After a wonderfully enriching Lenten season and a thought-provoking Holy Week, we are back in Eastertide with table fellowship and worship on Friday nights.

Sermon: Christ: Priest and Prophet

Text: Deuteronomy 18.15-22

The season of Easter brings up some important issues for us as Christians. After the resurrection, the early Christians realized that somehow what had just happened was that God came to them, and God’s forgiveness was made real in the person of the resurrected Christ. In other words, atonement happened!

But how do we understand atonement? This week we looked at atonement in the role of priest and prophet in the Old Testament. We saw that the New Testament understood Jesus as priest and prophet, as the liturgical witness to God’s salvation, as the mediator of God’s salvation, and as advocate for us before God.

Genesis 12.1-9

Genesis 1-11 expose something pretty awful about humans: they are violent, idolatrous, grasping creatures who spurn the one who created them in love, and try to set themselves up as rulers over creation. The real question is, why does God deal with us at all? Why not just wipe the slate completely clean and start over?

But deal with us he does. Listen as Pastor Austin discusses how.

This Epiphany we kick off another edition of Community Worship Night, right here at Salem, every Friday night starting at 6:30. As a part of Salem’s spiritual development initiative Deepening our Roots, we will be focusing on the communal readings.

And in case you’ve missed our first few weeks, here is the sermon for January 6, 2012

Sermon: Reflecting the Glory of God  

Genesis 1.1-2.3

The beginning of most good books tell us a lot of what the book is about. It gives the characters, the setting, and then sets up the tension that becomes the driving force of the drama. So what’s the beginning of the Bible about? Click to find out.

Sunday, December 12, at 5:00 p.m.
Special Advent Service of Lessons and Carols

Sunday, December 19, 10:00 worship service
The Salem Choir Concert

CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICES
4:00 p.m. Family Service
11:00 p.m. Candlelight Service

You are invited to participate in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots program here at Salem. Our collection ends on Sunday, December 12. Please bring your new and unwrapped toys for children up to age sixteen. If you prefer, members of our Outreach Commission will be accepting cash donations and will shop for you.

Remember the Seafarers
The New England Seafarers Mission invites you to donate gifts for the seafarers who will be far away from home during the holidays. Gift suggestions for both men and women include knitted hats and scarves, socks, gloves, toiletries, flannel shirts and sweaters. Also, donations of money enable the Mission to go out and shop for you.

The Mitten Basket
The Mitten Basket, for your gifts of hats, scarves and mittens, will remain in the church narthex throughout the winter.

Salem Food Cupboard
Donations of dry and canned goods are appreciated to keep the cupboard well-stocked throughout the holidays.

Salem Covenant is pleased to be a host site for the fall Beck Lecture Series sponsored by the Massachusetts Bible Society, Monday, October 25, 2010 – 7:30 p.m. There are five lectures throughout the state and we will be hosting the 4^th in the series presented by Harvey Cox entitled, “Where Paul Stands After the New Scroll Finds”.

Harvey Cox is Hollis Research Professor of Divinity at Harvard, where he began teaching in 1965, both at HDS and in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. An American Baptist minister, he was the Protestant chaplain at Temple University and the director of religious activities at Oberlin College; an ecumenical fraternal worker in Berlin; and a professor at Andover Newton Theological School. His research and teaching interests focus on the interaction of religion, culture, and politics. Among the issues he explores are urbanization, theological developments in world Christianity, Jewish-Christian relations, and current spiritual movements in the global setting (particularly Pentecostalism). He has been a visiting professor at Brandeis University, Seminario Bautista de Mexico, the Naropa Institute, and the University of Michigan. He is a prolific author. His most recent book is The Future of Faith (HarperCollins, 2009). His Secular City, published in 1965, became an international bestseller and was selected by the University of Marburg as one of the most influential books of Protestant theology in the twentieth century. His other books include When Jesus Came to Harvard: Making Moral Decisions Today, The Feast of Fools; The Seduction of the Spirit; Religion in the Secular City; The Silencing of Leonardo Boff: Liberation Theology and the Future of World Christianity; Many Mansions: A Christian’s Encounters With Other Faiths; Fire From Heaven: The Rise of Pentecostal Spirituality; The Reshaping of Religion in the Twenty-First Century; and Common Prayers: Faith, Family, and a Christian’s Journey Through the Jewish Year.

Details on the other lectures are available at http://www.massbible.org/beck-lectures-harvey-cox.

Please join us for our morning worship service beginning at 10:00. You may view the church calendar to see what other events are coming up.

Worship is the central most important act we do together as a church. Everything else we do as individuals and as a church body emanates from our honor of God that we collectively mark each Sunday in the service of worship. We come to give thanks and praise and to be challenged in our daily walk with the Lord.

Sunday School for all ages will resume in the fall.

Trailblazer Winter Retreat

Six youth from Salem attended the Trailblazer winter retreat held February 5-7, 2010 at Pilgrim Pines.  It was an awesome weekend! The weekend centered around the theme called “The Flame” reflecting God who appeared before Moses in a burning bush.  God told Moses, “I am the Lord, the Lord of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” and “I have heard the cry of Israel’s people and promise to deliver them from Egypt.”    Through guest speaker Paula Frost a message of “Stop, turn and go towards God” was emphasized.  Paula also got the kids to repeat, “Don’t put out the Spirits Fire!” She reminded the kids to spend time with God (Go to church) and with other Christians to strengthen your faith in God.  Several youth (including 3 of our boys) committed themselves to a life with God by placing a kindling on a ceremonial fire (unlit of course).

The highlights of the retreat were the excellent food, fun activities on the ice (Counselor bowling, broom hockey and snow gnomes).  The inside activities included several ice breakers and mixers (Card swap, beans and weenies, whip cream and vanilla “Vanilla” and Human Snowman).  The band from Pilgrim Covenant in Lunenberg made the weekend lively and spiritual (Great youth and adult combined band)!

Ice Cream Social

Held on Valentine’s day was well attended with 12 youth and 11 adults from Salem.  We had delicious sundays with lots of toppings.  It was held during our regular (Trailblazer/Jr. High) meeting time on Sunday’s from 3:00 – 4:30 .  We played sardines and fruit salad, which are becoming two of our youth’s favorite games.