Calendar of Events

All are invited to join St. John in the Wilderness for any or all of our Lenten Series sessions, to take place each Thursday evening in Lent. The evenings each have three offerings, all of which are open to the public with adults and youth most welcome. You do not have to be present for all three portions of the event to participate. See below for details.

​

• Evening Prayer at 6:00 in the Atrium Chapel of the Parish Hall

• Dinner at 6:30 in the Parish Hall – RSVP required below – $8/person or $20/family of 3+

• Program from 7:00 to 8:00 in the Parish Hall, or join via Zoom with RSVP

​

Our Lenten program this year will be led by the Sisters of the Community of St. Mary. These Episcopal Nuns live at their convent in Sewanee, TN and are members of a monastic movement that goes back to 1865 when their order was started in New York. The sisters will take turns sharing with us the richness of their ancient monastic way of life. Together we will learn about their Benedictine way of living that includes prayers, work, radical hospitality, rich community, accountability, and more. While many think of monks and nuns as being something restricted to the Roman Catholic Church, the Episcopal Church has a long history of monastic life that continues to influence our churches to this day.

For the first session on March 3, we will host the Prioress of the Community of St. Mary, Sister Madeleine Mary, who will travel from Sewanee to be with us. Sister Madeleine Mary has been living in religious life for over 50 years having entered the cloister after teaching middle school in New York and spending time advocating for environmental justice issues.

In the sessions following on March 10, March 17, March 24, March 31, and April 7, we will meet in person at the Parish Hall to gather for a virtual visit with other Sisters from the Order, including Sister Hannah Winkler, who made her life profession in January 2021, and Sister Elizabeth Grace, who will share on the Rule of St. Benedict’s emphasis on humility. You may also participate on Zoom for any of the sessions, but we will hope you will join us in person if you can. Click here to sign up to be emailed a Zoom link.

All are also invited to join us for Evening Prayer in the Atrium Chapel of the Parish Hall at 6:00pm on each Thursday in Lent (March 3 – April 7). Dinner follows at 6:30pm in the Parish Hall. RSVP and pay for dinner by clicking one of the boxes below by Tuesday of each week so food is not wasted. Masks will be required except when eating.

Sister Madeleine Mary will also be preaching at St. John in the Wilderness on Sunday, March 6, at the 8:45 and 11:00 services. Please join us as we journey through Lent together.

For more information:
https://www.communityofstmarysouth.org/about
https://www.facebook.com/communityofstmarysouth/

All are invited to join St. John in the Wilderness for any or all of our Lenten Series sessions, to take place each Thursday evening in Lent. The evenings each have three offerings, all of which are open to the public with adults and youth most welcome. You do not have to be present for all three portions of the event to participate. See below for details.

​

• Evening Prayer at 6:00 in the Atrium Chapel of the Parish Hall

• Dinner at 6:30 in the Parish Hall – RSVP required below – $8/person or $20/family of 3+

• Program from 7:00 to 8:00 in the Parish Hall, or join via Zoom with RSVP

​

Our Lenten program this year will be led by the Sisters of the Community of St. Mary. These Episcopal Nuns live at their convent in Sewanee, TN and are members of a monastic movement that goes back to 1865 when their order was started in New York. The sisters will take turns sharing with us the richness of their ancient monastic way of life. Together we will learn about their Benedictine way of living that includes prayers, work, radical hospitality, rich community, accountability, and more. While many think of monks and nuns as being something restricted to the Roman Catholic Church, the Episcopal Church has a long history of monastic life that continues to influence our churches to this day.

For the first session on March 3, we will host the Prioress of the Community of St. Mary, Sister Madeleine Mary, who will travel from Sewanee to be with us. Sister Madeleine Mary has been living in religious life for over 50 years having entered the cloister after teaching middle school in New York and spending time advocating for environmental justice issues.

In the sessions following on March 10, March 17, March 24, March 31, and April 7, we will meet in person at the Parish Hall to gather for a virtual visit with other Sisters from the Order, including Sister Hannah Winkler, who made her life profession in January 2021, and Sister Elizabeth Grace, who will share on the Rule of St. Benedict’s emphasis on humility. You may also participate on Zoom for any of the sessions, but we will hope you will join us in person if you can. Click here to sign up to be emailed a Zoom link.

All are also invited to join us for Evening Prayer in the Atrium Chapel of the Parish Hall at 6:00pm on each Thursday in Lent (March 3 – April 7). Dinner follows at 6:30pm in the Parish Hall. RSVP and pay for dinner by clicking one of the boxes below by Tuesday of each week so food is not wasted. Masks will be required except when eating.

Sister Madeleine Mary will also be preaching at St. John in the Wilderness on Sunday, March 6, at the 8:45 and 11:00 services. Please join us as we journey through Lent together.

For more information:
https://www.communityofstmarysouth.org/about
https://www.facebook.com/communityofstmarysouth/

All are invited to join St. John in the Wilderness for any or all of our Lenten Series sessions, to take place each Thursday evening in Lent. The evenings each have three offerings, all of which are open to the public with adults and youth most welcome. You do not have to be present for all three portions of the event to participate. See below for details.

​

• Evening Prayer at 6:00 in the Atrium Chapel of the Parish Hall

• Dinner at 6:30 in the Parish Hall – RSVP required below – $8/person or $20/family of 3+

• Program from 7:00 to 8:00 in the Parish Hall, or join via Zoom with RSVP

​

Our Lenten program this year will be led by the Sisters of the Community of St. Mary. These Episcopal Nuns live at their convent in Sewanee, TN and are members of a monastic movement that goes back to 1865 when their order was started in New York. The sisters will take turns sharing with us the richness of their ancient monastic way of life. Together we will learn about their Benedictine way of living that includes prayers, work, radical hospitality, rich community, accountability, and more. While many think of monks and nuns as being something restricted to the Roman Catholic Church, the Episcopal Church has a long history of monastic life that continues to influence our churches to this day.

For the first session on March 3, we will host the Prioress of the Community of St. Mary, Sister Madeleine Mary, who will travel from Sewanee to be with us. Sister Madeleine Mary has been living in religious life for over 50 years having entered the cloister after teaching middle school in New York and spending time advocating for environmental justice issues.

In the sessions following on March 10, March 17, March 24, March 31, and April 7, we will meet in person at the Parish Hall to gather for a virtual visit with other Sisters from the Order, including Sister Hannah Winkler, who made her life profession in January 2021, and Sister Elizabeth Grace, who will share on the Rule of St. Benedict’s emphasis on humility. You may also participate on Zoom for any of the sessions, but we will hope you will join us in person if you can. Click here to sign up to be emailed a Zoom link.

All are also invited to join us for Evening Prayer in the Atrium Chapel of the Parish Hall at 6:00pm on each Thursday in Lent (March 3 – April 7). Dinner follows at 6:30pm in the Parish Hall. RSVP and pay for dinner by clicking one of the boxes below by Tuesday of each week so food is not wasted. Masks will be required except when eating.

Sister Madeleine Mary will also be preaching at St. John in the Wilderness on Sunday, March 6, at the 8:45 and 11:00 services. Please join us as we journey through Lent together.

For more information:
https://www.communityofstmarysouth.org/about
https://www.facebook.com/communityofstmarysouth/

The Episcopal Church of St. John in the Wilderness welcomes children of all ages to join the Young Families group hosting the annual Easter Egg Hunt at 10am on
Easter Sunday, April 17.
Participants are encouraged to join the fun in the Rector’s Garden and Parish Hall Lawn next to the Parish Hall across Rutledge Drive from the church. Parking is
available.

Church of St. John in the Wilderness celebrates its patron saint with the Feast of St. John
the Baptist. In 2021, the historic church extended the festivities outside the parish to the
broader community and will do so again this year.

All are welcome to join the festivities at the family-friendly celebration featuring food,
fellowship and live music. “Since our earliest days in the 1800s, we have gathered with
friends and neighbors to fellowship and find renewal with God and one another,” Rector
Josh Stephens said. “The Feast of St. John is a time for our broader community to gather
and to reconnect.”
Local bluegrass band Pretty Little Goat will set the mood beginning at 6 p.m. and yard
games will be offered for children. Barbecue and other family-favorite foods and
beverages will be available for purchase at Hubba Hubba. Seating at the picturesque
outdoor courtyard is limited, so guests are encouraged to bring portable chairs.
"St. John in the Wilderness as a parish has deep roots in Flat Rock and this corner of
Western North Carolina,” Stephens said. “We are incredibly grateful to live in a place with
such natural beauty and with so many wonderful friends, parishioners, and neighbors.
The rain date is set for Wednesday, June 29 at 5:00pm at Hubba Hubba.

Join us for another Parish Breakfast hosted by the Chefs of St. John, this one in celebration of the arrival of our new Curate, his family, and our visiting summer scholar. The Chefs will serve up bacon, sausage, eggs, grits, gravy, fruit salad, potatoes, biscuits, French toast and juice/coffee/tea. There is no cost for this breakfast, but donations are welcome and appreciated. Please sign up by Wednesday, June 29 to aid in planning.

Tours of St. John in the Wilderness are sponsored and led by a team of volunteer docents who seek to tell the story of our historic parish. Tours are held every third Saturday of the month at 11:00am and last about one hour.

There is no cost to tour the churchyard. Please wear comfortable shoes, and meet in the Carriage Entrance of the church. Space is limited to 30 people per tour

– FULLY SEATED SHOW

THE MOTH resumes their recurring monthly Asheville StorySLAM at The Grey Eagle on the third Thursday of each month through December at 7:30pm! This month’s theme is….

HAPPY: Prepare a five-minute story about smiles and sunshine. Think unbridled joy—landing the dream job, winning the talent show, or bowling a perfect game. The quest for your soul mate or for the perfect cup of coffee. The Midas touch. The good old days. Tales of finding happiness or letting it slip through your fingers.

Tours of St. John in the Wilderness are sponsored and led by a team of volunteer docents who seek to tell the story of our historic parish. Tours are held every third Saturday of the month at 11:00am and last about one hour.

There is no cost to tour the churchyard. Please wear comfortable shoes, and meet in the Carriage Entrance of the church. Space is limited to 30 people per tour

Presented as part of the Faith in Arts Institute, hosted by BMCM+AC, these conversations and interviews with a diverse group of artists, faith leaders, and scholars explore the role of arts in spiritual practice and religious life. “I dare suggest that the clearest examples of relationship are to be found in geometry…With geometry as the body reference for learning about relationship, we can best illustrate principles of mathematics and arithmetic. Given this understanding, one is equipped with the foundation for critical and clear thinking, and is best prepared to navigate with a healthy respect for self in relation to other in the domain of community.” Vandorn Hinnant is a visual artist, poet and educator based in Durham, North Carolina. He grew up in Greensboro, North Carolina and received a Bachelor’s of Art degree from North Carolina A&T University. After college, he moved to New York City and worked for the printmaker Josef Werner. Known for his visual exploration of metaphysical ideas, Hinnant utilizes Sacred Geometry (studied formally under his mentor, inventor and physicist Robert L. Powell, Sr.), fractal mathematics, the golden ratio, and the logarithmic spiral to create his dynamic two and three-dimensional artworks. Referencing Buckminster Fuller, Leonardo da Vinci, Frank Lloyd Wright, and M.C. Escher as inspirations because of their use of geometry and math in making their artworks, Hinnant catalyzes dialogue through and around his work about the golden proportion, human relationships, and metaphysical energy. His work has been exhibited widely, including at the Fayetteville Museum of Art, Antioch College, and Saugerties Performing Arts Factory, and belongs to numerous private and corporate collections.

Spirit Fest Turns 30! Online ticket sales coming soon.

Spirit Fest 2022 returns to The Bon Secours Wellness Arena on Sunday September 4, 2022!  This year is a celebration of three decades of presenting gospel music in the Upstate of SC.

We celebrate “Shining 30 Years of Hope, Love, and Light to our Families, Faith, and Communities.”

Performing at Spirit Fest this year is Tye Tribbett, Tamela Mann, Bishop William Murphy, Tim Rogers, Roy and Revelation, Kelontae Gavin, and the Gospel Legends! More information to come on other Spirit Fest activities and artists to the 30^th celebration!

Tickets go on sale Thursday May 5, 2022 at the GSP International Airport Box Office at the Arena and Ticketmaster.com. Early bird tickets will be available through June 17.

Tours of St. John in the Wilderness are sponsored and led by a team of volunteer docents who seek to tell the story of our historic parish. Tours are held every third Saturday of the month at 11:00am and last about one hour.

There is no cost to tour the churchyard. Please wear comfortable shoes, and meet in the Carriage Entrance of the church. Space is limited to 30 people per tour

Tours of St. John in the Wilderness are sponsored and led by a team of volunteer docents who seek to tell the story of our historic parish. Tours are held every third Saturday of the month at 11:00am and last about one hour.

There is no cost to tour the churchyard. Please wear comfortable shoes, and meet in the Carriage Entrance of the church. Space is limited to 30 people per tour

David Jeremiah Announces New Teaching Series and Fall Tour Coming This October to South Carolina.

As Turning Point embarks on its fortieth year of ministry, Dr. David Jeremiah shares how we can find hope in God’s Word, even as our world seems to be spinning out of control.

Turning Point for God is pleased to announce the schedule for David Jeremiah’s 2022 Fall Tour. The website for An Evening with David Jeremiah: HIS VOICE! OUR VOICE! has launched, and tickets are now available at DavidJeremiah.org/TOUR.
There is One Voice we ought to trust more than other voices, One Voice we need to hear—the voice of Jesus Christ. We are living in a time when Bible prophecy is intersecting with our world as never before, and there is an urgency to communicate the message of hope and peace that only Jesus Christ can offer!

Each event will include a night of dynamic worship led by The Voice contestant Michael Sanchez, life-changing teaching by renowned Bible teacher and New York Times bestselling author, Dr. David Jeremiah, from his new series, The World of the End, and the opportunity to secure exclusive resources and merchandise.
As we begin the tour in Raleigh, North Carolina, on October 6, the Grammy-award-winning Gaither Vocal Band will be joining us. Additional guest artists for other locations will be announced at a later date.

This special event is a great opportunity to share an uplifting message from God’s Word with those in your community and around the world.

Turning Point is also grateful for the partnership and support of local radio stations in and around Greenville, South Carolina, and looks forward to a successful tour season.

Admission is free, but tickets are required. Visit davidjeremiah.org for tickets.

*Please note no ticket sales are available at the GSP International Box Office or via Ticketmaster. Tickets are available via the event website only.

Join us for our monthly poetry event featuring three poets and coordinated by Mildred Barya. This month, we welcome Sarah Cooper, Barbara Costas-Biggs, and AE Hines. This is a hybrid event, meaning there is an option to attend virtually and a limited amount of seats available to attend the event in-store. The event is free but registration is required for both in-person and virtual attendance.

Please click here to register for the VIRTUAL event. The link required to attend will be emailed to registrants prior to the event.

Please click here to register for the IN-PERSON event.

This event includes a book signing. If you are not attending in person but would like a signed book you may request one using the comments field when you order online or by call the store at 828-254-6734 during store hours.

If you decide to attend and purchase the authors’ books, we ask that you purchase from Malaprop’s. When you do this you make it possible for us to continue hosting author events and you keep more dollars in our community. You may also support our work by purchasing a gift card or making a donation of any amount below. Thank you! Feel free to email [email protected] with questions. We look forward to seeing you, whether in-person or online!

Sarah Cooper is the author of two poetry collections: Permanent Marker (Paper Nautilus, 2020) and most recently, 89% (Clemson University Press 2022).  Her poems also appear in Lunch, Sinister Wisdom, Iron Horse and other anthologies and literary journals.  Currently, Sarah is a PhD candidate in Rhetorics, Communication and Informational Design at Clemson University. Her dissertation project explores how spatial practices intersect with lesbian identity. She is a professor of Gender, Sexuality & Women’s Studies at Clemson University where she received the Holman Award for teaching, was a 2021 LGBTQ+ Faculty Excellence Award winner, a 2022 Gentry Award winner for teaching excellence and the 2022 Tee A. Corrine Fellow at the University of Oregon. For more, visit https://www.sarahcooperpoet.com/poetry

Sometimes, a poem can show us a map of the human heart and all its pumping valves, all the blood it welcomes and lets go. In 89%, Sarah Cooper gives us that map from all angles-the love and loss of a mother, the loss and love of self, the way romantic love can scare us into silence. In this stunning debut collection, Cooper splays open these moments of tenderness with precision and skill. This book is both the carving knife and the soothing balm. These poems have an unflinching eye-they see all the way through us and then swaddle us in whole, critical heartbeat of truth. 89% won the poetry prize for the Clemson-Converse Literature Series.

—

Barbara Costas-Biggs is a poet and librarian from Southern Ohio. Her work has appeared in Appalachian Review, Northern Appalachian Review, The Pikeville Review, 8Poems, and elsewhere. Her chapbook, The Other Shore, was a finalist for the Washburn Prize from Harbor Review. She holds an MFA from Queens University of Charlotte and an MLIS from Kent State University. For more, visit http://stilljournal.net/interview-barbara-costas-biggs.php

“Things can be idyllic and then ugly,” Barbara Costas-Biggs writes. “A basket of pears in ochre, then piss the same color.” In Broken On the Wheel, the familiar is made strange, as it is in dreams. The speaker of these poems is a mother, a griever, a “hope-against-hoper,” so it’s no wonder this collection is packed with epiphanies and memories and crapshoots—“That in-between stuff./ What we, I hope, are mostly made of.” Broken On the Wheel is a perceptive, masterful debut.

—

AE Hines’s debut collection, Any Dumb Animal, received Honorable Mention in the North Carolina Poetry Society’s 2022 Brockman-Campbell Book contest, and was also a daVinci Eye finalist for the Eric Hoffer Book award. His work has appeared in Alaska Quarterly Review, The Southern Review, Rhino, American Poetry Review, Poet Lore, The Greensboro Review, Ninth Letter, The Missouri Review, Tar River Poetry and elsewhere. Born and raised in rural North Carolina, AE resides in Charlotte and Medellín, Colombia. For more, visit https://www.aehines.net

Any Dumb Animal (Main Street Rag, 2021), AE Hines’s poetry collection, presents a memoir-in-verse as told by a gay man raised in the rural South who comes of age during the AIDS crisis. Flashing back and forth in time, a cast of recurring characters and circumstances are woven into a rich tale of survival and redemption, exploring one man’s life as a queer son, father, and husband, over a span of more than thirty years.

Inspired by nature and following the self-published released of How to Heal the Planet from Wherever You Are, Cortina Jenelle introduces Oshanna Church of Spiritual Activism, with Oshanna debuting as a dynamic experience rooted in ceremony and inviting nature as a co-facilitator through theater, art and spoken word. After each production, all ticket proceeds are donated to a mission partner who is doing work in service to Mother Earth while also furthering truth, healing and reconciliation across race, gender and class.

Black Starseed: Immaculate Conception is the second installment of the Black Starseed series, which goes back in time as a prelude to Black Starseed: Revolutionary Reimagination (2020) – a debut partnership between adé PROJECT and PechaKucha Asheville co-creating a storytelling experience in voice of Black women at the intersection of creativity x spirituality. In this prelude, the life story of Cortina Jenelle becomes a moving memoir and an embodiment of a shared story from the matriarchs of Black, indigenous descent in a world where femininity, Blackness, sovereignty and indigeneity were not just criminal, but a threat to society. Black Starseed: Immaculate Conception may appear to just tell the story of one, yet is actually one version of the same story that constantly loops through time. Do you know how purposeful, brilliant and divine you already are, Starseed? This is heart song of the black sheep generation + millennials, and those born torn between ancestral remembrance and playing the game of life to win. Join us in a gathering of art, theater, ceremony (with a bonus book signing post-show) and storytelling and leave reminded of how to heal the planet from wherever you are.

Ticket proceeds benefit cleanup of the French Broad River with our mission partner for this show, Asheville Greenworks.

We are grateful to offer a benefit event again this December, the first since 2019.

This year’s performance will feature Chautauqua performer Carol Kessler, as Emily Dickinson, and the Asheville Flute Choir lending their talents to benefit Our Voice.

In the spirit of inclusivity and equity, PAN HARMONIA offers donation-based, pay-as-you-can community concerts. All are welcome.

Our VOICE serves all individuals in Buncombe County affected by sexual assault and abuse, through counseling, advocacy and education. https://www.ourvoicenc.org/

Advanced reservations are encouraged, as seating is limited. Those planning to attend are expected to be fully vaccinated for the safety of our community.
Email [email protected] or call the office at (828) 254-7123, if you have questions.
panharmonia.org

Punch Bucket Lit, West Asheville’s reading series at Cellarest Beer Project is back for more live readings in our taproom featuring authors Alysia Li Ying Sawchyn and Emily Paige Wilson. While the authors vary month-to-month you can always count on inspiring poetry, moving essays and heartfelt original literary works read aloud in the contemplative company of other lit nerds and creative types alike. We’ll booze, we’ll listen, we’ll feel feelings and we’ll see the world through a different lens for an evening.

– FULLY SEATED SHOW

THE MOTH resumes their recurring monthly Asheville StorySLAM at The Grey Eagle on the third Thursday of each month through December at 7:30pm! This month’s theme is….

ANNIVERSARY: Prepare a five-minute story about milestones. Enduring love or loss. The fondness of nostalgia and the lessons of growth. Seconds, minutes, hours, or when time stood still. Paper or silver…extra points if you make it to platinum. Rejoice or reflect on the past while plotting the course ahead. Cheers to many more years!

Poetry Open Mic Hendo is the all-new sister event of Poetry Open Mic Asheville, the longest-running open mic in Western North Carolina, this weekly event welcomes all people and all forms of creative expression at Hendersonville’s only Kava lounge.