Professional Documents
Culture Documents
7 AM EASTER SUNDAY
Caroline Dwight
Woodmont Christian Church 615.297.8563 www.woodmontchristian.org 3601 Hillsboro Road Nashville, Tennessee 37215
OUR MIS SION:
Growing Disciples of Christ by Seeking God,
Sharing Love, and Serving Others.
You dont even notice what you miss by skipping Maundy Thursday and Good Friday until a loved one is walking in the
valley of the shadow of death; until you are going through a divorce, or a child falls desperately ill or a friend betrays you, or
a spouse gets cancer, or you pay attention, really pay attention to whats going on in Zimbabwe or Darfur. You dont notice
what you miss until the world seems or you personally feel God-forsaken. Then you need something more than an empty
tomb and a basketful of chocolates. You need a God who more than anyone, even the one who is the very closest person to
you in all this world, knows your pain, your loss, your heartache, your terror at seeing your own life ebbing away or worse,
the life of a loved one in the grips of an illness about which the doctors can do nothing. Over the years the theologians have
tried to understand just why Jesus had to go through suffering and such an agonizing death. A view that has come to mean
much to me is that Jesus suffered and died because he loved as God loves and to love as God does is to be vulnerable; to
love as God does is to dare to enter into the pain and the heartache of the world. (Ptomey Whats Passion Got to do with It?,
April 5, 2009)
Easter only makes sense when we first experience Maundy Thursday and the agony of Good Friday. So dont just skip to
Easter. Come and experience the power and meaning of Holy Week.
Blessings,
pg 3
New Videos!
Cherub Choir Hosannah! Jesus Comes!
& Grace Notes Praise and Honor
www.youtube.com/WoodmontCCSermons
Important dates!
Confessions of Faith this Sun., April 16!
Baptism Sunday is April 23!
VBS Registration coming soon...
be on the lookout!
April Memory Verse:
When the centurion and those with
him who were guarding Jesus saw
NEW FROM ANNE! the earthquake and what had just
happened, they were filled with awe and
said, This was certainly Gods Son.
- Matthew 27:54
Birthdays April 16-30th:
Louisa Harris 4/16
Baron Pride 4/17
Ava Demastus 4/18
Olivia Amrhein 4/20
Henry Green 4/21
Xander Bowman 4/22
Hank Smith 4/23
Henley Duvall 4/24
Lauren Rush 4/26
Elizabeth Steele 4/27
Addison Hartle 4/29
Virginia Mansfield 4/29
Anna Thomas 4/30
pg 4
Do You Have the Church Life App?
by Anne-Marie Farmer
The church directory has long been an important component of church life.
Do you need to call a fellow member, or need to know where to deliver a casserole to a new
mother? Consult the directory!
Why should you create a Church Life account? Because it ensures that your church family can
connect with you, and you with them. It also provides a convenient way to register for events
such as Wednesday night dinners, VBS, and special classes. You can pledge and give online
through Church Life, important to remember during our stewardship campaign. If you move,
or change your phone number or email address, you can update your contact information via this system. Best of all, if
you dont like your directory photo, you can replace it yourself with any photo of your choosing!
To get started with Church Life, you need to first set up your account via the website, before getting the app. Instructions
are available at the church website: https://woodmontchristian.org/member-login/how-to/ If you need help with
the process, please email me at annemarie@woodontcc.org and Im happy to assist. The more people that create
their Church Life accounts, the more useful and complete our directory will be. Please do so today!
Outreach Grants
Awarded this Quarter
Bethany Hills Nashville Food Project
Bravo Creative Arts Center Nashville Rescue Mission
Building Lives Foundation Preston Taylor Ministries
Communities in Schools of TN Rejoice School of Ballet
First Steps, Inc Safe Haven Family Shelter
Insight Counseling Center Siloam Family Health
Leaving the Cocoon Ministers Discretionary Fund
Thank You
To say thank you seems so very inadequate to express the
deep gratitude Al and I feel for all you have done for us over
the past few months. From the food to the flowers to the
cards and notes to the visits, there has been an outpouring
of love and service from so many of you to us and our family.
Many of you continue to remember Al and me in your daily
prayers, and it a comfort to know you are asking God to
give us strength, courage, and healing. Special thanks to
the Geezers, the Heavenly Helpers, the Ladies Prayer Group,
Centre, our small group Bible study members, the Elders,
and the WCC Ministers; we could have never made the many
transitions weve recently made without your support and
encouragement. Thank you for loving us and praying for us
and offering to help us in any possible way. God has richly
blessed us even in this season of trial, and one of His greatest
blessings is our Woodmont family.
In Christ,
-Pam Richardson
pg 5
I Believe In Miracles!
by Farrell Mason
Once upon a time there was a little boy named Ferlando. He lived on a little island that is known for its sorrow. At first glance, it would
appear that this little boy who sings in creole has very little in the world. No mother, no father, no left eye. Not to mention, a cancer that
is chasing his shadow. No hope, you might think?
But then there is his smile. Could it be Gods smile? It is large and it draws people to him. First one, then another and then another.
Suddenly the life of a little boy with one eye, no parents, who sings in creole and with a smile that must be Gods-----begins to shimmer.
A way is made out of no way. The impossible becomes possible. The word miracle begins to sound sweet on the tongue.
The biography of Jesus of Nazareth is chock full of miracles: the blind man who sees, the paralytic who walks, the leper made clean,
even the dead brought back to life. These narratives feel marvelous, extravagant, otherworldly. But do we believe them? Even after
Jesus had just cured a multitude in St. Peters living room, there were those who tried their best to explain away the miraculous. Why
are we so skeptical of the workings of grace? I dont know if it is because we humans dont like anything that we cannot hard prove
or manifest ourselves. Or do we not believe in miracles out of self-protection? What if we never
experience a miracle, especially if we have prayed fervently for one? What does that say about us?
What does that say about God?
Ill be the first to say that I dont understand exactly how miracles work. I have witnessed what I
would call many a miracle in my lifetime: the inexplicable and stunning hand of God in a given
situation. I have also stormed the heavens for a miracle and been met with silence. Or was I?
In our depths, we want to believe in miracles because that means there is a power or
supernatural force out there, greater than ourselves and our capacities, working to help us. If
miracles are true, then we are not confined by the boundaries of our material existence, natural
laws, even death. At any moment, or in every moment, there is the possibility of supernatural
involvement in the plot of each of our stories.
Miracles lend our earthly reality its supernatural shimmer!
At Vanderbilt Divinity School, my studies focused on healing and the operation of miracles in
Jesus ministry. I studied each of Jesuss healing pericopes with a fine-tooth comb. Jesus was all
about defying the odds and doing what we humans would deem the impossible. But for Jesus
the miracle was so much more than the evidence of a physical transformation such as the blind
man who is given sight. For Jesus is was about using love to transcend the cellular and touch the
heart. It was an experience of the body, but more of the soul. And Jesuss miracles had a ripple Thank you Rachel and Aaron White,
effect acting upon every heart in some illumined way within the radius of love.
Miriam, Jesnel and the angels of New
I received a call in early January from a friend wondering if I could help a three and half year old Life orphanage in Haiti, Elizabeth
orphan in Haiti who has cancer. I receive many calls about children with cancer. I happily open Hasselbeck, Bob Goff, Karris, Tracie
my rolodex of contacts in the pediatric cancer world and try to offer any bit of wisdom to those and Scott Hamilton, Representative
in need as so many did for me when my son had cancer. But this case was a little different. There Jim Cooper and his team, Anne Clark,
was the smile. I decided to take a risk. A risk of my time, my heart, even my faith in miracles. Carissa Perreira, Dr. Hudocort in Haiti, Dr.
Paraphrasing the words of the poet Mary Oliver, I made room in my heart for the unimaginable. Friedman at Vanderbilt and especially,
Sometimes the greatest miracle is our willingness to take a risk on love and grace----And God! Ferlando for taking a risk on love! It is the
message of Easter!
What I have realized in my limited time on this planet is that often the miracle doesnt come in
a lightening bolt, burning bush, angel visitation, poof-you-are-cured kind of event. Miracles manifest in subtle tugs on the heart, soul
stirrings, revelations at crossroads, words of encouragement, doors opened that were triple bolted, surprise yess when the answer
should have been no, destined hearts brought together, creative solutions that could only have been conceived in the mind of God,
and remarkable displays of sacrificial love that confirm an incandescent reality here. Or, as Elizabeth Barrett Browning once said, Earth
is crammed with heaven!
Was water changed to wine? A blind man given sight? A paralytic made to walk? Jesus resurrected from the dead?
The risk for me is too great not to believe.
Especially, since I have seen with my own eyes a little boy with no mother or father, no left eye, who sings in creole, and with a smile
that must be Gods miraculously eating a chocolate cake on his fourth birthday at my kitchen table!
Will I keep praying for a big miracle that Ferlando is cured? Of course! But I am also going to pray for the little miracles of love that keep
me moving forward arms outstretched, risking my heart, hope in my breast, and pinching myself every time I witness a shimmer of God
at work.
Live in hope,
Farrell
Interested in learning about foster parenting? The April meeting of the WCC Book Club will be on
Join us for an information session at Monroe Harding! Tuesday, April 18th, at 10:30 in Room 107.
Wednesday, April 19th 7-8 pm
1120 Glendale Lane Doris Dark will lead a discussion of Elizabeth Georges
Nashville TN 37204 615-298-5573 book, A GREAT DELIVERANCE. Everyone is invited!
pg 6
Do you have a
Next Weeks Calendar graduating senior?
Sunday, April 16 - EASTER SUNDAY Woodmont is recognizing all its
7:00 a.m. Easter Sunrise Service, Outdoor Chapel graduating seniors by featuring
8:15 a.m. Seekers Bible Study, Room 105 their photo on the cover of The Spire
9:30 a.m. Worship in the Sanctuary, Sun. School newsletter on April 25 and hosting a
9:45 a.m. Worship at The Bridge, Drowota Hall banquet in their honor on May 7th - Youth Sunday!
11:00 a.m. Worship in the Sanctuary, Sun. School If you have a graduating Senior and want their photo
included on the cover of The Spire, send photo attachment
Monday, April 17 to matt@woodmontcc.org by Friday, April 21. Be sure to
3:30 p.m. Geezers Mens Group, Boardroom include your seniors name as it should be printed on the
11:30 a.m. Visitation Group, Room 105 cover as well as the school they are graduating from.
Tuesday, April 18
9:00 a.m. Womens Prayer Group, Campbell-Stone
New Wed. Night Classes
9:45 a.m. Womens Bible Study, Room 200
10:30 a.m. WCC Book Club, Room 107 LEADERSHIP GOLD
6:00 p.m. Handbell Practice, Choir Room April 19 - May 10, 6:30 PM
7:30 p.m. Womens Babylon Bible Study Week 1 Led by Clay Stauffer in the
Boardroom
Wednesday, April 19
6:15 a.m. Mens Small Group, Room 100
7:00 a.m. Original Mens Bible Study, Room 105 Leadership Gold is a new class specifically designed for
7:00 a.m. Younger Mens Bible Study, Boardroom newly-nominated Elders, Board Members, Deacons and
5:30 p.m. Grace Notes Practice, Kids Commons returning Elders, Board Members, & Deacons. The class is
5:45 p.m. Wednesday Fellowship Dinner, D.H. also open to others who RSVP.
Bistro Tomato Soup, Beef & Vegetable Soup,
Pork Loin Sliders with Blackberry Mustard, Leadership God explores Christian leadership principles.
Mediterranean Orzo Salad, Chess Squares What is leadership? What does it mean to be a leader in
the church? Why was Jesus the greatest leader of all time?
6:30 p.m. Choir Practice, Choir Room What is expected? What is required? How do you sacrifice
6:30 p.m. Leadership Gold Week 1 with and take ownership? What is spiritual formation?
Clay Stauffer, Boardroom
6:30 p.m. Essentials of the Faith Week 1, The class is based on Make Today Count by John Maxwell.
Roy Stauffer, Room 105
RSVP at www.woodmontchristian.org/signup
Thursday, April 20
10:00 a.m. Sit and Stitch, Gathering Hall
The city of Babylon bookends the Bible, playing a significant But guess what: God isnt afraid of Babylon. God moved
role in both Genesis and Revelation and it shows up among Gods people to bring about their redemption,
many places in between. This city often has a negative and God is moving in our culture today. As we continue to
connotation, but why? It is a large territory in Biblical times, explore Babylon - then and now - well begin to see Gods
it is the birthplace of civilization, its alive. And yet from its character of love, and how this character requires our
first appearance, God is calling people out of Babylon. faithfulness.
pg 7
Thank you!
STEVEN RETIRES AFTER 9 YEARS AT WOODMONT
Every Wednesday night, after playing on the playground, the kids of JYF complete an
act of Christian service: they clear all of the dinner tables and stack all of the chairs in
Drowota Hall. They even organize the salt and pepper shakers. Mrs. Brit, Mrs. Laura,
and Mr. Justin tell them that Mr. Steven would have to do this all by himself if they didnt
help, which is true. The kids are always eager to help!
April 5th was Mr. Stevens last Wednesday night at the church. After the kids completed
their act of Christian service, Mr. Steven came down to the Kids Commons to thank
them for their help week after week.
WE WILL MISS YOU, STEVEN!