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 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
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.
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.
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.
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….
Step 1: Sign-up for a Search Team on this webpage (see below)
Determine if you want to create your own Search Team of 5-6 people and sign up together or allow us put you on a team of some amazing fellow sojourners.
Step 2: We’ll reach out to your group
We’ll help your team make introductions and provide a large menu of opportunities, some with pre-assigned dates and others completely flexible.
Step 3: Team selects three unique events
Your team will make three event selections and we’ll proceed in getting your team the details.
Step 4: Team participates in the 1st event
Step 5: Team shares a meal and reflects upon the Spirit’s movement among us
After event one, team will schedule a time to share a meal and share your hearts with one another.
You all determine the date, time and venue/menu. We’ll provide the conversation guide and or a facilitator.
Our Annual Business Meeting was held Sunday, January 29, in the Fellowship Hall and on Zoom. If you were unable to attend in person or join us by zoom, a recording of the meeting is below.
Find yourself available tonight for the first retreat session this evening? GREAT!!!!! If you opt to join us in the virtual acre: Much of our time this weekend will be spent in open dialogue and sharing. We want to create a space where participants can speak courageously and freely, a space where trust is prioritized. We’ll assume that if you show up, you’re prepared to be fully present (e.g. camera on during dialogue moments and avoidance of “easedropping mode” If you’re up for that, just email Ron at MU6FES@aol.com and he’ll send you the link.
In decades past, previous generations at Tabernacle set aside time, often full weeks or weekends, to come together purposefully and expectantly. Long ago, these gatherings were called revivals and more recently spiritual renewal weekends.
Though the format of those gatherings have changed, the longings and expectations of each generation, including our generation, have not wavered. For almost 150 years our local congregation has come together, often in our most vulnerable chapters of communal life, to express our yearning for revival, to pray for inspirited vision, to petition God to give us unity in the (re)discovery of purpose and call.
The weekend of January 13-15, 2023, our generation will come together, in both the physical church building and in our virtual acre. Mark Tidsworth, our facilitator, will help us explore the challenges and opportunities standing before the Universal Church and guide our local church in prayerful discernment/dialogue.
We will introduce three questions as an invitation into discernment.
What might God do, in and through us, if we were to shift away from __________________ and move toward _________________?
member identity to disciple identity
attractional to missional church
consumer culture to sacred partnering
On Friday night, Mark will provide a format we’ll use for capturing our insights and we’ll continue to gather and glean throughout the entire weekend. This, plus the insights generated during multiple small group discussions, will be funneled to church leadership after this weekend. In turn, the leaders will determine how we can effectively continue to discern together as a congregation.
The Holy Spirit is prompting our old church to embrace a new day in this new world we’re all living in and we offer our praise to God for what we’re about to see and hear. Tabernacle, yet again, Christ is on the move, and, yet again, the revived, renewed, and re-missioned Church is called to follow.
————————————————- Retreat Schedule: Friday, January 13 6-9 pm (dinner provided) Saturday, January 14, 9-12 pm 12-12:45 (lunch provided), 12:45 – 3 pm Sunday, January 15, 9 – 10:30 am + worship
Cost: There is no registration fee. However, we do ask that each participant bring a pack of bottled waters or canned beverages + a sweet/salty snack to share.
Childcare: Whereas, we won’t be able to provide a nursery on-site, we can help offset some of the expense of baby sitting in your homes and possibly identify babysitters.
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It will be helpful to us if each participating member of your household registers separately. Please REGISTER BY CLICKING HERE.
During the invitation in today’s service, you are invited to click on this link to request a star (word for the year): https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NMSGTG8
One of your fellow worshippers will be asked to gather a star for you. We’ll reach out in the next couple of days to real your word and you can anticipate receiving the tangible star sometime in the week ahead.
FOR OUR GUESTS:This practice is incredibly meaningful to our little church. You picked a fantastic day to join us! * Your star will have a word written on it. * There are 100+ different words we’ve written on the stars and folks aren’t given the option of trading their word in for another. As you pray and reflect upon your word throughout 2023, it’s possible God wants you be more deliberate in your embracing of something. It’s equally possible the word represents something God will help you relinquish or re-frame. The fullness of the gift can only be revealed in time.
If you’re up for that, just email Ron at MU6FES@aol.com and he’ll send you the link.
