At the Grocery Store at Noon

on February 14th

Ashley Crowder Stanley, Pastor

All I needed was one baking potato and some arugula, items I had forgotten when I did my weekly grocery shopping. I got a lot more.

As I rushed through the front doors, I was overwhelmed with the red tsunami that greeted me: red Starbucks cups, a 4-foot red balloon that spelled LOVE, red roses, red roses mixed together with yellow and white roses, red envelopes on the card display, red cookies, even red stuffed animals just begging to go home with me. I didn’t cave.

As I inched downed the aisle, I began looking at the faces of the men that were energetically shopping (I literally saw not one woman in the “red” section): some of them looked panicked, some were smiling, some seemed lost, a few were smiling, others were checking their watches, one guy had two identical bouquets in his hands and I smiled, imagining one was for his mama and one was for his beloved. Another man held his bouquet out to me and asked: “do you think she’ll like these?”. Since I didn’t know him or her, I had no idea; “you’re doing great,” I said. The roses and cards and balloons are all meant to wordlessly convey the 3 words that are often so difficult, so vulnerable to say out loud: I Love You.

On another aisle, there was little girl in a sleeveless, frilly dress with red hearts on it who was waiting for her mom to decide on what cheese to buy. She touched her mom’s hand and said: “Mom, I see you. And I love you forever and forever.” The mom stopped what she was doing, knelt down, looked into her daughter’s eyes and said “I see you too and I love you forever and forever, always.” I may have had to turn away to wipe the tears that were soaking my mask.

Then, I got in line behind a woman who was slightly bent over and beautiful, unloading her cart of its half-dozen items: pimento cheese, a chicken pot pie, some Kleenex, 2 bananas, a quart of milk. She turned to me and said: “this is the first Valentine’s Day since my husband died. I miss him so much but we have to carry on, don’t we?” I wished her a good day, resentful that the pandemic and our cultural reluctance to hug people kept me from putting my arm around her or at least squeezing her hand. Right then, I remembered hearing that, except for medical interventions, the elderly can go for weeks, even months without being lovingly touched. I hope that someone she knows offers affection to her today.

Then it was my turn to check out: the potato and arugula cruised down the check-out belt where they stopped in front of the guy who seems to be there. He is kind, always smiles, looks me in the eye. No attitude. A vestige of a head injury from earlier in his life.

“Do you have big plans for tonight?” he asked me. “Cooking supper,” I replied. “I forgot a few things. What about you?”

“I don’t have a girlfriend,” he said. “So, I will get off work, go home, just fart around for a little while and go to bed. Just another day. I wish it was different.”

I looked him in the eye and said “I hear you. I wish it was different for you, too. You are my favorite check out guy and I appreciate you.” And he weakly smiled. Inside my head, I was chastising myself: “good grief. You botched that.”

Love, however expressed, says “I see you. You are important to me and to the world. You are not alone, even though it may seem that way today. Here’s my hand, here’s my heart. Let’s do life together.”

May we peek around the balloons, the flowers, the emptiness, the grief, the cultural pressure to consume and take a tiny step at expressing your love. May there be a love tsunami that covers our world, that heals our hearts and that brings hope to us all. Even in the “red section” at noon on February 14th.

Of All Times!

Ashley Crowder Stanley, Pastor

When the For Sale sign went up in our front parking lot early in the fall, we were surprised, sad, and bewildered. The building that Wellspring has rented since “Day 1” would soon be sold at a tender time in our church’s lifespan. We had poured so much prayer, muscle, time and love into that service station turned BBQ restaurant turned church and we were grieved to realize we would have to leave it. “Of all times for this to happen,” we thought!

After months of searching for a new home, Wellspring is delighted to announce that starting on Sunday, January 8th, we will meet for worship in the Habitat for Humanity building in their amazing meeting space, complete with kitchen, breakout room and a wide-open room for our worship services.

We could not be more grateful to our friends at Habitat for Humanity for making this space available to us. They have become generous and supportive with us and we look forward to discovering ways to support their life-changing ministry in our community.

On January 8th at 10am, we will open for worship at the Habitat building BESIDE the Re-Store. There is ample parking, an elevator for those needing assistance and restrooms beside the room we will be using. We will also welcome our new musician, Sarah Fowler, who will lead singing and play the keyboards for us. We are excited to have Sarah with us!

The address for our new location is:

33 Meadow Road (Habitat Offices next to ReStore)
Asheville, NC 28803

Wellspring Congregation: An Inclusive United Methodist Church welcomes you and anticipates the years ahead. All of who you are is welcome.

Pastor Ashley Crowder Stanley
Pastor Kelly Dotson

The Sign We've Been Waiting For

Ashley Crowder Stanley, Pastor

“Mom, what do you want for Christmas?” my daughter Catherine asked me. “That’s easy,” I said, “will you design a logo for Wellspring?” Over the course of months, my graphic designer offspring went to work, asking questions, experimenting with a color palette, envisioning a “mark”(symbol) that would clearly represent our mission of being a welcoming, inclusive, abundance-focused, connected community centered on the grace of God and the belovedness of all people.

When Catherine met with our leadership team to reveal her design package, it was clear that she had embraced this project not only with her skill and but also with her heart. Here are a few things she told us about the design work:

The mark creates a sense of a circle around a central focus. The line represents disparate elements that have been joined together. But there is also space for entry into the circle.
She redesigned a standard font by expanding the space between the letters to evoke a feeling of openness and space. Even the edges of the letters were rounded to be less sharp and edgy.
There is a connection between the font and the mark(see picture below). This gives a visual sense of cohesiveness.
The color palette she chose contains shades of green, blue and white to inspire calm, peace and help us remember the waters of baptism in which we are named “beloved” by God.
She chose a secondary font for the words “an inclusive United Methodist Church.” This secondary font was chosen to compliment and balance the primary font.

With the design package as a guide, it was now time for the construction of our large street sign which would be installed at our location on busy Sweeten Creek Road. Woodworker T. Stanley volunteered to tackle this daunting project and the work began! T., along with friend and Wellspringer, Lew Kraus, invested countless hours in the sign’s design and creation. Here are a few details:

It is made of 2” thick white oak
It weighs about 100 lbs.
It is 38” wide and 48” tall
The logo and text were cut with a CNC router, using the specified design and fonts.
The paint color(navy blue) was chosen from our color palette.
It was hung on the freshly painted(Thanks Steve Pagano!) street post formerly used by 12 Bones.
It took a ladder in the back of a pick-up, a group of brave and strong volunteers (thank you Jeff, Austin, Brenda and T.) to hang it as a bunch of giddy onlookers cheered them on!!

We can never adequately thank the creative people who have contributed their talent, resources and time to helping us reach this milestone. I hope they will always derive deep satisfaction in knowing that their work helps Wellspring communicate warmth, hospitality and grace to everyone who passes by.

We are Wellspring Congregation: An Inclusive United Methodist Church, a beautiful array of imperfect people who want to grow closer to God and to one another. The circle is open. All of who you are is welcome here.

The Girl in the Rainbow Tights

Ashley Crowder Stanley, Pastor

After it happened, my friend Steve said: “you couldn’t have scripted it better if you’d tried.” And he was right.

A few weeks ago, about 5 minutes into my sermon, I was telling the story of a fancy, high steeple church in another city that had pulled up the front 4 pews in its historic sanctuary and set up an area for children complete with colorful rug, little tables and chairs, crayons, quiet toys; a welcoming space. And, as a result, that church had experienced an inspiring rise in the presence of children and their young parents in worship.

As I went on, a light gust of wind (we worship outside right now) blew my sermon notes off the music stand and onto the floor and they skittered around, randomly. Forgetting I was mic’d, I mumbled (but didn’t audibly curse): “oh, this is my worst nightmare…well, maybe not my worst nightmare but pretty bad…” As I gathered up the notes, I tried to remember where I was in this less-than-stellar sermon opening.

That’s when she walked in: the girl with the rainbow tights. And white patent leather pumps. And frilly dress. With her mom. They walked in right as I was saying something about Jesus picking up a child and bringing him into the center of the circle of stodgy disciples, boldly including children and giving them a place of honor.

The child and her mom found seats on the front row. I welcomed them while trying not to embarrass them by being too goofily effusive. Meanwhile, several wonderful people got up, scurried around for crayons and paper, pulling out one of the little chairs at the children’s art table so she could join the other children who were already deep into their activity.

Sometimes, sermons are carefully crafted in advance with a message that hopefully connects to heart and mind. And sometimes, sermons walk in late, wearing rainbow tights, holding their mom’s hand, choosing to sit up close to “could hear what that lady is saying.”

I hope she heard “welcome.” And “grace.” And “it doesn’t matter that you were late, we are glad you’re here and there is a place for you.” And “Jesus loves you.” Those are the words that matter. Those are the words that will last, long after she outgrows those spectacular rainbow tights!

Beware of the light gusts of wind: your “scripts” may end up on the floor just in time to make room for God’s unforgettable script whose message may not involve words at all.

Goodness Multiplied
The Summer of Goodness is Real

Ashley Crowder Stanley, Pastor

Imagine my surprise when I pulled into the back parking of my church yesterday to see at least 15 Duke Energy trucks parked there. I had been in a meeting during the afternoon and had silenced my phone so when I saw the trucks, I was concerned that I had missed a call saying that something terrible had happened there.

A man walked up, introduced himself as Mike and said: "Ma'am, is this your business?" " Well, actually, this is my church." "Oh, your church! How great. I hope you don't mind that we have set up here in your parking lot and on your patio for a crisis response center. We needed a place to coordinate our efforts in this area. This is perfect. I called you and left a message but we couldn't wait around so we just set up."

"I am s glad you did! And, thank you for all that you are doing to help out in the mountains. How can we help you?"

"Well, he said, can you turn the lights and ceiling fans on on the porch? And could we use one of your bathrooms? We'll be here at least until 9. It's bad up here, really bad."

I opened the building, showed them where the bathrooms were, showed them where the fridge was that is full of water and drinks. And we made arrangements on how to lock up when they were done.

As I was leaving, he said: "I see you have a food pantry. Maybe we can get some things to put in there."

"Oh, that is so kind but you are already helping so much. But, we have lots of snacks and other food. Please take what you need. That's what it is there for."

This morning when I went to the church, there was no sign that a crew of dozens of lineman had been there.

Except this one thing: our food pantry and blessing box were full. Our inventory had greatly increased overnight! Mike and his crew had somehow found a way to go shopping and pay it forward.

People who were sent to help victims of the devastating flooding in Western North Carolina had found the energy and the heart to go the extra mile to feed them too. I called Mike this morning and thanked him. My last words to him were "Thank you for your generosity. And may God bless you and all your crew as you have blessed us."

This Sunday, we will worship on our patio. It will be the second service of the week: the other happened on Wednesday

HOMEMAKING

Ashley Crowder Stanley, Pastor

The people next door to a family member’s coastal river house were obviously aggravated that an osprey couple had started building their nest on top of their motor boat’s canvas cover. A few days before the neighbors arrived, I had watched the fascinating birds haul limb after limb through the air, swooping and gliding until they could make a perfect landing on the cover. The nest was taking shape in a rather miraculous way. But, with each additional stick, I got more stressed: what would happen when the boat’s owner turned up?

Within an hour of the neighbor’s arrival, he began to rake the sticks off of the canvas. Plop, down into the river they went with a shake of his head in frustration. I’m sure he knew that state law says that “osprey nests can be removed without a permit …as long as there are no eggs or young in the nest.” The neighbor needed to work quickly before there were eggs and so, he was resolute to undo the masterpiece, pronto.

Within an hour, the ospreys were back and they started over: limb, twig, limb. Soon, the neighbor came out with the rake again: scrape, plop, head shake. And then, for the third time in the same day, the birds returned, determined, their desperation to make a home in time to start their family almost heartbreaking.

Overnight, the neighbor got creative: under the shelter of darkness, he placed a large roll of chicken wire and held it down securely by a 2x4. There! Even though I was pulling for the ospreys, I had to admit to a certain amount of admiration for the neighbor’s non-violent “solution.” When the neighbor backed out of his driveway to return to his other home in the city, I imagined he was brushing his hands together, saying “that’s that!”

Not so much. At dawn the next day (see picture abpve), I noticed that there were sticks laying alongside the chicken wire, the makings of a new nest. And perched there, was the mama osprey, awaiting her breakfast which was efficiently provided to her with impressive fly-by service. This drama of their homemaking continued for the week, resulting in an ever-growing, magnificent nest, watched over by an osprey couple (did you know they mate for life?) whom we affectionately named “Oscar” and “Olivia.” I am glad I won’t be there to witness what happens when the neighbor returns in a few weeks.

For all “creatures great and small,” there is a potent internal force to make a home, to create a nest that fits us, smells like us, is familiar to us and is big enough to hold those we love. Mention the word “home,” and humans often get misty eyed or become dreamy, wistfully thinking of the home they grew up in or a favorite they left behind. For some, the word “home” connects them to the promise of an eternal place, promised by their faith. Try to paint a picture of “home” and I believe you’d be hard pressed to come up with one more inspirational than an osprey nest.

Along with a physical home, humans long for and need a spiritual home, a God-meeting place where our souls can find nurture, where we can feel safe to be honest about who we are, a place to turn when we need help, a place where we can rest in the arms of God. It is more than a building; it is essentially a beloved community that worships, prays and serves together.

My new spiritual home is Wellspring Congregation; it is a home I’ve longed for and as I am discovering, many feel the same way. From the beginning of the dream that blossomed into this grace-filled new faith community, God called us to joyfully find ways to say :”you are God’s beloved child, you belong here, the world needs you, Jesus loves you always.”

Wellspring Congregation is and will be a safe, worshipful, meaningful, Jesus-centered, grace-giving, spiritual home for all who long for a strong, creative and hope-filled “nest” for their soul. No chicken wire or 2x4’s allowed!

It was hard to leave Oscar and Olivia behind. Their presence during the week had given me a holy vision: they were created to do everything possible, to overcome great obstacles, to try and try again, so that whoever shows up will find a lovely place of welcome.

I look in the rearview mirror as we drive away, I smile to myself: Olivia is sitting on top of the chicken wire, in her nest, fat and singing. It’s not long now.

SPREADING THE LIGHT AT WELLSPRING

Ashley Crowder Stanley, Pastor

“I bring you great news of great joy” were the words the angel said to the shepherds when they announced the birth of Jesus. These are the words that I want to “borrow” this morning as I write to share several good news stories that will have a significant impact for the good in our community!

First of all, Wellspring has a new food pantry that has been installed at the front of our building at 3578 Sweeten Creek Road in Arden. Envisioned and built by Kelly Galatioto and her family, The Blessing Box is prominently placed so that people can take and donate food and everyday items and will be an ongoing ministry of our church. The door to the Blessing Box has these words etched in it:

Take what you need

Bring what you can

Above all

Be Blessed

Kelly felt called to make this ministry happen. Here is what she wrote to me in describing her vision:

"I have been thinking of a pop up food pantry since retirement started in March…I can't imagine our children going hungry. As we know they do everyday. I pray that our blessing box can help our church neighborhood. Also having a box where it doesn't need to have anyone to be there will be helpful. I think it is a mission where we can all help when we can ! I can go with my grandkiddos and have them help. With social distancing we can keep everyone safe and still help, offering compassion for those who need it. I pray our church family will enjoy shopping for our box knowing that we brought smiles! Thank you to the Wellspring family for the warm embrace of the vision!"

So, when you are at the grocery store, pick up a few items, drop by the church and place them in the Blessing Box so that others might be helped. AND, please spread the word. I will be posting a brief announcement about it on our Facebook page today so please share that. Thank you, Kelly and family, for making this vision a reality!

The second piece of Good News of Great Joy is that our Be The Light Offering has been joyfully successful! If you haven’t already, please take a moment to donate to this outreach offering to benefit The Sharing House in Brevard and Homeward Bound in Asheville, both non-profits who help the folks in our community with housing, clothing, food and hope. The entire offering will be divided equally between these two ministries.

Thank your your generosity and joining us in our deep commitment to serve our neighbors, especially during these hard times.

Rev. Ashley Crowder Stanley

Reflections
Words of Encouragement for These Days

At the Grocery Store at Noon

on February 14th

Of All Times!

Keep Me Posted

ReflectionsWords of Encouragement for These Days

At the Grocery Store at Noon

on February 14th

Of All Times!

Keep Me Posted

Reflections
Words of Encouragement for These Days