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Sterling Severns Worship & Fellowship

What might God do with the dust of our fallen structures?

In light of last week’s headline, World Health Organization declaring an end to COVID-19 as a global health emergency

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A word of encouragement to those (re)building, (re)viving, (re)missioning, and (re)forming institutions

All humans long for stability. Throughout time, Societies have built structures to protect stability. Call it covid, call it chaos, there’s been a whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on. Rigid structures don’t tend to fare well when the ground starts shaking. No structure is meant to last forever and yet when history circles back around we’re surprised by its arrival. Anything we carve or build out of rock, bricks, steel, or glass, eventually falls. Travel to Greece, Rome, the site of the former World Trade Center in NYC, or, (dare I say it) down a long stretch of Monument Avenue in Richmond, Va, historical structures eventually and always buckle under the pressure of the passage of time.

Most any group of people that find themselves finally tasting the “good life” naturally want to build a structure that can maintain, expand, and protect that way of life (aka stability). Think about the destructive cycles that spin chaos into the world from there. If building, maintaining, expanding, and protecting our “good life” requires the diminishing, disqualifying or destruction of the lives of others, expect chaos and prepare to choke on the dust of fallen idols, fortresses, and structures.

I believe God is refashioning us, not only out of the dust of our fallen idols, fortresses, and structures, but also out of the dust being stirred up by the beautiful feet of those walking beside “God with Us”

There’s a moment in the Bible when the disciples of Jesus find themselves awestruck by the Temple structure,“Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what a wonderful structure!” Jesus responds, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” The temple is supposed to be the most stable place on earth, the one place where God’s finger touches the world, therefore the one place chaos can’t possibly exist.

Later in the story, those that arrested Jesus justify their actions based on the audacity of Jesus bringing chaos, the equivalent of kryptonite, into the temple. He doesn’t help his case when he predicts the temple’s destruction or in claiming he will rebuild the temple in three days. To add insult to injury, he claims the new Temple won’t be confined by geography or any other lines we might draw in the sand. No-one-corner of the world will be able to claim this One as their own. This One, is meant to travel. This One is a throwback to the original design. Anyone with institutional memory might call him “Tabernacle”, but most of his followers call him Savior.

Church, I know we’re all longing for stability, it’s natural to do so, especially in our grieving. I want you to know that I join you in deep grieving. So much more, I want you to know that we worship a God that brings order out of Chaos.

Any version of life, built upon a structure that diminishes the potential for thriving in the lives of others, cannot be attributed to the goodness of God.

YHWH didn’t fashion us out of metaphorical dust, breathe air into our lungs, and put us on our feet, only for us to create our own versions of the “good life”. Any version of life, built upon a structure that diminishes the potential for thriving in the lives of others, cannot be attributed to the goodness of God. Any version of the “good life” that leads someone into isolation, separation, or even relational annihilation is a cheap counterfeit. God is good…all of the time. The good life Christ offers is the real deal….the Way, the Truth, and The Life. Walk in the knowledge that we follow a Savior that can take all of the fallenness, brokenness, and complexities of the stories of the past and present, all of the unintentional chaos we’ve unleashed into the world, and somehow bring profound goodness through it. Know that God can, and will, make ALL things for good.

As we move out of this global pandemic, it will be critical for us to understand that it’s not our job to rebuild our temples. God already did that, three days after his son was crucified. The news gets even better. The resurrected Savior is inviting us to tabernacle with him right smack into the middle of the chaos. He’s inviting us to join the search party for those who have stumbled into, or were pushed into, lostness and loneliness. He’s inviting us to join him in the reclamation of the abandoned, to participate in the healing of the brokenhearted, and even in the resuscitation of the hearts of the presumed “righteous”.

In this very moment, I believe God is refashioning us, not only out of the dust of our fallen idols, fortresses, and structures, but also out of the dust being stirred up by the beautiful feet of those walking beside “God with Us”. It’s an invitation to breathe again. It’s an invitation to life again. It’s the invitation of a lifetime!

Rev. Sterling W. Severns, Pastor

  • This is an adaptation of something first written in January 2022.

tbc Sunday Bulletin

The Wide Spectrum of Mothering

To those who gave birth this year to their first child — we celebrate with you

To those who lost a child this year–we mourn with you

To those who are in the trenches with little ones every day and wear the badge of food stain–we appreciate you

To those who experienced loss through miscarriage, failed adoptions, or running away—we mourn with you

To those who walk the hard path of infertility, fraught with pokes, prods, tears, and disappointment—we walk with you. Forgive us when we say foolish things. We don’t mean to make this harder than it is

To those who are foster moms, mentor moms, and spiritual moms–we need you

To those who have warm and close relationships with your children–we celebrate with you

To those who have disappointment, heart ache, and distance with your children–we sit with you

To those who lost their mothers this year–we grieve with you

To those who experienced abuse at the hands of your own mother–we acknowledge your experience

To those who lived through driving tests, medical tests, and the overall testing of motherhood–we are better for having you in our midst

To those who have had abortions–we remember you on this day

To those who are single and long to be married and mothering your own children–we mourn that life has not turned out the way you longed for it to be

To those who stepparent–we walk with you on these complex paths

To those who envisioned lavishing love on grandchildren, yet that dream is not to be–we grieve with you

To those who will have emptier nests in the upcoming year–we grieve and rejoice with you

To those who placed children up for adoption–we commend you for your selflessness and remember how you hold that child in your heart

And to those who are pregnant with new life, both expected and surprising–we anticipate with you

This Mother’s Day, we walk with you. Mothering is not for the faint of heart and we have real warriors in our midst. We remember you.

Written by Amy Young

*** CONNECTION CARD: Click here to let us know you were present with us in worship, to ask a question, or share a prayer concern.

tbc Leadership Roundtable

Quarterly Business Meeting – Sunday, April 30, 2023

Lunch and a Business Meeting!   This Sunday, April 30.  Immediately following the worship service in the Fellowship Hall.
 
Our quarterly business meeting will take place on Sunday immediately following worship.  Lunch will be served.  Judy is cooking tortellini with Italian sausage and marinara sauce and a white sauce with mushrooms and Gorgonzola cheese.  The proceeds from lunch will help send our youth to camp this summer, so please plan to donate some money to help cover the cost of the food and send youth to camp.  The business of the church is important spiritual work.  As we see in Acts 6, the early church had to work to organize to care for their community and their neighbors.  Plan to come and take part in this important work of being community.

Joining us from the virtual acre? Here’s the zoom link.

2023.04.30-Qtly-Mtg-PacketDownload

tbc Worship

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Reflection & Response

Each Sunday in Lent, worship participants are encouraged to reflect upon a specific question related to the theme for the day. At the end of the service, each worshipper is prompted to write their response on a piece of paper and bring it forward to the altar. In the week that follows, the slips of paper are turned into cocoons and added into the liturgical installation in the Sanctuary. 

We encourage worshippers in the virtual acre to participate by use of this anonymous survey tool. We’ll transpose your typed response onto tangible paper to create a cocoon. 

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/8S22VZZ

tbc Leadership Roundtable

Holy Week Schedule

Schedule for Holy Week at Tabernacle Baptist Church

April 2: Palm Sunday Worship    10:50 AM  Palm Parade  11:00 AM Worship
Taize Worship    6:00 PM   River Road Church (Baptist)
Join Judy and attend a Palm Sunday Evening Taize Service.

April 6:  Maundy Thursday Service:  6:00-7:30 PM – Foot Washing, Table Discussions, Communion

April 7:   Good Friday Service:   7:00-8:00 PM  – Stations of the Cross, readings and music.

April 8:   Easter Egg Hunt and Cookout:   4:30-6:00 PM at the home of
                  Judy and Eric Fiske.  Bring a dish to share.
                  Contact Judy at judy@tbcrichmond.org for directions.

April 9:   8:30 AM  Easter Breakfast in the Fellowship Hall.  
                9:45 AM   Various Sunday School Classes
             11:00 AM   Easter Worship in the Sanctuary
        Please bring fresh flowers to help “Flower” the cross

tbc Leadership Roundtable

Time To Order Easter Lilies

Time to start ordering Easter Lilies……………..
We are almost in the Easter season, and it is time to think about ordering Easter Lilies in memory or honor of a loved one.  The cost this year is $14.90 per plant.  When placing your order, if paying by check or some other form of payment, please print out the form by clicking the link below. If paying by check, please indicate in the check memo line that it is for an Easter Lily and please place the order form and check in an envelope and place it in Peggy Strong’s box outside of the church office. If you are making payment electronically, please print out the order form and place the form in Peggy Strong’s box outside of the church office and please indicate how the payment was made where it is asked for on the form. If mailing in the form and check, please use the address on the form and please put it to Peggy’s attention.

Click here for an order form. Orders need to be place by April 2nd.

tbc Leadership Roundtable

Prayer Leads to Purpose

TERESA OF ÁVILA: Prayer Leads to Purpose

A meditation from the Center for Action and Contemplation (March 12, 2023). Author and interspiritual teacher Megan Don introduces the Spanish mystic Teresa of Ávila (1515–1582) as an exemplar of action and contemplation: 

Teresa’s life provides us with an exceptional example of bringing the contemplative and active life together; it displays both a profound internal depth and an exceptionally productive outcome.…  

At the age of twenty, after much deliberation, she chose to enter the Carmelite Monastery in Ávila. She did not make this choice because of a vocational “calling” but because Teresa understood it to be a favorable alternative to marriage….  

Her fascination with the world continued while she lived in the monastery, since it was not an enclosed order, and a stream of visitors occupied much of her time…. Prayers were ordered and recited by rote, which left her soul dry and uninspired. She attempted to enter her own “prayer of quiet,” but finding the thoughts in her head far too noisy and disturbing, she gave up any attempt to develop a more meaningful way to pray. Her relationship with the Beloved [God] at this time was fairly superficial.  

For twenty years she lived a divided life. On the one hand her ego desired worldly attachments, while on the other her spirit was calling her to a deeper communion with the divine. At the age of forty, Teresa finally surrendered completely to her Beloved. Her real life and work had begun. She returned to her prayer of quiet, allowing the Beloved to lead her, no longer relying on her own techniques. Meditation became essential to Teresa in establishing a clear and firm foundation with the divine, and as she walked further on her spiritual pathway, she came to understand that this external Beloved also “rests within.” It was to this place that she would constantly return to receive guidance, love, and a feeling of deep peace that she could not find elsewhere. [1] 

From that place of peace and inner authority, Teresa worked to return the Carmelite order to its original emphasis on prayer, poverty, and simplicity, going on to found seventeen new convents and monasteries. Don continues: 

Contrary to popular belief, the pinnacle of the mystical life is often lived in the world, even though it is not of the world. Having come into a full consciousness of the reality of existence, the mystic is now returned to society, displaying an extraordinary energy for the work required. This energy is none other than the divine force working in and through this willing worker of the Beloved, and it far surpasses anything we human beings can do alone. Teresa’s life is one such example of a person in and through whom the Beloved worked, and throughout her life she reiterated that the ultimate purpose of the sacred marriage [or union with God] is to give birth to good works in the world. [2]  

References: 

[1] Megan Don, Meditations with Teresa of Ávila: A Journey into the Sacred (Novato, CA: New World Library, 2011), 1, 2–3. 

[2] Don, Meditations with Teresa of Ávila, 218. 

Image credit: A path from one week to the next—Les Argonauts, Camino de Santiago, Unsplash. Jenna Keiper, Winter Bird. Jenna Keiper, Mystic. Used with permission. Click here to enlarge image. 

Perched in solitude, in communion with the Beloved. 

Prayer Leads to Purpose
tbc Leadership Roundtable

Ash Wednesday, February 22, 2023

ASH WEDNESDAY – FEBRUARY 22, 2023
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the liturgical season of Lent.  Lent is the 40 days before Easter Sunday—actually 46 days before Easter Sunday because Sundays do not count in the Lenten count of days. 

On Ash Wednesday you receive a cross of ash on your forehead along with the words “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.”  The ashes are made by burning the palm crosses from the previous year’s Palm Sunday service and mixing them with oil.  The ritual is to remind us that as God’s creation we live a fleeting life and often make bad choices.  The season of Lent reminds us that we need to repent from our bad choices and work to improve our relationship with both God and each other.  Join us for some of the day on February 22 to participate in Ash Wednesday.

Ash Wednesday at Tabernacle:
The sanctuary will be open on Wednesday, February 22, from 11:00 AM-5:30 PM for you to participate in guided meditations and to receive ashes.  You may come and receive ashes and leave or stay and meditate and pray.

5:30-6:20 PM  Join us for pancake dinner.

6:30-7:15 PM  Join us for a communal Ash Wednesday Service in the Sanctuary.  The service will include music, readings, a reflection and the imposition of ashes. 

tbc Leadership Roundtable

It’s Transfiguration Sunday!

IT’S TRANSFIGURATION SUNDAY! FEB 19 @ 11 AM (EST)We hope you’ll make plans to join us for this morning’s worship service. We will conclude the season of light celebrating the Transfiguration of Jesus. We will conclude the worship service in a circle of candlelight, turning our attention to the Lenten journey ahead.

FOR THOSE PARTICIPATING IN THE VIRTUAL ACRE:

During the invitation hymn, those participating virtually will be encouraged to log out of the livestream AND immediately log into the zoom link below. This will allow our virtual participants, each holding candles, to be visually seen alongside those in the physical sanctuary. It only would make sense to do this if you’re comfortable turning on your zoom camera to be seen in the circle of candlelight. If you’d rather not be seen, it’s best to just stay in the livestream.

IF YOU’D LIKE TO BE SEEN IN THE CIRCLE OF CANDLELIGHT….

1) Login into this zoom link when prompted:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3425677717?pwd=eTBUWW9vSkx5OHpEZjVhOHdyUHc0UT09

Meeting ID: 342 567 7717
Passcode: 909439

2) Turn on your camera so that you and your UNLIT candle can be seen on the monitor in the Sanctuary.

3) Be sure your microphone is muted.

4) You’ll be prompted to light your candle, when those in the physical room are lighting theirs.