Sunday Morning, December 6

From Jesse:

Hey everybody, thought I'd send out a quick message plenty ahead of time that the Water's Edge meeting will be at the Mayes' house this Sunday starting 'round 10 am.  Hope to have you all there, directions to our place plus address can be found below.  God's blessing on your week!

 

1741 Vinecroft St NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49544

 

Directions from Jenison

Directions from Hudsonville

Direcitons from Zeeland

Directions from Holland

Sunday Night - Nov. 8 - GATHERING PLACE CHANGE!!!

Water's Edge & Friends,

Given the amazing weather, we are gathering outside at the home of the Buist family tonight...
3275 Bauer Road, Jenison 49428
The yellow farm house on the north side of the road...
... take a lawn chair too... worship outside around the fire...

a bit of helpful trivia

Apologetics Press :: Bible Bullets Here I Raise My Ebenezer! by Kyle Butt, M.A. Many of us have grown up going to worship services where we sang age-old songs that were brought down to us from many years ago. In those songs, we often sing words or phrases that might not retain a popularly understood sentiment. Yet, even though we might not understand what we are singing, that has not stopped many of us from following the song leader through misunderstood stanzas of our old favorites. One of the phrases that is of particular interest comes from the song O, Thou Fount of Every Blessing. The lyrics of this song (which originally was titled Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing) were written by Robert Robinson in 1758. The second verse of the song begins with these words: “Here I raise my Ebenezer.” If you are like many who have sung this song, the word “Ebenezer” immediately brings to your mind visions of old Ebenezer Scrooge from Dickens’ Christmas Carol, screaming at Bob Cratchet to conserve coal and get to work. Yet, we all know that is not the idea behind this song. Where, then, does the term Ebenezer originate, and what does it mean? In 1 Samuel 7, the prophet Samuel and the Israelites found themselves under attack by the Philistines. Fearing for their lives, the Israelites begged Samuel to pray for them in their impending battle against the Philistines. Samuel offered a sacrifice to God and prayed for His protection. God listened to Samuel, causing the Philistines to lose the battle and retreat back to their own territory. After the Israelite victory, the Bible records: “Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, ‘Thus far the Lord has helped us’ ” (1 Samuel 7:12). The word Ebenezer comes from the Hebrew words ’Eben hà-ezer (eh’-ben haw-e’-zer),which simply mean “stone of help” (see Enhanced…, 1995). When Robinson wrote his lyrics, he followed the word Ebenezer with the phrase, “Here by Thy great help I’ve come.” An Ebenezer, then, is simply a monumental stone set up to signify the great help that God granted the one raising the stone. In Robinson’s poem, it figuratively meant that the writer—and all who subsequently sing the song—acknowledge God’s bountiful blessings and help in their lives. The next time you sing about raising your Ebenezer, you will be able to “sing with the understanding” that you are acknowledging God’s help in your life (1 Corinthians 14:15).

Shane Claiborne in West Michigan - Nov. 15 & 16

ENGAGE IN COMMUNITY: ENGAGE IN THE WORLD

SHANE CLAIBORNE

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2009 AT THE GATHERING AT HOPE COLLEGE'S DIMNENT CHAPEL

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2009 AT JOURNEY, WESTERN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

Presenter - Shane Claiborne

With tears and laughter, Shane Claiborne unveils the tragic messes we’ve made of our world and the tangible hope that another world is possible. Shane graduated from Eastern University, and did graduate work at Princeton Seminary. His ministry experience is varied, from a 10-week stint working alongside Mother Teresa in Calcutta, to a year spent serving a wealthy mega-congregation at Willow Creek Community Church outside Chicago. Shane is the founding partner of The Simple Way, a faith community in inner city Philadelphia that has helped to birth and connect radical faith communities around the world. Shane writes and travels extensively speaking about peacemaking, social justice, and Jesus. He is featured in the DVD series Another World Is Possible and is the author of the several books including The Irresistible Revolution, Jesus for President, and Becoming the Answer to Our Prayers.

Schedule for Shane's Visit

Sunday, November 15 in Dimnent Chapel at The Gathering - 8 pm

Incarnational Theology: The Call to Live Within the Reign of God

Monday, November 16 in Semelink Hall at Western Seminary
10:30 am: Resurrecting Church - With ancient stories of the early Christians and contemporary stories of ordinary radicals, Shane will invite us to re-imagine what it means to be the Body of Christ alive in the world.

1 pm: Another Way of Doing Life - Christians are meant to be radical nonconformists, interrupting the patterns of our world with prophetic imagination. The Kingdom of God is something we are to bring on earth as it is in heaven.

3 pm: Jesus for President - Discover new ways one can provoke the Christian political imagination.

7 pm: The Scandal of Grace - With new eyes can we look at people we don’t even like and see the one we Love? Shane will invite us to reflect on the scandal of God’s inclusive love...in a world that is starved for grace.

Registration Information

Sunday evening Shane is speaking at the Hope College Gathering and this event is open to the public.

Monday's four session REQUIRE PRE-REGISTRATION. The cost for each session is $15 or a total of $60 for all four. REGISTER ONLINE!

Sunday, Sept. 13 -- gathering(s)

Water's Edge Gang & Friends of Jon & Rhys,

This Sunday, at 5:30 p.m., some of us are gathering to help clean the house that Jon & Rhys will be living in for a while prior to their own home.

IT NEEDS A CLEANING! So, take yourself, your rags, your cleaning supplies, mops, vacuums, and show up.

The house is at:
247 W. 10th Street
Holland, MI 49423

We'll clean until about 7:00/7:30 p.m., and then we'll order and/or go for pizza somewhere. Kids welcome as we'll give them tasks or take them to the park.

For Water's Edge people: This replaces our Sunday night gathering at the space. The video series WILL continue this week beginning at 3:30 p.m. and concluding by 5 p.m.

For questions, please give me a call.

Blessings,

Randy

big newz

Water's Edge Family,

Since Jon has no internet, he asked me to pass along the news... what news?

As of today, he is engaged!
And, as of today, his offer on the fixer-up house was accepted.

Those two things should put a smile on your face!
Grace & Peace

Serve - burger bash

Jerry wins "best flame 2009"

Jesse's Cacophony

Ok, here's the post to the new blog. Enjoy~
http://jessescacophony.blogspot.com/

Jesse's Journey (aka, Rambling Cacophony)

Hey everybody. This summer I have been motivated to undertake a most-excellent journey to read through my Bible, a task I've never seriously untaken. Reasons being: (1) I always learn best when discussing with other people rather than trying it out on my own (2) I never know where to start (3) just plain laziness and complacency.
I'm hoping that whoever reads this post will be mostivated to journey along with me through this process because of reason #1. Before the printing press, the Bible was never read alone but was always read en masse, which helped keep people accountable, created discussion, and let the Holy Spirit move as He saw fit. So, for those of you reading, please keep track of me, keep me accountable, and make sure I'm not misinterpreting the scriptures by going off on really irrelevent tangents.
Be forewarned: I really enjoy writing and tend to be long winded. And since this is a task I will try to undertake over the summer, I will probably do a dozen chapters at a time until I get to really meaty scripture like the Gospels and some of Paul's letters.
Anyway, I will post the link to the blog soon. Please help me along in this task and help me to remember to let this increase my joy and understanding. God bless!

Easter Morning!

10 a.m. Easter Morning @ the space... bagels provided... show up for worship & thanksgiving!

Palm Sunday

Next Sunday, the 5th of April, is Palm Sunday! Since it is the first Sunday of the month, we’ll be meeting in the morning.

Let’s plan on meeting at our home instead of the space. We’ll focus on Lent and Easter for the next couple of weeks. We’ll begin the morning with breakfast as usual.

Our address:
3275 Bauer Road
Jenison MI 49428
~ Yellow farmhouse on the north side of the road

Hopefully the pansies will be hanging out too!

sunday night, march 29 - w.e. gathering info.

Jon invited you to "Spring Concert" tomorrow.
Event: Spring Concert
"Come see Jon's band!!"
What: Concert
Host: Jon Myers
Start Time: Tomorrow, March 29 at 5:00pm End Time: Tomorrow, March 29 at 8:00pm
Where: Ridge Point Moran Park (former Immanuel Baptist)
To see more details and RSVP, follow the link below:
http://www.facebook.com/n/?event.php&eid=79429761624&mid=379ebcG27783935G21e1ecfG7
Thanks,
Jon

Valentine Baby

Natalie Evangeline McClure was born on St. Valentine's Day at 11:23pm. She weighed in at a whopping 6 lbs. 14 oz., and 18 inches.

Thank you to all of you for your support, encouragement and generosity throughout the last nine months. Talk to you soon, Joel and Torie

engage the kingdom at the margins...

Since a few of us from water's edge are involved with this project, I thought it would be good to post here too.

Join us for a night of wine tasting and fundraising for people living in poverty in rural Kenya. Click here for more info regarding this March 20 event!