All posts by Angie Wright

News

Double Whammy: Storm knocks roof off pastor’s Avondale church – and off her house in Homewood

Beloved storm damage

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – The high winds that swept through Birmingham early Friday morning knocked the roof off the Beloved Community Church in Avondale, and also knocked a tree down on the pastor’s roof at her house in Homewood.

Beloved Community Church, which is at 131 41st Street South next to the Avondale Brewery, had roofing material knocked loose including bricks that fell into the street.

Pastor Angie Wright said winds basically swept the roof off the church, causing water damage. “We had some pretty significant damage to the roof,” Wright said. “It’s a flat roof. The wind lifted off the black tar roofing cover and rolled it up and laid it on the street. It looked liked rolled up carpet on Second Avenue, laying in the street. It tore off bricks and metal flashing. It’s caused some leaks on the inside. The carpet will have to be replaced. There were a lot of bricks in the street. It knocked the tree down behind the church and the brewery.”

Wright expects the Sunday services to be moved for at least a month. This Sunday at 6 p.m., the church will meet in Avondale United Methodist Church, a few blocks away.

“We’re going to be out of the building for awhile – I don’t know how long,” Wright said. Some pieces torn off the historic building that houses the church may be put to good use. “We’re saving the bricks for souvenirs,” Wright said.

The damage at her house in Homewood may be even severe. “My house is in pretty terrible condition,” she said. “We had an enormous tree crash through the roof.”

On the bright side, it could have been worse, Wright said. “Everybody’s fine,” she said. “Nobody got hurt.”

Beloved Community Church averages about 45 people in its Sunday night services and prides itself on a welcoming atmosphere and music with a jazz flair.

“It’s a diverse congregation,” Wright said. “We welcome all kinds of folks. We have dynamic music.”

Offers have poured in from other churches willing to host the congregation. Avondale United Methodist Church will be a nice temporary home for services, Wright said. “It’s a more traditional church,” she said.

See also: ‘It was quite the scene’ after strong winds in Avondale knocked tree into patio of Parkside Cafe

Beloved Community Damaged by Storm

Click here for video of storm damage at the church from WVTM-TV, NBC 13.

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Get to know Beloved

Children’s church at Beloved

022312posterwinner_1089536aNugeen Aftab, a student at East Lakota High School in Liberty, Ohio, won the 11th grade art competition for this poster in the 2012 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Art, Writing and Multimedia Contest, sponsored by the Ohio Civil Rights Commission.  

The theme of the contest was “The Quest for Pace and Justice”, a speech that Dr. King delivered during a lecture that brought him the Nobel Peace Prize.  

As the daughter of parents, Kamran and Sarwat Aftab, who were Pakistani immigrants, Nugeen has a personal experience of the American melting pot.  

The writing on Nugeen’s ‘melting pot’ reads:  America is One.  People, we are many.  Together we must resolve our problems and come together IN PEACE. 

50 years ago Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made his oft repeated observation that “Sunday at 11am is the most segregated hour in this nation.”

Today, fewer than seven percent of US churches are considered to be racially or economically diverse.

Since oping its doors in 2000, Beloved Community Church has consistently made racial, economic and cultural diversity in its congregation a primary goal of its mission and ministry.

Children’s Church at Beloved explores  meanings and mystery in the Bible while nurturing creativity and a careful understanding of cultures from around the world.

All children and teens are enthusiastically invited to attend.  No requirements expected of parents or children.

If you would like to know more about Beloved Community Church or Children’s Church at Beloved, please contact:

Rev. Angie Wright

(205) 595-6080

beloveducc@aol.com

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Lenten reflection

Lenten reflection for Good Friday

If you confess with your mouth “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved! Romans 10:9

Confessions

I told a lie…

And the nail was hammered more deeply into Jesus’s wrist.

The devil giggled and said, “She’s mine!”

I broke a promise…

And the nail was pounded farther into Jesus’s feet.

The devil clapped his hands with glee and said, “She’s mine!”

Someone needed my compassion, but I turned away…

And the spear was plunged into Jesus’s side.

The devil smirked and said, “She’s mine!”

Then – through the blood, the sweat, the tears, the unbearable agony –

Jesus looked at me

With grace

And with steel in his eyes, he turned to the devil and said,

“Get thee behind me Satan!

“I love her.  She’s MINE!”

And Jesus?

I love him.

He’s mine.

– Marcia Bentley

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Lenten reflection

On forgiveness

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah . . . I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.      (Jeremiah 33:31-34)

God will not only forgive the sins of the people, but remember them no more.

Why would God choose not only to forgive, but also to forget? Not because the people of God had become a faithful people. Not because they had repented. Not even because they had sought forgiveness. In fact, the people of God continued to turn their backs on God, going about their stubborn and self-destruction ways without looking back.

So why would we be offered a clean slate?  Why would God forgive, and forget? Because of God’s unshakeable desire to be reconciled, to be reunited, to remove anything that stands in the way of right relationship.

This sounds sweet and lovely, but it is not to be taken lightly.

It is an Overwhelming, an Overtaking, an Overcoming.

It is not our overcoming our own shortcomings or our own sins, try as we might. It is God overcoming us and laying claim to our very being. It is like God taking over our bodies and branding them with love. We will be like sailors far from home, love-lorn (and alcohol-inspired) who get a giant tattoo stamped on  huge muscled arms, a big heart with a girl’s name laced through the heart with an arrow. We will be like schoolchildren on field trips, with our parents’ names on signs strung around our necks, or notes clipped to our shirts, so that when we wander too far off, someone see where we belong and know who to call before we get lost.

This is not a one-by-one kind-of-thing, not the kind of thing where you wait in a single-file. True, it is about the transformation of individual hearts, but it’s also about the transformation of the people, the nations. “I will be their God, & they will be my people.”

We need the heart of the nation changed, not just the hearts of individuals. We can change the hearts of the George Zimmermans all we want, but until we change the heart of the nation, there will still be more Trayvon Martins.  “The days are coming,” says the Lord. Clearly they aren’t here yet, or else we wouldn’t be consumed by what happened when a young black man named Trayvon Martin crossed the path of a man like George Zimmerman.

The vision of Jeremiah is that God will break open the heart of God’s people, the entire people, the nations, and inscribe on their hearts a love for their neighbor, love for their enemy and love for their God so profound that we will all be able not only to forgive, but also to forget.

The days are surely coming, says the Lord. They are not here yet, but they are surely coming.   That is a promise, it’s a promise that can be trusted.

Amen.

-Rev. Angie

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Healthcare, Lenten reflection, Social justice

Lenten reflection from Callie Greer: to forgive or to be held hostage?

On MLK Sunday, Callie Greer preached at Beloved, sharing her story of unimaginable hurt and loss, and forgiving the unforgiveable. Her sermon title was “To Forgive or Not To Forgive: Holding Yourself Hostage.” She forgave the young man who shot her son to death, in part to set her own soul free. She forgave the man who sexually abused her daughter and herself, nursing him in her own home to the end of his life. She inspired all of us to forgive the many petty grudges we hold.

For those of you who had the chance to meet Callie, you know that she has an outspoken spirit and caring heart and impacts everyone she comes into contact with.  She has no problem speaking her mind and telling you exactly where she stands on any issue.  You know when she is in the room. She is a rare and remarkable being.  Her life has been a constant uphill battle.  She has suffered much loss, heartache, trials, and tribulations.  But through it all, she has proven herself to be a woman of faith, strength, courage and perseverance. Despite her personal challenges, she is constantly fighting for the rights of others, in particular for a new constitution for the state of Alabama.

Last Saturday, Callie lost her young daughter Venus to a four-year battle with cancer. Not completely healed from the loss of her son, Mercury, to senseless gun violence several years ago, Callie must now lay to rest her daughter, Venus. 

Tari Williams on Greater Birmingham Ministries’ staff writes:

Callie and her family are holding up remarkably well.  But, Venus’s battle with cancer is a truly sad and heart-wrenching testament about the need for healthcare reform.  Venus knew she was sick long before the doctors discovered her cancer.  Because she had no healthcare coverage, when she initially started having chest pains, shortness of breath and other seemingly minor but lingering ailments she could not explain, she went to the emergency room.  She was sent home a total of five times over the course of about 18 months because she and her symptoms were not taken seriously.  Each time, she was given a quick cursory exam and sent home.  By the sixth time, she showed up in the emergency room with pain radiating through the right side of her body, difficulty breathing, and a significant loss of weight because she was unable to keep food down.  She had made up her mind that she was not going to leave the ER until someone gave her some real answers.  She demanded to be taken seriously.  Once she explained to the doctor her symptoms, how many times she had been to the ER and he saw the fear and determination in her eyes, a more comprehensive exam was done and further tests ordered.  Cancer had already placed a firm stake on her body.  Diagnosed with breast cancer, Venus weighing less than 100lbs., handled a right breast mastectomy, radiation treatments and chemotherapy like a trained Navy Seal.  Venus actually won her battle with breast cancer.   But, less than one year later, the cancer came back and began attacking several areas of her body one by one, with the last being her brain.  Callie was by her side every step of the way.

Callie and her family need your prayers and support.  Please allow her the time and space she needs to grieve and make final preparations.  Feel free to contact Tari or Angie at GBM with any questions: (205) 326 – 6821.

Callie and her family are in need of help with funeral expenses — at her young age,who would think that Venus would need burial or life insurance? If you would like to help, you can make checks to Beloved Community Church (Callie Greer in the memo line).  You can also drop off any personal notes and/or cards.

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Immigration Justice, Lenten reflection, Social justice

Gracias a Dios

Selma Montgomery March 2013

Eighty people stand in a circle outside a church in Northport. Arms crossed, hands clasped. Latino, black, white. Invited to share their vision for a beautiful Alabama, voices ring out.   Dignity, dignidad.   Life without fear, vivir sin miedo. Peace, faith,  strength to stay in the struggle.  Repeal of HB 56. No more tearing families apart.  A multicultural, multilingual Alabama. The ability to lead our people. Courage, valor.

People who daily are labeled illegal are now labeled Leaders.

People who’ve been told time and again it’s time to leave know now it’s time to lead.

People who’ve been told to move know now it’s time for a movement.

Men in work shirts, university professors, mothers and grandmothers, college students, civil rights icons, teenagers and children, all calling out their vision for a beautiful Alabama. In a moment of quiet, a Latina child calls out, Roll Tide! Everyone laughs, but I think we all feel the painful irony. That’s just how deeply rooted in Alabama our immigrant neighbors are, and yet the intent of Alabama’s new immigration law is to force them to leave or to live here in fear.

Roll Tide? Oh yes, the tide is turning in Alabama, and it will not be turned back.   We are One family, One Alabama. Brown, black and white, in Alabama, of all places. HB56 is bringing us together. It’s a miracle. The kingdom of God is at hand.  God is doing a new thing, can you not behold it?  Thanks be to God.  Gracias a Dios.

-Rev. Angie, 2013

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Lenten reflection

On anger

The National Football League announced this week that it has levied severe penalties on the “bounty” system, a locker-room game where players got informal bonuses for vicious hits on the other team’s most valuable players. Injure a player, win $1,000; knock out a player, win $1,500; double or triple your money during the playoffs.  A player who knocked out the quarterback of the 2010 NFC Championship game could have cashed in $10,000.   The stakes were high; so were the penalties.

It’s all baffling to me.  How do you decide when and how to punish violence in a game that rewards violence?  I wonder the same thing when I see a young person sent off to war, trained to kill combatants and civilians, then prosecuted for exploding over the line.  Doesn’t the violence beget violence?  Who is responsible?  Where do you draw the line?

Most of us don’t feel connected to such cycles of violence, but Jesus connects personal anger with social violence:  “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, “You shall not murder’; and “whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, “You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire (Matthew 5:21-22).

That seems extreme. Anger is a human emotion, a God-given one, right? Surely it’s not something that should damn us to hell, right?

Still, holding on to anger, I once heard and often repeat, is like drinking rat poison and waiting for the rat to die. You only poison yourself.

Maybe it’s worse than that. When we nurse our anger, our blood pressure rises. Resentment seeps through our pores. Steam rises. We can turn the anger in on ourselves when we disappoint ourselves; we can turn it on the people around us when they disappoint or betray us. Whether we choke it down or not, our anger affects the people around us.   Anger begets anger, just like violence begets violence.   It can create a climate, an atmosphere, that permits escalation to occur.

During Lent, many of us try to do better, to be better. To be more patient with our loved ones. Maybe even to be more patient with ourselves. Not to lose our temper. Not to hold onto anger or bitterness.

What I learn each year during Lent is that it isn’t really about us and what we do or fail to do. It’s about God, and how God responds when we do what we vow not to do, or fail to do what we vow to do.   The truth is that we all fail to live fully up to our Lenten commitments, which gives us the chance to receive the immeasurable gift of God’s grace, all over again. Forgiveness is a powerful antidote to the poison of anger, and it may be the only thing that can set us free.

-Rev. Angie

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Immigration Justice, Lenten reflection, Social justice

Standing on Holy Ground

Selma Montgomery March 2013

Walking from Selma to Montgomery, thousands of people from all over the country. Old folks on canes and in wheelchairs, children in strollers, college students with boundless energy.

Whites, Blacks, Latinos. They crossed the infamous Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, where once-peaceful marchers were beaten and clubbed by men whose duty was to enforce the law, where the same marchers came back singing, ‘ain’t nobody gonna turn us around’ and marched all the way to Montgomery.

This year thousands came, crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge, and made that same five day pilgrimage to Montgomery.

They came because they had been there.

They came because they wished they had been there.

They came because they don’t want to go back there again.

They came because of HB56.

They came because they felt called to do something about a mean spirit set loose in our country. A mean spirit that wants to turn back the times, to go back to “the good old days” that weren’t so good for people without privilege. A mean spirit that once denied access to voting booths and lunch counters and water fountains, that still denies full access to justice and dignity to people with certain pigment, and that now seeks to deny access to people without papers.

And so they marched. They whispered, “We are standing on holy ground, walking in holy footsteps.” Walking in the footsteps of people who 47 years ago marched this same road to overturn the tables of injustice, like Jesus did when he overturned the tables in the Temple.

Standing on holy ground: When Moses stood on holy ground, God told him to take off his shoes. As soon as he did, God gave him his marching orders: go to Egypt, and set my people free!

Walking in holy footsteps: as soon as the disciples dropped their nets to follow Jesus, he gave them their marching orders: If you want to be my disciple, pick up the cross and follow me.

Walking in holy footsteps, standing on holy ground. Marching orders seem to follow. You are standing on holy ground, My Beloveds, not just when you enter the sanctuary of the church but every time your foot touches the earth, because every speck of dirt that God ever created is holy.

So what about walking in holy footsteps? Remember when you were a child at the beach, running behind someone much larger than you, trying to stay in their footsteps, leaping from footstep to footstep quickly before the next wave washed the footstep away, running without looking up because their legs were so much longer than yours? Trying not to make your own footprints, trying not to miss a step, not caring where they were going, just not wanting them to end?

It’s time to look up, time to pay attention. Whose footsteps are you walking in? Consciously or not, we are all walking in someone’s. Are they the ones you really want to follow? And where are those footsteps taking you?  Is it really where you want to go? Standing on holy ground, check. Walking in holy footsteps, check. It must be time to take off your shoes, drop your nets, and get ready for your marching orders.

-Rev. Angie

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Get to know Beloved, Immigration Justice, Ministry, News, Sermons

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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