February 2026 - Monthly Newsletter
- Helms Jarrell
- Feb 3
- 4 min read
Updated: Feb 18
AT A GLANCE
Upcoming Events
Gathering Dates
Until further notice, we meet at 2916 Parkway Ave; Charlotte, NC 28208
2026 dates: Feb 8, Feb 18- Ash Wed at noon, Feb 22, March 1, March 15, March 29-Palm Sunday, April 5- Easter, April 26- Nina Simone Day, May 10, May 24- Pentecost, June 7, June 21, July 5- Funeral for the Empire, July 19, Aug 2, Aug 16, Sept 13, Sept 27, Oct 4, Oct 18, Nov 1- All Saints/Children’s Blessing, Nov 15, Nov 29. Dec 6, Dec 13, Dec 20.
Please remember to bring a snack to share at communion each time we gather.
Lent begins on Feb 18th. The theme for this season is: Field Notes for Change: remaining attentive to place with a critical eye toward change
Feb 22nd, 2pm, Folks will be gathering to learn new songs of resistance at Caldwell Presbyterian, Hope Hall. Following this session, there will be a larger event on Feb 28th to gather community in song.
On March 8th at 5pm, we will gather for a meal and discussion led by Tom Warren, Director of the Western North Carolina Association of the Southern Region of the United Church of Christ denomination. This meal will be a time for us to learn what it means to be affiliated with the UCC.
At the beginning of the March 8th meeting, we will review and vote on our budget. (by consensus)
Community Life
Leadership at Gatherings:
Date | Childcare | Prayers for the People | Creative Contemplation | Music |
Feb 22 | Karim | All- Urbanariaum | Helms | |
March 1 | Tim | All- Urbanariaum | Shelly | |
March 15 | Mattie | All- Urbanariaum | Gretchen | |
March 29 | Laura | All- Urbanariaum | Christine | |
April 5 | No One | No one | No one |
Beloved Community Charlotte's Urbanarium
This season's School for the Common Good central practice takes shape in Beloved Community Charlotte’s Urbanarium.* Here, preserved land, water, and street specimens- dried plants, seeds, fungi, wood, found objects, and community-contributed materials- are gathered as a living archive of the urban landscape. These specimens form an altar of attention. Field notes- indicating the context of when and where the specimen was gathered- will surround them. You’ll be encouraged to learn the stories each piece carries and to respond. Our Urbanarium will help us to be students of place, recorders of change, and co-creators of a more just and regenerative common life.
*a play on the word “herbarium”
Here's how to participate:
Notice an object- any object- throughout your week. Pick it up. Label it. Think about the story of this object. Bring it to Beloved Community Charlotte Sunday gatherings. Put the object in our Urbanarium. Offer a prayer prompted by your reflections on the story of the object. (examples of objects: found items, trash, plant life, ticket stub, receipts, soil, rocks, sticks, moss, etc.)
Governance
March 8th will serve as our governance meeting. At the beginning of the meeting, we will approve the budget. Then, we will learn from Tom Warren, the Western North Carolina Association leader for the Southern Conference of the UCC. Please add your thoughts to the governance discussions on our slack. [email hello@belovedcommunityclt.com if you need to be added to the slack.] We're talking about budget and location changes there. We hope to get a zoom or in person governance meeting coordinated soon. Watch for an invitation in your email.
The March Governance meeting will be March 25 at 7pm via zoom at 7:00pm
Here’s the link: https://commonchange.zoom.us/j/7046546546
Here’s our Governance meeting agenda:
Check in
Debrief how the activation went, in terms of BCC leadership/hosting.
Looking ahead at 2026 calendar.
Working group updates
Comms
Justice praxis
Visitors
Budget/finance
Childcare
Misc
UCC grant status
Space updates
Close
Remember to RSVP
Please remember to RSVP to the attendance text that went out. If you did not get it, please reach out to Shelly Murphy.
Beloved Community School for the Common Good
forming a culture of justice, connection, and collective care.
Feb 18-April 2, 2026
his Season's Theme for our School for the Common Good is:
Field Notes for Change: Remaining Attentive to Place with a Critical Eye Toward Change
Throughout the first spring season of School for the Common Good-from Ash Wednesday through Palm Sunday-we enter Lent as apprentices of place. We slow our steps and become students of the ground beneath us, mapping, walking, witnessing, and observing. We learn the names of streets and streams, plants pushing through cracked sidewalks, buildings that once held gathering and now stand empty. Attentiveness becomes a spiritual discipline. We naturalize ourselves to a neighborhood and its history—not as consumers of space, but as accountable neighbors.
Activation= Learn new songs of resistance and sing them in community with others. Feb 22nd, 2pm- Caldwell Presbyterian Church, Hope Hall. A follow up event will take place on Feb 28th- more details to come!
Toolkit - Resources to use at home, with family, and in small groups. become a sponsor of the school to receive an all seasons pass to this toolkit or order a season at time. Check out our resource guide for Spring 2026.
Beloved Community Circles: Information to come.
Ritual Gatherings: Bi-weekly practices of ceremony, creative contemplation, story sharing, and connection rooted in the Christian tradition.
Communications
Ways to stay up to date
Slack is a communication tool that BCC folks use to update each other throughout the week. If you want to join the slack, let Helms know.
If you don’t want to find us on Slack, you can still find updates on our Linktree.
You can also add the Beloved Community Charlotte Google calendar to your calendar.
If someone you know wants to join our belovedcommunityclt email list, email iamhelmsie@gmail.com and she’ll add you to the list.
If you want to schedule some time to connect with Helms, feel free to find a time that works for you using this link: https://calendly.com/helmsjarrell
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