News and Updates

March 8, 2024

Wednesday Family Style and Guest Restaurant, Rhubarb

This past Wednesday was a beautiful time of food and fellowship! We are so grateful for all the support, encouragement, and service that helped make it possible.

Throughout the month, we will reflect and adapt to stay true to our mission of Relationship above all Else. Please feel free to email Laura Brown with any suggestions or thoughts.

As we look to next Wednesday, be sure to join us as we welcome our partner and guest restaurant, Rhubarb, as they prepare the meal!

Local Mission Opportunity March 15th

Where: Christmount Retreat Center in Black Mountain, NC

When: Friday, March 15 from 8:30am — 1:00pm

If you are interested in getting involved with our local mission efforts, we will make a day trip next Friday to Christmount Retreat Center in Black Mountain, NC, to assist their team as they demo one of their buildings.

We will meet in the Haywood Street parking lot at 8:30 am to carpool to the location together and return by 1:00 pm. If able, please wear close-toed shoes in addition to clothes you don’t mind getting dirty (there will be dust!). Some tools will be provided at the site, but feel free to bring any you may have as well in case there is a limited supply. Haywood Street will provide water, light snack options, and sandwich makings for lunch if you have not brought your own. 

If you would like to join, please contact Pastor Seth by email at 

seth@haywoodstreet.org or by phone at 828-575-2477, ext. 118. 

Fresco Conversation on Tuesday, March 19th

Please join us for the next Fresco Conversation on Tuesday, March 19th at 1:00 p.m. featuring Kristen Tracy, Mark Siler, and Robert Stevenson in conversation about grief and the importance of art, storytelling, and community along the journey. 

Kristen Tracy is a longtime congregant, Respite companion, and HSC Board member. Mark Siler is a Fresco model shown in the artwork in the distance, carrying a guitar. He is a social worker and therapist. Robert Stevenson is on staff at Haywood Street as Respite Clinician. In his role he provides support to Respite friends around issues of substance use and mental health. We hope that you will join us in the sanctuary as we share stories around the value of community and art during times of struggle.

Dinner at Respite with Pastor Jody

Beginning this month, Pastor Jody will prepare meals each Monday evening for our Respite family.

If you are interested in joining a small group that helps prepare the meal or simply shares the meal and visits with folks, contact Pastor Jody for more information.

Guest Speaker, Pastor Mary Brown, on Wednesday

On Wednesday, we'll be welcoming guest speaker Pastor Mary Brown. Pastor Mary is the senior pastor at our partner congregation, Central United Methodist Church in Asheville. Join us for the service at 12:30 pm in the sanctuary!

Mary Wood Brown was born and raised in St. Petersburg, FL, in a home full of laughter and competitive spirit. She was also born and raised by First UMC St. Pete, where she first felt a call to ministry. Mary responded to that call by telling God she would do anything that didn’t involve public speaking – and every Sunday, she smiles when God proves her wrong again.  

Mary has been serving as a pastor in the United Methodist Church since 2010 – in Charlotte, Andrews, Sylva, and (now) Asheville, NC. She has a Doctor of Ministry from Duke Divinity School. She loves preaching, studying, listening to people’s stories, and watching for where God shows up. Mary and her husband, Alan, have two children, Eleanor (13) and Reid (10).  

Memorial Service on Wednesday, March 20th

Haywood Street has already felt the loss of so many beloved congregants this year. To create a space for our collective grief and to honor and recognize each person who has passed, we will hold a memorial service each quarter during our Wednesday worship service.

The first service will be on Wednesday, March 20th at 12:30 pm. We hope you'll join us in remembering Jesse, Donny, Stevo, and Ed.

Habitat for Humanity Workday March 21st

The next Habitat for Humanity work day is March 21st. We'll meet at 7:45 in the Haywood Street parking lot to carpool together.

Contact Pastor Seth for more information.

Haywood Street in Photos

Holy moments, those moments saturated with divine presence, typically surface when we least expect them. When we’re busy rushing from one place to another, when there’s a task we need to complete or a deadline we have to meet, something peculiar and beautiful captures our attention, pulling us back to the present.

So often, this happens in the form of music at Haywood Street. The hidden gift of creatives fills the air and causes us to stop in our tracks. To leave a moment like this without being overcome by gratitude and humility feels like a strange and unnatural possibility.

The invitation offered to each person who walks through the doors of Haywood Street is to slow down enough to be transformed by holy moments like this.

Pastor Patrick, one of the pastors from Central UMC, blessed the elements at the table on Wednesday, accompanied by his 10-month-old son, Silas.

This week, the windows at the end of the hall in Respite were removed, and the space is being prepared to add the doors!

On-going opportunities to participate at the Welcome Table:

Have a meal! - Join us on Wednesdays from 10:00-12:30 to enjoy a meal with our community!

Dining Room Clean-Up On Wednesdays at 12 pm - As always, clean-up is one of the places where we need companion support. We promise to make it fun!

Kitchen Clean-Up - On Wednesdays from 12:00-2:00, we would love for a couple of companions to help us clean up the kitchen and help serve the folks who come in during that time for a meal. You can sign up for this role on the sign-up sheet below!

Weekly Ministry Opportunities:

Worship: Wednesdays at 12:30 p.m. in the sanctuary

Tuesday Haywood Street Holy Ground Keepers: 8:30 a.m. in the parking lot. Walk the grounds of the church campus and our local neighborhood, cleaning up along the way.

Tuesday Prayer Group: 12:30 p.m. in Room 6. Gather for a time of communal prayer.

Wednesday Art Ministry: 8:30 a.m. in the Sanctuary. Join us for a time of fellowship, prayer, and art-making.

Thursday Card Making: 10:00 a.m. in the Sanctuary. Gather together to make cards for our community and friends in prison or in the hospital. 

Weekly Sermons

Read the weekly sermons on our website here.

~Preaching Schedule~

March 13th:

Guest Speaker, Rev. Mary Brown (Pastor of Central UMC)

March 20th:

Pastor Jody (Memorial Service)

March 27th:

Pastor Brian (Good Friday service)

April 3rd:

Pastor Seth (Easter service)

Community Resources

Click below to see a list of places in the community to donate and find clothes, and when recovery meetings are held.

Fresco Viewing Hours:

Monday - Thursday, 10 am - 2 pm (with the exception of during our worship service, which is 12:30 pm every Wednesday).

Contact April if you would like to make an appointment to see the Fresco outside of those hours.

REFLECTION

Simple and Irreversible Worth

Written by Lead Storyteller Melanee R.

A North Carolina native, Judy grew up singing gospel songs in small-town revival services her father led. I first met her at the piano in the back corner of the sanctuary almost two years ago. She sang a soulful, desperate gospel song while tears rolled down her cheeks.

Life is easy when you’re up on the mountain.

And you’ve got peace of mind like you’ve never known.

But things change when you’re down in the valley.

Don’t lose faith, for you’re never alone.

For the God on the mountain is still God in the valley.

When things go wrong, he’ll make them right.

And the God of the good times is still God in the bad times.

The God of the day is still God in the night.

The emotion in her song that day—the sentience of sadness and words conveying such faith and sureness—brought me and everybody else who heard her to tears.

I had a chance to spend time with Judy recently. This time, she shared about her experience of being unhoused, what strangers say to her, and how they treat her. “I have felt like such a worthless creature,” she said painfully. But when people treat us like that, how do we not begin to believe it? 

Our culture's empathy deficiency, among other things, has created this label of social uselessness that’s readily pinned onto others. It has us convinced that we only have worth if we’re successful and contribute something of value to the rest of society—if we have a job, own a home, or contribute to the economy in some other way. We’re only worth seeing if we have something quantifiable to offer.

After listening to Judy, though, I came away more convinced that taking the risk of spending an hour with someone we think is different from us and hearing a piece of their story might be all it takes to upend the entire transactional approach to relationship that our society is addicted to and dependent on.

Perhaps people would treat Judy differently and not label her based on her housing status if they could witness her talent. But that thinking only perpetuates the problem.

Judy’s worthiness isn’t due to the appeal of her musical inclinations, the kindness she unrelentingly shows others or her talent in gardening and flower arrangements. Those are all gifts and qualities.

But Judy’s worth is simply and irreversibly due to her being a human being.

Complete with the agreeable qualities and the not-so-agreeable ones.

Just like you and me.

A witness to include the most excluded, Haywood Street not only welcomes every child of God–especially sisters and brothers of every mental illness and physical disability, addiction and diagnosis, living condition and employment status, gender identity and sexual orientation, class, color, and creed–but we celebrate your presence, certain that the kingdom of God is coming closer because you are here.