Breakfast between services Sunday

Transfiguration Tidings

March 19, 2025

The Church of the Transfiguration

Together we shine forth with the love and light of Christ Jesus.

Dear all,

We are now firmly in the middle of the church season of Lent where we intentionally focus on growth through repentance and reflection. I pray you have found some practices for fasting, prayer, and study - it is never too late to begin to add something into your daily rhythm. What a gift to journey through Lent together.

At Transfiguration, while it certainly is not an usual Lent in terms of what we can do as a community, we are offered a blessed picture into the tangible ways we are called to be the hands and feet of Jesus to the gorge area. Thank you for your continued patience, devotion, giving, and work this Lent. Please take a look at these pictures from last week. Two are from drone footage of all the ways our campus is being used and formed for rebuilding efforts, one of our Parish Hall getting more organized, and the last is one very happy 2 year old who loved celebrating his birthday with church family.

As always, if there are ways we can help assist or get you connected into the life of the church, please reach out. We are so glad to be back in our building together. To see the readings for Sunday, the Third Sunday in Lent, Click Here. If you missed the service, and would like to watch it on YouTube, Click Her e.

This Sunday at Transfiguration

After a long hiatus since the storm, we will again worship on Sundays at both 8:00am and 10:00am. We are slowly and steadily making our way back to normal.

There will be a breakfast after the 8'oclock Service for everyone to celebrate another step toward getting back to normal.

God’s peace,

Fr. John

Pancake Breakfast Sunday

9 am (Between the Services)

We are celebrating the return of the 8 o'clock service with a pancake breakfast. Come early if you are usually at the 10 o'clock and join the 8 o'clock family for breakfast.

There will also be light snacks after the 10 o'clock service for those who cannot make the breakfast.

Pre-Eulogy Dinner March 20 at 6:00 pm La Strada Restaurant in Lake Lure

Please join us for dinner on March 20. If you are new to these dinners, we order from the menu, share some time visiting with each other, and then enjoy hearing from our featured speaker. This month's speaker is our Senior Warden, Dixie Robinson.

Calling All Garden Angels

March 27 1 pm

Spring is almost here and our beautiful Spiritual Garden needs some TLC to get ready for all the Easter festivities coming up.

We will meet in the Garden next week on Thursday, March 27 at 1 pm Bring your gardening supplies to help cleanup the beds before we can plant the springtime flowers. Contact Saundra if you need more information.

Lenten Opportunities and Holy Week Schedule

Online Noonday Prayer

After a brief pause, we are resuming our online prayer service every Thursday at 11:30am. This is a great opportunity to connect together each week, and remember our community and each other in prayer. Once our roads are more reliably open during the week, we can move back to the church. But until then, this is a good opportunity to pause each week and pray for our church family and center ourselves during this season of Lent.

Link to Online Noonday Prayer

Bearing Witness Project

A few years back, right after the first intense year of COVID and churches began resuming in-person worship, I had a priest colleague share how they were doing a different Lent that year, a “lighter” one. Her thought was that everyone had been living through a whole year of Lent already. As we know, Lent is the liturgical season that can feel “heavy” as it is a season of repentance and growth. But I think for us, we too have already been living in the season of Lent in our Gorge area. So, as a church, we too are doing a different type of Lent. Some of this is because regular access for gatherings (fasting, formation, soup dinner, healing service, etc.) are difficult right now with the roads, but also because we need something a little “lighter.” I am inviting us to something called “The Bearing Witness Project.” I think this might grow into more as time goes on, but for this Lent, I am hoping that each of us can start a new practice - to Bear Witness.

Here is how it will work. In your bulletins each Sunday in Lent, there will be a “Bearing Witness” card. The thought is that we, as those bearing witness to all that has and is happening in our gorge, will daily or weekly write down on these cards (or create your own if you aren’t able to make it into church) where you see God. It’s a simple practice, but I think deeply meaningful as we live into our call to Bear Witness to the stories around us. We can see God moving in the kindness around us, the generosity of neighbors, and even in the stories of hardship we feel, know, or hear. Then, at the end of Lent, we will have an opportunity to bring our Bearing Witness Cards back to church and give them to God as part of our offertory.

More information to come on this. You can start this Sunday, or any Sunday after. But as you are able, I ask you to prayerfully consider joining your church community for a Holy Lent as we begin the “Bearing Witness Project.”

A Special Lenten Invitation

Since we are not able to do many midweek gatherings yet, our sister church, The Church of the Transfiguration in Saluda, NC, has invited us to join them for their Wednesdays in Lent dinner and book study. The address is 72 Charles St, Saluda, NC 28773.

This opportunity begins with Evening Prayer at 5:30 pm, followed by a Soup Supper and Book Study. The book is: The Return of the Prodigal Son by Henri J. M. Nouwen (Click Here to Purchase). The conversation is facilitated by Fr. Will, Henry Mitchell, and Ellen Lind.

Please come to the event having read the assigned chapters for each day:

March 12: Prologue and Introduction (it’s okay if you haven’t read this yet!)

March 19: Chapters 1-3

March 26: Chapters 4-6

April 2: Chapters 7-9

April 9: Conclusion and Epilogue

Holy Week Schedule

Here is the tentative Holy Week Schedule for Transfiguration - we may add more opportunities as our road situation continues to evolve. Stay Tuned!

Palm Sunday | April 13th | One combined 10:00am Service at Transfiguration, the congregation of St. Paul’s will join us!
Maundy Thursday | April 17th | 6:00pm in Edneyville, this is a joint service with St. Paul’s.
Good Friday | April 18th | 6:00pm in Bat Cave, this is a joint service with St. Paul’s.
Easter Sunday | April 20th | 8:00am Service in Outdoor Chapel, 10:00am Service in Sanctuary with Easter Egg Hunt and Brunch to follow

Simplified Coffee Hours

Volunteers Needed

Praying for those who have asked for our prayers and whom we know to be in need

Ken and Ann Washburn, Margie Moore, Tom Taylor, Cameron Day, Marion Wilson, Michael Webster, Sam Thompson, Heyward and Nancy Nettles, Carol and J Michael, Harriet and Robert Taylor, Malee Keller. Aliesa Bowman, Neva Sheets, Lynn Morehead, Wendy Field, Harrison Poe, Ann Robinson, Katrina Robinson, Kim Lutthans, Tony Gambee, Julie Weaver

All who are displaced and who are suffering

Please send any names to be included on the prayer list to Julie Maziarka.

Meals for Volunteers

We still need volunteers to provide meals the hot meal at lunchtime. They have frozen meats available (chicken, beef, etc.) for you to pick up and cook if you prefer. If you have questions, ask Saundra, Carlann, Dixie or Kathy - they have taken meals and can help you plan. Team up with someone to make it easier. The meals are so appreciated! The church can reimburse you for expenses.

To sign up for taking a meal or to find out more go to

https://takethemameal.com/OKEB3569

Or contact Carlann for more information.