March 6, 2025

Spring Forward This Weekend!

Daylight Savings Time is upon us. Don't forget to set your clocks ahead one hour on Saturday night, March 9. Hope to see you at worship on Sunday!

gathering

Sunday, March 9, 2025

First Sunday of Lent

Worship with Holy Communion

8:30am & 10am

Live streaming on Sundays at 10am on our facebook page. Service recordings are available on our youtube channel.

The Altar Guild is hosting its pot-luck Spring Brunch on Saturday, March 15, from 9am until 11am in the Fellowship Hall. Everyone is invited to attend and see what the Altar Guild is all about. A time of fellowship, learning, and service is planned.

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Lenten Soup Suppers and Study will begin on Wednesday, March 12. There will be five sessions entitled Lutherans 101. This will be a great time to review if you’re a lifelong Lutheran or get to know your faith community better if you are newer to the denomination. Our time together will end with Compline (night prayer) around the tables.

• 5:30: Soup Supper
• 6:15: Study time
• 6:45: Compline (night prayer)

You are invited to sign up to bring soup, bread, or to help with set up and clean up. Click here to sign up online or you can visit the Welcome Desk outside our worship space.

Come and join your Nativity family as we deepen our understanding of what it means to be Lutheran.

This year's Lenten midweek offerings will benefit Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity. Our goal is $5,000, and we have matching gifts of $2,500 to help us meet it! This means that every $1 given will be matched up to $2,500.

Sermon Q & A

Do you enjoy listening to the sermon but sometimes have questions you'd like to ask? Do you disagree with something or want clarification? Nativity now has a way to ask questions of the preacher. Please text (828) 393-0083‬ with your question. Questions will be answered on Monday with a link sent in the "Growing in Faith" email.

Library Relocation

Some of you may have noticed that the church library is undergoing changes. This is because the library is being relocated to a new home in the church! There it will have a dedicated space, revamped book catalogue, and more welcoming environment for meetings, small groups, personal study, and more. Please be patient with us as we complete this move.

The Nativity Women's Group will meet in the Fellowship Hall on Thursday, March 13. All women are invited to join the group at 11am for lunch (bring some food to share) and a study on the Apostles' Creed. We are on chapter five, "The Forgiveness of Sins", using Adam Hamilton's book Creed, What Christians Believe and Why. 

Asheville Trialogue Ramadan is a most holy month for our Muslim neighbors. Similar to our season of Lent, it is a time for feasting, repentance, and renewal. Dennis Teall-Fleming will be taking Asheville Trialogue for an evening at the Asheville Masjid for Ramadan prayer and potluck. You are welcome to join us! Ramdan began recently, and participating in the evening's Maghrib (sunset) prayer and Iftar meal afterwards are always fun. Plan on going with us Friday, March 14. The timeframe should be from 7 until 9pm. Call/text Dennis at 704-674-0729 to get signed up. Thanks! Click here for the Asheville Islamic Center.

The Nativity Book Group

will discuss Kate Moore's book, The Radium Girls, on Thursday, March 20 at 2pm in the Fellowship Hall. All are welcome to attend and join in the discussion, even if you haven't finished the book. The book for April 17 is The Slow Lane Walker's Club by Rosa Temple.

Join Us on Wednesday Mornings at 10am for Bible study in the Fellowship Hall.

Reconciling Conversations will meet at 11:15am in the Fellowship Hall on the second and fourth Sundays of each month unless otherwise indicated. The next meeting is Sunda, March 23. Our focus is a discussion based on Jaqueline Bussie’s book Love Without Limits.

Taking Faith Home This devotional can be used for home devotions and small groups to deepen your daily and lifelong faith formation. Click here to view this devotional for this week.

Nativity's Podcast

Now, you can catch up on missed sermons. Various other content will be coming as a result of the work by our Strategic Plan Implementation Teams! You can find us by searching "Nativity, Arden".

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Funeral Service The funeral service for Dewey Johnson will be on Wednesday, March 26 at 3pm here at Nativity. Please continue to keep his family and friends in your prayers.

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Quarter 2 Offering Envelopes are available for pickup in the Fellowship Hall. If you wish to have envelopes and you don't see envelopes assigned to your household, please let Jen Loizzo know at jloizzo@nativityarden.org. Thank you.

Nativity's Nick Banker volunteering at CFP.

Calvary Food Pantry welcomed 116 households of neighbors on March 1. Who are our pantry neighbors, you may wonder? Grandparents raising grandchildren, families with teens or younger children, young adults trying to make ends meet, single parents, seniors on fixed incomes — a beloved variety of God’s children of different races, languages, and cultures. Some are dealing with illness or medical conditions, others are grieving a loved one or loss of work, still others are working multiple jobs, and several are affected by Helene. There are many ways to volunteer.  To learn more about Calvary Food Pantry contact Nativity liaison Karen Rich (828.242.6403). To sign up for Friday or Saturday morning, click here.

Nativity Card Ministry will meet in the Fellowship Hall on Thursday, March 13 at 12:30pm. Everyone is invited to come and help assemble cards that are sent to our members on the prayer list.

Habitat for Humanity Update

Volunteer construction starts up in February. Nativity has scheduled upcoming group work days on Saturday, March 15. Help is needed! Come spend some quality time with friends and other volunteers while building a neighborhood that will last for decades. Contact David Nus (nusdavid@gmail.com or 828-301-7654) if you wish to sign up (or are interested in working other days) or have questions.

Music as Mission Nativity will be hosting the Winthrop University Chorale on Sunday, March 30 at 4pm. One of the outcomes from our Strategic Plan was to host concerts to further the outreach of our parish into the community. We started that in December with the Blue Ridge Ringers.

We could use your help!



• Dinner Team: Setup/takedown pizza buffet, pick up pizza from restaurant on Airport Road, heat up the GF option, put salad out etc. You will not have to shop as everything will be in the kitchen for you.  
• Breakfast Team: Setup/takedown buffet items…fruit, snack bars, juice, coffee, etc. No cooking.
• Housing: Instead of asking you to house the 55+ students in your home, we are asking for donations to house them at Lutheridge the night of the 30th. Any donation would be greatly appreciated.

If you can help with any of the above please see or email Ed Hauck, our Director of Worship and Music.

nativity youth

Youth Meal Update On Sunday evenings the youth of nativity gather for fellowship and learning about Jesus. As part of the evening we have a meal. Thank you to everyone who has volunteered so far! We still need sign ups for April 13, April 27 and May 11. The youth enjoy lots of things, but some ideas are tacos, spaghetti, burgers/hot dogs, and pasta. If you don't want to cook you could pick up pizza or deli trays (Laura is also willing to pick items up for you if needed). If you plan for 15 people you will have enough. If you are willing to volunteer or have questions, please contact Laura Baylor (lbaylor@outlook.com or 828-242-8107) the Meal Coordinator for this year. Thank you! Click here to sign up!

Youth Beach Retreat!

Save the date for the 2025 Youth Beach Retreat! We'll be going to Holden Beach together this summer, leaving from the church on the morning of June 16 and returning June 20. More details about registration, cost of participation, and so on are coming soon, so be on the lookout for those in due course. 

Lutheran Church of the Nativity

2425 Hendersonville Rd. | P. O. Box 208

Arden, North Carolina 28704

nativityarden.org | 828.684.0352