|
|
The Beloved Community at The Trees Newsletter
An Episcopal faith community exploring together what a life of faith "outside of a church" may be.
|
|
|
|
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. |
|
|
|
THIS WEEK AT THE BELOVED COMMUNITY |
Wednesday, September 3 Thursday, September 4 Sunday, September 7 - Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Bishop Rodman will be visiting The Beloved Community 3:00 PM - Recovering from 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 salad & bread
Keep up with all that's going on with The Beloved Community at The Trees with our online calendar. |
|
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. |
|
|
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. |
|
|
|
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. |
|
|
|
Religious Trauma Recovery Support Group 1st and 3rd Sundays of each month, 3:00 - 4:30 PM Meeting this week!
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.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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. |
|
|
|
We are very excited to welcome Bishop Rodman to The Beloved Community this Sunday. Bishop Rodman has been a strong supporter of our community and ministries from our early days of dreaming about what a new community focused on healing from religious trauma could be. We are glad to have Bishop Rodman with us again. We hope you'll join us for his visit. All are welcome! |
Transforming: The Bible & the Lives of Transgender Christians Zoom Book Study Wednesdays from 7:00 - 8:30PM September 3 - September 24 Led by Devin McGinnis, TBC Intern
September 3 - Chapters 1-3
September 10 - Chapters 4-6
September 17 - Chapters 7-9
September 24 - Chapters 10-12 “Weaving biblical examples of gender nonconformity and transformation with the stories and voices of contemporary trans Christians, Hartke's approach is both pastoral and prophetic as he addresses harmful Christian theology that has been used to further marginalize and exclude trans people. |
You can look ahead to what we will be studying in 2025 here.
Below are some other formation opportunities offered locally:
|
|
THE BELOVED COMMUNITY BLOG |
Our latest post is from Rev. Phillip. Interested to hear how Jacob's wrestling with God reflects what we are doing at The Beloved Community at The Trees? If so, you can read Phillip's thoughts here. |
5TH SUNDAY OUTREACH - ST. JOSEPH'S BREAKFAST MINISTY |
|
At The Beloved Community at The Trees, we focus on outreach ministries on each 5th Sunday. The next 5th Sunday falls on November 30. We have chosen St. Joseph's Breakfast Ministry for our November 5th Sunday Outreach.
"St. Joseph's provides breakfast Monday through Friday every week to anyone needing a hot breakfast. It is available to anyone, no questions asked. $193.00 covers the cost for 1 day of meals. You can donate through the Beloved Community by check , PayPal, or ChurchTrac both accessible on our website. Remember to designate the donation for St. Joe's Breakfast Ministry.
We also encourage volunteering our time. They need volunteers at 6:30AM to open and start the coffee, at 7AM to cook, and at 8AM to serve the meal and clean up afterward. Of note, on Wednesday mornings, Fresh Start Durham brings a shower trailer to St. Joseph's to provide free showers. Towels, soap, and shampoo are provided. St. Joe's also keeps a community closet to provide fresh clothes and toiletries.
As you can see, there are many opportunities to have a positive impact in our community." - Anthony Bishop
You can learn more about St. Joseph's Breakfast Ministry here. |
Each Sunday, we gather for a simple shared meal following our worship. This time of gathering together around a table has been fundamental in our building The Beloved Community. Starting on Sunday, September 7, we will return to soup and bread for our meal.
If you would like to provide a meal for the community, you gift would be appreciated. To do so, simply view our online calendar and select "Community Meal" for the Sunday that you would like to provide our meal. You'll then be taken to short registration page that will let us know that you will be providing our meal for that Sunday.
Don't worry if the kitchen isn't your favorite place. You can purchase a meal for the community and turn in your receipt for reimbursement. Just ask Phillip or anyone from the Finance Team for more information. |
The Beloved Community at The Trees has a rich spiritual life and we continually include new practices into our community. We are now praying the Rosary at 4:45pm each Sunday. During this time we will pray for our community, those gathered, those on our prayer list, and our gratitudes. If you've never prayed the Anglican Rosary before, don't worry. We will show you how!
If you are unable to join us, but would like to pray the rosary prayer, you can find it here. |
|
Beginning Sunday, September 7, we will begin using the Narrative Lectionary. "The Narrative Lectionary is a four-year cycle of readings. On the Sundays from September through May each year the texts follow the sweep of the biblical story, from Creation through the early Christian church.
The texts show the breadth and variety of voices within Scripture. They invite people to hear the stories of Abraham and Sarah, Moses and the prophets, Jesus, and Paul. Listening to the many different voices within Scripture enriches the life of faith."
Each Sunday, we will have someone "set the scene" for us. This introduction to our readings will help us better understand that context of the readings. If you would like to volunteer for a Sunday, please email revphillip@belovedcommunitydurham.org. |
The Beloved Community at the Trees will hold our first Spiritual Retreat from Thursday, September 18 - Saturday, September 20. We will spend our time at the Cedar Cross Retreat Center in Louisburg, NC. This will be an opportunity to explore spiritual practices individually and in community, worship together, pray together, and time for quiet reflection. You do not have to attend all days or stay overnight to participate. Join us as you are able. All are welcome!
Schedule: Thursday evening - Settling in, dinner, evening prayer, games and hanging out. Friday - 3 meals, morning prayer, exploring spiritual practices, evening prayer, time to explore the grounds, hike, journal, etc. Saturday morning - Breakfast, exploring spiritual practices, walking Eucharist through "The Way of Jesus" trail. Depart midday.
Registration is not required, but is appreciated. This will help with meal planning. If you would like to attend the retreat, please let us know by registering here.
|
WAYS TO SUPPORT OUR MINISTRIES |
|
For a small community, we have a lot going on! The Beloved Community is an active place, and we are grateful for all the gifts we have received thus far. We've managed to do a lot in a short amount of time, and we have no plans to slow down.
Since our mission is to offer a safe and affirming place for those healing from religious trauma, we never want anyone to feel that they must give financially or otherwise. However, we also recognize that volunteering to support our ministries can be a way for some to heal. With that in mind, if you feel called to help out, below are a few ways you could do so. Prepare the weekly bulletins Prepare the weekly newsletter Donate a Community Meal (see the article above) Record our weekly attendance in the Register Lead a 1st Sunday Lectionary Discussion Organize a Social Gathering Organize a 5th Sunday outreach Join the Flower Team Join the Music Team Organize our Lending Library Lead a Formation Offering "Set the Scene" for a Lectionary Discussion Wash the napkins from our Community Meal Help set-up or tear down our worship space
If you would like to volunteer for any of these ministries or have ideas about other ways you'd like to contribute to the work of The Beloved Community, please email Phillip at revphillip@belovedcommunitydurham,org. |
Do you know any high school aged youth who identify as part of the queer community? If so, please share the news of our Queer Youth Group. This group meets on the 2nd and 3rd Sundays of each month at 3:30 PM. All youth who wish to be in community with other queer youth, who may be curious about queer theology, and/or who just want a safe place to be themselves are invited. |
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, Kerry, Maureen, Nikki, Paul, and Patty. |
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. A copy of the directory can be found on our website. |
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 and worship, etc. If you would like to contribute to the ministries of The Beloved Community you can do so via cash or check donation, as well as through PayPal.
Check donations can be mailed to: The Beloved Community at The Trees 1701 Pleasant Green Road Durham, NC 27705 |
ChurchTrac Donations: You may make a donation directly into our account through ChurchTrac. Donations made through ChurchTrac can be done via credit/debit card or an ACH bank transfer. |
We are grateful for our sending parish, The Church of the Nativity, Raleigh. Nativity supported The Beloved Community through prayer, shared ministries, and financial oversight for our first year.
We are grateful for the use of The Trees, graciously provided to us at no cost by St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, Durham. We also give thanks to St. Philip’s for the gift of flowers. Each Sunday, St. Philip’s shares their flowers with The Beloved Community so that we too may enjoy the beauty of God’s creation.
We also acknowledge that we gathering on the ancestral territory of the Eno, the Tuscarora, the Occaneechi, and others. |
1701 Pleasant Green Road
Durham, NC 27705
USA
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
