Adult Faith Formation
Still Waters: June 20, 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, June 20, 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: Spring 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.
Psalm of the week for Easter, May 3 ~ Psalm 31: In te, Domine, speravi (In you, Lord, I can place your trust)
We have moods. Everybody does. Even the folks from a few millennia ago. A rare few were
called psalmists and provided prayers that inspired Judaism and Christianity. One book of the Bible became
The Psalms also called The Psaltary. We, the "wees" of the present are also the "wees" of the past and baring
anything catastrophic will also be the "wees" of the future. We are faced with contemporary miseries that we
won't take time to list them.The psalms contain all of the topics jof the Psalms. The expressions are universal
in nature. Each psalm - which should be prayed/read daily, but not all at once. And now we read psalm 31 with
verses 1 - 5 and verses 15-16. We evidently fall into despair and then rise up to acknowledge the goodness of
God.
In the first 5 verses the narrator - or psalmist - expresses the comfort, aid, mercy, etc that
make up for the miseries written in verses 6 through 13. you will notice that 6 through 13 are not included in
the daily psalm reading from May 3. This is not unusual and means that the tone/subject of certain verses don't
quite fit with the rest. We then return to verses 15-16 read together. verses 17 through 24 - the end of the
psalm of the day return to those of comfort with a combination of "misery" with "mercy".
Notice the following (best if you read all of the verses):
The tools which God uses to be of help to the psalmist.
A catalogue of all of the miseries. Think about the mercies that may have fallen on you.
What help from God were you given. Were these the result of prayer of a cosmic
surprise?
What may be said about the psalmist in his community?
Look at all of the metaphors that the psalmist supplies to help us understand.
Think about the signs of actions of those without mercy.
Hear how the psalmist speaks to the Lord.
May your week be a fine one.
KS