Daughters of the Dust film screening September 15th
All posts by Robyn Hyden
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!
Education Roundtable Sunday, August 30th, 2:30 PM
This Sunday from 2:30-4:30 join the Education Roundtable for a discussion on school funding and our state’s budget crisis at Beloved.
Featuring information from Robyn Hyden (Alabama Arise) and Trisha Powell Crain (Alabama School Connection).
Click here to read an article about the meeting and hope to see you there!
Sister City Connection: Spoken Word Fundraiser July 23rd
On Thursday, July 23rd, join us at Beloved from 6:30-8:30 pm for a spoken word fundraiser to support some of Birmingham’s best youth poets!
This is a unique event featuring Birmingham’s own women’s spoken word collective, Sister City Connection, performing in concert with youth poets from Birmingham’s Real Life Poets.
Continue reading Sister City Connection: Spoken Word Fundraiser July 23rd
Birmingham Institute for Social Change, coming to Beloved this June & July
What Can White People Do About Racism? Thursday, April 23rd, 6:30 pm
Presented by Black Lives Matter-Birmingham and Magic City Agriculture Project.
Thursday, April 23rd, 2015, 6:30 pm at Beloved Community Church.
All people are welcome.
The Heroic and Visionary Women of Passover (Reflection by Ruth Bader Ginsberg)
This reflection from the American Jewish World Service was written by Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt. It reflects on a story from Exodus that is central to Passover – the story of Pharoah’s murder of every firstborn male child (Exodus 1:8-21). The role of women in this story is not often emphasized, but as this passage tells us, women stood up to defy the law.
Several Beloveds will observe passover tonight as part of the UCC Joint Maundy Thursday/Seder Service at Covenant Community UCC. We will remember that Christ also observed Passover on the night he was imprisoned.
The Heroic and Visionary Women of Passover
By Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt
Shared via the American Jewish World Service
On Passover, Jews are commanded to tell the story of the Exodus and to see ourselves as having lived through that story, so that we may better learn how to live our lives today. The stories we tell our children shape what they believe to be possible—which is why at Passover, we must tell the stories of the women who played a crucial role in the Exodus narrative.
Continue reading The Heroic and Visionary Women of Passover (Reflection by Ruth Bader Ginsberg)
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Lenten Reflection: The Egg
You were on your way home when you died.
It was a car accident. Nothing particularly remarkable, but fatal nonetheless. You left behind a wife and two children. It was a painless death. The EMTs tried their best to save you, but to no avail. Your body was so utterly shattered you were better off, trust me.
And that’s when you met me.
“What… what happened?” You asked. “Where am I?”
“You died,” I said, matter-of-factly. Continue reading Lenten Reflection: The Egg
Beloved’s 2015 Budget
It is important to us that our budget spending reflects our church covenant.
With that in mind, we wrote a budget based on our community values. Here is how our church spends money:
1. Building Faith & Fellowship
What we do: church gatherings, fellowship, music & worship
What we spend: 35% of budget spending; 15% of volunteer hours
What it means: “Beloved is one of those rare places that you can walk into and feel loved, accepted and completely relaxed — while at the same time knowing that you will be challenged to figure out ways to live out your faith.” -Jennifer
Continue reading Beloved’s 2015 Budget
Lenten reflection
Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front
by Wendell Barry
Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
vacation with pay. Want more
of everything ready-made. Be afraid
to know your neighbors and to die.
And you will have a window in your head.
Not even your future will be a mystery
any more. Your mind will be punched in a card
and shut away in a little drawer.
When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you
to die for profit they will let you know.
So, friends, every day do something
that won’t compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.
Denounce the government and embrace
the flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.
Give your approval to all you cannot
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has not encountered he has not destroyed.
Ask the questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millenium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.
Say that the leaves are harvested
when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.
Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees
every thousand years.
Listen to carrion – put your ear
close, and hear the faint chattering
of the songs that are to come.
Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.
So long as women do not go cheap
for power, please women more than men.
Ask yourself: Will this satisfy
a woman satisfied to bear a child?
Will this disturb the sleep
of a woman near to giving birth?
Go with your love to the fields.
Lie down in the shade. Rest your head
in her lap. Swear allegiance
to what is nighest your thoughts.
As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn’t go.
Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.
Poet, essayist, farmer, and novelist Wendell Berry was born on August 5, 1934, in Newcastle, Kentucky.
