The Water's Edge

Here is next Sunday's column, a little early. I'm leading a camp for kids this week and had a little time this morning.

Last Sunday night, a woman in our membership class, H2O, asked me where we got our name, The Water’s Edge. I was grateful she asked the question because, in the busyness of life and ministry, I need a reminder of why we exist.

Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. He taught them many things. –Mark 4:1-2

As chapter 4 continues, Jesus taught and challenged the people gathered at The Water’s Edge. Next, he sent the people out into their community to live out his teachings. Finally, he calmed the storm in the lives 

The vision is to be a Mark 4 community. It begins with Jesus and his teachings. The dream is to have an overflowing group of people gathering weekly at The Water’s Edge to hear the teachings of Jesus. Community is experienced. We share our lives together. We laugh and pray and learn together. The teachings are relevant to our lives and they challenge us. When applied to our lives, the teachings make us better. Then we are sent out into the world and because we are getting better the world will be better. And, for those times when the world doesn’t make sense or our lives don’t quite make sense, Jesus calmed the storm. He offers peace when the world is not able to.

I left worship Sunday morning excited about how this vision is becoming a reality. People came early and stayed late. We ate together and shared with each other. We watched all the elementary kids singing songs about God’s love for them and their love for God. I don’t know if it’s possible to convince me of a more beautiful thing. Then we heard stories from high school students about how they served the elderly and the poor. That is beautiful too. We heard the teachings of Jesus that we are to be influencers in our communities. We prayed for one of our own who is having a mass removed from her brain this week. People stood in line and signed a card for her. I delivered that card to her this morning. Her eyes welled up. I could sense Jesus was calming a storm. And then the gathered people were sent into the community to love others, to offer hope, and to invite others to follow Jesus.

The dream for The Water’s Edge is that we experience community because life is best lived in the presence of others. The dream is that we are challenged when we need to be challenged and that we are comforted when we need to be comforted. The dream is God changes our world and the world one live at a time. I have enjoyed and I look forward to taking this journey with you.

The best is yet to come…

Craig