Pot Luck Sunday

Transfiguration Tidings

March 26, 2025

The Church of the Transfiguration

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

Dear all,

Transfiguration community, there are so many amazing reasons to give thanks. Our Sundays back in our church building are continuing uninterrupted and attendance is good, new folks are joining our church community, we are active in the rebuilding and supporting effort in our gorge area, and we are maintaining and creating new ways to be the hands and feet of Jesus through our ministries. While things are not as they were, I am personally deeply grateful for your flexibility as we navigate this next chapter of being Transfigured. All this offers a beautiful new way to experience and live into this Lenten season of growth and reflection.

Please check out some of the articles below for ways to participate as you are able. Also know, all of you are held in the prayers of the church. Please reach out anytime if there are ways we can help support you or make you feel more connected to our church family. If you are able to help support the church financially, your gifts are deeply appreciated. To give online, you can click here.

Just a reminder that our 8:00am Service Resumed last Sunday! We are so thankful for the ways we are returning to normal in our parish. Thank you all for both your patience and help to make this happen.

To see the readings for Sunday, the Fourth Sunday in Lent, Click Here. If you missed the service, and would like to watch it on YouTube, Click Here.

God’s peace,

Fr. John

Message from the Sr. Warden

At the last meeting of the Vestry, we established two committees that will be working on our church campus and our relationship with the community in the Hickory Nut Gorge.

The first committee is A Campus and Infrastructure Review Committee. This committee will identify all current and future needs related to our building and grounds and develop a plan to address these needs. They will also consider future needs that may arise from our work in the community. Our Junior Warden, Randy Penn, will head the committee. If you would like to give input to the committee or have a concern that needs to be addressed, please contact Randy.

The second committee is a Community Development Committee. This is a group to identify long term relief from Hurricane Helene. This group will work with community relief efforts and the Diocese and National Episcopal Relief groups. We hope to identify a large relief effort to further community engagement between the church and our community in the Hickory Nut

Gorge. The committee will be chaired by the Senior Warden and Fr. Roberts. If you are interested in community engagement or have ideas related to this area, please contact Dixie Robinson.

Several people have already agreed to serve on these committees, but if you have interest in either area, please don’t hesitate to contact Randy or Dixie.

Dixie

Covered Dish Lunch Sunday

March 30 after the 10 o'clock

This Sunday we are having a Pot Luck lunch for our coffee hour. Bring something to share.

Sandwiches, casseroles, chili, soup, salad, chips, dips, be creative.

Drinks are being taken care of.

If you have questions or would like to volunteer to clean up or set up, Contact Carlann

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.

Firewood Ministry

Slightly over a year ago, Anne and I rejoined the faithful at Transfiguration. Part of the re-immersion was becoming involved in the projects to which we could contribute. Firewood Ministry had my name all over it – and I’ve had the pleasure of working with the team, gathering, sawing, splitting and stacking – plus being involved with the delivery to those for whom we amassed the supply – in Henderson, Buncombe, Rutherford and Polk Counties.

This past winter has not only been cold for our region, it has also been a tough one for many who suffered from Helene – including our team leader, Patrick Warncke who had to become less involved due to multiple challenges. Our stock of wood – in excess of 30 cords – was quickly being depleted and by early February, we were down to a scant few loads that we could distribute.

Unbeknownst to any of us at the time, the Bat Cave Disaster Relief group had directed a huge delivery of split and dried hardwood be dumped at the Transfiguration woodshed… and more was to follow. Two friends, Robert Lummus and Blaine Pressley rallied to help me stack the wood on the spur of the moment – and have become an integral part of the team – as well as Jason Wade who cares for adjacent “Gables” property and to whom we supply wood.

Under the leadership of Richard Glassen, our Firewood Ministry group has been adding wood from fallen trees on the campus plus some that the Disaster group couldn’t utilize for lumber – meeting every Monday for over a month - after receiving clearance to pass through the Chimney Rock security gate.

A group from St Peter’s in Charlotte arrived to help with campus projects on March 8th. Among the tasks they accomplished was loading, moving and stacking a massive amount of split wood that was ready to go into the shed.

Given the blessings of wood deliveries and assistance in handling it, we are rapidly approaching a shed-full of wood for the winter of 2025/2026.

Hat’s off to the entire team, with whom I’ve enjoyed the “wood time” - Richard G, Tom S, Randy P, Ernie M, Mark H, Mike B, George VE, Bud R, Dixon B, Jason W, Robert L, and Blaine P for their dedication and having us prepared to supply wood to those in need.

“For lack of wood, the fire goes out” Proverbs 26:20

Bob Washburn

Meals for Volunteers

We still need volunteers to provide a hot meal at lunchtime or dinnertime. The volunteers are still coming in and there really aren't any restaurants, so they need us to help out. They have frozen meats available (chicken, beef, etc.) for you to pick up and cook if you would like to use what has been donated to them. They just don't have a way to cook it. They are so appreciative of anything. Pictured: Saundra dropping off a meal last week.

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.

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 given to God as part of our offertory.

You can begin this any Sunday in Lent. 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 26: Chapters 4-6

April 2: Chapters 7-9

April 9: Conclusion and Epilogue

Dear friends,

How fitting it is that the Parable of the Prodigal Son is the selection for our Gospel reading when I return to write after two weeks of falling short of the deadline of my entries for Tidings. One of my favorite things about our Church, and specifically, our denomination, is how we do exactly that for which the Pharisees and scribes scold Jesus: “...welcoming sinners and eating with them.” What a blessing it is, too, how this Lenten season has felt both meaningful and brief. We are more than halfway through our journey into Eastertide renewal and joy. This week’s readings largely deal with both the themes of sustenance and relishing in the fact that we truly can be forgiven for our transgressions against both God and our neighbor. This is done most importantly through communal gathering and reliance on God’s love and the pathway of how to best and most healthily follow it. I invite you this week to relish in where you have been forgiven, and seek where you may forgive.

Colin

Colin Rice is joining us by way of Blue Ridge Service Corps, a program for young

adults in our Diocese to discern career paths in an intentional and spiritual way. He is discerning between full time ministry or a career in social work. Colin is thrilled to join our community for the coming months!

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 13 One combined 10:00 am Service at Transfiguration, the congregation of St. Paul's will join us!

Maundy Thursday April 17th 6:00 pm in Edneyville, this is a joint service with St. Paul's

Good Friday April 18th 6:00 pm in Bat Cave, this is a joint service with St. Paul's

Easter Sunday April 20th 8:00 am Service in Outdoor Chapel

10:00 am 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, Kristina Robinson, Kim Lutthans,

Tony Gambee, Macy Weaver, Lori Loftus and Ken Schoewer

All who are displaced and who are suffering

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