All posts by Our Beloved
Gospel Night at Beloved Saturday, May 2nd
Lenten Reflection from Carolyn Foster: A Prayer of Thanksgiving for Those Who Marched
Gracious God, our hearts are filled with gratitude for the six hundred strong, the men and women who, as one in your Spirit, marched for freedom on Bloody Sunday.
Their way of courage and non-violence remains alive and inspires us to follow them. In our mind’s eye, as we remember their witness, guide us in their footsteps as we march on to a future where all your children will flourish together in your love.
Amen.
A Litany for Racial Reconciliation
Lenten Reflection: Let Your Light Shine
JOHN 5:30-44
30“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me.
31“If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. 32There is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that his testimony to me is true. Continue reading Lenten Reflection: Let Your Light Shine
Lenten Reflection: judge not
“Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, when you judge others; for in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things.
You say, ‘We know that God’s judgment on those who do such things is in accordance with truth.’ Do you imagine, whoever you are, that when you judge those who do such things and yet do them yourself, you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience?
Continue reading Lenten Reflection: judge not
Reading Changes Lives: Join us in the UCC One Read
This fall, we’re reading the book Hotdogs & Hamburgers as part of the UCC One Read. This great book highlights the issue of adult illiteracy and the church’s response to our neighbors who are struggling to read. We’re joining with our fellow UCC congregations to help through tutoring, advocacy, and being more involved in local schools.
Join us Wednesday nights at 7 for our Bible study to discuss the book with us!
Here is what Beloveds have to say about the book so far:
Continue reading Reading Changes Lives: Join us in the UCC One Read
Feature on Beloved in Birmingham Magazine
“I believed there was a hunger for a church where people could come together across race and economic and religious backgrounds, a place where they all could be told they were precious in the eyes of God…There are not many churches where you’ll have a doctor sitting next to a homeless person sitting next to a college professor sitting next to a schizophrenic.”
Birmingham Magazine wrote a feature on Beloved Community Church. Check it out here!
Lenten reflection from Emily Hill Barrett
Several years ago I was face down on the floor. I had heard of people being brought to their knees by life…and I was prostrate. I lived a good life on the outside, had all of the “trappings” a middle class life could provide, a loving supportive husband, 3 amazing children… yet, here I was crying with my nose to the floor boards, calling out to God, “what is wrong with me????”
What I heard when I finally stopped crying out and drowning out what the Holy Spirit was trying to say, was “Be still and know that I am God”, “be still and know”, “be still”, “be”. At that moment I just stopped hollering at God and just “was”.
I wish I could say all my problems within my heart, mind and soul, just disappeared, but I can’t. Life got harder and changes developed…..but within it all, I didn’t find myself prostrate on the floor again. When I felt the horrible anxieties bubbling up inside me, I made myself sit still…” Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10), and He is ultimately in control. THAT I can live with and count on.
-Emily Hill Barrett
Lenten reflection from Fisher Humphries
“Rejoice in hope…rejoice with those who rejoice.
Weep with those who weep. Romans 12:12,15
It easy to find ways to love people when their lives are desperate, but how do you love people when their lives are going along pretty well? A good place to start is to pay attention to them.
When you care for people, you join them in what they are experiencing. If they are happy because their child is doing well in school, you join them in their happiness. If they are worried because their child is acting sullen and alienated, you join them in their worry. You rejoice with those who rejoice, and you weep with those who weep.
We need this counsel because sometimes we seem instinctively to do the opposite. When an acquaintance seems to be unusually happy, we remind her that life is serious and a lot of people in our world are suffering. When a family member seems to be unusually sad, we urge him to cheer up and rejoice in the Lord. These are not loving actions.
We have to be careful about this counsel. We shouldn’t rejoice with the criminal who is happy that he is getting away with selling drugs to kids, and we shouldn’t weep with the senior adult who is experiencing clinical depression but won’t see a doctor or take medicine. We rejoice with those who are rejoicing appropriately and weep with those who are weeping appropriately.
God does this, I think. It’s pretty easy to think of God as sharing in our sadness. It’s a little trickier to think of God as sharing in our happiness. But God does rejoice with us. God is interested in happiness.
In fact, God’s intention is that in the end the happiness will be the whole story. Jesus said he will judge all the nations. We know he will do it right. He will fix the mess. In the meantime, we have a lot of work to do. As we do it, we can live with the hope that in the end Jesus will fix things. And we rejoice in this hope. We refuse to settle for too little. We hope for it all. It’s going to be all right, thank God.
-Fisher Humphreys
Lenten reflection from a Beloved
The Sunday before Ash Wednesday, Rev. Angie proposed “That we see God’s hand in everything, the planned events in our lives as well as the unplanned events. We couldn’t just put holiness in a neat little box. We were challenged to find God in every experience.”
It’s been so difficult for me to find God, while I’m watching my friend, Jimmy, who may be dying soon. There have been days where he has phoned me 6 times. I know God has had a hand in helping me answer the phone and listen. No matter what I’m doing, I try to understand how important it is for me to just listen. God knows, how much I’ve been praying to listen more and talk less. (Wow! Giving up chocolate for lent was easier than this!)
I want to try and give hope to Jimmy. I believe there is always hope in any situation, it’s just sometimes hard to find. It’s difficult for me to tell him the medical facts without destroying hope for him.
Pray I listen more, offer hope to Jimmy, and grasp that God is always available for both of us.
Praise be God!
-a Beloved
