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The Beloved Community at The Trees Newsletter
An Episcopal faith community exploring together what a life of faith "outside of a church" may be.
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All are welcome at The Beloved Community at The Trees! Our mission is to create a community where those who seek healing, reconciliation, or simply a life of faith lived with intentionality among others can gather and worship together. This community is open to anyone, especially those who have been "othered" or harmed by the Church, including queer individuals and families, racial minorities, and others. Join us in rediscovering what a community of faith can be. |
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THIS WEEK AT THE BELOVED COMMUNITY |
Thursday, November 28 Sunday, December 1 - First Sunday of Advent 3:00 PM - Religious Trauma Support Group 4:45 PM - Gathering and Time for Prayer 5:00 PM - Worship with Eucharist Each week during our worship gathering we will have a lectionary discussion. If you are interested in exploring the lectionary readings ahead of time, we’ve put together a list of resources, including podcasts, websites, and blogs. They are found on our “This Week” page.
6:00 PM - Shared Meal of soup & bread
Keep up with all that's going on with The Beloved Community at The Trees with our online calendar. |
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1701 Pleasant Green Road, Durham, NC 27705. Look for the sign by the mailbox. When you arrive, you'll find a winding driveway. We will have signs along the way to direct you to our gatherings. |
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Bring a device and save paper: |
At The Beloved Community at The Trees we are committed to being as environmentally friendly as possible. We will have a sign when you enter with a QR code for you to access the order of worship. You can also view the order of worship ahead of time, here. |
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Each week at The Beloved Community at The Trees we have a lectionary discussion as part of our time together. If you are interested in preparing ahead of time, below are some links to resources you may enjoy. |
Almighty and gracious Father, we give you thanks for the fruits of the earth in their season and for the labors of those who harvest them. Make us, we pray, faithful stewards of your great bounty, for the provision of our necessities and the relief of all who are in need, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer) |
UPCOMING COMMUNITY MEETING |
Our next community meeting will be held on Thursday, December 5, at 7PM via zoom. The zoom address will be sent out closer to the date. This meeting is an opportunity for us to discern together what is going well at The Beloved Community, what we may need to do differently, what other areas of healing we may need to explore, how we are doing financially, etc. Please plan to join us because your input matters! |
Due to the Thanksgiving Holiday, our study of Rob Bell's, "Love Wins" will not take place this week. We will conclude our study next Wednesday, December 4, at 7:00. Happy Thanksgiving! |
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Religious Trauma Recovery Support Group 1st and 3rd Sundays of each month, 3:00 - 4:30 PM Meets this Sunday!
Religious trauma occurs when a person’s religious experience is stressful, degrading, dangerous, abusive, or damaging. Traumatic religious experiences may harm or threaten to harm someone’s physical, emotional, mental, sexual, or spiritual health and safety. You are invited to join us as we gather weekly to discuss personal experiences of religious trauma and learn together about healing.
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Parents, Families, & Friends of Queer Youth Support Group
2nd and 4th Sundays of each month, 3:30 - 4:30 PM
This group is offered for anyone who considers themselves family or friends of a queer youth. The purpose of this group is to explore together what the bible actually says about being queer, how to be supportive family, and how to process your own experiences someone who loves a queer youth. |
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FIRST SUNDAYS LECTIONARY DISCUSSION |
The Beloved Community's Worship Team had a great meeting on October 7. During our time together it was suggested that we begin introducing new ways of engaging with our readings, such as Lectio Divina. It was decided that on the first Sunday of each month someone from the community will lead us in a spiritual practice during our lectionary discussion. We plan to begin this new practice in Advent. Thank you Carolyn for agreeing to lead us on the first Sunday of Advent! |
UPCOMING SPECIAL SERVICES |
Over the next few months, The Beloved Community at The Trees will hold several special services. Below you will find information about these services, as well as information about how you can participate. A Blue Christmas Service of Lament will be held on Sunday, December 8, at 5:00pm. This service will honor the grief and sadness many experience during this time of year. This will also be a candlelight service. In addition to a special liturgy, we will have stations for healing prayer and anointing. On Christmas Eve we will meet for decorating and finger foods before beginning our worship gathering. Following the worship gathering and Eucharist, we will share in a catered meal and carol sing. We are excited for this special service and time together, including our soloist, June Williams. 10:15 AM - Gather for finger foods and decorating 11:00 AM - Worship gathering with Eucharist 12:00 PM - Catered lunch and Carol Sing
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JUSTIS IS PREACHING ON DECEMBER 8 |
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Justis Mitchell, who has recently joined us at The Beloved Community at The Trees will be preaching on Sunday, December 8, at Duke Memorial UMC. The service begins at 10:55AM. Justis is completing a dual degree (MDiv/MSW) through Duke Divinity School and UNC. We are delighted to have Justis with us at The Beloved Community and hope you'll join us in attending Duke Memorial UMC on December 8, to hear Justis sermon! |
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WELCOME BABY JESUS INTO YOUR HOME |
Borrowing from the Latin tradition of Los Posadas, we will be welcoming baby Jesus into our homes over the season of Advent. We have a model "baby Jesus" who will travel from home to home. For those who welcome Jesus into their homes, this will be an opportunity to pray for the coming season, pray for The Beloved Community, and pray for our world. A journal will accompany the baby Jesus and you are invited to record your thoughts, prayers, and/or well wishes for the community and coming season. If you would like to welcome the baby Jesus into your home, please let us know. |
JSC HOLIDAY PARTY INVITATION |
We were delighted to have the Johnson Service Corps join us a couple of months ago for one of our gatherings. They have graciously invited The Beloved Community to attend their upcoming Holiday Party on Saturday, December 7, from 1:00 - 4:00pm. You can find more information below. |
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NEWSLETTER DISTRIBUTION ISSUES |
Some of you may have noticed that you were not receiving The Beloved Community at The Trees weekly newsletter for the past few weeks. We have had issues with our email distribution list and have unfortunately been able to resolve these issues. This week we are switching over to a new program and hopefully we will not see any more disruptions. Thanks for your patience while we worked on a solution! |
During our weekly worship gathering, we set aside time to remember those who are in our prayers. It is our practice to name them individually and to remember them communally. In addition to this practice, we will be adding an ongoing prayer list to our order of worship for those who appreciate having the names recorded for their prayer practices between worship gatherings. If you would like to add yourself or someone else to the prayer list, please contact us at welcome@belovedcommunitydurham.org. You are welcome to share as much or as little as you feel comfortable. Only the person's first name will be included in the order of worship.
This week we remember Anthony, Gregory, Laurie, Kathy, Melody, and Paul. |
As we are starting to form a community, we are hoping to put together a directory to make contacting one another outside of our gatherings easier. If you would like to be included in the directory, please send your preferred name, email address, phone number, pronouns, mailing address, and a photo (or whatever combination you are comfortable with) to welcome@belovedcommunitydurham.org. We have a few of our community already in the directory. If you would like a copy of our current directory, please let us know. |
We rely on your gifts to offer the ministries of The Beloved Community. Although we strive to keep our overhead low, we do face financial responsibility. Your financial donations support our weekly meals, our formation opportunities, supplies for our healing ministries, etc. If you would like to contribute to the ministries of The Beloved Community you can do so via cash or check donation. Check donations can be mailed to:
The Beloved Community at The Trees 1701 Pleasant Green Road Durham, NC 27705 |
1701 Pleasant Green Road
Durham, NC 27705
USA
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