Church Bulletin Board

Kanuga presents An Evening for All Souls: A Gathering of Song and Spirit
Community gathering of remembrance, healing and song, with the music of Roots Grown Deep featuring Aditi Sethi
Kanuga invites the community to an evening of healing music and spiritual reflection on Sunday, Oct. 26 at 4:00 p.m. for “An Evening for All Souls: A Gathering of Song and Spirit” with music from acclaimed musicians Roots Grown Deep, featuring local musician Aditi Sethi, executive director of the Center for Conscious Living and Dying (CCLD) in Asheville, North Carolina.

The event begins at 4:00 p.m., with a free community choir workshop. All are welcome to learn a song that will be sung as the luminaria are released on the lake later in the evening. A comforting meal of chicken chili and cornbread will be served at 5:00 p.m., and participants are invited to create their own personal luminaria before the concert begins. Following dinner, guests will enjoy the music of Roots Grown Deep, whose acclaimed, cross-continental music aims to soothe our hearts and souls while remembering those who helped form and make us.

Tickets to An Evening for All Souls: A Gathering of Song and Spirit are $15.63 for the concert only and $27.02 for the concert and dinner. Tickets are available through Eventbrite. RAIN OR SHINE. REGISTER BY OCTOBER 24.

About the Performers: Roots Grown Deep:
Aditi Sethi — musician, vocalist, hospice physician, end-of-life doula, executive director of the Center for Conscious Living and Dying (CCLD) in Asheville, NC.
Jay Brown — music therapist practitioner, renowned legacy songwriter, folk-roots bandleader.
Joel Karabo Elliott — composer, multi-instrumentalist, curator of Roots Grown Deep world music ensemble in America and Africa, currently CCLD’s Artist-in-Residence.
Scott Sheerin — saxophonist and musical visionary behind Healing Music Now.
Jahidi — percussionist, master drummer, galactic shaman.

KANUGA is a nonprofit conference, retreat and camp center situated on 1,400 pristine, natural acres in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Associated with The Episcopal Church since 1928 and open to all, Kanuga is a gathering place inviting all people to connect with each other, nature, and the Creator. Kanuga hosts a variety of spiritual retreats and conferences, summer camps, concerts, personal retreats, group events, weddings and outdoor recreation and education events year-round. Learn more at Kanuga.org.

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St. James Episcopal Church, Hendersonville, presents The Linda Lassiter Hill Organ Recital Series featuring Tate Addis, Organist- “Things that go bump in the night”
St. James Artist-in-Residence Tate Addis will play works by McKinley, Cochereau, Gounod, Bingham, Edmundson, and J. S. Bach, including the favorite Toccata & Fugue in D Minor and Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor on Thursday, Oct. 30 at 7 p.m. The organ console will be moved for all to see; no tickets are required; reception follows the concert! Wear your spookiest finest!

Organist Tate Addis’ performances have been described as ‘spectacular’ and acclaimed for their ‘deeply communicative musicality,’ leading the Kansas City Star to write, ‘this organist has the right stuff.’ His recent solo performances have taken him to Atlanta, Boston, Cleveland, Detroit, Kansas City, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, Princeton, Washington, D.C., the Bloomfield Organ Series at Wichita State University, and a series of concerts in Austria commemorating the one-hundredth anniversary of Anton Heiller’s birth. Additionally, his performances have been broadcast in North America on American Public Media’s Pipedreams and in Europe on Radio Klassik Stephansdom.

Active as a church musician from an early age, Tate has held positions at New York City’s Brick Presbyterian Church, Second Presbyterian Church in Kansas City, and the Yale Berkeley Divinity School in New Haven. Currently, he serves as Associate Director of Music and Organist at First Baptist Church in Asheville, North Carolina, where he collaborates with the Pastor for Music and Worship in a comprehensive music program, directs the youth and adult handbell ensembles, and teaches organ and piano in the church’s Academy for the Arts. He is also the Artist-in-Residence at St. James Episcopal Church in Hendersonville, North Carolina, where he performs annual organ recitals and accompanies the St. James Choir in their Evensong services. He is the collaborative artist for the Blue Ridge Consort, a professional vocal ensemble serving Western North Carolina, and serves as Assistant Director and Accompanist for the Asheville Symphony Chorus. As a collaborative pianist, he has performed with violinists Daniel Hope and Benny Kim, tenor Vinson Cole, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

Tate Addis holds degrees from Wichita State University, the University of Missouri – Kansas City, Yale University, and Oberlin Conservatory. His principal teachers were James David Christie, Lynne Davis, Thomas Murray, Andrew Trechak, and Robert Weirich. Additional studies were with Marie-Louise Langlais and Roman Summereder, and in masterclasses with Leon Fleisher and Jerome Lowenthal. Tate makes his home in Asheville with his wife, Rev. Laura Addis, and their daughter, Maggie.

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Friends of Music & the Arts Presents North Carolina Folk Duo: TOM EURE and AMELIA OSBORNE 
Versatile musicians will present an afternoon concert inside the Parish Hall of The Episcopal Church of St. John in the Wilderness on Sunday November 16 at 4:00 p.m.  The event is free and open to the public, but donations will be gratefully accepted to further the ongoing Friends of Music & the Arts series.
Tom Eure and Amelia Osborne are a lively Carolina folk pair from the Charlotte area who offer a melding of Celtic, Appalachian and spiritual influences.  Their style fluidly changes from one instrument to the next, swirling together fiddles, banjos, bodhran, mandolins, guitars, and rousing vocal harmony.  They’re going on ten years performing together.

Here’s a video clip from an earlier live concert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzojijGz1Mc

One reviewer of their first album, “The Coin, The Prayer & The Crow,” compared it to an artist pouring old wine into new bottles and making the listeners believe.  The duo flourish as artists, multi-instrumentalists, songwriters, and activists, always striving to paint a picture that is fresh and uplifting.  “A Promise of Hope” is their second album with a third on its way.

Free parking and handicapped access are available.  The Parish Hall is across Rutledge Drive from the church at 1905 Greenville Highway in Flat Rock.  For more information call the church office at 828-693-9783 or visit www.stjohnflatrock.org.

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Covenant Presbyterian Church Hosts Fall Bible Conference
Friday, October 31st –  7:00 pm
Saturday, November 1st – 9:00 am
Sunday, November 2nd  – 9:00 am

Featured speaker: Dr. Michael J. Kruger
The 5 Solas: Foundational principles that distinguish the Protestant Reformation from other Christian denominations.

Covenant Presbyterian Church is located at 2101 Kanuga Road, Hendersonville, NC 28739. The cost for the conference is free. A love offering will be taken.

For more information: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/covenant-pca-fall-bible-conference-friday-sunday-oct-31-nov-2-tickets-1316665605269

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October Hiking Retreat in Valle Crucis
Register Now for Holy Hikes Retreat: “Following Jesus Along Native Paths of Wisdom”
The Episcopal Church of St. John in the Wilderness will host an autumn hiking retreat called “Following Jesus Along Native Paths of Wisdom.” They invite hikers, non-hikers and anyone interested in the great outdoors to attend the retreat at Valle Crucis Conference Center near Boone from Sunday evening, October 26 through Wednesday morning, October 29.

The retreat features discussions by the Reverend Dr. Timothy Ross, pastor, professor, missionary and citizen of the Western Cherokee Nation.

The Reverend Joshua P. Stephens, Rector of St. John in the Wilderness said, “If you have ever found yourself aware of a Higher Power when taking in the mountain views or standing near a cascading waterfall, I hope you will consider joining us for a fall retreat at the beautiful Valle Crucis Conference Center. We are delighted to spend time with Tim Ross who will share his perceptions of intersections between Christian spirituality and Native American wisdom, such as how a deep connection to the created order leads us to a fuller existence.”

Optional group hikes for various ability levels will be offered by Holy Hikes-WNC on Monday and Tuesday. Participants may also enjoy downtime at the retreat center, a drive through the country filled with autumn colors or a visit to nearby Blowing Rock.

The program is open to all faiths and backgrounds. Accommodations, meals, and talks will be offered at the Valle Crucis Conference Center. There is also an option to commute to campus from other accommodations.   To sign up visit https://vcconferences.org/programs#HH

For more information call the church office at 828-693-9783 or visit www.stjohnflatrock.org.

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The expansive wooded setting in the heart of Flat Rock recently revealed long hidden historical and archaeological secrets. The new trails meander along the west side of Greenville Highway intersecting the nearly disappeared “Old Jerusalem Path” which connected the parsonage with the church in the 1800s.

These discoveries and the proximity to nearby Carl Sandburg National Historic Site suggested a ripe opportunity for a new trail system featuring the “New Jerusalem Path” at the Trails of St. John, now available to church and community members for recreation and contemplation. Reverend Joshua Stephens, church Rector, prays that “our community will find inspiration as well as rest and renewal here on this holy ground.”

Long before the railroad opened up Western North Carolina, Charlestonians endured a week-long carriage ride on rough dirt roads to escape the heat and disease of low country summers. They made Flat Rock their “Little Charleston of the Mountains” each May through September. In 1827, Charles and Susan Baring built their summer home and a chapel which became St. John in the Wilderness, the first Episcopal church in WNC, now on the National Register of Historic Sites. The church witnessed the tribulations of slavery and Civil War as well as the joys and sorrows of the last two centuries while growing and serving Flat Rock and the larger community.

For more information, visit the website: www.stjohnflatrock.org/trails.

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Exploring local history is available this summer on select Saturday mornings with tours of the Episcopal Church of St. John in the Wilderness in Flat Rock.

The guided tours of the church are led by church docents.  The historically significant churchyard contains graves of distinguished political figures and local citizens as well as those of unnamed 19^th-century enslaved people.

Tours start inside the Carriage Door entrance of the Church promptly at 11 a.m. and last about an hour.  They are available on the first and third Saturdays of the month through September. October through December, tours will be held on the third Saturday only. There will be no rain dates and participants are encouraged to wear comfortable shoes. 

“One of the joys of attending a beautiful holy place like St. John in the Wilderness is sharing it with our visitors. Our history is intertwined not just with the history of Flat Rock, but with that of coastal South Carolina, the home of our founders and earliest congregants,” said lead docent Polly Morrice.

The tours are free, but reservations must be made online through the church’s website, www.stjohnflatrock.org/tours.  Space is limited for each tour.

“As docents, we strive to communicate the sweep of what happened and how it shaped us, the good and the sometimes painful,” Morrice reflected. “We do like to remind visitors that St. John is not a museum, but a vibrant, welcoming church. We’re still moving forward and welcome all who would like to make more history with us.”

The church is located at 1895 Greenville Highway.  For more information call the church office at 828-693-9783 or visit www.stjohnflatrock.org.

St. John in the Wilderness History
In 1827, Charles Baring, a member of the Baring banking family of England, built a home in Flat Rock. He and his wife, Susan, wanted a summer place to escape the oppressive heat, humidity, and malaria of the South Carolina Low Country where they lived.

The Barings built a chapel on the property of their newly constructed home. Soon after it was built, the small wooden structure burned down in a woods fire. In 1833, work began on a second church built of handmade brick.

In August 1836, the Barings deeded their chapel to the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina, and 20 members of the Flat Rock “summer colony” of Low Country planters and merchants formed an Episcopal parish. In the 1890’s, St. John in the Wilderness became part of the Diocese of Western North Carolina; it is the oldest parish in that diocese.

With almost all its congregation traveling home to the Low Country after the summer season, the church operated mainly during that season for its first 120 years. So rapid was the growth of the Flat Rock summer community during the 1830’s and 1840’s, however, that the parish membership outgrew the small chapel. In the early 1850’s, the decision was made to rebuild the church, doubling its size. The English chapel-style structure that stands today is, with only a few minor modifications, the church that was completed in 1852.