The Pinnacle
May 14, 2021
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Please mark your calendars for the regularly scheduled May meeting of the Church-in-Conference, which we will hold in our sanctuary on Sunday, May 23, immediately following the 11 o'clock worship service. All church members are invited and encouraged to attend. There will be supervised children's activities available during the meeting.
Jo Meeks, Church Moderator
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Wade H. Davis, Jr. died in September 2018. A member of NDBC since 1980, he was a quiet presence, attending regularly during the years that his health permitted. Wade was born in Lykesland, South Carolina, in 1933 and graduated from the University of South Carolina in 1959 with a degree in English and psychology. From there he went to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he earned a master’s degree in religious education and church music in 1963. In 1973 he joined the Georgia Baptist Convention, where he spent a 27-year career in its Department of Music, retiring in 2000.
Wade had wide-ranging interests in music, travel, religious arts and cultures around the world. Besides a large collection of books and art, he collected nativity sets from different countries and materials created by crafts workers, from carvers to textile and ceramic artists. These have been on display in our church over the past two Advent seasons.
When Wade died, he left instructions that there be no funeral or memorial service for him. Remarkably, however, his will instructed that his house, located in Atlanta’s Toco Hills neighborhood, and its contents should be left to Northside Drive Baptist Church. Ultimately, Don and Syd Janney became custodians of Wade's estate and the task of finding suitable places for the house’s contents fell to them, with assistance from other NDBC members.
After more than two years of disposing of the contents and preparing the house for sale, Wade’s house on Christmas Lane was sold on May 5, 2021, and the proceeds will benefit NDBC.
The thanks of the congregation go to Don and Syd for their hard work and faithfulness on behalf of our church in executing the sale of the Davis home. We also offer our thanks in memoriam to Wade for his quiet, yet extraordinary and transforming gift. Thanks be to God.
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Construction firm Sugar Hill Outdoors continues apace on the building of an activities pavilion, located on the south lawn of the church. Project completion is expected by May 31.
The footings and stage were poured last week. Beam placement has begun.
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The Adult Education Ministry Team is beginning to plan and dream about the future. We are working on how and whether to begin in-person education consistent with Covid protocols while also accommodating virtual participants. Your input is vitally important to our planning. Please complete this very brief survey. |
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Come join your fellow NDBC members and friends for an evening full of fun and fellowship on Saturday, May 15. Chequered Blue, Atlanta’s own classic rock and blues band, will be playing on the sanctuary lawn from 5 to 7 pm. NDBC’s Dianne DaLee is the bass guitarist and backup vocalist for the group, and she will be joined by bandmates Terry Heinlein (drums and vocals), Mark Kowal (lead and rhythm guitar) Ramsey Mohandiss (lead and rhythm guitar and keys) and Corey Waller, saxophone, harmonica and vocals.
This will be an outdoor, BYOE (bring your own everything) event. Grab your family, friends, blankets, chairs, and picnic basket, and meet us on the lawn between 4:30 and 5:00 pm to set up your space. Enjoy a tasty King of Pops (our treat!) as we listen to the music. We look forward to seeing you there. In the meantime, please email Jackie Hardin with any questions about the event.
In order for all to enjoy the evening safely, please do your part in the following:
- Observe proper social distancing
- Engage in proper hand-washing and sanitizing practices
Church restrooms will be open, and hand sanitizer and masks will be available.
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For reasons I'll explain in a moment, I've been thinking about being passive this week. When I'm passive, things are always happening to me. I feel that I am powerless. I merely observe and have emotions.
Sound familiar? Covid has given us plenty of practice at being passive. One week after another we learned that what we took for granted (going to the grocery store, going to church, visiting family) was now something we really couldn't control.
Luke, in his two volume masterpiece the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts, narrates the ascension twice. In both texts, the passive voice is used. Jesus is "carried up into heaven" in Luke's ending, and then a cloud takes him away in Acts Chapter 1.
In seminary I learned that the passive voice in the New Testament is often the divine passive. When miraculous things happen to people in Scripture, it is God who does the miracle. In other words, we are to infer that it is God who lifts Jesus up into the clouds, up, up, and away.
I think the divine passive is a beautiful way of thinking about how it is that we sinful creatures end up spreading the joy of God's presence from time to time. It is God who acts within and for us through the Holy Spirit.
Given my mind's predilection for word play, I have been riffing on the meaning of passive in these ascension accounts.
As in...how passive we have become during Covid, stuck in our homes waiting on other people or events to do something, anything, to make our lives better. Waiting for the numbers to drop, the vaccine to get developed, church to return.
As in...observing, judging, and catastrophizing about the news and political polarization. Outrage culture is about what they are doing which makes us righteously indignant. We begin to lose our agency when we are always outraged at the news. We become passive recipients of rage.
What is lacking in such movements of passivity is mission. God's mission for the church; God's mission for you individually. The vehicle for God's mission of forgiveness and reconciliation in the world is the third person of the Trinity: the Holy Spirit. This is the what, or better yet, the who which Jesus promises in both Luke and Acts. The tension is building until that great day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit rains down fire from heaven, opening up the gospel to all the nations.
The promise of Pentecost is that we are not called to be passive anymore. To be a follower of Jesus is an active movement forward. Wherever the Holy Spirit goes, dynamic mission follows. This is the challenge for the Church in transition, preoccupied with questions of survival and programming.
As Jesus goes up, up, and away, he did not leave us alone. The Holy Spirit descended and is present, gifting us in incredible, impossible to predict ways. I pray that you would help us discern the activity of the Holy Spirit.
Grace and peace,
Daniel Headrick, Associate Pastor
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Buckhead Christian Ministries (BCM) has launched a new virtual volunteer role supporting the Emergency Assistance (EA) program. This new role, EA Client Follow-Up Caller, makes follow-up calls to clients who recently received financial assistance to ask about their experience with the BCM online system and if they are still housed. These calls let BCM assess the impact of EA.
To learn more about this role, sign up for training. The next training date is Tuesday, May 25 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. You can find a calendar of more training dates on BCM's volunteer site, VolunteerHub.
Volunteers are also needed in THRIFTique, BCM's retail store, open Tuesdays through Saturdays, 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. You can sign up for their training and see available volunteer shifts also by visiting VolunteerHub.
Nancy Hall, Mission Chair
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This Sunday the Art & Soul class continues its study of the weekly lectionary scriptures. Our guide is the Feasting on the Word curriculum, and we invite you to read the participant's guide for prior study. Hartwell Dew will lead our discussion this Sunday.
Please join us at 9:00 a.m. via Zoom. We will conclude in time for driving to worship.
Meeting ID: 824 8851 2109
Passcode: 936319.
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May 16: Daniel Headrick
May 23; Andrea Johnson
May 30: TBD
June 6: Greg DeLoach
June 13: Daniel Headrick
June 20: Karen Massey
June 27: Daniel Headrick
July 4: Daniel Headrick
July 11: Paula Dempsey
July 18: Priscilla Eppinger
July 25: Daniel Headrick
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Randy Korando - May 14
Hadley McClure - May 15
Fulgencio Ferrer - May 16
Wilma Underwood - May 18
Sam Egan - May 18
Judy Schneider - May 19
Avi Anantaraman - May 21
Beth Singleton - May 23
Valerie Hardy - May 26
Cameron Sardone - May 27
Jay Mudd - May 29
Sandra Prince - May 30
Jerry Poole - May 30
Amy Taylor - May 30
Shannon Moore - May 31
Josh Davis - May 31
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Weekly Church Events
Art and Soul Church School - This Sunday at 9:30 am via Zoom
Meeting ID: 824 8851 2109
Passcode: 936319
Sunday Morning Worship - 11:00 am live-stream via YouTube, a recording of which will be available for later viewing.
Wednesday Pastor's Morning Bible Study - 10:30 am via Zoom
Meeting ID: 250 663 1572
Passcode: 6789
Sanctuary Open for Prayer - Monday through Friday - 2:00-3:30 pm.
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During this time of remote worship, know of our prayers for you and your family. Contact our clergy if you have prayer requests or other concerns.
Northside Drive Baptist Church
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Church Office Hours
Monday through Friday
9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
(404) 237-8621
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