Reconciler Update

This Sunday is the 1st Sunday in Advent. Advent is a season of preparation for Christmas like Lent is a season of preparation for Easter. Advent means coming. We wait for the coming of Christ, we hear words from the prophets that speak of the coming of the messiah, and of John the Baptist preparing the way. We also hear of the final coming of Christ and the Kingdom of God. Advent then is a time of waiting on God's coming into our midst and remembering that God promised to come to humanity as God with us, Emmanuel.
Our hope is that in Advent even as December can be a busy and stressful time that we will be able to as individuals and a community sit and wait on God, to reflect on what God's coming has meant and can mean for us and the world. Take time in this season to wait on God, so we can find anew the awe that God came to us as one of us entering the world as each of us has as a baby. That we may gain a renewed and deepened understanding of the incarnation and what it tells us of God's character and love.

Announcements:
This Sunday First Sunday of the Season of Advent, and is Reconciler's Third Anniversary. It was first Advent 2004 when we had our first official worship service at Chase Cafe in Roger's Park.

We still need people who will light the Advent candles on the second and Third Sundays of Advent.

Also on Sunday December 2 Eileen Crowley Assistant Professor at Catholic Theological Union the Artist in Residence this year at Immanuel will join us for worship and then after the service present to us her ideas of media art in worship and ways we can be involved in the creation of this media art for Easter Vigil.

We are working towards having child care during our worship services. Part of that process is having a Workshop on "Keeping God's People Safe." This Wednesday December 5th from 7:00 - 9:30 pm, Randall Warren, Pastoral Care officer in the Diocese of Chicago, will show us a DVD and lead us in conversation about how Reconciler can help protect children in our midst from sexual abuse. This is eye-opening and useful information for anyone, regardless of whether or not you have children/work with children. Also it is important that members of the council be present.

Sunday December 9th there is a brief congregational meeting to present and approve the slate of officers for our church council that will be up for election at our annual meeting at the end of January.

4th advent December 23 we will be having a joint worship service with Immanuel and St Elias, at St Elias' worship time of 1:30 PM. We will not worship at our normal time of 5 PM. We are invited to come to a brunch at 11:30 put on by Immanuel and a Christmas dinner organized by St Elias after the service. If you would be interested in helping out the preparation and organization of either meals let us know and we will get your name to the people in charge of organizing the meals.
In Christ,
Larry

Ennui Cafe

Larry will not be at Ennui Cafe for his "office hours" this evening, November 29th 2007.

Sermon Proper 28 (33) Year C 2007
Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler
November 8, 2007

Rev. Tripp Hudgins, preacher

Isaiah 65:17-25
Luke 21:5-19

The Call Remains the Same

You will hear rumors.
You will hear rumors of things coming to an end.
They are not lies. Wars and rumors of wars...
The ending you see before you is real. Make no mistake.
But it might not be what you think it is.
It might not be the ending you fear.

What we are encountering tonight is the fulfillment of God's blessing. It's that kind of ending.

Endings and Blessings...Sometimes the fulfillment of a blessing such as an ending begs our endurance. A blessing may be difficult to receive.

Once, early in our tenure here at Immanuel, I stood in the pulpit and preached as if the place were full. We had been worshiping in the front part of the chapel. We would leave the tables for Bible Study set up thinking that there was no point to taking them down. There were only three of four of us worshiping together...seven or so if all clergy and the congregation were present. It was cozy and comforting to be gathered together up front.

But then it occurred to us that this was not hopeful....cozy and comforting, but not hopeful. Somehow we were not evoking hope in the way we used the space. We needed to open our minds, our imaginations and hearts. It wasn't easy. We had to open up the space. And that's a recipe for vulnerability. Vulnerability can be frightening.

Well, that's what I remember. All history is revisionist after all, right? Ask someone else who was here then for their version of the story. It's a good idea.

I remember that I stood in the pulpit and gave voice to the thoughts of the Pastoral Team and shared a vision of the space filled, of children playing in the back of the space, of the preacher needing to stand in the pulpit because it was the best way to be seen and heard by everyone. It was a lovely vision to share...a lovely vision to imagine.

Within weeks, it seems to me, people came. We were hopeful. We made room for people who we did not know would even come...people we had not met. And it was a wise thing to do. It was a hopeful thing to do. God works through our hopefulness. It's not magic. It's not easy. It takes endurance...tremendous endurance. But I learned something important during that time in our history.

Our own acts of hopefulness are preparation for God's acts of Grace.

Now, look at us. There are nights when we fill this space. We are constantly seeking ways to be open to visitors, to seek new people, to share God's Gospel. We want to provide a safe place to be challenged and upheld by it. We proclaim hope. We proclaim God's enduring presence.

Tonight, however, we also mark a change. Maybe it's more significant than I imagine.
Maybe it's less. Only time will tell.

I'm leaving. It is the hardest thing I've had to do in quite some time. And it does break my heart. But I want you to know...as difficult as this is, as saddened as I am...my leaving is an act of hope, an act of trust in God, and a way perhaps to make room for someone we have not yet met.

I want you all to know that I am as hopeful tonight about the future of Reconciler as I was the night we set up all the chairs for the very first time for people who had not yet arrived...for many of you. We opened up the space and we opened up our hearts. This is Christian hope. This is a way to offer the Kingdom of God.

Offering the Kingdom of God is tricky business. Isaiah struggles with it. Jesus, too, wrestles with those around him. It is as if the Kingdom were somehow ephemeral or slippery. Has there ever been so powerful a thing as the Kingdom of Heaven? And yet...and yet...It is hard to see, hard to imagine, and hard to share. But share it we must.

We have a vocation here at Reconciler, a call. The call upon Reconciler is the same tonight as it was that night almost two years ago.

We are called to have enduring hope. You shall proclaim to all:

Surely God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid,
for the LORD GOD is my strength and my might;
he has become my salvation.
With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
And you will say in that day: Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name;
make known his deeds among the nations; proclaim that his name is exalted.
Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously;
let this be known in all the earth.
Shout aloud and sing for joy...for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

Yes, things are different now. I am always shocked at how mercurial a church like this can be. One day it's a project. The next day it's a congregation. One day there are four of us. The next day there are 25 of us and some of them are from the Salvation Army. Astounding! God bless the Salvation Army and their children.

The community will shift and grow. No church is static. Every church is organic. It shifts and moves, grows and shrinks. But the vision, the basic call upon us does not change.

The call remains.

Proclaim the Kingdom of God, the Peaceable Kingdom. It is always new...it is always becoming. It is never static. It is always organic, free and uncontrollable. Show it to people in how you live together...how you welcome the stranger and how you send out disciples.

Proclaim Christ...crucified, died and resurrected. Proclaim him when you encounter him in the world. Proclaim him in the persecuted and abandoned. Love Christ. Clothe, feed and heal.

Proclaim the end that Isaiah and Jesus proclaim in all that you do.
Proclaim God's loving judgment to all the world.
Praise God with the Psalmist.
Hold one another accountable with Paul.

Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.

It takes time. You'll have to pace yourself. It's a marathon and not a sprint....Life in Christ is an endurance event. It will seldom be easy. But it will bring blessing upon blessing into your own lives and into the lives of others. You will be a blessing to those whom you have not yet met, to numbers you have not yet imagined.

You have blessed my life. My time with you has been a blessing. It now comes to an end...a blessing fulfilled that will, I pray, continue to bear fruit for all of us.

And for this I thank you. I praise God for you.

May God's peace and all good things be yours.

Amen.

Reconciler Update

This Sunday, November 18th, we say goodbye to Tripp. Tripp will be missed. I have worked closely with Tripp for three and a half years, and part of me has trouble imagining what it will be like at Reconciler without him. Yet, one of the joys in our starting and pastoring this congregation has been to watch Reconciler act like a congregation and do things Tripp and I as pastors did not expect or anticipate. From very early on we attempted to foster and rejoiced in the ways Reconciler was separate from us as the founding pastors allowing ourselves to discover the congregations interpretation of the vision of Reconciler.

I mention this now to remind us that while God gave Tripp and David Gortner the vision of an ecumenical congregation, who we are now is not simply that vision. It has grown beyond any of those of us who thought through in prayer what the vision of this church start should be. We may miss Tripp and even find it difficult to know what it will be like without him but in a significant way much of the shape of Reconciler has little to do with just Tripp. All of us have been brought together by God. The desire of us pastors as we started this congregation was that it grow into a healthy viable congregation and as such that it could exist without one or both of us. Now that day came sooner for Tripp than either of us had anticipated, but I have seen this congregation grow in astounding ways. Our question as we began Reconciler was if and how God was in this, because we knew that if this congregation and its vision wasn't guided by the Spirit that it would have no chance of succeeding. And so in the end the pastor that really counts and will always count for us, and after all is the pastor of the universal church, still remains Jesus Christ our God and Shepherd. God, Father Son and Holy Spirit, has lead us this far, continues to guide us and remains our foundation, as we say goodbye to a friend, pastor, and founder.

Announcements:

Immanuel is seeking to include Reconciler more in its life as a church, two aspects of that are the altar guild and properties committee. Immanuel is inviting members of Reconciler to help the altar guild of Immanuel, and inviting anyone who might be handy to help the properties committee with maintenance of the church property. If you are interested in being apart of either of these let Laura or Larry know.

Sunday November 18th Tripp is preaching and we will have a farewell party for him after the service at the 'Nidge.

Bible Study: No meeting of the Bible study this week due to Thanksgiving. Our last session of our current series will Be Wednesday November 28th 7:30 PM at the 'Nidge.

Church Retreat: Materials for the retreat will be available on the back table in the chapel the next two Sundays, for you to look at before the retreat.

Church retreat is November 30 beginning at 7PM at the Cynacle Retreat center and all day Saturday December 1st.

The First Sunday of the Season of Advent is December 2nd, and is Reconciler's Third Anniversary. It was first Advent 2004 when we had our first official worship service.

Also on Sunday December 2 Eileen Crowley Assistant Professor at Catholic Theological Union the Artist in Residence this year at Immanuel will join us for worship and then after the service present to us her ideas of media art in worship and ways we can be involved in the creation of this media art for Easter Vigil.

4th advent December 23 we will be having a joint worship service with Immanuel and St Elias, at St Elias' worship time of 1:30 PM. We will not worship at our normal time of 5 PM. We are invited to come to a brunch at 11:30 put on by Immanuel and a Christmas dinner organized by St Elias after the service. If you would be interested in helping out the preparation and organization of either meals let us know and we will get your name to the people in charge of organizing the meals.
In Christ,
Larry

Reconciler Update

This past Sunday we had a wonderful joint service with Immanuel and St Elias for All Saints Sunday. We will have another joint service with Immanuel and St. Elias on the 4th Sunday of Advent. Our relationship with the two congregations is growing and we pastors of the three congregations meet every two months or so to plan these joint services and talk about ways in which our three congregations can join together beyond worshiping on certain feast days together. Some of those ideas are having on occasion shared Wednesday evening Bible study to shared projects and just coming together to get to know each other. If you have any questions about this talk to Laura or Larry. It is yet another way we can live out our ecumenical vision as a congregation.

Announcements:
Our worship time has been moved to 5:30 PM this Sunday due to Immanuel Lutheran's Choir Concert A Procession of Praise held at 4PM. All are invited to the concert.

Our Bible Study continues this week at 7:30 PM In the 'Nidge, with viewing and discussion of the second half of the video Living with Money. Our Bible Study will conclude the week following Thanksgiving November 28th with a wrap up discussion of both the video and book on Sabbath economics.

November 18th will be Tripp's last Sunday as the American Baptist Pastor at Reconciler. He will be preaching, and we will be having a party in honor of him and to say goodbye following our worship service. Please Talk to Laura and Larry this Sunday about what you can bring for the party.

Church retreat is November 30 beginning at 7PM at the Cynacle Retreat center and all day Saturday December 1st.

The First Sunday of the Season of Advent is December 2nd, and is Reconciler's Third Anniversary. It was first Advent 2004 when we had our first official worship service.

Also on Sunday December 2 Eileen Crowley Assistant Professor at Catholic Theological Union the Artist in Residence this year at Immanuel will join us for worship and then after the service present to us her ideas of media art in worship and ways we can be involved in the creation of this media art for Easter Vigil.

4th advent December 23 we will be having a joint worship service with Immanuel and St Elias, at St Elias' worship time of 1:30 PM. We will not worship at our normal time of 5 PM. We are invited to come to a brunch at 11:30 put on by Immanuel and a Christmas dinner organized by St Elias after the service. If you would be interested in helping out the preparation and organization of either meals let us know and we will get your name to the people in charge of organizing the meals.
In Christ,
Larry

This Sunday

This Sunday November 4th, we will be worshiping in joint service with Immanuel Lutheran Church and St Elias Christian Church, 10:30 AM in the sanctuary of Immanuel Lutheran Chruch.
We will not have a worship service at 5 PM.
Also, on November 11th we will be starting our service at 5:30 PM due to a concert at Immanuel in the late afternoon.
On November 18th we will return to our regular time of 5PM for our worship service.