Salem To Go

They say music is good for the soul.  While this may be true, it's particularly true when not all is good in our souls.  Music has a way of confirming where we are and curing what is wrong.  It's in that space that we are once again able to say it is well with my soul.  Come along in this episode as we finish our series on the hymns with one of the greatest hymns of all time, It Is Well.

They say you can’t beat the classics! This week's hymn definitely fits that description. With over 5,000 different recordings, this is the most recorded gospel song of all time. It sticks with us not for its tune, but for its message: a message of hope for tomorrow and an urgency for today. So let’s sing along to a timeless song and find out how its lyrics might have something more to tell us today. Join us for the next part of our series, How Sweet the Sound!

Chaos crashes on us like waves. Sorrow finds us in our lowest valleys. But in the midst of the storms and the darkness, there’s a strength greater than our own found in the arms of a friend who sticks closer than a brother. He offers redemption deeper than any pain. This week, we will sing that song of hope as we remember those we've lost in the storms of this past year.

Hymns are like the oral history of our faith. They are passed from generation to generation.  While every generation has its anthems, sometimes it's the timeless music of our predecessors that our soul longs for. In this new series, we will delve into the meaning behind the lyrics and breathe new life into these melodies as we connect the meaning of the song to biblical truth and apply it to our everyday lives.

The power of evil at work in the world is far beyond our control, but we can recognize the lies that it tricks us into believing.  To take our final steps into the dawn of a new reality, we have to call out the deceptions of the night that draw us away from the light.  This week, we will examine three lies that keep us from experiencing the fullness of our new life in Christ.

In order to live like you're dying, you have to be willing to embrace death. In order for us to embrace the new life that can be found in Christ's resurrection, we have to embrace the real death that lies in front of us all. On this special Easter edition of Salem on the Go, we will remember that Dawn HAS come, but it came because one man was willing to live like he was dying so that others might live even while they are dying.

Early in life, we learn that order is in everything, and to everything, there is an order.  Yet somehow the trials of life seem to stretch that assumption.  In the middle of trials, we lose track of the order.  Things start to seem 'out of order.'  Peter's message this week to the scattered struggle churches is simply this: Things end up out of order when you don't do them in the right order because order is everything and order is IN everything.

None of us enjoy submission in life, even fewer enjoy it in the context of marriage. Yet the apostle Peter suggests that the way that we can follow the Way of Christ is by submitting ourselves one to another.  Through the act of mutual submission, we find the mission of God carried out in the context of our community.

Our new life together leads to life with others even when we aren't too fond of the others in our lives.  So how do we navigate life with those who hold power over us? Follow Jesus' example of submission. When we submit to others around us, we no longer imitate the world or isolate ourselves from it.  Rather, we infiltrate the very system that continues to dominate the weak and vulnerable among us.

The holy life is not only a happy life for you. It's a happy life for every life your life bumps into. When we choose to take on God's life of holiness, we will live open-handed and invitationally.  We will live open to the possibility that others are searching for happiness, and we will eagerly offer that to them right where they are.