Claresholm Church of the Nazarene

06/04/2026

TOMORROW!!

06/04/2026

Extravagance!
While we were recently relaxing on a cruise ship in the Baltic and North Seas, the word “Extravagance” kept popping into our minds.
The ship we were sailing on was filled with beautiful works of art. The stewards who were assigned to our “stateroom” were very attentive and took good care of all of our needs. The meals were all over-the-top in variety and presentation.
Everything was done with the intent to make the guests feel pampered and extra special. And it worked! We felt like a lot of extra effort had been put in to do everything that could be done to make the cruise a memorable experience for everyone on board.
Extravagance – “lack of restraint”…“excessive elaborateness”.
God’s love for us is often described as “extravagant”. And it is. God has poured out His love in so many ways all around us and He continues to pour it out. His purpose in smothering us in His love is to capture our hearts and draw us to Himself. Everything He does is to make us feel loved and valued.
In return, He asks us to worship Him only. Extravagant worship is modeled for us in the Bible in two acts in particular:
1. The pouring of Alabaster perfume on Jesus’ feet
2. King David dancing before the Lord
We wonder what it would look like for all of us to enter into “extravagant” (excessive, elaborate, unrestrained) worship?

Pastor Walter and Marilyn

04/24/2026

04/24/2026

When God is Silent
When we are hurting or feeling alone, we want to see or hear some obvious message from someone who cares. But that doesn’t always happen.
Sometimes, we are faced with silence. Emptiness. Nothing. We feel like we could call out into the darkness forever and never find any answers or help at all.
If you feel like that today, you’re not alone. King David felt like that many times and recorded many of his thoughts in the book of Psalms in the Bible.
God didn’t always answer David right away, and we can’t expect Him to always answer us. But He always hears. He always listens. And He will eventually answer.
Sometimes, the biggest revelations, the brightest news and the most exciting announcements come after God’s silence. Think about what happened after God whispered to Elijah on Mount Horeb? (1 Kings 19:12) God fed and strengthened Elijah, ministering to him in his need. And what about the 400 years of silence between the Old and New Testaments – Jesus was born!
God was silent through Job’s suffering and through young David’s desperate run through the wilderness to escape from King Saul. But God was not absent. He was there with them.
When you feel alone and you wonder where God is, don’t despair. He is right there with you. In time, He will bring about the very thing you need most.

Pastor Walter and Marilyn

04/15/2026

Be Still…
We stood beside the bunk beds where 2 of our grandsons had just been tucked in and were finally sleeping peacefully. Only a short time ago, they were running around the house causing happy noise and chaos as only 2 pre-school boys can do.
Now, they were lying so still. So peaceful. So relaxed. Not a worry, not a care. They were STILL.
I wonder what God thinks when He is watching us running around and causing all of our noise and chaos in the world. Sometimes the things we do are happy – sometimes, not so much. But I wonder if He looks down on our sleeping figures sometimes and breathes a sigh, wishing that we would stop more often and just be STILL. Stop worrying. Stop fretting. Stop trying so hard all on our own.
I wonder if God stops beside us when we are praying quietly and just savors the moments of peace and quiet as He holds us in His heart and breathes in the scent of our humanness.
Our 5-year-old grandson recently told us that he hates naps. He said it with an exclamation mark and emphasized the word, “hate”! Many of us hate taking spiritual naps too, don’t we? We hate to let go of all of the things we think we can fix or improve. We don’t trust God to take care of things while we relax for a few minutes.
Maybe it’s time to stop for a moment, close your eyes and relax. Maybe we need to practice being still.

“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10
Pastor Walter and Marilyn

04/13/2026

What if…?
What if the resurrection of Jesus did not happen? What if it was all a myth or a legend? What if Jesus had lived and died and …that was the end?
Where would that leave us, as Christians? Where would that leave the whole world?
We teach that the death and resurrection of Christ is what has brought forgiveness of our sins. We teach that our hope, in this life and in the life to come, rests solely in the fact that Jesus came back to life.
But PRAISE GOD, Christ rose from the dead and we now have the assurance of a second life – a spiritual life – a holy, redeemed life with God.
Because Christ conquered death, we know that we, too, will rise again and live forever. This gives us such an amazing hope even when things are going wrong. Even when everything falls apart. That is what Easter is all about – when the bad gets ugly and the going gets tough…God has overcome and we know that He has already won!
With the Apostle Paul, we can rejoice and cry out, “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?...thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 15:54-57

Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed!
Pastor Walter and Marilyn

03/27/2026

This Friday, March 27, 2026 - Join us for our Irish Coffeehouse at 7:00 pm.