Adult Faith Formation
Still Waters: March 14, 2026
Still Waters Fellowship takes place around a good meal and the exploration of one or more of the traditional practices that can help us grow in our relationship to God. All are welcome! RSVPs are encouraged in the interest of meal planning.
Our next gathering will be on Saturday, March 14, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the home of Roger Parker. For more information or to RSVP to Roger, click on the link below.
Bible Study: Lent 2026
We meet every Wednesday at 11:15 a.m. in the church library.
Anyone is free to drop in for a taste of the joy that we share in our prayer, meditation, scripture, and Christian community.
Some new revelations concerning The Plan of God.
This is the topic for Wednesday Bible Study during Lent: From before time began God has had a plan -
that humankind will share God's life in God's Kingdom. There is such a wealth of wisdom that we can explore
and find great depth of meaning. Instead of focusing on a book of scripture for however long that book takes
we are bouncing around to find particular topics and look at scripture in a way that is new to us. There have
been many questions and challenges to explore.
Why is there sin in the world? Evil? What do Adam and Eve and their story have to do with us and
what do we learn from them? Did God create sin and evil? Is Redemption necessary? Does God punish us?
Our conversations have been brisk and loaded with thought. We have come to understand more about the
value of conversational meditation. It is all a critical tool for spiritual growth. The goal is not teaching nor
learning. It is feeding and living scripture. It is growing in faith and nurturing our lives in God.
Lenten Compline
Join us by Zoom on Tuesdays at 7:30, beginning March 3.
Compline is the service for evening and part of the Daily Office. The Office is an ancient practice of
the church and developed into our Book of Common Prayer after the Reformation. For centuries these
prayers were used in churches, monasteries, homes and by individual worshipers. There will be prayer sheets available through email for your use in compline or on
meditations during the rest of each week. The services will last about 30 minutes.
These will be times of quiet spaces and one voice will read each prayers with volunteers to pray one or
more sessions. I (Kathie) will start us off. If you would like to participate just let me know. Scripture, poetry,
anything interesting to us will be in sections broken up by the silence. One particular focus will be on the Last
Words of Christ.
For millennia Lent has been a time of renewal, penitence, self-examination, self-denial, leading to
forgiveness, redemption, and renewal in Christ. These actions work their best when in community. You will
always be welcome.
Psalm of the week for March 8: Psalm 95, Venite, exultemus (come rejoicing)
Psalm 95 and Psalm 100 were (are) an important part of my rather long life. I grew up as a member of
three generations of Episcopalians at Christ Church Episcopal in St. Joseph Missouri. It was to remain a
"morning prayer" church until the 1979 prayerbook came along. Holy Communion occurred once a month so
the family lived and thrived on the Book of Common Prayer and the service of Morning Prayer.
Psalm 95 was used so often that my sister and I learned it from the musical chant. Sometimes we
wonder about the need for chanting. From centuries ago chant was applied to text. It sounded nice - still does
- but also addressed the need for the words to be remembered. Memorizing is easier with music of some sort
instead of learning just the words. This applies to the songs in the psalms that are obviously songs of worship.
95 and 100 are good examples of this.
Made me wonder about the Hebrew chants in the Temple and later houses of worship. What would
the needs have been and how might a liturgy have come about?. Look at the very first line of 95. "Come let us
sing to the Lord, let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation." How the people must have loved to praise
God in this way. Think about some church music that you have remembered for a long time and why it stuck
with you. We can enjoy 95 for itself alone but we also can ponder what we hear about God, The Lord, the
Rock. Think about verses 3 to 5. Why are they included in this text. What is the great shift at verses 8 - 11.
One of the tricky parts of scripture.
Challenge yourself to think about 8-11 and why they ended up here.
Remember the musical joy as you go through your week. And be blessed. KS