We rejoice as the walls that deny legal protection and societal recognition for lifelong covenants of marriage come tumbling down!
The sanctity of marriage – a lifelong covenant of spirit, heart, body, and mind made on behalf of love, family and community – cannot be defined or withheld by the majority of elected officials or the masses – or even bestowed by the courts. It belongs to God!
“Thus says the Lord, ‘I am doing a new thing, can you not behold it?'”
Earlier this month, we took part in a joint Advent service with our friends at Covenant Community Church, First Congregational UCC and Pilgrim Church UCC. We were asked to present on the theme of “hope.”
Advent is a time of hope in a dark place.
Our Beloveds read the following letters, written by children who have lived their whole lives in Somali refugee camps – letters giving encouragement to Syrian children who are now also refugees. Messages included the words “You are not alone,” “Don’t be hopeless; we are with you,” and “We will get peace; Syria will become peace.”
May these be hopeful words to you, whatever struggles you face.
*Photos and story via BBC News Magazine.
“I‘m a refugee like you”
Special Advent Concerts!
You’re invited to join us for TWO shared meals at Beloved this Thanksgiving Day…
2nd Annual Turkey Lunches for Thanksgiving Day Workers
Thursday, November 27, 9 am to 11 am
Once again, we’ll be serving our neighbors who work on this holiday of sharing.
Last year, we delivered over 200 lunches and had a wonderful time.
Volunteers can bring turkey and fixings, assemble sandwiches and deliver lunches!
Continue reading Giving thanks at Beloved
“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!
By
Published on July 23, 2014 at al.com.
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – Lauren, 23, stood up in the middle of Beloved Community Church in Avondale on Tuesday night, holding her Bible. “I’m a lesbian,” she said. “I really didn’t want to be gay.”
Continue reading Human Rights Campaign Faith Forum at Beloved July 22, 2014
Three of our Beloveds were recently featured in this short documentary by UAB Media Students focusing on gentrification in our Avondale community.
We hope you’ll watch and perhaps learn something new, or will have your own experiences to share. Please let us know what you think in the comments!
Across the Tracks by Rebecca Graber and Harsh Shah from UAB Documentary on Vimeo.
Nugeen 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
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
