Christmas is coming. This year at Redeemer, we want to be reminded of the “Peace on Earth” we can have through Christ. This will be a warm and welcoming time of the year for us as we come underneath the sovereignty of our King Jesus, reminding ourselves that our Lord was born as a baby boy in a barn, for the ultimate purpose of eventually going to the cross so that we could be in relationship with God. 

Here are the logistics you need to know for Christmas Season at Redeemer. 

Christmas Eve Service

Our Christmas Eve Service will be December 24, 5:30pm at Redeemer. The kids of “Redeemer kids” are working hard to prepare a pageant that they will perform during the Christmas Eve Service. We hope that you, your family, and a few friends will join us on Christmas Eve. You are invited!

Christmas Day Service

We are only having 1 service on Christmas Day. It will be at 10am. You are invited. 

New Years' Day Service

Just like Christmas Day, we will be having just 1 service at 10am on Sunday, January 1. You are invited. 

We are looking forward to spending the Christmas season together as a Church Family. Looking forward to seeing you soon. 

Deck the halls 2016 was one of the funnest events we have had! There was food, laughter, games, decorating and yes there was a snowball fight (fake snowballs of course). Below you will find a few of our favorite pictures from the event. 

If you don't find your picture within this photo stream or would like to download your picture for your family Christmas card, click here and you can find all the photos from the night. 

We would ask that if you do share your picture on social media that you would use the #RedeemerDeckTheHalls so we can see the compilation of photos and messages throughout the social media world. 

We hope you enjoy all the fun photos. See you all next year. 

This week’s blog is by Becca Wellan.

It’s a Saturday afternoon. I hear the rain pouring down on the roof and the deep, whirring sound of the vacuum. My mom is downstairs, getting our dear home ready to decorate with shimmering lights and that horrible singing Santa (oh you better watch out).

I’m curled up by the fire in my favorite, cozy chair. The room is dark, except for the lamp my dad brought over for me. A Charlie Brown Christmas (my favorite) is playing softly, and I (tragically) finished off my coffee two hours ago but I’m too cozy (read: lazy) to make the treacherous journey downstairs to the Keurig.

So here I sit, reading and writing and soaking in the sounds of the holidays as the day slips by. Without my coffee.

The season of Advent is here. I never celebrated Advent before and really, all I know about it is that it’s a time of preparing your heart for the coming of Jesus, and eating chocolate.

I love Jesus. I love chocolate. But I never gave much thought to Advent.

In days of Christmas past, the 25th would come in a whirlwind of wrapping paper and I’d find myself trying to find the “reason for the season” as I lay on the couch in a food coma after eating WAY too many of my (somewhat doughy but thoroughly addictive) cinnamon rolls.

Thank you Jesus for being born, I’d pray. And thank you for presents. And cinnamon rolls. Bless the hands that made them (mine). Amen.

And that’d be that. But not this year.

This year, my heart is desperate for hope amidst hurt and aching and trying to figure it all out and starting over, and over and over again. My heart is longing to be filled with the hope that is already ours, because God wrapped Himself in human skin and bones. Because a baby named Jesus was born.

Advent means coming. And not as in “Santa Claus is coming.” Just like Lent is a time to prepare your soul for celebrating a risen King, Advent is a time to prepare your soul for celebrating the coming of Jesus. Like God’s people hoped for a Savior before Jesus was born, we posture our hearts to anticipate His coming too.

But it’s tricky to anticipate the birth of Jesus because we already know the story (thanks, Linus). We know that “unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a savior, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). We know He went to a cross, died and rose again to absorb the punishment of hell and separation from God that we had coming. We know He did it all, with us on His heart.

We know a lot of things, but what we know doesn’t always invade our daily reality.
The oh-NO-I-lost-my-keys-again reality.
The my-heart-is-broken reality.
The I-burnt-the-toast-again reality.
The I-feel-like-a-failure-at-my-job reality.
The I-am-stressed-out-of-my-mind reality.

In the midst of our mundane, bitter, difficult but sometimes pretty great reality, we are in danger of overlooking the stunning miracle that is the birth of Christ. Not just in a whirlwind of holiday fluster, but throughout the entire year. We miss out on this heart-changing reality: a baby in a manger gives us hope for the days when you feel overwhelmed and hopeless. Ya’ll been there? I have. Or, hope for the days when the dull pain of heartache in your chest just won’t go away, no matter how many deep breaths you take. Or how many cinnamon rolls you eat.

When you think of “hope,” what comes to mind? For me, the word “hope” conjures up images of a walk-in-closet filled with flannel. And a box of donuts. And bacon. Lot’s of bacon.

But we all need a greater hope than mere wishful thinking. Biblical hope is not a cross-your-fingers type of hope (like, I hope I’ll learn how to not burn toast). These are things we tell ourselves to make us feel better. The sad truth is, we bank our current happiness on these little hopes. We wish for what we can never truly rest in.

God’s hope never operates like our little hopes.

No, the hope of God is a hope that is secure. God is faithful, He never changes. When He promised to send a Savior, He did. The same God that fulfilled His promise then is the same God that will fulfill His promises to us, today.

Because of His unchanging character, we can look into the future and expect, with absolute confidence and trust, that God will do exactly what He says He will do. He will care for us exactly how He says He will.

Please celebrate this with me! God is not like us, His love never changes.

God promises to change us, so throughout our lives we will become more like Him (2 Corinthians 3:18). When you’re struggling with sin, you can have hope that God will transform you. He promises that He will work ALL things for the good of those who love Him, so in the midst of suffering you can have hope that it will be for your benefit and God will use it in your life (Romans 8:28). When God promised to go to prepare a place for us in heaven, we have hope that one day we will be home (John 14:2).

This is my comfort today, this very moment. God was faithful 2,000 years ago when He came as a baby, then grew into a man who was a dear friend of sinners, then died on a cross to save them. To save us. To save me, even though I mess up big time and also burn toast.

So I can say, with full confidence, that He will be faithful to me now, and everyday for the rest of my life. He will be my Savior, my greatest love, my comforter, and my constant source of peace.

May this be your hope too, fam. Merry Christmas!

This week's post by Theresa Adams

Recently some women of Redeemer spent the weekend thinking about the weight of our words. About taming the tongue. About the heart behind our words. And about seeking God's wisdom over our own. Through the teaching, listening, praying, sharing, crying, laughing, and eating  we were able to walk away from that weekend having learned that we all struggle with taming our tongue. We all wrestle with knowing if our words lift-up or tear-down. Fill up or empty. Bless or curse. We all get to choose whether we speak or remain silent. Should you be of the opinion that it must be something only women struggle with, or only parents, or only teenagers here is what RT Kendall has to say about it, "Nobody can tame the tongue. Not a single person under heaven. Old or Young. Rich or poor. No matter one's color, race, or nationality. Tongue control cannot be attained by any gift we have, by any education we receive, or by the highest level of intellect." Encouraged, yet?

In the Bible, the Book of James, Chapter 3 we read such stunning imagery detailing the sheer power of the tongue and the lack we have over it. "How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire." We are all familiar with how the sky here, in the Pacific Northwest, darkens most summers, caused by the roaring forest fires in Eastern Washington and Canada. How even the sun can be marked by a hazy glow. Those fires cause acres and acres of destruction and devastation and they are often caused by a careless match or cigarette. Much like the fires our tongues can cause. All of us, most likely, have our own examples of times our words caused devastation. Or perhaps words said to you were what caused things to set ablaze.

For myself, I think back to when my boys were younger and the way I spoke to them. The words I would use with them would constantly set things ablaze and often times those words were said, as my kids would point out, with my “outside voice.” I would get so rattled. So frustrated. So negative that my words would come out sharp as a weapon. I would be remorseful, of course. Yet it would continue to happen. Again and again. So, I would try to "do better." I would try to will the words away. I would yell into pillows. I even went as far as putting my head in the freezer (on the internet's suggestion because everything on the internet is helpful. And true.) And, still,  I couldn't believe how I would talk to my kiddos. These two kids that I had longed for so desperately. That I had prayed and cried for. We were told we would never even be able to have children and yet here we were with two and the way I spoke to them was despicable.

Weary of the load I was carrying I began to pray incessantly about my words. It was obvious nothing else was working and I was so tired of relying on my own strength and abilities. Over time Christ revealed to me that I was speaking to my kids out of a heart of anger and a lack of control. I had no idea how to cope with the fact that as they were getting older the amount of control I had over them was lessening. They were beginning to think for themselves. To reason. To have opinions. So I spoke when I should have listened. I used a harsh tone when I should have soothed. I criticized when I should have encouraged. When I would do so I would immediately wish I could grasp the words out of the air and swallow them back up. Because once they were out I could see my boys faces crumple. I could hear their cries and see their tears fall.

My words were coming out tainted and ugly because they were reflecting what was going on in my heart. Yes, I needed to clean up how I spoke to my children, absolutely, but more importantly I had some heart work to do. I began, slowly, to realize that my children were people too. That they had their own ideas, minds, and worth. Which was exactly how God made them and intended them to be. As a parent it was challenging for me to realize that the short people who lived in my home deserved the same respect as anyone else. James says in verse 9, "with it (our tongue) we curse people who are made in the likeness of God." Which is exactly what I was doing with my boys.

I think that's what we need to grasp...that no matter if we are a parent, student, professional, man, woman or child  when we gossip about someone or judge them we are judging the very likeness they were made in. When we tear someone down we are tearing down the very God who spoke them into existence. No matter how they vote, where they worship, how much they make or how they treat you. With everyone we speak to, email, or text we have the privilege of building them up and the responsibility to not tear them down.

I don't think James wrote this letter to the church because he wanted them to "do more" in order to gain God's love or favor. Nor is he telling us to be performance driven.  The God we love is good. If we malign Him by maligning someone else He still loves us just the same. If we have a great day where we build everyone up we come into contact with, He still loves us just the same. Paul Miller says, " Come dirty. Jesus said that He came for sinners, for messed up people who keep messing up."

For me, who sometimes still uses her "outside voice" it is good news to be shook out of my amnesia and remember that as messy as I am I can always begin again. Moment-by-moment. Day-by-day. No matter whether I hit reply to soon, send way too many texts, or simply don't think before I speak I know that because of Jesus, who has given me a new heart, I can get back up when I fall.

"'Cause Jesus paid it all

All to him I owe

My sin had left this crimson stain, he washed it white as snow"

What a great turnout for our Turkey Bowl Classic we do every year. We saw more then 170 people come out, enjoy food, games, football and of course community. On this page you will find photos and video footage from yesterday's event. 

If you missed out on this years event, don't you worry, there is always next year. Hope you enjoy the content captured from the Turkey Bowl Classic. 

Blog Post by Ashley Bowie - Loved by God even though she is sometimes annoying.

Is anyone else a little irritated that the bible does not give instruction on how to deal with people who annoy you? We have words from the mouth of Jesus on how to treat enemies, how to treat the people who oppress us, or are wicked leaders, or unrepentant sinners, kings and queens, orphans and widows, but nothing on being annoyed. This is unfortunate because people are very annoying. Some of them talk too much and sometimes you have to carry the whole conversation. Some people try to cross the street where there is no crosswalk, some people chew with their mouths open, some people don’t speak in complete sentences, some people say “irregardless” like it’s a word, some people always interrupt you, and you guys, some people don’t like ice cream.

Have you ever had one of those moments where you said something really ridiculous or out of place and you felt like the fool of the moment? You can recall that moment with exact perfection 10 years later and still feel hints of shame? We all have stories like this. And we have bigger worse ones where you know you sinned against someone or hurt someone and you can’t seem to shake the guilt. Sure this is a tool of our enemy, to keep us trapped in past hurts and make us ineffective for the present. But the Lord is kind, He can and does turn those moments into a remembrance of how far He has brought you and how He has turned your heart against sin.

I’ve done my fair share of sinning in my life. Generally, I am an open book with my friends, I don’t mind talking about the things I’ve learned and the grace God has shown my life. There is one, however, that I cannot stand to talk about if I can avoid it, and I usually can. It produces the strongest aftershock of shame in my heart and frequently I find myself praying, begging God, that I never fall subject to that particular sin again. I’m going to tell you what it is.

Superiority.

There have been moments in my life where I intentionally did not talk to someone because I thought I was better than them, or I didn’t want people to think I was friends with that type of person. I have grown annoyed at people's faults or insecurities and have counted myself better. I’ve seen bad decisions in action and been glad that “at least I’m not stupid.” I have looked down on people as though their sin is any worse than mine, I have avoided people because their quirks rubbed me the wrong way. It makes me feel wretched because I have intimate knowledge of the darkness in my heart, and I have intimate knowledge of God's beautiful light.

Philippians 2:3-8 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests, but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death- even death on a cross!”

Have you ever had a chance to see so many stars in the sky on a perfectly clear night that you could trace the thick band of the Milky Way over your head? It’s a stunner. You have to stand there and just breathe between your exclamations and sighs because what can you really say to adequately capture that kind of beauty? When I look at another person, that night sky is what I imagine. Inside their mind are the infinite possibilities of what they will say or do, what made them who they are, what their goals are, and what they might possibly be capable of. I can see your eye color, the length of your hair, I can be familiar with the shape of your face and the sound of your voice. I can know a few things about you, we can share some memories, but the reach and depth of who you are extends beyond the possibility of total comprehension. At the very least, this kind of craftsmanship by God the Creator, must be respected. And in its design, this delicate and vital work by the hand of God is essential to our growth as a people.

It's easy to chalk our annoyances up to sin. It’s easy to say “what it really is, is that she is selfish.” Or “I just don’t know how to interact with people who are so close minded.” Or “They dislike/hate me, why should I make an effort with them?” Popular advice supports most of this; protect yourself, don’t give to people who won’t give back, don’t engage with people you know you can’t win over. And this can seem like wisdom. Except…

Christ Jesus was God, and He humbled Himself to become a man, He valued the lowly, He reached toward sinners, He held out hands to the difficult personalities and made them an intimate part of His life. He washed feet and He healed the wounds inflicted by those who were too immature to sort out when was a good time for a fight.

There is no, absolutely no discrimination when it comes to who is more deserving of our time. I’ll tell you how you know when to give yourself and when to stop. This two-part rule; are they human? Are they in your vicinity? I’m not saying, seek out people who annoy you. No one has to do that, they exist in our world and if you need an ego pop; you are someone else’s annoying person. Just embrace it, there’s probably nothing you can do about that. But there are people everywhere who need to be loved as they are, welcomed in with sins and quirks and little habits that have you squirming.

Christ who is God, became lower than that, He became a man in order to welcome all to Himself. If the goal is to become more Christ like, then we must welcome all. We must humble ourselves and be sacrificial with our time, our ego, our pride. Can you talk with someone who is openly racist? Jesus did. Can you be seen talking with people that all of society has ostracized? Jesus did. Can you spend time with people that you feel like should be spiritually mature by now but aren’t? Jesus did, and He still does. I am so glad that He does. Where would I be without His loving embrace?