January 2026 - Monthly Newsletter
- Helms Jarrell
- Jan 9
- 5 min read
Updated: Jan 20
AT A GLANCE
Upcoming Events
Gathering Dates
2026 dates: Jan 11-Epiphany party, Jan 25- Covenant Sunday, Feb 8, Feb 18- Ash Wed, 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.
Our temporary gathering location is at QC Family Tree: 2916 Parkway Ave.
Jan 25th is our annual Covenant Sunday. This is not a year we rewrite and renew our covenant. It is the year we take a look at our covenant and remember what we commit to. Covenant Sunday is a interactive and intergenerational gathering. We will meet at 2916 Parkway Ave.
February 8th is a gathering date, but it is also the day of the Super Bowl. We will meet at 3pm rather than 5pm. We will meet at 2916 Parkway Ave.
Big News! We got the CASA grant! There'll but updates coming soon with more details on the goodness coming our way.
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
Special meeting dates coming up:
Feb 18- Ash Wed - we will gather for lunch and a noonday observation at 2916 Parkway Ave.
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.
Community Life
We Remember Sacred Action event:
Thank you for gathering this week to bear witness and to remember our detained neighbors. As we said that night, during the reign of a power hungry and deceitful ruler who uses violent and oppressive means to instill fear, extract resources, exploit people, terrorize communities, separate neighbors, and hoard power for his own gain, we choose to come together to affirm that truth still breaks forth—through community, through shared resources, and through our collective refusal to let our neighbors disappear into silence.
Together, we named the places across our city where our neighbors were taken—homes, streets, workplaces—and we spoke aloud what must be said: each person in detention is a life of immeasurable worth, with a story, a family, and a place in our community. As we said again and again, we will not forget, and we will not be silent. We remembered, we cried out, and we shined a light.
The candles we held symbolized what we now carry forward: the light of truth that exposes injustice, the warmth of community care that continues to show up with love and resources, and the fire of commitment to resist terror, accompany our neighbors, and work in partnership to seek justice. May we continue to shine this light—in our streets, our congregations, and our daily lives—until our neighbors are free and whole.
Leadership at Gatherings:
Date | Childcare | Prayers for the People | Creative Contemplation |
Jan 11- Epiphany Party | party on , yall! | ||
Jan 25 (Epiphany Season) | Everyone together | tbd | tbd |
Feb 8 (Epiphany Season) | Greg J | Karim H | Helms |
Governance
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 next Governance meeting will be (date TBD) 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.
Nov 30, 2025- Feb 17, 2026
This third season of school for the common good, we journey as travelers who make the path by walking—trusting that each step of faith, care, and connection shapes the way ahead. Like Mary, we carry and nurture a future not our own, tending what is growing even when we cannot yet see its fullness.
Rooted in interdependence and mutuality, we seek to build eco-community: networks of care grounded in shared governance, mutual aid, and economic redistribution.
Our work is to plant, water, and build—trusting that the kin-dom of God emerges through our collective becoming. We practice this becoming not through grand gestures, but through the ordinary acts that sustain life: sharing meals, tending gardens, visiting the sick, repairing what is broken, marking sacred moments, listening well, exchanging stories, and mourning together. These small, steady gestures teach us that to be human is to be in relationship—to care and be cared for, to depend and be depended upon.
The rhythms of body and earth, through song, ritual, and embodied practice, teach us that each act of love creates a pathway toward wholeness. Together, we make the path while walking—an ongoing creation of community rooted in love, solidarity, and hope.
Interdependence and mutuality: building networks of care through mutual aid, shared governance, and economic redistribution.
Seasonal and embodied rhythms: engaging the body, the arts, and the senses through ritual, song, movement, and observance of cultural- social, imagination, historical, economic- and ecological cycles.
Activation= See above re: We Remember event on Jan 6.
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. Here’s a link to a pdf of our toolkit for this season of the School for the Common Good. In it, you’ll find all sorts of DIY resources.
Beloved Community Circles: Tim and Christine hosted the community circle this season. We had a full house and a robust check in.
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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