Vol. 78 Issue 42 Week of October 19-25, 2020 |
|
Worship on
October 25th
This Sunday morning we will worship together online focusing on how the body of the Christ's Church is like a a refugee center. Our scriptures will be Numbers 35:1-6, 13-15; Joshua 20:7-9; Luke 4:16-21 and Rev. Dennis Foust, PhD, will share a message titled, "Heart to a Stranger."
The worship video will be available at 8am via our YouTube channel and at our website under the Worship tab for you to view. You can also link to worship from the Realm Connect App Events list.
|
|
In the Life and Ministries of St. John’s,
Friday, October 23rd is
JERRY JERMAN DAY
If you know Jerry Jerman, you know she is a sweet, gentle, thoughtful, stylish, humorous, and kind woman. What you may not know is that she is celebrating her 100th birthday on October 23rd. Please join us in wishing her a happy birthday by flooding her with a card shower. She is receiving cards at 729 Aintree Rd., Charlotte, NC 28215-2017.
It my blessing to declare Friday, October 23rd, 2020 to be JERRY JERMAN DAY in the life and ministries of St. John’s Baptist Church of Charlotte, North Carolina.
When Jerry was a girl, her mother walked her and her siblings from their home – which was located near the area we know as Briar Creek along Independence Highway – to First Baptist Church uptown on the corner of Tryon and 7th Street. (That was about a 3 mile walk one way.) When Jerry was a young woman, she started attending St. John’s. This was a shorter walk. When she became a member of St. John’s, Dr. Chauncey Durden was senior minister. Throughout her life, Jerry has expressed dedication with a pleasant spirit and a friendly smile. In next week’s Family News, we will print an article written by Mallory Brown describing a visit we enjoyed with her last year.
Congratulations Jerry! We love you and wish we could all be with you on this day. However, we will be praying for you and sending you some cards and letters to celebrate your entrance into the second century of life.
-Dennis
|
|
Food Truck Fellowship: October 25
This Sunday, we hope to see you at our first Food Truck Fellowship lunch in the parking lot behind Broach Hall! It is important that you sign up beforehand for either of the time slots listed below.
We will register up to 50 persons for each time slot.
- Group 1 will gather from 11:15 to 12:00
- Group 2 will gather from 12:00 to 12:45
For This Event:
- Register in advance (see below)
- Bring your own seating (picnic blanket, camp chairs...)
- Wear your face covering
Food Trucks Available:
Don't forget, we will meet for a short CROP Walk around the Elizabeth neighborhood at 12:45pm for those interested.
Meet in the Broach Hall parking lot right after the Food Truck Event!
|
|
Loaves & Fishes Food Drive: October 25
Please bring items for each drive when you come for the Food Truck Sunday lunch times. If you do not plan on coming for the lunch, you can still drop off items in the barrels outside of Broach Hall without having to come into contact with anyone. Please drop off between 11:15am and 12:45pm the dates below.
These items are ones that Loaves and Fishes especially need right now:
- Canned Meats – tuna, chicken, salmon
- Canned Fruits – especially no sugar added or in juice
- Canned Pastas – SpaghettiOs, ravioli, etc
- Rice in 1 lb. bags
- Pastas such as spaghetti, elbows, etc
(For Safety – No Glass Please!)
|
|
Getting Along:
A Personal Word from Dr. Dennis W. Foust
We are living in a time of intense political partisanship and polarization. Too often, these differences can even show up in churches. Although we intend to express our commitments to follow the way of Jesus above all other relationships and priorities, we can sometimes fail to do so.
One of our emphases, in the life and ministries of St. John's, is to equip our members to be peacemakers and peace-builders. One way we equip you for this Ministry in Daily Life is by providing thought provoking resources to help you build bridges of understanding. Therefore, I asked the permission of Rob Sellers to offer his recent article to you. I am grateful to Rob and to Mark Wingfield, Executive Director and Publisher of Baptist News Global (BNG) for their positive responses to my requests. I encourage you to support BNG as a trustworthy source of information. You may place them on your favorites bar by adding, www.baptistnews.com
Dr. Rob Sellers served St. John's as Minister with Youth in the early 1970s. He and his wife Janie served as missionaries in Indonesia for twenty-five years. He is professor of theology and missions emeritus at Hardin Simmons University's Logsdon Seminary in Abilene, Texas. He is the immediate past chair of the Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago. Rob was our guest proclaimer on Heritage Sunday a few years ago. More than a decade ago, it was my privilege to serve as pastor of Rob and Janie's son, daughter-in-law and grandsons.
What I’ve Learned About Agreeing to Disagree in Contentious Times
by Dr. Rob Sellers
(republished with permission)
As a teacher for most of my adult life, I knew not everyone would — or should — blindly agree with my perspective. For at least two decades, I chose to teach my seminary graduate courses around conference tables rather than from the front of auditorium-style classrooms, specifically so that student learning would occur in the give-and-take of shared ideas. My philosophy was that around the table we are all learners and also all teachers, and the line between us kept shifting.
Now that I am retired from my professor responsibilities, I spend a lot of time communicating my thoughts in written form. Occasionally when I write a controversial article — usually political but sometimes theological — I receive expected pushback from people who have been good friends of mine for many decades. If the conversation arrives at an impasse or becomes disrespectful, however, my response to these friends often has been to propose, “Let’s just agree to disagree.”
That suggestion has not satisfied those who want instead to debate what I have written. Some of them have encouraged me to engage more fully our philosophical differences, in the spirit of healthy exchange.
I have done that, committed to dialogue as a way of bringing people together, while simultaneously resisting ongoing dispute that can sometimes turn argumentative and drive people apart. In the same way that I have needed to guide or even end a particularly heated discussion in the seminar room that was becoming contentious or off-topic, occasionally online I have wished once again to be able respectfully to say, “Let’s agree to disagree.”
The phrase has personal significance in my life. After completing my master of divinity degree at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary at age 26, I began my first full-time position as minister to youth at St. John’s Baptist Church in Charlotte, N.C. The job provided a valuable opportunity for me to grow and learn.
The senior pastor who brought my name to the search committee had served the congregation for 28 years. Initially, I did not know how much he would influence my life. Claude U. Broach was a gentleman scholar, liturgical Baptist, partner in reformation thinking with his crosstown fellow pastor Carlyle Marney, and Charlotte city icon. Soft-spoken and kind but courageous, he had shepherded the people of the congregation through their “disfellowshipping” by the local Baptist association because of the baptismal policy St. John’s had adopted after months of prayerful study. As a passionate supporter of ecumenism — and one of the few invited Protestant observers at Vatican II in Rome — Broach was a proponent of ecumenism long before many Baptists publicly agreed that relating to Roman Catholics as brothers and sisters in the faith was appropriate.
To the variety of attacks and criticisms leveled at him — for serving a Baptist church with a name that sounded Episcopalian, guiding worship while wearing clerical robes from a sanctuary platform with a divided chancel, befriending and thus validating a well-known theological “liberal” like Marney, refusing to require immersion of Christians joining St. John’s who had previously experienced believer’s baptism but regardless of mode, preaching to deepen spiritual maturity and encourage social justice rather than “evangelize the lost,” cooperating with Catholics “as if they were Christians” or committing other lesser-known“ failings” — Claude Broach responded by following an ethical tenet that expressed his personality and defined his approach to ministry. That principle was: “Let’s agree to disagree.”
His commitment to the respectful expression of differences was reflected in the church covenant the congregation read together each time someone was baptized or ritually became part of the St. John’s fellowship. One of the promises in that document stated: “We will love and encourage each other in the family of the church and admonish each other as occasion may require. Our differences will not separate us but rather increase our understanding and strengthen the bonds of Christian love.” Broach’s ethical stance that one should “agree to disagree agreeably” set the tone for how members of the congregation responded to opposition and condemnation. It also made a deep impression on me as a young minister.
“Disagreeing agreeably” is a popular topic in today’s political climate. A Google search for the phrase garners 250,000 results. One executive coaching tip for the business world recommends that two acts can help business associates or competitors to disagree agreeably: first, they must “acknowledge the other person’s idea is valid”; and, second, they should “assert that (their) position is different — not better, just different.
- Pick your battles.
- Understand the stakes.
- Wait until you’re calm.
- Be respectful.
- Speak for yourself.
- Don’t interrogate.
- State the facts.
- Speak to common interests.
- Aim to clear the air rather than win.
- Consider compromise.
Glen Smith, professor of political science at the University of North Georgia, has published a book offering both a philosophy of political dialogue and ways to diffuse contemporary controversial arguments: Disagreeing Agreeably: Issue Debates, with a Primer on Political Disagreement.
The phrase “agree to disagree” first appeared in print in 1770 in a memorial sermon preached by John Wesley at the funeral of his rival, George Whitefield. The two 18th-century leaders of the Great Awakening had long argued about theological differences, but Wesley admitted that some doctrines are non-essential and should not therefore disrupt relationship. To his brother Charles, Wesley sent a letter soon after the funeral attributing the peacemaking concept to Whitefield, writing: “If you agree with me, well: if not, we can, as Mr. Whitefield used to say, agree to disagree.”
I believe George Whitefield was correct 250 years ago when he thought that agreeing to disagree could save a friendship. And, similarly, I think Claude Broach was right 48 years ago for using the same technique to maintain respectful relationships.
Therefore, at some point in a verbal dispute with someone with whom I have a relationship but with whom I disagree on some point of theology, politics, ethics or other philosophical belief, I sometimes still suggest that we “agree to disagree.”
This stance is flexible, and I only move to this request after first engaging with my dialogue partner. When, however, it becomes evident that neither of us will likely be persuaded to believe differently, or if more heat than light begins to be expressed, I seek to conclude the debate by calling for disagreeing agreeably.
There are, nonetheless, some ideas and concerns to which I am strongly committed. Although at some juncture I will agree to disagree with a thoughtful interlocutor for the sake of maintaining friendship, I cannot be persuaded to change my response to these matters that shape my life as a follower of Christ: treating people who follow other faiths with respect and compassion; celebrating the calling of women into every form of Christian ministry; affirming the reality of climate change and working to reverse our human footprint on earth; supporting Black Lives Matter in our racially torn American society; opposing the racist phenomenon of white supremacy and its insidious intrusion into segments of evangelicalism; welcoming and affirming LGBTQ people as beloved children of the Creator God and as my siblings in the human family; decrying the political turmoil that is destroying the soul of our nation; following a radical Lord who calls me to risk myself to champion justice and mercy for everyone; and cooperating with diverse partners to identify and participate in God’s work in the world.
Agreeing to disagree is a way to prevent conflict and preserve friendship. I learned to admire this strategy many years ago. However, I cannot use it as a way to escape engagement with tough issues, nor can I claim it as a comfortable cover for avoiding the hard work of being a Christian disciple.
|
|
Women's Retreat:
Gathering in God's Love, Wherever We Are
We hope all of the women of St. John's will join us for this year's virtual women's retreat on Saturday, November 7 from 10:00am to 12:00pm. This year, we will focus on the ancient Hebrew story of “Returning from Exile." This story will serve as our guide for living as community in this modern day version of Exile and Return during the 2020 Pandemic.
Elements of this event will include the telling of this sacred story offered by Rev. Allison Benfield, break out groups for facilitated small group discussion, as well as large group summary of the experience.
Participants will receive resources ahead of the retreat to prepare. If you cannot participate in this year’s retreat on November 7, resources will also be available for you to use in your personal reflection time. We hope you will join us! Please invite any women you know who are currently outside of the St. John's community to join us. All are welcome.
Register by clicking the green button below:
|
|
To All College Age Members of St. John's:
The Martha Miller and J.P. Hackney Trust Fund was created through the will of Mildred Hackney Smith, and provides grant money for St. John's members (or children of St. John's members) who plan to attend Furman University, Wake Forest University, or Wingate University.
If your plans for college next year include one of these three schools, you may wish to apply for one of the Hackney Grants. The deadline for application is March 1. For more information, contact the Chair of the Hackney Committee, Steve Carter at Cartergang4@gmail.com
|
|
Outdoor Vesper Moments for Devotion and Prayer |
|
Sunday, November 1st
We will observe All Saints Sunday and remember our members
who have passed on ahead of us during the last year.
We will register up to 50 persons for each time slot
Group 1 will gather from 3:00 to 3:30 PM
Group 2 will gather from 4:00 to 4:30 PM
For each event:
Register in advance (see below)
Bring your own seating (picnic blanket, camp chairs...)
Wear your face covering
|
|
If you have questions about these events and registration, please contact
Derek by email or phone or Mallory by email or phone. |
|
Advent 2020: God's Hands
This year, the Advent season begins on November 29. As we make our way toward this season, we invite all those who find writing or storytelling as way to express God’s graciousness to join in working on our Advent devotional book. This year we are focusing on God’s hands. There are times when God’s hands are reaching to us through others, as well as in ways we are yet to understand. At all times God is asking us to be hands of hope, peace, joy and love to all those around us. We would like the devotions this year to focus on times when God’s hands have reached out to you, or times when you have been God’s hands reaching out to another. God’s hands of hope, peace, joy, and love.
This year, we are providing a digital Advent book but will have print ones available for anyone who wishes to have one.
If you are interested in submitting a writing or story, there are two options:
-
Written: For those who prefer to write, compose your devotional in a Word document that can be shared via email. The devotional should be about half a page to a page in length.
-
Video: For those who are verbal and visual story tellers, we invite you to video yourself telling your story and upload it to this folder in Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ISUPj2Y_tHe-an7HwSUoSzMjGkCX3VRx?usp=sharing
What do I do if I am interested?
-
Notify Kevin Gray and Mallory Brown of your intention to submit at kgray@sjcharlotte.org and mbrown@sjcharlotte.org.
-
After you let them know, please submit your devotion via email to both Kevin and Mallory or by uploading your video to the Google Drive folder by Friday, November 13.
|
|
Prayer Concerns, Thanks & Sympathy |
|
Polly Hull, Gene & Carol Poole, Elma Thomas,
Peg Russ, Alison Zieglmeier (daughter of Ken and Donna Scott),
Andrew Adair, Barbara Ledford, Tom Bryson,
Carol Hager (sister of Betty Harkey), Carole Ann Simpson, Ken Smith, Jacob Goodson
Sympathy to Martha Fowler in the death of her sister, Bianca Pickett Fowler.
Happy 100th Birthday to Jerry Jerman this Friday, October 23rd!
|
|
|
|
Please email info@sjcharlotte.org to share a prayer request, thank you, or celebration. |
|
Financial Ministry Plan Report
Week of October 14-20: $17,800
Income through October 20: $869,165
Annual 2020 Ministry Plan Budget Goal: $1,175,000
|
|
You can make contributions, view your giving history and pledge status, as well as update your pledge and giving information anytime by accessing your personal
Realm profile online or via the Connect App.
|
|
Contact the Staff
To email a staff member, click on their name below
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
