Making Waves

Welcome back to another week here at Making Waves! Today we are continuing into our third part of the /strive/ series. For any of you who may be joining us for the first time in this series, here’s a brief summary. In the first week, we studied the key passage of the 46 th Psalm, in which the poet states, “Be still and know that I am God.” We found that “being still” had been translated in certain circumstances to the phrase “cease striving.” We discussed what that meant and acknowledged that we are a striving people. Last week, we talked about the second part of the phrase in which the poet encourages us to KNOW God. We talked about prayer and about cementing our relationship with God by knowing who He is and saying no to things that would put God lower on our personal totem poles. This week we are going to talk about what naturally happens next in this process of ceasing our striving. But, before we get too deep into that, let’s dive into the Word. “35  On that day, when even

Welcome back to another week of Making Waves! I’m so glad that you are joining us as we move into Part 2 of our new series: /strive/. For any of you who joined us last week, we discussed how the famous passage of Psalm 46 (be still and know that I am God) meant a much deeper meaning than just simple meditation. We talked about our striving in our lives. This week, we are talking about the next part of the phrase. If the first part is to “cease striving,” then what does it mean to “know that I am God?” Before we dive into the meaning of that and how it may rock our world, let’s dive into the Word. This week, we will be reading from the Gospel of Mark, once again from the NRSV. “ 29  As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.  30  Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once.  31  He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve the

I am just coming home from being in old hometown in Advance; yesterday was my bachelor party for my upcoming wedding here at the end of the month. Nothing shady happened, I assure you, the more that you get to know me the more you’ll realize that I am just an 8-year-old at heart. So, to assuage that 8-year-old, we played outdoor Laser Tag. So, some people go to Vegas, others go to a full out Star Wars laser war. So, last Sunday we concluded our four-week study on Methodism, and this week we are getting started on another series called /strive/. The root of this series came from my personal Bible study this week. I was reading Psalm 46 and came upon one of my favorite verses, “Be still and know that I am God.” I knew I wanted to do my next series on being still… especially after this time of pain and turmoil in the nation. But I was curious as to what other theologians might translate this verse into in different versions. It was the “be still” that had me perplexed. It so

Good morning! I hope that everyone had a wonderful Independence Day and a safe weekend. I was very fortunate to get to spend the time with my fiancée and sister and brother-in-law. No matter how you may have spent the day, it's important to keep a thankful heart on the day where we celebrate our independence, a day that symbolizes the sacrifice of countless men and women that came before us, and we give thanks for the freedom we are so fortunate to have. Although, sometimes, this holiday can seem to divulge into an honorary time for Walmart shopping, barbecue grilling and sun tanning, this time ultimately comes back to one true purpose: camaraderie. It’s a time to grab the hand of our neighbor and celebrate the community we have created in this nation. Community is not only important to the ‘Merican in us, but also to the Christ in all of us. If you’ve been with us these past several weeks, we have been diving deep into our Methodist heritage and discovering just exactly wha