Hello Jubilants,

“God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.” 1 John 4:16
 
I often open wedding celebrations with these words. They remind me that the act of loving is the act of abiding in God; that the experience of being loved is the experience of knowing God. Love is a verb. It’s something we do. I believe faith communities primarily exist as places to practice loving, which is to say, to practice abiding in God. Many of us like to think of ourselves as spiritual rather than religious and many people share with me why they don’t need communities of faith. It is true we are spiritual beings with or without communities. And we can practice a deep form of spirituality in solitude.
 
And at some point, the rubber hits the road and we figure out whether or not our personal spiritual practices are making us more loving or not; more like Christ or not; more God-inspired or not. We figure this out with other people. Sometimes the people in our family, or our workplace, or our neighborhood. And sometimes with the people in our community of faith. We practice not to become perfect, but to become more practiced. We goof up, we lose our cool, we show up as less than loving, we make poor choices, we say things we regret … and then we get to practice some more.
 
At Jubilee! Community, our love shows up in lots of actions. In this newsletter, you’ll see many ways to practice loving on this Valentine’s week: by rewatching the loving send-off we gave to Jackie, by prayerfully walking a Labyrinth of Love, by celebrating Ash Wednesday, by supporting our neighbors without homes, by deepening our commitment to racial equity, and more. And this Sunday, a special guest from the Agape International Spiritual Center will grace us with a message of Love. 
 
Happy Valentine’s Love!
Laura

IN CASE YOU MISSED JACKIE'S FAREWELL PARTY
If you were one of the more than 160 Jubilants participating in last week's Sunday celebration and after party, you saw first hand how much our community will miss Jackie Dobrinska. In case you couldn't attend the big event, or just want to see it all again, we created a web page that has a replay of the after-celebration party, the slide show that Don Fortuna created, the song that Brian Claflin wrote during (literally) the party and messages from Jubilants.  CLICK HERE FOR JACKIE'S WEB PAGE.
 

LABYRINTH OF LOVE
Fingers crossed the sun comes out and the weather warms up for the Labyrinth of Love walk in Carrier Park at 3pm on Sunday, February 14th. This will be a processional labyrinth with separate entrance and exit to ensure safe distancing (masks required) while still creating the camaraderie of a community walk. Bring a heart (paper, stone, something you created) or a gift of the heart for those in need (canned goods, a book, a donation) that Jubilee can distribute; these will be left at the altar in the center. The labyrinth walk is limited to the first 50 people who RSVP.  There are still a few spots available, so SIGN UP HERE NOW! 

ASH WEDNESDAY 
If you've been missing 46 Wall Street (and who hasn't), on Ash Wednesday, the first first day of Lent, you will have a brief opportunity to step inside. On February 17th, the Celebration Center will be open for quiet prayer and the imposition of ashes from noon to 1:00pm. This will be a time to come enjoy the Celebration Center with its winter altar and to write prayers for the prayer wall or light candles. We will make sure that no more than 10 people are in the Center at the same time. There will be a station for receiving ashes and a station for receiving communion. Masks will be required and everyone is asked to maintain a 6 foot distance.  Thanks to the newest member of our communications team, Sophia Phillips, for the lovely photo.

CONTINUING OUR SUPPORT FOR AHOPE
Renovations have been completed at AHOPE at 19 North Ann Street, and our homeless neighbors will once again be able to get shelter and support there. Since the warming center at Central Methodist is now closed, AHOPE would appreciate continued donations of snacks and finger foods delivered directly to them at the North Ann Street location. Warm winter clothes are still needed, too.  AHOPE is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 8am to 3pm.  On Wednesdays, they are open from 8am to 11:30am.  COVID safety measures are in place. In case you missed the other good news, Homeward Bound has purchased the old Days Inn property on Tunnel Road, which will be repurposed into 85 efficiency apartments for our most vulnerable chronically homeless neighbors. Learn more about AHOPE.

RACIAL EQUITY NEWS & RESOURCES
Are your familiar with Buncombe County's Remembrance Project? It is part of the Equal Justice Initiative’s National Memorial for Peace and Justice nationwide initiative for individual counties throughout the United States. Watch a video that explains Buncombe County's role in this important initiative. And here are some racial equity resources for you to check out:

• White Supremacy in the Church training with Tami Forte Logan, Saturday Feb 13, 12-2pm.  Learn more here
• Transforming Grief: to move forward in the US, we’ve got to acknowledge and grieve the burden we all share of inheriting systems of racism and white supremacy.  Here’s a presentation Jubilee!'s own Melody LeBaron was invited to give to a church in Atlanta, on understanding why the US isn’t good at grieving and how we can get better.  Access the presentation
• Watch a 7-minute Trevor Noah interview with Isabel Wilkerson, author of Caste, the book that the Racial Equity book club is currently reading. It’s a fascinating book and you can get in touch with Melody at melody.lebaron@gmail.com if you are interested in joining the group.
• Read Resmaa Menakem's article on White Body Trauma: In this article, he asks those of us with white bodies to unpack this trauma.
• MC Ellis presents this wonderful information on how to support your body and mind through difficult conversations and situations.  It’s presented here for Black people, but the information and tools are for white people as well. 

IT'S THAT PESKY TAX TIME AGAIN
It's coming up on tax season again. Do you need a record of your donations to Jubilee! for 2020?  We will gladly provide you a statement detailing your donations if you need such a report. If you would like us to send you a donations report please send a request to Patrick at patrick@jubileecommunity.org or call him at 828-777-2495.

SO MANY WAYS TO SUPPORT JUBILEE!
We know it's not the same as filling the basket in person, but there are lots of different ways you can donate to Jubilee! and the Hunger Basket.  Please give as generously as you can!

~  Online: Click here.
~  GivePlus app: Download the app, enter zip code 28801, then click Jubilee!
~  Text: Text 844-962-2639
~  Snail Mail: Mail your check to Jubilee!, 46 Wall Street, Asheville, NC 28801

Please donate to the hunger baskets or Jubilee!'s operating costs or both.  Jubilee! continues to have expenses to keep running.  And know all hunger basket donations are going to Bounty & Soul and other organizations providing COVID relief.