St. Barnabas Episcopal Church

We hear a lot of stories about how loneliness is at an all-time high. Children who experienced the COVID lockdown in the middle of their early school years and older adults who have lost many of their friends and companions express that sense of being alone.

This is one way that churches and other faith communities can serve as a helper. They are gathering places with a focus on the individual as being connected to a larger, divine presence. In our tradition, it’s the reminder that we are one with Jesus Christ, and Christ assured us that God will be with us until the end of the age.

Still, for some, the idea of walking into a church can make them break out into a cold sweat. They may have had negative experiences in a church. Or they may have been told that they have to “be” a certain way in order to go to a church service.

One of the lovely things about St. Barnabas is that we place no expectations on those who come to worship with us. No need to dress up in your fanciest clothes. No need to hold absolute beliefs about God. And you don’t need to be the best singer either. All that’s needed is a desire to find a community of people who will make space for you to experience God’s love.

If you are curious about us, you can check out our Facebook page. Or go to our YouTube Channel. If you want to read the sermons preached by our priest, you can find them here.

Wherever you are on the journey with God, we are here and happy to travel alongside you. You don’t have to do this life alone.

St. Barnabas has A LOT happening in the next few weeks and we hope that you will join us for some or all of these special events.

Sunday, November 2nd, we will mark All Saints’ Day with a remembrance of all of our friends and family who have passed away between November 3, 2024 and now. That will be at our regular 11am service.

Sunday, November 16th at 3pm, we will be holding our annual Transgender Day of Remembrance service. This somber memorial is time to grieve and remember those who are transgender and non-binary who have died, either at their own hands out of hopelessness or at the hands of someone overcome with the hatred of “the other.” A small reception will follow in the parish hall where we will have the “Authentic Selves” photo exhibit.

Thursday, November 20th at 7pm, we will be hosting Dr. Benjamin Warsaw, an accomplished American pianist, for a free, hour-long concert in our sanctuary. Dr. Warsaw will be playing works by Chopin with freestyle-improvisations.

Finally, Tuesday, November 25th at 6pm, our three Valdosta Episcopal Churches will gather for a Thanksgiving service, with Fr. Jim Pace of Christ the King as preacher.

We look forward to seeing you this November as we mark this time of remembering those gifts of God for which we are thankful: music, loved ones, and community.

We’re participating in the annual South Georgia Pride event at John W. Saunders Park, 1151 River Street, next Saturday. The even runs from 11am-4pm but we could use help with setting up at 10am. Please come by our “Episcotent” and say hi to us, get a bottle of water, and some swag. And learn a little bit more about what it means to attend a church where we welcome you just as you are and have a seat for you to be in the presence of the Holy without any worries.

We will be hosting South Georgia Pride’s annual LGBTea Time in our parish hall on Saturday, June 7th. You’re invited to bring a dish to share. Come and enjoy some time visiting with old friends and making some new ones as we celebrate Pride month and “spill the tea” about what’s happening in the world around us.

When all the Easter eggs are found, the chocolate bunnies consumed, and the Easter baskets are put away…and all these items go on sale at the supermarket…the world moves on from Easter and gets ready for the patriotic holidays.

Not so for us in the church!

After our 40 days of Lent and our journey with Jesus through Holy Week, the empty tomb and Jesus’ victory over sin and death is one very long celebratory party that we call “The Great Fifty Days.”

This a time when our Scriptures are full of stories of revelation (in fact we hear parts of the Book of Revelation to John) and the call of disciples and followers of Jesus to come out of the shadows and live into the hope of the resurrection. The Acts of the Apostles has many stories of the power of healing and conversion. The Acts book is really The Gospel of Luke, Part II or we might see it as “The Jesus Movement Takes Off.” The Book of Revelation is written by a John who some believe might have been the evangelist John of the Gospels and the Letters in the New Testament. The visions he describes reflect the persecution Christians were enduring under the Roman Empire during the reigns of Emperors Domitian and Nero. John’s fervent wish was to see the Christians saved from painful ordeal that pitted Pagans and Jews against them. It is a reminder during these days that even as we live into the hope of the resurrection and celebrate the reality that Jesus is alive, we are also still in a moment of things are “not yet” perfect. God has raised Jesus, and the struggle continues.

This is also a season to prepare for baptism. And we will be having both adult and child baptisms this Pentecost. The Baptism service is a beautiful ritual of welcome and inclusion with water and oil, remembering the way Jesus entered into our every day life, challenged the injustices of the world, took the fears and hatreds of the world into his body on the cross, and left them behind with the linen cloth in the tomb with his resurrection. This is the story we get to join with our baptisms, and makes us siblings together in the Body of Christ.

Alleluia! Alleluia!

A little less than a year ago a small group began meeting at St. Barnabas for a Bible Study on Creation Care. During this study a dream to do more grew.  That desire led to a plan to hold a workshop on Creation Care and involve the other Episcopal Church in Valdosta. The group met monthly making community contacts and fine tuning their plan.

This past Saturday the dream of the group came to fruition.  Almost forty people from the Southwest Georgia area came out to our inaugural Creation Care: A Celebration of Hope event. It was a morning of informative presentations, prayers, and an opportunity to connect and learn from each other about our local environment and the issues we still face. Many thanks to the team from St.Barnabas, Christ the King and Christ Church that helped pull this event together. We also would like to take this opportunity to thank Rep. Dexter Sharper, Gretchen Quarterman and Kimberly Tanner from WWALS and Dr. Treva Gear with Dogwood Alliance, the Georgia Native Plant Society and the City of Valdosta Arbor Division in helping to make our dream a success!

A new podcast out of Savannah, GA, that explores the spiritual lives and experiences of the LGBTQ+ community recently did an episode featuring the Rev. Susan Gage and two of our longtime parishioners, Kay and Sarah J. Riggle. Take a listen to it HERE. Like and review the segment and share it with others.

This is one way to get the word out there that St. Barnabas Episcopal Church makes room for everyone no matter who they are, who they love, or how they identify. Because in Christ we are One.

On May 18th, Christ the King and St. Barnabas Episcopal Churches came together to host a remembrance ceremony for Mary Turner, a victim of one of the most horrific lynchings that occured on a bridge bordering Lowndes and Brooks Counties in 1918.

Turner was just nineteen years old and eight months pregnant when a white mob, enraged by the killing of a white farmer, lynched Turner’s husband, Hayes, and six other black farmworkers. Mary Turner demanded the authorities give her and her children justice in her husband’s murder. Instead, the same mob decided to “show her a lesson.” On May 19th, they hunted her down, hanged her by her feet at the bridge, doused her clothing in gasoline and lit her on fire. Someone cut open her womb, and when her unborn child fell to the ground, they stomped the child to death. They shot up Mary’s body, and then buried both her and her child in a shallow grave marked by a whiskey bottle and cigar. No one was ever held accountable in this terrible crime.

Turner is remembered in the Civil Rights mural on the north wall of Christ the King Episcopal Church as a Tree of Life. Mural artist Shay Clayton felt it important to have her pregnant belly wrapped in arms of love that she imagined as the arms of her husband, Hayes, loving her for her efforts to fight for justice for him and others.

Audrey Grant, the great granddaughter of Mary Turner, said this depiction of her ancestor was both a powerful and peaceful representation.

Michael Noll, Junior Warden at Christ the King, and the Rev. Susan Gage of St. Barnabas are both members of Racial Justice Georgia, a racial healing ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia. Both expressed the importance of remembering women such as Mary Turner, telling the truth about the history of lynching, and at the same time, paying homage to the courage it took for Mary Turner to even think of seeking justice at that time.

Rev. Gage noted that in Genesis 4, God responded to the cries of Abel’s blood coming from the ground, noting that those cries are still heard today for those who never received true justice for the crimes that took their lives. Quoting from a song by Judith Hill, Rev. Gage said, “Bad times makes for strong women.”

May we never forget the strength and the courage it takes to call out wrongdoing as we seek a more just society.

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church is pleased to have the Valdosta State University Women’s and Gender Studies Department as a co-sponsor of our screening of the compelling documentary, “The Philadelphia Eleven.” Having this great community partner means that we can bring the film to an even wider audience.

Please join us at the University Theater at the University Center on North Patterson Street on Friday, March 22nd at 6pm, and see this movie which documents the commitment and courage of the women who dared to break the church rules to follow their call to becoming the first women priests in the Episcopal Church.