Pastor’s Ponderings—March 2025

To the church of God as found at Marion Salem Church, called to be saints together with those in every place who call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ: You are miracles of God’s grace and mercy!

We are entering a very busy season in the life of the Church. Ash Wednesday is March 5th and we’ll have our traditional soup supper and service with imposition of ashes as a reminder of our mortality and need for God’s grace.

Our Lenten series will begin the Sunday before Lent actually begins, the Seven Last Words of Christ. This message is dedicated for each of the utterances that Christ offered while being crucified for our sake. Six of these messages will be on Sunday morning, the final one will be at the Maundy Thursday service April 17th.

It is my hope that we all lean into the Attendance Rally that will be going on through Easter. I have used this as a fun and engaging way of encouraging the congregation to become invitational. First, by helping to practice on reaching out to others within the congregation that are a part of our team. This increases congregational care in a way that few others duplicate. Secondly, we work towards bringing new people to worship who are not currently a part of our fellowship. It’s also great practice for the fall when Back to Church Sunday comes around.

We are beginning a cohort for new members who are interested in joining the professing membership at Marion Salem Church. This is also an adventure and gives us an opportunity to deepen our faith. It is not too late to join the class if you are interested. We are meeting Sundays after worship. Currently there are 7 participants.

I am leading the youth group through a series on Essentials of Faith from RightNow Media. Our current study is on God’s Word and it has been too good not to share with others in the church as well. I hope you avail yourself the opportunity to join the youth group on Sunday evenings at 6:30 or to watch the series on your own.

Coming up sooner than we think is our annual Spaghetti Dinner and Auction. Originally conceived as a fundraiser for our youth group, over recent years it has supported many great mission causes. Now, we are back to supporting ministry here at Salem by helping to fund a new position that we are working on, the Family Life Director. This position is envisioned to have hands on responsibility for our youth group (Grades 6-12), leading their discipleship on Sunday evenings and planning other activities. Also, this position will provide guidance and administrative support for our children’s ministry on Sunday mornings, be hands on during a future mid-week children’s activity, and also planning for other family ministry opportunities. Please continue to give your prayer support to the Staff Parish Relations Committee as they step out into this adventure.

We have a new 13-week study coming up on Sunday nights. Bible study on Mondays and Wednesdays continue. The Sunday School Classes continue in their activities: Renaissance/JOY is preparing for Lent, Genesis is looking at Shane Wood’s Daniel series on RightNow, Crusaders are working on the Gospel of John with Tony Evans on RightNow, the Upper Room is focused on a discipleship deck, and the young adults class after worship is wrapping up Being Human from RightNow. These are all great opportunities to grow as disciples of Christ. At Salem the only excuse to not be growing is one we make up—there are simply that many opportunities!

So that’s a wrap up of what’s happening. As Lent begins there is something for you to be involved with whether it is growing as a disciple or helping others to grow as a disciple. It may not seem like it right now, but this is a prime season for spiritual sowing—and we know that we reap what we sow. That means we need to be generous with our sowing.

Blessings!

Jason