May 30th will be our next Music Sunday. Please consider contributing a song or poem or perhaps offer a suggestion for a song, poem or reading. We would appreciate messages with which we can encourage and challenge each other as we move forward this year. If you are submitting a recorded song or message, please send it by May 17th. If you have a suggestion, please submit that request by May 10th to allow time for recording.
We are going to take a trip down the Harpeth River on May 22nd (May 23rd is our alternative rain date)! You can rent a kayak with life jacket and paddle from one of the outfitters nearby (Tip-A-Canoe will drop you off, too!), borrow a kayak from a friend with life jacket and paddle, or bring your own! Please RSVP to the church office by Thursday 5/13 – brookmeade@comcast.net – if you plan to attend (as we will need to reserve rentals in advance)! Please put your name and phone number, how long of a trip you would be comfortable with, and if you plan to use a rental in your RSVP with subject line “Harpeth Kayak Trip May 22,” so that we can coordinate to put our kayaks in all together. Bring drinks and snacks as we can stop and eat beside the river. Wear sunscreen and get ready for some fun!
On Sunday, May 2nd we will have our reguarly scheduled “COW” (Contribute Our Wealth) Offering that collects monetary donations for Second Harvest and Heifer International. You have two ways to donate: 1) Send a check to the church office with the memo “COW Offering”; 2) When you donate online with Tithe.ly, choose COW Offering on the drop-down menu. Thank you for helping us support these very important organizations!
After the success of the Outdoor Easter service, we have decided to hold another In-person Ourdoor Worship Service on Sunday, May 9th (Mother’s Day) at 10:30 am! We will continue to require masks and social distancing and we encourage folks to bring hats, lawn/camp chairs for your safety and comfort. We will have hand sanitizer and extra masks available for visitors and are taking precautions as we prepare for the service. Thank you and we look forward to seeing you all on May 9th! Let us know if you have any questions or requests.
Rain Plan: There is a chance of rain at noon today, so please bring an umbrella just in case. We will see you at 10:30!
Livestream: For those unable to attend in person, please watch the livestream on our Facebook page. You do not need a Facebook account to watch the livestream, just visit: https://www.facebook.com/brookmeadeucc and scroll down to see the livestream. Follow along with our online worship bulletin HERE: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XBEB6qvo-BGjuoVqum_C-_fI1iOn4nj7/view?usp=sharing
Many Brookmeaders worked hard to prepare our outdoor space for Easter worship. We will have another outdoor clean up and gardening day on Sun. May 2nd starting at 11 am for the beautification of our outdoor space at Brookmeade, prior to our next in-person service (on May 9th). This will be a fun day to see each other and work together on our beautiful property! Let us know if you can help in any way by emailing brookmeade@comcast.net or calling the office: 615-352-4702 or just show up on Sun. May 2nd starting at 11 am. Thank you to all of our hard-working garden warriors!
Our next trip to the Project CURE Warehouse (2300 Clifton Ave.) is scheduled for Saturday, May 1st, 9:30 am – 12 pm. We will be sorting medical supplies. Newcomers are very welcome but please wear a mask! For planning reasons and to make sure we are COVID safe/socially distanced we need a head count for our group prior to volunteering. Please RSVP to Cindy D. ASAP if you plan to attend. You can also RSVP to the church office (615-352-4702, brookmeade@comcast.net). Thanks and see you there!
Join us for a Virtual Game Night the last Sunday of the month, April 25th at 5 pm. It’s super fun to play games together and catch up! Join us for Jackbox Games on Zoom. Find the link in your weekly email or visitors, please contact the church office to be sent the link by email.
Join us for Learn and Grow Sunday mornings at 9:15 am via Zoom! Look for the link in the Sunday morning email (visitors please contact the church office to learn how to join our discussion)! The current topic of discussion in Learn & Grow is…
The New Normal: Dealing with Anxiety in a Post-Pandemic World
As we emerge from our homes and return to church, work, and the world, how do we feel? If we have anxiety, where can we find comfort? Come to Learn & Grow to find scripture and practices that can help us deal with the anxieties we may feel in this time of transition.
Sunday, April 4th, 2021 (Easter Sunday)
“We are baffled” by Walter Brueggemann
Christ is Risen
He is risen indeed!
We are baffled by the very Easter claim we voice.
Your new life fits none of our categories.
We wonder and stew and argue,
and add clarifying adjectives like “spiritual” and “physical.”
But we remain baffled, seeking clarity and explanation,
we who are prosperous, and full and safe and tenured.
We are baffled and want explanations.
But there are those not baffled, but stunned by the news,
stunned while at minimum wage jobs;
stunned while the body wastes in cancer;
stunned while the fabric of life rots away in fatigue and despair;
stunned while unprosperous and unfull
and unsafe and untenured . . .
Waiting only for you in your Easter outfit,
waiting for you to say, “Fear not, it is I.”
Deliver us from our bafflement and our many explanations.
Push us over into stunned need and show yourself to us lively.
Easter us in honesty,
Easter us in fear;
Easter us in joy,
and let us be Eastered. Amen.
Happy Easter! Thank you for joining us on this Lenten journey! If you’d like to stay in touch and sign up for our email list, please contact us at brookmeade@comcast.net.
Saturday, April 3rd, 2021
“A Better Resurrection” by Christina Rossetti
I have no wit, no words, no tears;
My heart within me like a stone
Is numb’d too much for hopes or fears;
Look right, look left, I dwell alone;
I lift mine eyes, but dimm’d with grief
No everlasting hills I see;
My life is in the falling leaf:
O Jesus, quicken me.
My life is like a faded leaf,
My harvest dwindled to a husk:
Truly my life is void and brief
And tedious in the barren dusk;
My life is like a frozen thing,
No bud nor greenness can I see:
Yet rise it shall—the sap of Spring;
O Jesus, rise in me.
My life is like a broken bowl,
A broken bowl that cannot hold
One drop of water for my soul
Or cordial in the searching cold;
Cast in the fire the perish’d thing;
Melt and remould it, till it be
A royal cup for Him, my King:
O Jesus, drink of me.
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