With Every Choice

Would you think I was joking if I said that you can (reset) a clock...and that if the clock is wrong it is often a very sensible thing to do? We all want progress. But progress means getting nearer to the place where you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turning, then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case the (person) who turns back soonest is the most progressive. We have all seen this when doing arithmetic. When I have started a sum the wrong way, the sooner I admit this and go back and start again, the faster I shall get on. There is nothing progressive about being pig headed and refusing to admit a mistake...Going back is the quickest way on...

People often think of Christian morality as a kind of bargain in which God says, "If you keep a lot of rules I'll reward you, and if you don't, I'll do the other thing." I do not think that is the best way of looking at it. I would much rather say that every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into a heavenly creature or into a hellish creature: either into a creature that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with its fellow-creatures, and with itself. To be the one kind of creature is heaven: that is, it is joy and peace and knowledge and power. To be the other means madness, horror, idiocy, rage, impotence, and eternal loneliness. Each of us at each moment is progressing to the one state or the other.

Clive Staples (C. S.) Lewis (1898-1963), excerpted from Mere Christianity

What's in a cookie?...Perhaps a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ! Thanks to all who baked cookies for this weekend's Kairos renewal weekend. Susan Jordan emailed that team members Rick Jordan and Ricky Jordan will be carrying "an outstanding amount of 108 dozen cookies from Beloved" to the men of Kershaw Correctional Institution! Please keep this important ministry in your prayers from Thursday through Sunday. Pray that the team's witness (and the love shown through your servant offering of cookies) will provide the opening for God's Holy Spirit to change hearts and lives for Jesus Christ among the men serving time at Kershaw.

Around Beloved...The Beloved Marketing Team has prepared a Holy Week/Easter direct mail flier to be sent to 1500 households surrounding Community House Middle School. Adults and children are needed to affix the stamps and mailing labels on these fliers following worship this Sunday. Many hands make light work; with no worship space teardown this week, everyone is invited to participate...The Parish Office will be closed from Friday, March 24, through Monday, April 3. All emails and voicemails left during this period will be returned beginning Tuesday, April 4...On Maundy Thursday, April 13, Beloved will again host its wonderful 7pm Agape Meal worship service at Community House Middle School followed by the Beloved Garden Watch: an opportunity to live out Jesus' words to his disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane ("Can you not watch with me for one hour?") from 9pm to midnight or 6am to 9am the next morning in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. For the Agape Meal, we are asking Beloved's regular worship participants to reply or sign-up in the Hospitality area with the number planning to attend so that enough additional food can be prepared for our guests/visitors; for the Watch, a sign-up sheet will be available in the hospitality area. For those who love a great party, the Easter Vigil and First Celebration of Easter followed by a Festive Reception at Sundown (@8pm) on Saturday, 4/15 is a not-to-miss opportunity! Beloved supplies punch, wedding cake, shrimp and tenderloin; the wonderful cooks of the Beloved community supply the rest of the delectable treats! More information about this and the rest of Holy Week will appear in the April 5^th edition of eNews...Softball anyone? Ed Fox is looking to form a Beloved team for the city's church league this summer. Over twenty-five men, women and children who worship at Beloved have already indicated their interest! Costs and league practice schedules at this time are unknown. Any adults (male or female) or children (with parental permission) who are interested in having their names included on an interest list, click here...Sunday Christian Formation resumes after Easter Sunday...Area church-sponsored camps are now taking registrations for overnight summer camp. Two excellent accredited and reasonably-priced camps are: Camp Phoebe Needles (up I-77, off the Blue Ridge Parkway in the mountains of southern Virginia; Mitchell Harbin attended last year and will again this summer) and Camp Henry (west on I-40 in the mountains west of Asheville, NC; Dylan Lang attended last year). In addition, Trinity Episcopal School is also offering day camp opportunities during the summer as well...all rising 7^th, 8^th and 9^th graders are invited to attend Episcopal Outreach Camp (July 10-12) sponsored by Beloved and most of the Episcopal churches in Charlotte. Applications are available at Beloved Garden or from Miss Clifford or Deacon Deb.

Ministry Opportunities...Anyone have time over Spring Break to prime and paint a cabinet at Beloved Garden? Contact Anna Moore if you can help...Nancy Montagnino has for several years coordinated the Maundy Thursday Agape Meal and the Great Vigil of Easter Reception. We are so very grateful for her assistance with this vital ministry during Holy Week at Beloved. Nancy is looking for additional persons to train in these duties so Beloved is prepared for the day when she ultimately decides to retire (which we hope is no time soon!). If you are organized and detail oriented, able to delegate, and work well with many hands that always jump into help, contact Nancy who will walk you through the ropes during Holy Week 2006. The beauty of this ministry opportunity is that it only happens once a year!...The Human Needs Outreach Team had a great time visioning last night about how Beloved can be a blessing to our world and the community around us. Though plans are in the initial stages for 2006-2007, the team decided to coordinate quarterly (instead of a monthly) congregational opportunities for human needs outreach. For those who were unable to make the first gathering, there is still a place for you! This team's next gathering will be on at 7pm on Tuesday, April 4 at Beloved Garden. Need more information? Contact Deacon Deb.

Serving at God's Altar this Sunday at Beloved...Angel Army Team 2 (Captain: this ministry opportunity is available; Pastor: Susan Jordan; Convener: Al Krantz); Acolytes: Kate Copeland, Rebecca Berkeley, Carson King, Casey Anderson; Reader: Al Krantz; Presenters: Chris, Holly, Caley & Jake Scheppegrell; Eucharistic Ministers: Betsy Fox & Dick Reif; Offertory Basket Passers: Ryan Cook, John Mark or Joy Dygowski, Connor King, Emily Scheppegrell; PowerPoint: Dylan Lang.

In our Prayers...for those traveling on Spring Vacation that they may enjoy safe travel and a renewing time...for the inmate participants of the Kairos Weekend at Kershaw Correctional Institution and for team members Rick Jordan and Ricky Jordan...for Jessie Powell, Reid Gibbs, Janie Lownes, Dan Blackwood and Richard, Ginger Leppert‘s father who are recuperating from surgery or hospital stays...for those serving in Iraq, especially Scott, Dan Hood's brother...for Nancy and Tony Hodgson's granddaughter, Emily...for Marilyn Doyon and Marie Duty who are expecting babies this upcoming year...for Dorothy, Mary Reid's sister who is fighting lung cancer...for Ruth, Shana Blake‘s cousin...for Ed and Jean, Dick Reif's parents who are in declining health in Oklahoma...for Bill, Lee Frickhoeffer's uncle who has terminal cancer...for Bryan McCarthy, Lauren Skrobot and Katrina West as they continue medical testing...for Chet Rose who is to be married on April 15^th.

Upcoming Calendar through Easter Day...click here