Thurs. Nov. 23rd: Annual Thanksgiving Potluck Lunch

It is a long standing Brookmeade tradition to eat a meal on Thanksgiving Day. This tradition was started as a way to fellowship together for members who did not live close to family. This is a potluck meal with traditional Thanksgiving fare beginning at 2 pm.  A signup list is posted in the hall on the Community Life board.  All are invited! Please bring your friends or visiting family members and bring a dish or two to share.  Please sign up by Wednesday, 11/22. Think of all the time you’ll save by cooking only 2 dishes instead of a whole meal! Hope to see you there!

Room in the Inn 2017-2018

Once a month during the winter season Brookmeade provides warm beds, meals and showers for several homeless men in our community. If you would like to volunteer to help with Room in the Inn, please sign up on the Mission and Outreach bulletin board in the hallway. The dates this season are: November 19th, December 17th, January 21st, and February 18th.

Sun. Nov. 5th: Last day to order Poinsettias

It is a Brookmeade Christmas tradition to decorate our sanctuary with poinsettias generously ordered by the congregation, commemorating loved ones past and present. Those who order poinsettias are encouraged to take them home after the Christmas Eve Candlelight service. There are order forms located on the table in the front foyer. Please turn your order form along with payment (cash or check) into the offering plate/church office no later than Sunday, November 5th.

Sun. Oct. 29th: Music Sunday

CHURCH FAMILY, 
OCTOBER 29th is MUSIC SUNDAY. Our theme for the service is “Changes”. I chose the theme because Autumn is a time of seasonal change. We are also in our transition time of change with our new church leadership. What does CHANGE mean to you? We invite you to share a reading (scripture, poem, etc. ), artwork, a song, a dance, or request a hymn from the hymnal for us to sing. We’d love your participation! I see worship as an interactive experience. Music Sunday is a wonderful opportunity for us to enhance our time of worship together. If you’d like to share something, please contact Sarah by email by Wednesday, October 25th.
THANK YOU, Keri

Diary of a Trip to Washington DC by Joanne Ball

Diary of a Trip to Washington DC: The March for Civility

Before the Trip

“So do you think you are going to change the Nazis’ minds by going to the peace rally?” someone asks me? No, that is not why I am going by Greyhound to the March for Civility in Washington DC. I don’t expect to change the mind of any Nazi or any White Supremacist. But I do expect to be one of the many who come together to dwarf them – dwarf their numbers, dwarf their message, dwarf their power. I want to be part of that. I want to see it, feel it, be it. I don’t want to follow it on the net, look at it through a phone, or text people somewhere else while I am there.

On Route

I am now on the bus between Louisville and Cincinnati. I have my see-through security compliant backpack, a bag of sandwiches, chips and cookies, and my bed pillow. My poster is in the bottom of the bus, wrapped in a garbage bag. So far, I have witnessed two disruptive altercations, one at the Nashville bus station and one in the bus in the seat in front of me. I have also grabbed the foot of the man in the seat behind me while looking for my flashlight on the floor.

The March

At 4:50 am, having arrived at the DC station, I am shaken awake by the bus driver. I look up and see that the bus is empty. Embarrassed, I get off in a hurry and grab my poster, left by the curb. I have plenty of time to get to the March for Civility site so I arrive early. I find that the rally is very small. I am disappointed. It will not make CNN. But the message delivered there is powerful, and not at all the message I had been carrying with me in my mind. There is a long line of speakers, led by Ken Nwadike of the Free Hugs Project, and each person touches on the same point. Ganging up on the “other side” is not what we should be doing. We need to communicate with the other side. We need to counter the prevailing trend in our society to associate only with those “like us.”

Ken advises us to seek out someone who disagrees with us and talk to that person. We are asked to cultivate “unlikely friendships.” Most importantly, we are to treat everyone kindly so that we can disagree within the context of human relationships, because when groups stop speaking, that is when violence erupts. I fear that all this will be a lot harder than ganging up.

After the speeches we start marching with signs and flags of all the states, and chanting “Love not hate,” and singing “Imagine” by the Beatles. Except I am not singing because I am crying.

My plan was to toss my sign in the trash can at the end of the march. The poster is big and awkward and I won’t be needing it anymore. But I can’t do it. I lug the sign three miles back to the bus.

march for civility joanne ball sign 2017

Joanne Ball

Brookmeade Member