'Pray for one another, so
that you may be healed.' James 5.16
There is no special spiritual
gift category for prayer. Jesus--and the entire Bible--expect that every
one of God's people can, and will, pray. Prayer is a hallmark of the
Christian.
The reminder from James to
"pray for one another" encourages balance in our prayers. Our instinct is
to pray for ourselves, our own needs. That's fine, but let us not be so
self-absorbed that we forget the often greater needs of
others.
I am impressed and encouraged
by the sharing of prayer needs here at Redeemer. It's an honor and
privilege to pray for one another. In praying, the Spirit forges closer
bonds of love and care for each other. "Bear one another's burdens, and so
fulfill the law of Christ," said St Paul.
WORSHIP
ATTENDANCE has been slipping over the past half year. If
prayer is one of the hallmarks of a Christian, so is regular, weekly coming
together of God's people in the act of corporate worship. We've missed
many of you, some of you for many weeks and months.
I'm asking all of you to join me in achieving this
simple goal: to average 100 in our Sunday worship
from October through May of next year. How do we do
that? It starts with you. When we begin something in Jesus' name,
God often blesses us in a way that far exceeds our goals. This coming
Sunday is a good place to begin!
DISABILITIES AWARENESS
SUNDAY will be our focus for October
15 worship. Please be reading the bulletin blurbs leading
up to the 15th. Most of us have disabilities, in reality--some are just
more obvious and pronounced than others.
MAC 'N CHEESE
MOUNTAIN! Redeemer is partnering with 40 other Salem
churches to 'Make A Difference' in providing food to the poor and
hungry in Marion and Polk Counties. Our assigned food item is boxes of
macaroni and cheese. So help us meet our
goal of 2,000 boxes. Buy a bunch of boxes, bring them
to church, and help build our mountain near the big oak table! October
22 is the deadline. Can we hit 2,500? Who said worthy causes
couldn't be fun?!
'FEST AND
FILM: Also on October
22, we very much hope you will worship and then stay for our
Oktoberfest of German food and
fun. As a special feature, we'll be screening the film
"An Inconvenient Truth" on our projector system around
1pm. This film, still showing in theaters worldwide, helps us understand
global warming and what we can do to fight it. The film runs about 90
minutes and is appropriate for the whole family.
With these gorgeous days of
early autumn, here's a thought from rabbinic folklore: "When we stand
before God he will not ask us about our sins. He'll ask us why we didn't
spend more time enjoying his beautiful
creation."
