Cascade Community Church
Our Pastor
Pastor Karl Selman has 35 plus years of experience in active Christian ministry. He was ordained in 1968, was the Associate Pastor of two churches and Pastor of a third church prior to accepting the call to Pastor our church in 1981.
A
Word from Our Pastor
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I pray that each of you had a very good summer with all the outdoor activities, picnics and fun that summer brings. It is so nice to enjoy our gardens and all the beauty of nature. I hope that each of you had a very happy Thanksgiving day filled with all the good home cooking and time spent with family and loved ones, as we all stop to give thanks to God for all the wonderful blessings bestowed upon each of us. As we enter this Season of Advent I pray that each will begin to prepare our hearts to celebrate the birth of the Christ Child, our Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ. This is always such a joyous time of the year with all the beautiful decorations, celebrations, parties, and sharing of gifts with those we love and care about. I pray that we will all take a little time out to think about the real reason we celebrate Christmas and give him the honor and respect He deserves for everything He has done and continues to do for each of every single day of our lives.
This has been a very special year in the history of our nation. Our nation made history by electing our first African American President. Finally, the majority of our people decided to make a change from the divisive politics we have had to endure for far too long. It's so refreshing to have leaders who respect ALL of our citizens and actually believe that ALL of us deserve the same rights and privileges as stated by the founding Father's in our Constitution. Finally, we are now ALL included in the new Hate Crime's Legislation passed by Congress and signed into law by our President. Again finally, after so many years and attempts, The Ryan White Act has been passed and signed into law by our President. Two major milestones but so many more to go in the next few years. It's even possible we might even get healthcare for all of us after 68 years of failed attempts by so many of our elected leaders. It's been so sad for so long to see so many of our elected leaders attempt to divert our attention away from the real issues that effect our every day lives by using their divisive and sometimes very hateful political tactics to keep us unfocused and divided. Although we still see the same hateful type of people spewing the same hateful speech, it appears that most of us have gotten wise to their real motives. And just as the religious fanatics which attacked our nation and have caused so much pain and misery here and around the world have used God as a reason for their evil deeds, these same politicians try to invoke God in their speeches of hate and even on a few occasions encouraging violence right here in the USA. It's very sad and shameful but for many people it still seems to resign ate and work.
It was so sad and shameful when certain people began to question the legitamentcy our President's birth records, even though they have been in the public domain long before he was elected. These hateful and disrespectful people, I believe, knowingly and willfully helped fuel the fires of hatred in our nation to the point that we actually began to hear some of those among us who profess to know God and represent Jesus Christ go on nation television and make evil statements suggesting that it would be in their opinion alright in God's eyes to assassinate our President. I was shocked beyond belief when I heard a so called minister of the Gospel say that in his opinion that God would not consider it a sin if someone were to kill the President. In many cases these are the same people who fight and argue to have the Ten Commandments posted in government buildings but they themselves have no intention of keeping the very Law they profess to believe in. I have heard them attempt to explain their reasoning by changing the wording to say that the commandment says Thou Shall not Murder rather than Thou Shall not Kill, as if that is somehow different. Taking the life of another living person is wrong period. That cannot be changed by mortal men of any faith or religion. Jesus lived and died for all people to have redemption and it is never right to take the life of another one of God's children. Most of these people are very vocal when it comes to ending the life of an unborn child in the womb but when it comes to a living, breathing, walking, and talking human being they seem to have a different set of values. Without the support of the Christian community Hitler would have never been able to gain control of Germany and without the support of the Christian community here in the USA the war in Iraq would have never been launched and all the thousands of lives would have not been sacrificed for a war based on unfounded and fabricated intelligence. Maybe its time for God's people to get on God's side for a change. I did read somewhere that their were actually Angels proclaiming when Christ was born "Peace on Earth and Goodwill to ALL Men."
I recently read that a group of so called Christians is in the process of re-writing the Gospel's in order to change the perception of Jesus Christ. In their opinion Christ is portrayed as week and not very macho or manly. I guess you could argue that it is better to smite ones enemies rather than love them, forgive them, and pray for them. Jesus became the greatest figure in human history because He showed us that people's lives and the world can be changed by LOVE. He dined and kept company with sinful men and women while rejecting the religious leaders self righteous indignation for their fellow men. For some strange reason many people who find God develop the affliction of self righteousness. It's as if they feel that they alone deserve to be saved but all of the rest of the world isn't good enough and should be destroyed. Jesus plainly said "I did not come here to call the righteous but rather to call sinners to repentance." Not one of us becomes a child of God because we deserve it. We are all sinners saved by God's LOVE and His GRACE. We are also called upon to share that faith with every other man and woman we meet. We hear a lot about big tents but the reality it is God's tent that is always large enough to include every man and every woman who enters the door. I hear many of these people who complain about the Gospel's portraying of Christ as week and unmanly wine and cry about how badly they are persecuted for their faith. Yet no one in authority has ever told me what to believe or what church to attend. As far as making Christ more manly and macho I'm not sure that any of us could endure the pain and suffering Christ did and as yet as he hung on the cross suffering unbearable pain and knowing he was about to die, He began to pray for the very people who arrested Him, beat Him, nailed Him to a cross, mocked Him, and were responsible for his eminent death. I'm not sure all those wining macho men who believe they are so persecuted would be able to endure all that Jesus Christ endured that day and with his last dying breath pray for the very people who put him there. That sounds like a REAL man to me. Thank God for a such a man and a Savior like Jesus Christ.
Over the years I have read articles about children all over the world who suffer and die largely unnoticed by starvation, disease, exploitation by others, the results of war and for many other reasons. When we feel the need to feel sorry for ourselves or complain it is so important for us to put everything in prospective and to look at the big picture. Two thirds of the world's population is virtually homeless, does not have running water, and live and die never having the things most of us take for granted. In some parts of the world children live in garbage dumps, some are forced to work in deplorable condition for pennies a day, and some are chased off by families who are unable to care for them or sold into slavery. If I listed all the horror stories I have read about it would fill many books and be very depressing to read but sadly these stories are all true. Some people have many homes and everything they want or desire while these autrosities continue to happen every single day. Some people blame God for the injustices that go on in the world but the reality is that it is us who are to blame. We allow these things to continue when God has called each of us to make a difference. I've often thought and said that if every Christian who attends church on Sunday would actually go out on Monday and follow the example of Jesus Christ, we would not recognize the world because the changes would be so remarkable. I pray for the day when we finally wake up and begin practicing the Gospel of Jesus Christ instead of trying to change it to suit or selfish needs and desires. Isn't that a novel idea to contemplate, actually practicing what Jesus Christ taught us.
Some people believe that we can't make a difference even if we try. The problems are to immense. The solutions too difficult to achieve. They say this world is not really our home so we don't need to even try to make it better. Well, this world is our home. It is a place God created for us and He put us in charge of His creation. It is we who have made it the way it is for better for worse. Every generation including the generation of the very first Christian church believed that Christ would return in their lifetime. That's no excuse for not doing anything here. Yes maybe Christ will return tomorrow and then again maybe it won't happen for another ten thousand years. In the mean time we are being called to make a difference. That means leaving the place better that we found it. It means taking care of the thirsty, the hungry, clothing the naked, providing homes for the homeless, taking care of the less fortunate among us, and yes loving one another as God loves us. All to often I hear people saying religion is evil because it causes us to fight and to hate one another, and to be honest in many instances now and throughout history they are right. We have the power to change that way of thinking as well. If your religion, your faith in God, or your salvation doesn't make you a more loving, caring, compassionate, forgiving, and charitable person then it has no value or serves no purpose. It's time we all stood up for the real values and principals taught by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Maybe then people will begin to see us as the true children of God and maybe then people will want to be Christians instead of atheists. In my opinion I believe that it is only then that God will say to us, "Well done good and faithful stewards."
The Apostle Paul once wrote, "If I or even an angel
from heaven bring to you any other gospel that the one delivered by Jesus
Christ, let them be cursed." In other words I believe he was trying to say to
all of us that it is the words and lessons that Jesus taught that are written in
stone. You may not like them but you can never change them. I once heard a
minister say that love alone is not enough. I think the Apostle Paul would have
disagreed with him. Paul once wrote, "If I have the ability to speak with the
tongues of men and angels and do not love others, I am only making a lot of
useless noise. If I possess all knowledge, understand all of life's mysteries,
and have the faith to move mountains but do not love others, I am nothing. If I
give all that I have to the poor and I am burned alive for preaching the gospel
but fail to love others, I have gained nothing." He goes on to write, Love is
patient, it is kind, it does not envy or boast, it is not easily angered, it is
forgiving, it does not delight in evil, it rejoices in truth, it protects,
trusts, and hopes. P
May our God and our Savior richly bless you and your family throughout this Season and advent as we prepare our hearts to celebrate the Birth of the Christ Child, our Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ. And let us always remember that God blesses us so that we can be a blessing to others. Have a very Blessed Christmas and a good and prosperous New Year!!!
Your
Pastor and Friend,
Karl