Category Archives: Ministry

Lent at Beloved

 


Dear Beloved:

Will you submit a Lenten Reflection?
We send out a daily writing by our Beloveds during Lent, and they are as varied as are our Beloveds. There are no rules or boundaries on the kind of thing you can write – just something that you’ve been pondering, wondering about, something that inspires you, gives you hope or keeps you going.

Some people write poems, letters, songs, reflections on the daily scripture or a favorite scripture, or share a story of how they have experienced the presence of God in the heights or depths or ordinariness of their days. Click here for the daily lectionary.

We would love to hear from each of you during the 40 days of Lent (Feb. 10th-March 24th).

Please let Palmer Maxwell know what day (or days) you would like to write, and send what you have written, created or found. He will take it from there. It will be such a blessing to hear your voice among the choir of Lenten Reflections!

Please sign up here to receive the Lenten Reflection daily via email.

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What’s Ahead for Beloved: 2016 Ministry + Mission

Dear Beloveds,

Last night we said farewell to our Beloved pastor Angie Wright, and we are so thankful for all of you who were able to be there with us. For those of you who missed it, we will be sharing the video soon.

We will have the following guest preachers over the next month. We hope to see your face, hear your voice and give you a warm embrace!

Sunday, January 17th: Jennifer Sanders preaching
Sunday, January 24th: Sally Harris preaching
Sunday, January 31st: Leah Clements preaching

 

The ministries and work of the church are still run by lay leadership including church council and care team. The church and its people will continue our mission while the search committee goes about its business of finding a new pastor.

Below, we have listed 3 ministry opportunities at Beloved: Care Team, Family Promise and Brown Bag ministry. These opportunities span every day of the week and most hours of the day – so everyone should be able to find some hours in the week that might work for you. With the upcoming Martin Luther King Day of Service, this week is a great time to connect and commit yourself to some of these opportunities.

Continue reading What’s Ahead for Beloved: 2016 Ministry + Mission

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Yoga for Recovery, now at Beloved

Yoga for Recovery

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A charge to our neighbor, Rev. Paul Eknes-Tucker

The following was Rev. Angie’s charge to Rev. Paul Eknes-Tucker, the new pastor at our sister church Pilgrim UCC, on the occasion of his installation service Sunday, October 4th, 2015 in Birmingham, Alabama.

I charge you to love wastefully.

Cast seeds of love everywhere

Without thought of where they land,

Without worry about whether

Under the dark earth

They are beginning to sprout

Or whether they will bear fruit.

 

It is not your job to bring fruit from a seed,

That is God’s work.

 

Your work is to sow the seeds

Of wanton, prodigal love

In the hearts of your people

And to remember that

All people

are your people.

Continue reading A charge to our neighbor, Rev. Paul Eknes-Tucker

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Family Promise volunteers needed October 4th-6th

Sunday, October 4th through Tuesday, October 6th, we need volunteers to help us host homeless families at Baptist Church of the Covenant (2117 University Boulevard).

Volunteers are needed to stay overnight from 7 pm-7 am (a twin bed will be provided in a private room; you only need to bring bedding). You will be able to socialize with the guest families who are staying at the church and make sure they have what they need.

Volunteers are also needed to provide dinners, breakfast foods and sack lunch ingredients.

Beloved supports this ministry by partnering with Baptist Church of the Covenant four times a year. Family Promise is unique because it is a network of churches offering up their buildings for homeless families to stay together. It is one of very few programs that can accommodate entire families without splitting them up. Family Promise also provides a case manager to help families get back to stable housing.

Contact Linn Groft to volunteer!

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Arise annual meeting Saturday, September 12th in Montgomery

Alabama Arise is our featured ministry for the month of September. Arise is a coalition of groups across the state advocating for low-income people at the state legislature. Rev. Angie was a co-founder of Arise in the late 80’s, and since then, Arise has won victories on tax fairness and tenant-landlord rights.

Some issues that Arise has been working on this year include:

-protecting and expanding Medicaid to provide healthcare for all low-income Alabamians

-funding for affordable housing, education and public transit

-protecting borrowers from predatory payday and title loans

As a member group, Beloved can send up to 6 voting representatives to the Arise annual meeting in Montgomery to help decide on our issues and strategy for the coming year.

The meeting will be held Saturday, September 12th, from 10 am – 3 pm at Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Montgomery.

Click here to RSVP and talk to Robyn about carpooling!

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Reflections on Beloved’s 12th Year

Dear Beloveds,

In the last year, we have been transformed by abrupt changes in the world around us.  First, tornados blasted through our lives on April 27.  Immediately we struck out to the homes of our members, and to the homes of strangers, helping to remove debris and to listen to the stories of loss and mystery. In the aftermath, we discovered that we were not alone in responding – sister UCC churches from around the country have come to live with us, a week at a time, to work in the driving Alabama sun, rebuilding homes for those who lost their homes.  They, and we, and the lives of people whose homes are being rebuilt, are being transformed.

Many of us have been transformed by a different kind of disaster, Alabama’s immigration law, HB 56, which passed the Alabama legislature days after the April 27 tornadoes. We stepped out of our known world and entered into the lives of people affected the law, and we have been changed. We have had potluck suppers with young people and their parents who brought them here as infants. We have hosted many planning sessions for those opposing the laws. We have joined hands at vigils and rallies with other faith communities around the state standing against any law that dehumanizes our brothers and sisters. A number of us did different kinds of work, but I would say that it has been the relationships that were most transformative.

And now as we look around us, we see that our community is being transformed. When we held our first worship service in 2000, every building around us was in shambles. It looked like downtown Baghdad. We were warned that buying a building in Avondale was a bad investment; the value could only go down. Many people were afraid to come to Avondale for church, and to be honest, on a dark night it did seem quite scary. We renovated our dilapidated “little building” next door, now named the Brown Building after Beloved Marty Brown, which was one step in transformation of the neighborhood. Now there are new businesses popping up all around us! We took a chance on Avondale because there was a place for everybody here. Part of our work, as people of faith called to care for the least of these, is to help ensure that there will still be a place for everyone, as the process of transformation unfolds.

There were many other transformational moments in the last year, some I know about and many that I don’t.  Our Spoken Word events are always the best thing happening in Birmingham (possibly short of worship on Sunday nights!) Watching our beautiful children grow. The way that you take care of one another. The joy you take in feeding the hungry and housing homeless families. The way we can feel our spirits rise when we sing with our Beloved Community Orchestra, or listen to LeNard and David sing ‘Guide My Steps.’

Transformation is what the Spirit of God does.  We don’t get to decide when, or how, or what it will look like. We just open our minds.  We open our hearts. We open our doors. And invite the Spirit to do with us as the Spirit will.  That’s what we have done for 12 years. I know I have been transformed, and am ready for more. What about you?

-Rev. Angie Wright

Summer 2012

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