Help Us Help Others–Firefly, Homeless and You!
As you likely have heard, we have been working behind the scenes to help the homeless in this area by partnering with the people who put on Firefly. We need volunteers to help us collect and process materials donated and left behind after Firefly.
To sign up, go here. Also, if your business might be interested in donating services or sending volunteers, let us know! We have local businesses donating trucks, laundering donated goods (need more help here!), etc. There is a private Facebook event to keep up with things. Message Jeff and he’ll connect you to that event.
For more information about the project, click here.
How long to sing this song? -Bono and Eugene Peterson Talk about the Psalms
“How long to sing this song?”
These lyrics from the 1983 song “40” animated the deepest groanings of a generation—or two!—through the music of the band U2. I (Kara) have actually sung these lyrics live with Bono (well, along with the 40,000 other fans at the same U2 concert in the late ’80s). The words resonate so deeply because they speak authentically about human experience.
Pain.
Loss.
Questioning God.
Questioning life.
The words are directly from Psalm 40, one of the many lament psalms that articulate these questions and cries in expressions that translate across centuries. Except when the words and phrases leave us even more confused.
Eugene Peterson describes reading the psalms as a 12-year-old boy and being utterly perplexed by the language. But through the psalms he was introduced to the power of metaphor, and ultimately, the psalms “showed me that imagination was a way to get inside the truth.” Pairing that imagination with biblical scholarship, eventually Peterson rephrased the psalms—and then the rest of the Bible—into modern language in The Message translation.
The Message translation deeply moved Bono and U2 in the early 2000s, and when Peterson found out about this, his first response was, “Who’s Bono?”
(from a recent email newsletter I receive from the Fuller Youth Institute)
The school I (Jeff) went to, Fuller, works a lot with the intersection of faith and pop culture. They recently produced a short film on Bono meeting Eugene Peterson, the translator responsible for The Message. Perhaps because I am part of the men’s group at Deep Water Church that is studying the psalms…or perhaps because of my love for where culture intersects the world……or perhaps because of the course I taught on the Psalms in Ethiopia last Fall…or perhaps all those reasons, I found the video interesting. It’s a little over 20 minutes, but it may be of interest to some of you. Enjoy!
Check-in and do Good! #love4moms
This May, in honor of Mothers Day (Sunday, May 8), you can provide meals for children in need by checking in on Facebook at Deep Water Church. Every 5 check-ins = 1 day of food for a mother and child. We’ve partnered with Reach and Compassion International to make this opportunity possible. So, check in and do good!
Clown College & Dover Days 2016 (May 6-8)
Part of what makes us who we are as a church is the desire to be connected and part of the community outside of the space we meet weekly. As a church we encourage people to be actively involved in the community and take part in the many festivals in and around Dover.
Dover Days will be celebrated May 6-8, 2015. The event is the largest in Kent County and drew more than 50,000 people last year. A blend of traditions and modern attractions, celebrates First State history.
The Bible is an App
There have been some changes in the way we connect to this on Sunday mornings. If you want to connect to the notes and verses we use each week, download the app and then click on “more” and then “events” to access our notes each week. And if you’re not sure how to do it, simply ask and we’ll show you!
You’ll also find some great reading plans if you want to read the Bible but aren’t sure where to start!