As we approach the end of the season of Easter summer is upon us. We are hoping to remain active as a church over the summer even in the midst of our travels and vacations, holidays, and enjoying the beach. In the announcements you will find the various ways we will continue to meet together as a congregation that is not Wednesday evening Bible Study, which will resume in the fall. Some of these are events you could invite friends who are not part of our congregation to attend, while having a booth at two summer street festivals are events where Reconciler will be present to our communities.
In a sense this summer is a chance for us to be a worshiping community together while reaching out to those who wont necessarily find us or wish to come initially to our Sunday evening worship.
I would like to call this outreach as ministry of presence. It means allowing people to see us and see the church without needing to immediately be immersed in the worship life of the Church. Christian worship for those who are not vary familiar or comfortable with Christianity can be an awkward experience, and even if it isn’t people tend not to think of church as something to put on the list of fun things to do on a weekend. These ministries of presence I hope to be a way to both let people know Reconciler is here and open to them and offer ways to get to know us outside of our worship. So, I ask to keep this summer in your prayers, ask God to keep your eyes open to those God might be sending to us, and if there might be one or more of the events we have planned that you might invite someone who has shown interest in what you do Sunday nights. Pray that God will guide us to be open and ready to receive those God will send our way.
Announcements:
The Pulse a gathering of Christian in the Arts is Monday May 21st 7-10 PM at the Chopin theater Division and Ashland and Milwaukee, Wicker Park.
Worship Committee would like to invite all interested Reconcilers to come to a worship committee meeting 7:30 PM Wednesday May 23 at Kaffein in Evanston -- to discuss such hot-button liturgical items as: Which version of the Lord's prayer we want to use? What kind of processional cross do we want to purchase? And....what about inclusive language? Let us know if you have other questions or ideas.
Pentecost (also known as Whitsunday) is coming up on May 27th. On that day, we celebrate the birthday of the church, when the Holy Spirit descended on Christ's disciples. Look for a special liturgy that Sunday evening at Reconciler and a possible surprise or two.
Jubilee USA's Annual 2007 Grassroots Conference... Come to Jubilee USA's annual 2007 grassroots conference June 15-17 to find out more about about Sabbath Economics, the international debt crisis, economic justice, and globalization. $35 early bird registration includes Saturday and Sunday lunch and breakfast. See Jeremy for more details.
Summer events to put on your callender:
Potluck Supper and Reading of the book of James at Charity and Jeremy’s house 7 PM Friday June 29th. This is sponsored by the Social Action Committee.
Nidge North Potlucks and Movie nights TBA
Summer Neighborhood Festivals:
Reconciler has decided to have a booth at two summer festivals this year. We will need members of reconciler to commit to help staff these booths at intervals over the weekends of the festivals. The festivals are:
Celebrate Clark Street July 14 & 15
And the Glenwood Arts Festival August 25 and 26th.
Our focus at the Glenwood Arts Festival will be Larry’s iconography and any of our Artists in the congregation who might want to display their art.
