Church Retreat: What’s in Your Bucket?

We carry loads of demands and responsibilities daily (buckets and pails of them) and often feel too tired to replenish our spiritual resources. Yet, God’s spirit can fill even the tiniest spaces with the sweetness of life—joy—creating courageous spaces for knowing God richly. Open to this gift, we increase, too, our capacity for sharing joy with people around us.

Inspired by Acts 2: 17-18, scripture which is often connected to Pentecost, how about making plans to experience Vine Street’s spring retreat, “Buckets, Pails and Courageous Spaces”? It’s Saturday April 16-Sunday, April 17 at Bethany Hills Camp and Conference Center (just 35 minutes from the church).

Here’s what you need to know:

• This is an all-ages event. Some of our activities will be intergenerational. At other times, the children will share their own experiences, lead by Rev. Hope Hodnett. The rest of us will have opportunities for learning and praying, led by Rev. Greg Rumburg;

• Infant and toddler care is available on Saturday 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m.;

• The registration deadline is Sunday, April. 10. There are two ways to attend:

—choose a $10 retreat day pass, arriving Saturday morning and staying through dinner and vespers Saturday evening;

—choose a $20 retreat weekend pass, arriving Saturday morning, stay overnight and through breakfast and worship Sunday morning (children 5 and under are free. The maximum fee for a family is $75.);

• Scholarships are available--contact Greg Rumburg (greg@vinestreet.org);

• Share a ride from Vine Street on Saturday morning or drive yourself to Bethany Hills.

We’re looking forward to having you at our spring retreat 2016! To register online, click here.

 

No Pretending with Hepburn & Grant

All are invited to join Vine Street at the Movies for a flashback to classic 1960s romantic excitement with two of the period’s most glamorous stars. Charade features Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant, whose characters get involved in a cat and mouse-type thriller story, a standout from the era when James Bond was first entrancing movie house audiences. This film is rated G.

Kevin Carr, of 7M Movies, says, “Not only does this film take a new spin on the ’60’s spy thriller, it also dips its toe in the romantic comedy of the era.” Carr continues, “Like many of the films of Audrey Hepburn, the film is balanced on her shoulders and held there by her likeability. Grant’s charisma adds to the charm of the movie, and even though there are some serious and dangerous dealings happening, it’s still a fun romp... it holds up much better than many of its contemporaries."

Always a free event, Vine Street at the Movies, hosted by Jim Carls, meets the first Wednesdays of the month in Fellowship Hall.

Regional Minister Candidate Announced

The Rev. Dr. Christal L. Williams has been recommended as the next regional minister and president of the Christian Church in Tennessee. Dr. Williams is an associate regional minister for the Christian Church in Illinois and Wisconsin region. A called Regional Assembly will be held on Saturday, April 16 at 11 a.m. at Woodmont Christian Church (3601 Hillsboro Road) to affirm or deny the call. Anyone may attend; Vine Street will select voting delegates. Planning to attend? Please let Thomas Kleinert know so that we can ensure appropriate Vine Street representation (thomas@vinestreet.org).

 

CROP Hunger Walk 2016

Spring is just around the corner, and it’s CROP Hunger Walk time again! Join your Vine Street family and friends at Fannie Mae Dees Park (a.k.a Dragon Park, corner of Blakemore Ave. and 24th Ave. South) on Sunday, April 17 for fellowship, exercise and a chance to fight hunger here and around the world. To register or sponsor a walker, please visit our team page here. The funds go to the work of Church World Service, and 25 percent remains here in Middle Tennessee helping our neighbors. Registration opens at 1:45 p.m. and the walk begins at 2:30 p.m. Questions? Contact Jim Zamata (jzamata@gmail.com) or Hope Hodnett (hope@vinestreet.org).

 

Tennessee Women to Gather

The Middle Area Disciples Women's Ministry Spiritual Journey will be April 9 at New Covenant Christian Church in Nashville. The dynamic resource leader is Rev. Rebecca Hale, currently National Benevolent Association vice president for mission and ministry and known to many when she was associate regional minister in Tennessee. Registration information and forms can be found at ccdctn.org. Or contact Julia Keith (julia@worldconvention.org) or Martha Bishop (bishopmartha@aol.com). Registration deadline is March 24. Carpooling is available.

New Educational Series Set

If marriage is what brings us together in joy, love and commitment, then why does it appear divisive in the news? Vine Street Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is dedicating several adult Christian education sessions to exploring the role of marriage from antiquity to present day. Belmont University Professor Dr. Mark McEntire (March 13) will consider marriage as experienced in antiquity and presented in scripture. Vanderbilt Divinity School Professor Dr. Bonnie Miller-McLemore (March 20) will discuss marriage in the Christian church across the centuries. Jackie Halstead (April 3) will consider contemporary marriage and the manner in which a healthy relationship is maintained in the midst of a not-so-supportive culture. Thomas Kleinert (April 10) wraps up our series by exploring, among other notions, the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court ruling, which affirms that states cannot ban same-sex marriage.

The series is part of Vine Street's adult Christian education program, which meets most Sundays at 9 a.m. in Fellowship Hall.

On the Way to Easter

Upcoming Holy Week worship services announced

by Thomas Kleinert

Vine Street Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) will anticipate Easter, March 27, with several worship opportunities during Holy Week, March 20-26.

Everyone is invited to share in the renewal of these experiences.

During Holy Week, beginning with Palm Sunday (March 20), the church follows Jesus from the scenes of joyous welcome at the gates of Jerusalem to his violent death on the cross. Some Christians use the daily readings to ground and guide their prayers and reflections; others simply sit quietly with a lit candle for a moment each day or walk prayerfully in the company of Jesus in order to enter more fully into the mystery of God’s love for us and the world. How will you find space to reflect this week?

This church community will gather next for prayer services in the Sanctuary at Vine Street at 6 p.m. on Maundy Thursday (March 24) and again at 6 p.m. on Good Friday (March 25). The Thursday service includes foot washing, for those who wish, and the Lord’s Supper. The stripping of the chancel will be part of our Friday service.

We will also keep a prayer vigil from Thursday to Friday. “Keep awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial,” Jesus said to Peter and the disciples when he himself was praying in Gethsemane. To honor his request, we will keep a prayer vigil following the Maundy Thursday service until 6 p.m. on Good Friday. We have divided the hours into segments of 30 minutes, and invite members and friends of the church to pray during those hours. Please add your name to our vigil schedule. If you wish to come to the Chapel or Sanctuary to pray, please let us know so we can make the necessary arrangements.

On Easter morning, the youth invite the congregation to a waffle breakfast in Fellowship Hall (8:30-9:30 a.m.). At 10 a.m. we gather in the Sanctuary to praise God who raised Jesus from the dead, and our "Hallelujah!" will resound around the world.

“I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8: 38-39)

Future Story Affirmed

On Sunday, the Vision Team presented Vine Street’s Future Story, based on the comments collected during the Journey 2015 process. The congregation overwhelmingly affirmed this narrative, giving a green light to the Vision Team to map a strategic plan. In about a month, the congregation will be presented with that plan. If you want to review the Future Story, copies will be available at the church Sunday.

 

Tennessee Women to Gather

The Middle Area Disciples Women's Ministry Spiritual Journey will be April 9 at New Covenant Christian Church in Nashville. The dynamic resource leader is Rev. Rebecca Hale, currently National Benevolent Association vice president for mission and ministry and known to many when she was associate regional minister in Tennessee. Registration information and forms can be found here. Or contact Julia Keith (julia@worldconvention.org) or Martha Bishop (bishopmartha@aol.com). Registration deadline is March 24. Carpooling is available.

 

Feb. 28: Special Journey Presentation

Since last fall, we’ve done a lot of Journey work. Now imagine… what might it look like to live our call?

The Vision Team will provide a response as it presents a future story on Sunday, Feb. 28 during the 10 a.m. worship service. This presentation is part of The Journey: Living Our Call, the latest step in our dynamic process to faithfully and wisely discern our future ministry in Nashville and beyond. The presentation will help us to envision our ministry for the next five years.

The Vision Team members will be on hand, including Stephen Moseley, Camille Biter, Ed Cole, Jackie Halstead, Katie McLaughlin, Amanda Miller, Allyn Maxfield-Steele and Thomas Kleinert. They will ask Vine Street participants to respond that day to three questions:

  1. What do you like about this story?

  2. What questions/concerns does the story raise for you?

  3. Is this story a reasonable representation of what God has in mind for Vine Street’s ministry for the next five years?

Written responses will be collected and compiled. The Vision Team will be seeking 80 percent or more of respondents to affirm the story (question 3). If the affirmative response is less, then the Vision Team will use the responses to modify the story presented.

Once a future story is affirmed, the Vision Team will work to create a strategic plan for executing the story, which will be presented to the Official Board about a month later.

All Vine Street participants are urged to engage in this worship time on Feb. 28. Until then, if you have questions about this process, please contact Stephen Moseley (stephen.moseley@gmail.com) or another member of the Vision Team.

See you in worship Feb. 28!

 

Fairfield Arrangements

A memorial service for Anne Fairfield will be Saturday, Feb. 20, 2016 at 2 p.m. at Vine Street Christian Church. Visitation with the family will begin at 1 p.m. in the Sanctuary. Anne died on Sunday, Feb. 14. Please keep Anne’s daughter, Megan, and her sons, Scott and Mark, in your prayers, along with all those who love Anne.

Arrangements are being handled through Nashville Funeral and Cremation. Anne’s body will be cremated; interment will be in the Vine Street columbarium at a later date. Here's a link to the obituary.

Old Friend, New Name

Pastoral Counseling Centers of Tennessee is now known as Insight Counseling Centers. With the new moniker and eight centers across Middle Tennessee, the team hopes to serve a wider client base than ever before.

Still, it’s the same outstanding counseling provider Vine Street Christian Church helped to establish in 1985. With partners providing support, representatives say, “the centers are committed to providing clinical and education services to all in need regardless of their background or ability to pay.”

In addition to counseling services, Insight Counseling Centers also provide professional training opportunities and mental health awareness education.

Learn more by visiting the new website of Insight Counseling Centers.

 

Burton Film Coming Soon

Vine Street at the Movies will feature on March 2 Big Eyes (PG-13). The film by Tim Burton explores the never-ending question “What is art?” with the story of a woman wronged, but who also produced some of the most unique art (or “art”) of the 1960s. This free event will be held in Fellowship Hall at 7 p.m.

Have you ever seen a painting at a junk sale featuring orphan waifs with huge eyes? There is a story behind those paintings, a marvelous and funny one about the way women have been treated in both the art world and the real one.

Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle says, “Big Eyes brings a bunch of conflicted feelings, which the movie accounts for in its comic yet disturbing tone. It’s the story of an artist trying to break free, but the artist isn’t exactly Van Gogh. This is art no one respects... and yet you kind of like it, don’t you? (No? … Must I go first?) It’s also a story that feels emblematic of its time... [it] walks the line between the serious and the satirical maintaining some distance but leaving enough truth….”

Jim Carls hosts Vine Street at the Movies on the first Wednesday night of most months.

 

Ash Wednesday Feb. 10

We will open ourselves to mercy and healing during our annual Ash Wednesday service on Feb. 10 at 6:30 p.m. in the Sanctuary. All are welcome.

This service, inspired by the Taizé tradition, marks the beginning of Lent—the season of spiritual preparation anticipating Easter. Musicians and worship leaders will help us to receive ashes of repentance and share the grace of communion. The community is welcome at this service, as well as on Sunday mornings at 8:30 a.m. and 10 a.m.

With Lent being a spiritual “time out” from the usual routines we all encounter, we take up an opportunity to be intentional about increasing our capacity to grow in our Christian faith. Rev. Thomas Kleinert will be leading a small group book study during the season (Feb. 23, March 1, 8, and 15). Reading Being Christian by Rowan Williams, the group will consider baptism, the Bible, communion and prayer. Read more about this opportunity and sign up here.

It's a Locke

Vine Street at the Movies will be presenting a riveting and unusual drama for its February offering. Locke (rated R), written and directed by Steven Knight, generated numerous award nominations and wins for its director and for its star, Tom Hardy. The film will be shown Wednesday, Feb. 3 at 7 p.m. Note that due to the concurrent Room in the Inn event, we will be meeting in the Youth Room.

Ivan Locke is a man who makes his living ensuring that problems do not happen in the massive construction projects over which he has charge, especially in the no-mistakes-allowed pouring of concrete foundations. That is the irony in this one-man show about the effects of a single mistake on an honorable man’s life. Locke is both a tightly-structured thriller and a character study, and despite the fact that no one dies or is even in danger, it will keep you on the edge of your seat. It may also remind viewers of a certain Biblical character who had the capacity to persevere in spite of the numerous tribulations that were heaped upon him.

Claudia Puig (USA Today) says Locke is “… a magnificent drama that resounds with powerful, universal themes. The sole actor on screen, Tom Hardy, gives a tour-de-force performance. But the real innovation lies in the way writer-director Steven Wright chooses to tell the tale—in real time and in a tightly constrained space.” Puig continues, “The film blurs the line between theater and film in a thoroughly unconventional and exhilarating fashion.”

Join Vine Street at the Movies—now on the first Wednesday of the month—hosted by Jim Carls.

 

The Gift of a Life

By Julia Keith

The first scripture verse I memorized was John 3:16: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish but will have eternal life.”
 I thought I was entering a Sunday school competition.

I believed there was a reward based on the accuracy of my recitation. Motivated by the contest, I read this verse over and over. I practiced it every day. I had my mom check to be sure I knew every word. But, I hadn’t heard hear the directions correctly.

There wasn’t a prize—but a gift. One I didn’t quite understand. How could an only son be given away? Aren’t children too precious to abandon? How would believing make you live forever? Weren’t some of my grandparents already gone? Frustrated and befuddled, I put the gift away.

We do that. Limited by our human “abilities,” we put away things that challenge what we think we know.

Thankfully, God knows us and engages us in our confusion... Pursues us on our wayward path... Causes us to remember the promise of a faithful life. And, then, there is the gift, one given because of love.

We (the world) have been chosen to receive this gift. We (the church) have been commissioned to help the world seek answers to what is not yet understood.

Jesus Christ, the Answer, God’s Son, the Gift.

At Christmas, we celebrate the infancy of God’s miraculous gift. Because of God’s grace, we can reopen this gift, re-examine the contents and re-discover how believing brings relationship and how this holy relationship makes possible the ways of God’s love.

Praise God, for this Love! Praise God, for this Life! Praise God for this Gift! Praise God!

 

Movie Group Moves to Wednesdays

Vine Street at the Movies will feature Wild Tales when it meets on Wednesday, Jan. 6. This free event for film fans, hosted by Jim Carls, now meets on the first Wednesday of the month. The gathering time remains 7 p.m. in Fellowship Hall. 

Wild Tales begs some questions: Have you ever been tempted to get revenge? To give in to road rage? To mistreat a weaker person? Jesus gave us advice to the contrary and the film offers six darkly hilarious reasons why.

 

Christmas Eve Services Thursday

Vine Street Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) will celebrate the birth of Christ with two worship services Dec. 24. Our family worship service, designed especially with children in mind, will be at 4 p.m. The traditional candles and communion service will be at 11 p.m. The community is welcome!

Services will be held in the Sanctuary at Vine Street. Parking is available off Montgomery Bell Ave.

4101 Harding PIKE, Nashville, TN 37205 | (615) 269-5614

Sundays: Traditional Worship at 10:00 a.m. in person & ONLINE