it is meant to be. There is a temptation for all of us to settle for discounted peace. That’s understandable when the peace we look for depends on the actions of those around us, and our own choices too. Some world religions and philosophies attempt to provide a path to peace by counseling us to disconnect from all desires, and, in some instances, to disconnect from the world itself. Christian faith offers a strong voice in the opposite direction. What we need first is Peace with God. And, God made that possible. Once we begin to embrace that, our view of ourselves, others, the city and world we live in, even hostility and aggression, begins to change. Christian faith claims that until we experience Peace with God, until we surrender in our war against God, until we acknowledge Him as the Victor, as the Lord of all, as our Only hope, any peace we experience will be temporary and defined by circumstances around us, and the turmoil in us. When we embrace the peace that God offers we begin to see things differently. We discover a more profound sense of Peace. Our understanding of the frailty and fear that fuels competition, aggression and conflict grows. Our compassion deepens. We offer grace more freely. Peace with God leads us into our troubled world, not away from it. Peace with God drives us into relationships in our community, even with those who do not like us and may even attack us. Peace with God gives us a clearer sense of who we are and how valuable, and loved, we are. Peace, lasting peace, real peace, is a gift of God offered to us through Jesus.

From Afar and Not So Far (10AM)

December 31, 2023 • Scott Klepach • Matthew 2:1–12

On this final day of 2023 we welcome our Naches friend and pastor Scott Klepach. Scott has been pastor at the Naches Presbyterian Church (Peace of Christ) for 3+ years. He, and his wife Mack (Jaclyn Mack), have deep roots in the Yakima valley (and a mutual love of Garfield and Roller Coasters). Scott has been a reporter for the Yakima Herald Republic, an English professor at CWU, an associate pastor at Wesley United Methodist, a hospital and hospice chaplain at Memorial (he was a part of my exceptional team of chaplains). He continues to serve as a hospice chaplain for Astria. While Scott preaches here, I am doing the same in Naches. At the end of each year there is a natural tendancy to reflect on the past, and consider what the months ahead will bring. Christians have a unique advantage at such times. We are able to look back with thankfulness for God’s many blessings, including His grace and forgiveness. We are not weighed down by our failures, our regrets, the times we were less Christian than we had hoped. And, as we look to the coming year, we anticipate new adventures, stronger relationships, greater confidence, and growth in our faith. God has given us the gift of the Holy Spirit to encourage us, confront us, teach us, and change us. These two verses from Paul’s letter to the Philippians sum that up … “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” He provides the power, and desire, to press on … The year on the calendar will change. By God’s grace we will too. Others will make decisions that will impact us. Circumstances beyond our control will affect us. We keep pressing on to Jesus. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Ending one year and beginning the next, growing in our love of God and others, Pastor Curt

Listen To What I Say... 10AM

December 24, 2023 • Dennis Whitcher • Ephesians 2:4–10

What is the most exciting time of the year for your child? It would have to be Christmas followed by birthdays, wouldn’t it? The Santa Claus song says, “you better not pout, you better not cry, you better not shout I’m telling you why, Santa Claus is coming to town. He knows if you’ve been sleeping, he know if you’re awake, he knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake.” Christmas is a time when parents give you gifts in spite of the way you’ve been. The apostle Paul says that God is the same way. Now, I am not saying that God is Santa Claus! But, we have not been good, yet God's grace, His love for us, which is undeserved, drives Him to give us gifts anyway. God reached down to us in our worthless, degraded and rebellious state and worked a miracle. He made us alive with Christ. This is the ultimate demonstration of love, in that “while yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Jesus paid the price of our sin so that we might be made righteous before God through Him. The power of God that raised Jesus Christ from the dead also made us alive in Christ. We who were separated from God and without hope were brought into a personal relationship with God. This is all His work of grace. There was nothing we or any other human could do to change our situation. It is God’s work and it is all of His grace. “We love because He first loved us.” Love made the first move; our love for God is simply a response to His love for us. That brings us back to this season. One in which we are drawn to the Christ-child. The best Christmas gift isn't wrapped under the tree, but the baby laying a manger.