From Laura Brinson at Su Casa:

Our “Intercambio de Idiomas” or “Language Exchange” will begin on Saturday, October 29^th. It will be held here at Su Casa on Saturdays noon until 1 PM. This is an opportunity for native Spanish speakers to practice English and native English speakers to practice Spanish, and is free of charge. Please tell everyone who you think would benefit. Have those interested contact me if they have any questions: 513.761.1588, ext 14.

From Mary Ellen:

Please join the Courtland Ave. House Church at Upper Millcrest on October 30th for a celebration of the space, as a thank  you to the neighborhood for allowing us to use it this year. There will be facepainting, pumpkin decorating, free lunch and desserts and a chance to view the long-term plan for the park. The event will be from 12:30 – 2:30

From Molly at Xavier University:

I’m writing to invite you THIS SATURDAY to a big day at the NEXUS Community Garden. From 9AM-1PM on 10/29, we’ll be “Putting NEXUS to Sleep” for the season and completing the “Color Your Block” Community-wide Mural Project (see attached flyer for details). Come for a few minutes or a few hours to see all the great things going on in and around the NEXUS project and lend a hand. We’ll need help adding compost to plots and preparing the garden for winter and all are invited to paint a block or more on the back of McGrath Health & Wellness (1714 Cleneay Ave.). All needed tools and supplies will be provided. Food, drink, and great people will be available.

Many hands make for light work and many minds and hearts make for great community. So, please come on out and contribute!

From Liz Bruner:

This Friday, women will be gathering for “bring your own craft and hang out” time!  Meet us from 8pm-10pm at the back entrance to St. E’s. Enter in the orange doors and go up to studio 6 (Juli’s Studio).  I will have stamps and paper available to make cards for those who don’t have a craft project, but you can just come and hang out, too.  Apple cider and snacks will join us as well. Please let anyone who you run into without email access or internet capabilities know about this, too! It is open to all.

Hope to see you there!

The Courtland Ave House Church (that meets at Ben and Mary Ellen’s house) will be hosting an eight week series on  Christian Community Development, led by Josh Stoxen. We plan to start Sept 8 with a potluck dinner at 6:30 and then a discussion. We are going to do one a month for 8 months, with the goal of becoming better at reaching out to and helping transform Norwood. Would you have any interest in joining us?  Following Sept 8, we will meet the first Thursday of each month.

The 8 principles are relocation, reconciliation, redistribution, church based, listening to the community, wholistic approach, empowerment, and leadership development. Our hope as a HC is to let these principles inform the work we are doing with Upper Millcrest Park, but ideally many different people might find ways to let them inform or initiate meaningful work in our neighborhood.

Childcare will be provided. We will finish no later than 8:30pm.

Let me know if you have any interest– email maryellenmitchell@gmail.com

The following was sent in by Mary Ellen:  

As some people probably already know, the Courtland Ave House Church (that meets at Ben and Mary Ellen’s house) has been working since February with the city of Norwood to get improvements done to Upper Millcrest Park. This Thursday August 11 we are having a community meeting at the Community Center (the big brick building behind St. Elizabeth’s). It will be from 7-9 and is a vital part of moving forward toward a master plan for the space. We have hopes that the mayor will be there, and are working towards asking the city to allocate money for this project. Please come if you can, even for part of the meeting.

Below you’ll see the order of how our gatherings will progress in the season of Pentecost and following.  This will not always look the same, as we need to provide space for surprises, for God at work in ways that won’t necessarily “fit” the order we’ve set up.  But we trust that this structure for our gatherings provides space for us to, like the movement of the tides, spend time intentionally communicating with and listening to God, and spend time intentionally communicating with and listening to one another. The plan is for the more traditional “worshipy” elements to take about a half-hour, and the conversations to take about an hour.  And as often as house churches and others step up, we will share lunch together.

The discernment team put a lot of thought into the order, seeking to integrate elements of what we have been doing together weekly for months, along with pieces we’ve added in response to strong words we’ve heard (like Dave Barr’s word to practice listening prayer together).  So we hope the order of worship gives space for us to cling to and listen for God speaking to us now and also for us to remember that God has already spoken.

You’ll notice the conversation is included in the order of worship.  The meaning is clear.  Conversation, the  act of listening and speaking thoughtfully, is worship too.

Opening
Call to Worship
Songs
Passing of the Peace
Framing the Conversation
Listening Prayer
Conversation
Eucharist
Closing Song (“Unless the Lord Builds” or “Memory and Hope”)

This coming Saturday night Dave & Jody Nixon will host/guide at the Convent an extended time of prayer for Vineyard Central. Start time is 7:00 p.m. End time is 1:00 a.m. Six hours total. Come as you’re able and for as long as you’re able, even if that’s only 30-60 minutes. This is a space for us as a community to do that thing of “waiting on God” as we enter into this final season of our community discernment. (Because of the late hours, this is an adult-only affair. Parents of children might consider tag-teaming so that both spouses can be present at different times.) If you have further questions, please contact Jody Nixon.

As promised in this afternoon’s worship gathering, two polls have been initiated that give VC folks the opportunity to offer our perspectives on where and when our Discernment Gatherings should take place each week during the season of Pentecost.

Each poll has three options:  Yes, (Yes), and No.  The (Yes) option says you’re willing to meet in the space or are ok with the time, but not necessarily passionately for or against.

The first poll is an attempt to answer the question:

“What time will we gather in the season of Pentecost?  Should we continue meeting at 4 pm followed by dinner together?  On the morning at 10 am?  At 11 am? Either morning option, we would follow up with lunch.”

Click on this sentence to follow the link to the poll.

The second poll is an attempt to answer the question:

“Where will we meet in the season of Pentecost? Will we meet upstairs (where a window A/C unit will help deal with the heat from being higher up), or will we meet in the large worship space downstairs?”

Click on this sentence to follow the link to the poll.

In our gatherings, an observer may see that the issues raised are very specific to where we’re at as a community.

In the season of Lent, for example, we cleared out significant space in our worship for confession, for relinquishment, and for lament specifically focused on our community life together. At times this was very personal and at other times led to some discomfort and tension in the room. We were trying to ask questions like “Where have we struggled and/or failed to carry God’s desires for our community?” and “What hopes have we carried for VC that seem to have died?” and “What deep lament do we carry, for God, or for ourselves?” We were primarily led every week by the words of David in Psalm 22 that Jesus invoked on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

In the season of Easter, an observer will see us specifically giving “Confessions of Hope,” short times of sharing where a VCer will speak out their hopes and desires for our community. We will focus weekly on being led by the words of the poet in Psalm 116, who celebrates that through all circumstances, God is the God who “hears us,” who identifies with us in our pain and gives hope. Easter is the season to focus on resurrection hope beyond and in spite of circumstance

In Pentecost and the season following, we will significantly shorten the “typical” worship gathering elements and focus most of our attention on the important conversations we need to have about the decisions we must make going forward.  In short, we will trust the conversations as a worshipful responsibility too; one that requires a deep hearing of one another along with the courage to speak.  The trust we carry is that the commitment to be with one another in the seasons of Lent and Easter will bear fruit in a deep listening, an honest sharing, and a God-centered commitment to forgive and bear one another’s burdens as we work in conversation together.

The Sunday evening gathering is meant to be a springboard for a variety of other ways to discern. House churches are continuing to meet in this time, morning prayers take place weekday mornings at 7 am at St. Elizabeth’s, other groups meet for Bible studies and regular dinners together, and periodic nights will be scheduled specifically related to be an outgrowth of what is taking place on Sunday evening.

We desire to live our lives and seek God as transparently as possible in our community. Sometimes this gives us feelings of closeness to one another, and other times this introduces tension and frustration with one another. In all emotions, we trust God is at work when we, in vulnerable trust, choose to live life oriented toward Him and toward one another.

The Women’s Retreat is this Friday through Saturday, May 20-21. The tentative schedule for the retreat is as follows (please note: the convent is also available on Saturday night if you would like to stay a second night at no additional cost.) :

Friday 4pm: Check in starts at the convent for overnight guests

6:30 potluck dinner (please post what you are bringing on Facebook so we get an idea of the meal)

7:30pm: Opening prayer service/ reflection/ singing

8:30 social time and dessert (bring some dessert too!)

10pm Quiet time on second and third floors/ first floor remains open for socializing and games/ etc.

Saturday 8:30am: breakfast (anyone is welcome, even if you didn’t spend the night)

9:30am Singing

10am: reflection on scripture

10:30 – 11:25: quiet time throughout the house

11:25- 11:45 break/ transition

11:45- 12:30 small group conversations on the first floor

12:30 -1 break

1ish lunch

2:30 closing worship service

after we finish the convent will remain open. There are no outisde reservations for Saturday night so anyone is welcome to stay on, and even spend another night. we will have an informal dinner of leftovers and pizza. Please consider staying if you have the time!

The following is from Joshua Stoxen:

I thought it might be good to give people the opportunity to help set up and decorate the sanctuary for Sunday since there may several who would enjoy that — we will be setting up the sanctuary on Saturday the 23rd starting at 2pm. I should also mention that those interested in helping Robert cook pancakes for Easter can call him at 513.351.0751

See more info about Easter Sunday.

Good Friday Service: April 22nd

What is the crosswalk?  It is a vital part of the evening and our discernment process, and will be a time of interactive confession and lament involving a walk around the neighborhood to various sites that signify the memories and hopes (personal and corporate) of the people of Vineyard Central.  The questions of Jesus’ disciples (We had thought?…we had hoped?) we will seek to make ours as a part of our transition into the Easter season.

After the crosswalk, we will assemble in the Upper Room of St. Elizabeth for a time of reflective worship through simple a-capella music and readings from Scripture focused on the Passion of Christ and the events leading up to Jesus’ death on the Cross.  We will be “stripping the cross” of our pieces of cloth during this time and adorning the worship space in black.

Easter Sunday: April 24th

• Worship Gathering @ 10am (in the main Sanctuary of St. Elizabeth)
• Pancake “Brunch” to follow at 12 p.m. (in the Speckled Bird Cafe, bring “fixins” you would like to have with the pancakes to share with others!)

Our hopes are not in vain!  The celebration of God’s redemption and resurrection will involve dedication of children, baptism for those desiring to commit their lives to Jesus, and an opportunity to adorn the same cross we have placed our laments and relinquishments on with beautiful flowers.  We will hear from VCers through poetry and testimony concerning the good God has accomplished in our lives

We apologize for this announcement coming later in the week.  We had said it would come earlier, and we want to be accountable to do what we have said we would do going forward.  Thank you for your patience as we all stumble toward the accountability and grace we need to hold one another as a community!

Sustainable Faith (the retreat ministry of the Convent) will be hosting the VC women’s retreat again this year. It is scheduled for Friday May 20- Saturday May 21 and cost will be  $25 per person, which will include use of the whole building for Friday night through Saturday afternoon, and breakfast and lunch. Jody Nixon will be collecting the money, which can be paid through their website (sustainablefaith.com/donate)  or directly to her: checks written to sustainable faith. If you are interested in spending the night, please let her know and she will reserve space for you. Rooms will be shared, but over night accommodation is included in the $25, on a first come first served basis. If you would like to stay over night, please include that in the RSVP. Dinner on Friday night will be potluck. Please RSVP to Mary Ellen Mitchell ( maryellenmitchell@gmail.com ) or Jody before April 20, but as soon as you are able, so we can get an idea of how to move forward.