As the end-of-year holidays approach, area groups produce a long list of related events, from shopping days and tree lightings to last weekend’s North Mecklenburg Christmas Parade and town festivals. But we also gather in worship and community. Inclusion Community in Cornelius is planning a pre-Christmas walk of reflection on Dec. 23. Meanwhile, in the coming days, look for Christmas Vespers at Davidson College, a Community Hanukkah Celebration in downtown Mooresville, and the annual children’s Christmas Play at Gethsemane Baptist Church. Read the full story

The 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks is prompting many to reflect on the events and meaning of the incident. A variety of events in the area this weekend will offer several chances to do that – from a services at Mt. Zion United Methodist and a Walk for Peace in Cornelius to a Time of Remembrance and bell-ringing Sunday at noon on the Davidson Village Green. Davidson Community Players’ is marking the anniversary with a production of the post-9/11 play “The Guys.” Meanwhile, our public radio partner WFAE-FM will have special coverage on Sunday, and a program on WDAV-FM Sunday will remember the anniversary with music. Here’s a list: Read the full story

To uphold its mission of maintaining “open hearts, open minds and open doors,” the Inclusion Community, a non-traditional United Methodist congregation, is offering meeting space to another community group: PFLAG, or Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.

Inclusion Community leader Rev. Susan Heafner-Heun, who also is a senior associate pastor at Davidson United Methodist Church, has been working with Charlotte PFLAG Chapter President Fred Thomas to organize Lake Norman-area PFLAG meetings at the Inclusion Community House in Cornelius starting next month. Read the full story

Inclusion Community Pastors Dutch Handlang and Susan Heafner-Heun.

By CHRISTINA RITCHIE ROGERS
CorneliusNews.net

Inclusion Community, a non-traditional United Methodist congregation, has outgrown its meeting space at Our Town Cinemas in Davidson and will meet in the Kadi Fit studio at Oak Street Mill in Cornelius beginning this Sunday.

“For our community, that space is just perfect,” Inclusion Pastor Susan Heafner-Heun said. “It screams who we are and what we’re about,” she said. Read the full story