Salem United Methodist Church

PPRC will be meeting at 7pm at Salem on April 15th.

Following regular services on April 20th we will be having a cookout.  The church will be providing the meat and buns.  Bring a lawn chair and your favorite side dish or dessert.  The youth will be hosting some fun outside carival type games with prizes.  It should be an afternoon of fun and fellowship for all ages.

The youth will be gathering at the parsonage to watch The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.  Come join us for an afternoon of fun and popcorn.

Those who complain about taxes can be divided into two classes – men and women!  But, I believe this complaining falls typically into the category of idle chatter. Most people probably deep down are glad to pay their taxes.  They might agree with Arthur Godfrey, however, who said “I am proud to be paying taxes in the U.S.  The only thing is – I could be just as proud to pay half the money.”

  I recall when my husband and I first started to earn our own money that when tax time came we would have ‘just enough’ money left in the bank account to pay the taxes.  Every year we’d work harder to make ends meet – and invariably, ‘they’ would move the ends!     

I used to joke that the IRS must have one of those trick formulas they apply so as to figure exactly how much money families had with which to pay taxes! And then, they asked for that exact amount! “Oh yes,” I said, “the IRS is clever – they know everything.”

            During the early 50’s, there was a radio show that I listened to called ‘The Shadow’.  “Who knows what evil lurks in the heart of men?” the announcer would ask. “Only ‘The Shadow’ knows,” came the reply – followed by an ominous laugh meant to instill fear into every listener. Over the years I’ve come to understand that it isn’t the IRS or ‘The Shadow” that is clever and all- knowing. God, not the IRS, knows the formula to calculate the amount of money in our checking accounts.

God knows our needs, even when we do not know, and He always supplies.  He provides our food, our home, our happiness as well as every dollar!  God always lives up to His promises.  God knows our every thought, every action, every attitude, every spoken word, and our heart’s intent.  He knows far more than just the extent of our banking accounts. Matthew tells us that we are valuable to Him and Matthew 10:30 tells us that He knows us down to the hairs of our head!    

Even with God knowing everything about each of us, can’t you hear those tremendous words from the children’s song, “Jesus loves me,’ resonating within your heart?  He knows us and yet He still loves us!   We can never over trust in His goodness and His care.   

            On April 15^th, I, along with many others, will file my taxes with the IRS and along with them, will be proud to be an American and to have this privilege. I am grateful to all who have defended and who still defend my freedom. I am grateful to have the right to pursue happiness and to have freedom of speech, religion, thought, decision, and voice. These freedom lifestyle we cherish and which we so often take for granted, is actually rare in today’s world.  America is not perfect, but we are blessed. May we keep God first in our lives and may God keep us in His care.

All children and youth are invited to an Easter Egg Hunt following 11:00 A. M. Easter Service on March 23rd.  We will have age devisions so all the “little ones” get a fair chance.  Bring your own Easter basket for collecting.

Acoustic Bay Music Group to preform Sunday, March 16th.  This program will begin at 7:00 pm with light refreshments following.

We will be attending the 2008 Acquire the Fire in Winston-Salem NC March 28th-29th. The Cost is $75 per youth (we have scholarship available) and $35 for adults chaparons. This is going to be a great event; call 919-603-5844 for more information.

A short time ago, I read the book, “Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself” by Alan Alda.  We all know him from the TV series, ‘Mash”.  Like me, I bet you adored him.  So I was taken aback as I read this book because in the first chapter he drops a ‘bomb.’       He explains that if he were going to look for meaning he would want it to last – to not be like the Billy Rose song that asks: “Does the spearmint lose its flavor on the bedpost overnight?”   He says that he didn’t ‘want to wake up someday and find that what had once given meaning to his life was as stale and tasteless as yesterday’s gob of gum’.  A few sentences later he tells the reader that one day, he realized he was no longer a believer. 

This insight into his life follows his tale of almost dying while in Chile.  He credits his not dying to a doctor there who, by chance, was an expert in his problem.  Many times people come to faith during times when life is most bleak.  But, not Alda; rather the opposite.

As I read his braggadocio words about his success, wealth, family and popularity – his words also revealed to me that this man, though confessing to be a non-believer, appears to be searching for that elusive piece of the puzzle that fills and completes our souls.  He confesses that he is abundantly and radiantly happy, yet his words indicate to me that he is not.  I’ve considered that perhaps I read more into his words than he meant because I want for him to know the real true happiness. 

Alda’s arrogance brought to mind the first person I ever heard express what to me was pure blasphemy. He said, ‘Why do I want to give thanks to God for the food on my table?  I am the one who has done the work, earned the money and put it there?” Alda and this man both believe that they are the ‘alpha and omega.’ Their words paint a picture of men who believe they alone are responsible for their food on the table as well as their money and fame; for their healthy, intelligent and beautiful families.

“In Everything          

Both great and small

We see the hand of God in all,

And every day

Somewhere, someplace

We see the likeness of His face.”

Reading these words by Helen Steiner Rice, the question arises, how can a man who is so talented, blessed and intelligent fail to recognize God’s hand in every aspect of his successful life – in EVERYTHING?  Alda comes across as a man who is so caught up in himself that he is unable to recognize a power beyond or outside of himself.  Can he not give credence to the possibility that the Chilean surgeon was not there simply and only by chance?

Alan Alda illustrates that believing in Christ is not required in order to live a perfect worldly life with goods and recognition.  Neither does believing in Christ exclude such an abundant life.  However, believing in Christ has rewards far beyond any wealth or fame this world can offer. 

Because Alda is a man with so much to offer Christ, I will believe that Christ will be revealed to him in such a way that God’s joy and total understanding will replace the emptiness that he unknowingly feels.   I see Alda as a spokesperson for Christ – not against him.  I pray that God honors my vision.  I want Alan Alda to be on fire for Christ!

Alda’s humor has taken him far in the entertainment world, but Christ is no joking matter.  When Christ becomes the center of his life, jokes aside, his spearmint will never lose its flavor on the bedpost or anywhere else. 

The pastor will be attending a meeting from Monday until Wednesday, so the final week of the Lenten Study will be postponed until Monday 17.

On Monday February 11, we meet for our first week of discussion to the Lenten Bible Study on living as a healthy and faithful church. The topics discussed are noted in the following linked file: Week One Notes.