Our Pastor shares a reflection about the gift of meeting God in the alleyway of the church and welcoming “George” back to the place he calls home.
Blog
Community Lenten Devotional: Week 3
As we journey through this Lenten season, particularly this season in the time of pandemic, examining what it means to be a people of God in this time and in our various places, we ask you to consider participating in the Community Ministry of Tabernacle Baptist Church. Use this Lenten prayer calendar to guide you. Your gifts are appreciated by them and by the Community Ministry Team and our neighbors. Your prayers mean the world to us.
March 3
It is Wednesday again. As you sit down to eat dinner, remember a meal and fellowship that you have shared around tables in our church house. Add food to your bag that makes you happy. Pray for the happiness of our neighborhood. Give thanks for the meals that you have shared, and will share in the future in the Tabernacle fellowship hall.
March 4
Thank God for your body and the ways you can keep it healthy. Include cans of your favorite vegetable and pray for those who don’t have access to food that is healthy. Add your favorite seasoning to put on that vegetable to remind yourself that eating healthy can be a delicious privilege.
March 5
Pray for someone who doesn’t get to shower every day or maybe even every week. Add some deodorant to your bag. Give thanks for the running water in your house.
March 6
Pray for people who wake up in the morning and do not have a hot cup of something to help get their day started. Add some of your favorite coffee (ground or instant), tea or hot chocolate to your bag. (Maybe add some sugar, sweetener, creamer-whatever you put in your beverage.) Give thanks for yourself, and those around you, that you do not have to go anywhere without your morning beverage.
March 7
Sunday is a feast day in the season of Lent. Pray for our neighbors who live our of doors. For someone who has nowhere to cook, meat in a can is appreciated. Add some Vienna Sausage, Spam, tuna or chicken to your bag (pop top cans please). Give thanks for the feasts that you share with your family.
March 8
Pray for the mother who asks her mother every night at bedtime: Did you brush your teeth? Put toothbrushes in your bag so there is one less thing she will have to worry about. (Single packs, please.) Give thanks that you have a toothbrush in a cup by your sink.
March 9
Pray for the kid who needed a toothbrush yesterday. Add some toothpaste to your bag so they can take care of the baby teeth that are coming in or the new teeth that came to replace them. Give thanks for the toothpaste next to the cup by your sink.
Go back and see the Week 1 Devotional or the Week 2 Devotional if you missed it.
Sabbath | February 28, 2021
We set aside the Sabbath day for the purpose of holy rest, sacred connection, and life-giving worship. Read more about our approach to Sabbath.
Sabbath with Us
The day is shaped by freedom. We encourage you to set time aside for three unique movements: PRELUDE, communal GATHERING, and CIRCLES. All of these are times of holy rest and worship.
We encourage you this week to participate in our Community Lenten Devotional.
Begin your day with a quiet, reflective time with God at the place and time of your choosing. This material is intended for personal meditation. You may want to be in a quiet place and light your own personal candle, but you may also just be sitting in your car waiting for an appointment. Where you are is not the point. The point is that you are taking the time to be quiet and listen so that you may walk through your day in communion with God.
Prelude Option 1: Prayers from Epiphany Gathering
Prelude Option 2: Lent Reflective Readings
Prelude Option 3: Prayer for the Dying
We will meet at 11am (Eastern) on Livestream. This is our time to come together as a congregation and worship as one. We love to see guests and old friends drop in, so please say hello using the chat feature! This week we will light a candle together at the end of the service, as we traditionally do for Transfiguration Sunday.
Join us on Livestream at 11am (Eastern)
Scripture Passage: Luke 13:1-9, 31-35
Connect and experience spiritual growth in meaningful conversation and biblical study with a small group of people in a Tab Circle. This week we’ll study Luke 7:1-17 together. To sign up for a Circle or learn more, click here.
Circles Option 1: Bible Study Curriculum
More Opportunities
There are many ways to connect with us, on Sundays and beyond! You can find more information about our Sunday School classes, Bible Study groups, prayer gatherings, and discipleship series on our online calendar.
Parents can contact Jerusha to receive interactive materials like coloring pages and sticker sheets to use during Worship!
Community Lenten Devotional: Week 2
As we journey through this Lenten season, particularly this season in the time of pandemic, examining what it means to be a people of God in this time and in our various places, we ask you to consider participating in the Community Ministry of Tabernacle Baptist Church. Use this Lenten prayer calendar to guide you. Your gifts are appreciated by them and by the Community Ministry Team and our neighbors. Your prayers mean the world to us.
February 24
Pray for families that gather for dinner tonight. In previous and future years, Wednesday is the day we gather as a church family for dinner. As we gather physically in our homes, and spiritually in our hearts, imagine there is someone else at your table. Add to the bag the ingredients of a meal for them. (Use your imagination and go wild, or put in a can of beef stew.) Give thanks for all of the meals that we share at Tabernacle.
February 25
Pray for people who walk everywhere that they go. Add some nice heavy warm socks to your bag so that they can have warm, dry, clean feet. Give thanks that your feet are warm and dry.
February 26
Pray for a family that is gathered on a Friday night to watch a movie, or play games. Add a box of your favorite cookies or microwave popcorn for them to share. Give thanks for your own family as you imagine them laughing together,
February 27
Pray for a parent giving their kids a bath, washing off the dust of a Saturday playing. Put some soap or body wash, and maybe a washcloth in your bag. Give thanks that you get to give your kid a bath, or that you do not.
February 28
Sunday is a feast day in the Lenten season. Pray for a family that will share a meal today. Add some spaghetti (1lb box) and pasta sauce to your bag so that their may be a feast. Pray for the feasts that you appreciate with your family.
March 1
It is March, so who knows what the weather will be like. If it is cold, there is certainly someone who would appreciate a bowl of soup to help them feel warm. Add a couple of cans of soup, and maybe some crackers to go with it, to your bag. Pray for those who may not have a hot meal today. Give thanks for food that warms you body and soul.
March 2
Pray for people who spend a lot of time outside. Add a pair of gloves and/ or a warm hat for them to your bag. Give thanks that you have somewhere to warm your hands.
Pastoral Reflection: Bread for the Journey
Pastor Sterling Severns reflects on his experience coming to the Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond and his experiences as a young pastor in the Richmond area.
When has God transformed what felt like a mistake in your life into part of your call or journey through faith?
Going Deeper: The Future Church
Associate Pastor Meg Lacy Vega and Pastoral Intern Spencer Law discuss the “future church” and how God is guiding us through our discernment process to see beyond what the church once was and currently is. This podcast is a supplement to Tabernacle’s ongoing discernment dialogue, exploring what God has in store for the little church at Grove and Meadow and also the universal Church.
What do you think the “future church” looks like?
How can you bring your gifts and skills to the church as it changes?
What are ways the church can transform for the better?
What are essential elements of the church, and what is subject to change?
Where do we see hints of the “future church” in our little church at Grove and Meadow?
Comment below or add your thoughts to the Communal Journal.
Going Deeper: The Change Cycle
Christy Foldenauer talks to us today about the change cycle, and how we process change, from loss to integration. This podcast is a supplement to Tabernacle’s ongoing discernment dialogue, exploring what God has in store for the little church at Grove and Meadow and also the universal Church.
What do you think?
How does understanding this change model understand yourself and others?
What part does discipleship play in helping the congregation work through this cycle?
Where are you prone to get stuck in this cycle?
If this cycle is a map, where are you right now?
Comment below or add your thoughts to the Communal Journal.
Sabbath | February 21, 2021
We set aside the Sabbath day for the purpose of holy rest, sacred connection, and life-giving worship. Read more about our approach to Sabbath.
Sabbath with Us
The day is shaped by freedom. We encourage you to set time aside for three unique movements: PRELUDE, communal GATHERING, and CIRCLES. All of these are times of holy rest and worship.
We encourage you this week to participate in our Community Lenten Devotional.
Begin your day with a quiet, reflective time with God at the place and time of your choosing. This material is intended for personal meditation. You may want to be in a quiet place and light your own personal candle, but you may also just be sitting in your car waiting for an appointment. Where you are is not the point. The point is that you are taking the time to be quiet and listen so that you may walk through your day in communion with God.
Prelude Option 1: Prayers from Epiphany Gathering
Prelude Option 2: Lent Reflective Readings
Prelude Option 3: Prayer for the Dying
We will meet at 11am (Eastern) on Livestream. This is our time to come together as a congregation and worship as one. We love to see guests and old friends drop in, so please say hello using the chat feature! This week we will light a candle together at the end of the service, as we traditionally do for Transfiguration Sunday.
Join us on Livestream at 11am (Eastern)
Scripture Passage: Luke 10:25-42
Connect and experience spiritual growth in meaningful conversation and biblical study with a small group of people in a Tab Circle. This week we’ll study Luke 7:1-17 together. To sign up for a Circle or learn more, click here.
Circles Option 1: Bible Study Curriculum
Circles Option 2: QuickGuide & Discussion
Circles Option 3: Intergenerational Activities
More Opportunities
There are many ways to connect with us, on Sundays and beyond! You can find more information about our Sunday School classes, Bible Study groups, prayer gatherings, and discipleship series on our online calendar.
Parents can contact Jerusha to receive interactive materials like coloring pages and sticker sheets to use during Worship!
Community Lenten Devotional: Week 1
As we journey through this Lenten season, particularly this season in the time of pandemic, examining what it means to be a people of God in this time and in our various places, we ask you to consider participating in the Community Ministry of Tabernacle Baptist Church. Use this Lenten prayer calendar to guide you. Your gifts are appreciated by them and by the Community Ministry Team and our neighbors. Your prayers mean the world to us.
February 17 – Ash Wednesday
Prepare for this Lenten journey by opening a paper bag or a reusable bag that you can donate. Pray for the family that will receive this bag. Give thanks for all that you have today. (Put a few empty bags in the bag, because we never have too many and you may fill this one.)
February 18
Pray for the mother who is happy to see a roll of toilet paper in the bag that we give out each week. Give thanks that you have toilet paper in your house.
February 19
Pray for the person who wants to look and feel clean as they face whatever their day brings. As you add some razors to your bag, and give thanks that you face your day clean shaven.
February 20
Pray for kids who will be getting up this morning to head to the park, or the back yard to play. They need a good breakfast to get them going. Add some grits or oatmeal or cream of wheat to your bag. Give thanks that you are starting this day with a filling meal.
February 21
Sunday is a feast day in the season of Lent. Celebrate this Sunday by adding something that you eat to celebrate. (Some of us want cake, or cookies, or brownies. So a mix for any of these and maybe some oil, will help someone else celebrate)
February 22
Pray for the family that has a baby that seemingly cries all of the time. Put diapers or wipes in your bag and remember that your mother probably thought that you would never stop crying. Give thanks that you will, most likely, sleep soundly tonight.
February 23
Pray for the woman who may miss a meal this month so that she will be clean and comfortable. Put some tampons or pads, and maybe some Advil in your bag for her. Give thanks that such a small thing will make someone’s month.
Pastoral Reflection: Erroneous Assumptions
This word from our pastor, Rev. Sterling Severns, was originally published on June 11, 2020.