Sermon: Christ Devoted to Destruction

Text: Joshua 6.1-25

It’s funny how we as Christians turn difficult and violent Biblical tales into children’s songs – think “Arky, Arky,” about God’s judgment on the earth and his saving of Noah. Or, “The Walls of Jericho,” a song about the walls of Jericho coming down, which fails to mention what happened after - the slaughter of all living things.

What do we make of this slaughter? What do we make of the command of God to “devote to destruction” all living things of Jericho? Christians have had three responses:

1. This a mystery. No two ways about it, God will somehow sort it all out.

2. We should not judge God’s ways. Just because he ordered the destruction of entire populations (what we call “genocide” these days) doesn’t mean he was wrong.

3. Don’t pay attention to the blood and gore. This is the children’s song approach.

But what if there is another way to think of this? What if this story shows us something else about God?

Find out by listening!

VBS Details

• When: August 8-10, 2012
• Time: 9:00 AM-12:00 PM
  (Pre and Post Care Available for Extra Fee)
• Where: Salem Covenant Church Worcester, MA
• Who: God’s children 1st-6th Grade
• Activities:  Crafts, Bible Lessons, Games, Songs, Worship, and More!

Registration Forms

• VBS Child Registration Form
• VBS Physical Form 
• Adult Counselor Registration Form

Questions? Please email our director at vbs@salemccworcester.org with any VBS related questions.

Text: Deuteronomy 32.1-44

We all have sacred cows. Whether this be a favorite political hobbyhorse or a church tradition, we all believe some things are completely sacred, because we believe the bring us life. Any threat to them we meet with opposition, because we are afraid that if what we believe is sacred is ruined, then we are too.

Yet God is beyond the sacred. God is the source of life and death, the one beyond our ideas of what is sacred and what is not. This is what the Song of Moses is all about, and it helps us learn how to confess, how God frees us from enslavement to our sacred cows.

Listen to find out how!

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.

Sermon: A Fragmented Map

Text: Genesis 45.1-15

The theologian Herbert McCabe once said that “the world is a bad map of God.” Sometimes, in some events, it’s hard to see the goodness of God, because of all the evil that appears. The story of Joseph and his brothers is like this. Terrible dysfunction, violence, and slavery. What are we to make of this?

Joseph gives his own answer to this question, and it is something like Herbert McCabe’s: “the world is a bad map of God. But it is not a map of a bad God.” Listen, and find out how Joseph answers.

The Trailblazer kids at Salem had a very meaningful time at Pilgrim Pines this past January.

Colleen and Al Kim led us in worship and speaking at the event. Colleen is beginning her sixth year of service as the Director of Children’s Ministries at Bethany Covenant Church in Berlin, Ct. Her husband Al joined her in leading the Trailblazers for this weekend. Both have answered God’s call to serve children, youth and families for 25 years in a variety of churches and settings. Their sons Andrew and Aaron also joined them this weekend: Andrew is in 7th grade and plays violin in their worship band “Red Letter Day” and Aaron attends as a 5th grade camper.

Joining Al and Colleen in leading worship this weekend was: Allie Juchniewicz (their niece) on guitar, Chris Savage (who has teamed in ministry with Al and Colleen for 20 years), Ann Sharnick on vocals (with the band for 8 years), and Kevin Snyder on drums (Andrew’s classmate and friend).

Together, their hope and vision is to see kids engage in deeper, vibrant relationships with God through the power of His Holy Spirit, and be equipped with the tools and information to live passionate, dynamic Christian lives.

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.

May:
5/06/2011
5/13/2011
5/20/2011
5/27/2011

June:
6/3/2011
6/10/2011
6/24/2011