I hope this season of Ordinary Time after the Epiphany is one in which the light of Christ is shining into your life, providing you with light to see the way, and even exposing things in your life that have been hidden.
Lent is rapidly approaching. Ash Wednesday is February 17th. Lent is the time that church prepares to recieve again the mystery of salvation. the preparation for the church's greatest feast Easter, where we remember that Christ for our sake passed over from death to life.- That Christ "..beat down death by death." As the Orthodox liturgy of Easter proclaims.
In preparation to receive again this mystery the church fasts, and engages in other disciplines, that are contemplative and encourage self-reflection. In Lent the church also identifies with the suffering of Christ, his temptation and overcoming of temptation and sin in the dessert. So Lent is a time to allow God to come and meet us at the point of our sin. God comes not to condemn us but to further liberate us from those things in our lives that continue to bind us, that we still hold on to even though they are destructive and bring death into our lives, our work, our relationships. In the day to day bustle of life these things can at times seem to be small things, and yet they are contradictions within ourselves as followers of Christ. Lent then is a time of grace where we can return to God, in those very places where we have run or hid ourselves from God. It is a time of grace to discover through the illumination of the Spirit areas of our life still bound to Sin and Death, which we have possibly never noticed before.
Allow God this Lent through Lenten disciplines of fasting and contemplation, through pastoral conversation and confession, to prepare you for receiving again the great mystery of our Faith. In this season after the Epiphany we have celebrated Christ as the light that shines in darkness. Lent encourages us to let that light shine into those areas of our life where we still cling to darkness. May the Life, Suffering, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ sustain us and embolden us as we face again our deep and persistent need for God's liberating love.
In Christ,
Larry Kamphausen
Pastor
Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler
For announcements follow this link:
'Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler: Update'
Showing posts with label Reconciler Update. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reconciler Update. Show all posts
Friday, February 5
Monday, December 14
Advent Reflection: The Gift of God's Self
We are in the third week of Advent and winter weather has come to Chicago. Snow and cold don't slow us down, things keep going and there is the frantic preparations and gift buying for Christmas celebrations. This season perhaps demonstrates for us most starkly the ways in which we are a post-Christian culture. A Christian celebration that also borrowed from pre-Christian European and Mediterranean celebrations around the Winter Solstice, has morphed into at its best a hopeful celebration of family love and hope, attached to gift giving.
As Christians, we can at times find it difficult to connect with the original meanings of our Christian traditions when they are now put to different purposes and meanings. We can bemoan and attempt to challenge these changes or can accept them as fact and simply note the connections and disjunctions between the Christian celebration of Christmas and their cultural American appropriations and adaptations. Keeping the season of Advent is a way to do this. At the time when our culture is in the "holiday" season we are asked by the church year to slow down wait anticipate the coming holiday season of Christmas and the Epiphany. Another way to do this is to understand the meaning of gift giving associated with Christmas. As a Christian tradition gift giving is to be an expression of gratitude over what God gave us through the Son becoming human in Jesus of Nazareth. The gift of God's self was given to us and the whole cosmos. This of course challenges the way in which gifts are exchanged especially if they are only given to those we know and like; God's giving of God's self to that which was and is estranged from God asks us to be more expansive in our giving. If gift giving is an expression of gratitude and imitation at a time that we celebrate God's gift, our giving of gifts perhaps needs to move beyond familial and cultural expectations of who is a recipient of this act. But also we are reminded that while this particular ritual of gift giving marks a particular feast of the church year the posture of self donation is one, as those Baptized into Christ that is to exemplify our own daily life. As such it is something we grow into ever more as we are continually filled with Spirit and grow in Grace and Truth. The ritual of gift giving to family and friends is then a small gesture and a token sign of the divine posture of self donation that we are called to emulate in our daily lives as members of the body of Christ.
In Christ
Pastor Larry
Church of Jesus Christ Reconciler
As Christians, we can at times find it difficult to connect with the original meanings of our Christian traditions when they are now put to different purposes and meanings. We can bemoan and attempt to challenge these changes or can accept them as fact and simply note the connections and disjunctions between the Christian celebration of Christmas and their cultural American appropriations and adaptations. Keeping the season of Advent is a way to do this. At the time when our culture is in the "holiday" season we are asked by the church year to slow down wait anticipate the coming holiday season of Christmas and the Epiphany. Another way to do this is to understand the meaning of gift giving associated with Christmas. As a Christian tradition gift giving is to be an expression of gratitude over what God gave us through the Son becoming human in Jesus of Nazareth. The gift of God's self was given to us and the whole cosmos. This of course challenges the way in which gifts are exchanged especially if they are only given to those we know and like; God's giving of God's self to that which was and is estranged from God asks us to be more expansive in our giving. If gift giving is an expression of gratitude and imitation at a time that we celebrate God's gift, our giving of gifts perhaps needs to move beyond familial and cultural expectations of who is a recipient of this act. But also we are reminded that while this particular ritual of gift giving marks a particular feast of the church year the posture of self donation is one, as those Baptized into Christ that is to exemplify our own daily life. As such it is something we grow into ever more as we are continually filled with Spirit and grow in Grace and Truth. The ritual of gift giving to family and friends is then a small gesture and a token sign of the divine posture of self donation that we are called to emulate in our daily lives as members of the body of Christ.
In Christ
Pastor Larry
Church of Jesus Christ Reconciler
Wednesday, May 20
Reconciler Update
We are coming to the end of the Season of Easter, summer is nearly upon us, and a week from this Sunday we will celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit. Pentecost, the birthday of the church, the feast that reminds us that the Spirit of God came and filled the church and continues to fill us and empowers us as members of Christ's body. As such Pentecost seems to be a fitting place to begin to see how things have gone and see where the Spirit may be leading us, and is doing in our midst. When Tripp Hudgins and David Gortner gathered people including myself to see if God was in the idea of an ecumenical church start one of the questions was is the Spirit of God in this and how is the Spirit moving. We set out to start Reconciler because the consensus of all those gathered was that the vision was of the Spirit. One of the areas of learning for us early on was being attentive to the ways in which the Spirit moved with and in and around circumstances. We are at another stage where discernment of this is necessary.
Here is some of my reflections on direction the Spirit may be moving us in light of our circumstances. I still feel that some form of team ministry with pastors of other denominations is still part of what God is about at Reconciler. Especially since it seems that denominational structures and identities are currently not flexible enough, perhaps for good reason, to accommodate full affiliation in all three denominations at once. So, any connection to structures outside ourselves may continue to need to happen through the clergy. However, it may also mean re-conceiving how such a team works and may not mean having all three pastors equally involved in the day to day pastoring of the church. Also, we have kind of kept the Community of the Holy Trinity as a somewhat silent partner in the work of Reconciler. However, Holy Trinity is what has allowed Kate and I to continue to be part of Reconciler, and the community has provided space for meetings and potlucks and worship space. Currently, Holy Trinity and Reconciler pray in the same space. as we move forward it seems that it is time to in the least describe to ourselves and others what the relationship between community and congregation exist. In part it seems that the community provides the support and continuity that at least right now the congregation on its own could not provide. I am considering presenting to my denomination that it seek to acknowledge my work as Prior of the Community of the Holy Trinity that includes being pastor of Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler. A closer and more explicit relationship has advantages for Reconciler as the community may take more ownership of what is happening at Reconciler and we at Reconciler can also take some ownership of what is happening with the community. These are some of my current thoughts on how God may be leading, but like when we began and and each juncture in our short life as a congregation discerning the movement of the Spirit is prayerfully considering and planning together and seeing how these things play out as we seek to faithfully follow Christ.
Here is some of my reflections on direction the Spirit may be moving us in light of our circumstances. I still feel that some form of team ministry with pastors of other denominations is still part of what God is about at Reconciler. Especially since it seems that denominational structures and identities are currently not flexible enough, perhaps for good reason, to accommodate full affiliation in all three denominations at once. So, any connection to structures outside ourselves may continue to need to happen through the clergy. However, it may also mean re-conceiving how such a team works and may not mean having all three pastors equally involved in the day to day pastoring of the church. Also, we have kind of kept the Community of the Holy Trinity as a somewhat silent partner in the work of Reconciler. However, Holy Trinity is what has allowed Kate and I to continue to be part of Reconciler, and the community has provided space for meetings and potlucks and worship space. Currently, Holy Trinity and Reconciler pray in the same space. as we move forward it seems that it is time to in the least describe to ourselves and others what the relationship between community and congregation exist. In part it seems that the community provides the support and continuity that at least right now the congregation on its own could not provide. I am considering presenting to my denomination that it seek to acknowledge my work as Prior of the Community of the Holy Trinity that includes being pastor of Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler. A closer and more explicit relationship has advantages for Reconciler as the community may take more ownership of what is happening at Reconciler and we at Reconciler can also take some ownership of what is happening with the community. These are some of my current thoughts on how God may be leading, but like when we began and and each juncture in our short life as a congregation discerning the movement of the Spirit is prayerfully considering and planning together and seeing how these things play out as we seek to faithfully follow Christ.
Tuesday, May 5
Reconciler Update
We continue to be in a time of transition and change that we began last year when we began to question the necessity of the committee structure as a means to be church together. This has lead to a streamlining of our council and the creation of more fluid forms of being together and working together as a church community. As we have made these changes and have found other challenges to our original vision conversation with the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago and the Central Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church has picked up again. We find ourselves in a good place to continue the conversation of continued relationship with the three denominations even as we are without an Episcopal Priest and have put on hold our search for an American Baptist pastor.
A week ago today I met with the Rev. Cannon Scott Hayashi, Canon to the Ordinary of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago (A Canon is a person who may be lay or ordained who serves on a Bishop’s staff or a cathedral. The Canon to the Ordinary is a person whose ministry is directly answerable to the bishop and who can function as a sort of chief of staff). We had a lively and helpful discussion about Reconciler and the possibilities of a continuing relationship with the Diocese. In the coming months as we reflect together on who we are as a congregation and how we wish to continue to be an ecumenical congregation Rev. Canon Hayashi's thoughts and reflections will be helpful. Though in our conversation it was made very clear that the way I and the founding pastors had conceived of affiliation with the three denominations a little over four years ago is not a possibility. So, as we live into some of the changes of the past year and decide how we want to move forward these changes I think our in line with what the three denominations we have been in conversation with about affiliation will be able to accept and may lead us to a more creative way of connection with Christians of various traditions outside our small congregation.
Also, Rev. Jolene Bergstorm Calrson is planning to visit us and Preside at Table on May 17th. Jolene has attempted to visit us several times in the past year and a half and has ended up have various scheduling conflicts that prevented the visit. The Central Conference remains supportive of Reconciler and we will have an opportunity to meet Jolene and let her get to know us a little better in a couple of weeks.
So in this season of Easter there is life but like when the disciples encountered the living Risen Jesus of Nazareth it is also life that at least I was not expecting. But then Resurrection life is like that, I suppose.
Announcements:
Rev. Jolene Bergstrom Carlson, Associate Superintendent of the Central Conference of the ECC will be visiting us and presiding at Table Sunday May 17th.
This Wednesday May 6th members of Reconciler are providing the meal for the Community meal with Immanuel Lutheran Church. Come and join us at 6 pm.
Following the meal The Community of the Holy Trinity* is leading a Vespers service using Taize music at 7 PM. Holy Trinity will lead the 7 pm Evening prayer service at Immanuel service the months of May and June.
You are invited by The Community of the Holy Trinity*to an Ascension Vespers with Holy Communion on Thursday, May 21st at 7 pm in the side Chapel of Immanuel Lutheran Church.
Our Next Council meeting will be a week from this Thursday, May 14th. 7:30 pm, all are encouraged to attend. Remember if you show up you are a member of council.
* The Community of the Holy Trinity is an intentional community that was founded by Rev. Larry Kamphausen and Kate Setzer Kamphausen in 2003 and another couple. Larry is both the Prior of the community as well as Pastor of Reconciler. While currently only Kate and Larry are both members of Reconciler and of Holy Trinity, over the past 4 years Reconciler and Holy Trinity have shared members from time to time. Holy Trinity has been a partner in ministry with Reconciler in various ways including providing space for our meetings and early on, before Reconciler and Holy Trinity moved to the Immanuel church campus, Reconciler used the community's chapel for its worship space. Currently both Holy Trinity and Reconciler use Immanuel's chapel for their worship space.
A week ago today I met with the Rev. Cannon Scott Hayashi, Canon to the Ordinary of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago (A Canon is a person who may be lay or ordained who serves on a Bishop’s staff or a cathedral. The Canon to the Ordinary is a person whose ministry is directly answerable to the bishop and who can function as a sort of chief of staff). We had a lively and helpful discussion about Reconciler and the possibilities of a continuing relationship with the Diocese. In the coming months as we reflect together on who we are as a congregation and how we wish to continue to be an ecumenical congregation Rev. Canon Hayashi's thoughts and reflections will be helpful. Though in our conversation it was made very clear that the way I and the founding pastors had conceived of affiliation with the three denominations a little over four years ago is not a possibility. So, as we live into some of the changes of the past year and decide how we want to move forward these changes I think our in line with what the three denominations we have been in conversation with about affiliation will be able to accept and may lead us to a more creative way of connection with Christians of various traditions outside our small congregation.
Also, Rev. Jolene Bergstorm Calrson is planning to visit us and Preside at Table on May 17th. Jolene has attempted to visit us several times in the past year and a half and has ended up have various scheduling conflicts that prevented the visit. The Central Conference remains supportive of Reconciler and we will have an opportunity to meet Jolene and let her get to know us a little better in a couple of weeks.
So in this season of Easter there is life but like when the disciples encountered the living Risen Jesus of Nazareth it is also life that at least I was not expecting. But then Resurrection life is like that, I suppose.
Announcements:
Rev. Jolene Bergstrom Carlson, Associate Superintendent of the Central Conference of the ECC will be visiting us and presiding at Table Sunday May 17th.
This Wednesday May 6th members of Reconciler are providing the meal for the Community meal with Immanuel Lutheran Church. Come and join us at 6 pm.
Following the meal The Community of the Holy Trinity* is leading a Vespers service using Taize music at 7 PM. Holy Trinity will lead the 7 pm Evening prayer service at Immanuel service the months of May and June.
You are invited by The Community of the Holy Trinity*to an Ascension Vespers with Holy Communion on Thursday, May 21st at 7 pm in the side Chapel of Immanuel Lutheran Church.
Our Next Council meeting will be a week from this Thursday, May 14th. 7:30 pm, all are encouraged to attend. Remember if you show up you are a member of council.
* The Community of the Holy Trinity is an intentional community that was founded by Rev. Larry Kamphausen and Kate Setzer Kamphausen in 2003 and another couple. Larry is both the Prior of the community as well as Pastor of Reconciler. While currently only Kate and Larry are both members of Reconciler and of Holy Trinity, over the past 4 years Reconciler and Holy Trinity have shared members from time to time. Holy Trinity has been a partner in ministry with Reconciler in various ways including providing space for our meetings and early on, before Reconciler and Holy Trinity moved to the Immanuel church campus, Reconciler used the community's chapel for its worship space. Currently both Holy Trinity and Reconciler use Immanuel's chapel for their worship space.
Wednesday, April 15
The Season of Easter
"Alleluia, Christ is Risen. The Lord is Risen indeed, Alleluia."
It is now the Season of Easter. In the Church year we have 40 days of fasting in Lent, as we prepare for and contemplate the way of the Cross, followed by 50 days of celebrating and contemplating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. We may not all be at this place of rejoicing and experiencing resurrection during this particular season of Easter, but we celebrate not based on our circumstances but based on what God has done. And we celebrate in hope that we will all know and can know now the power of Resurrection in our lives, even in the midst of grief and death and continued struggle. The reality of Easter, of Christ's Resurrection from the Dead, is our hope when things continue to seem dark. So, it is also important in this festive season of Easter to remember our passage through the three Days, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. We need to keep together the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. One is not more crucial than the other. We don't get at the truth by emphasizing one and ignoring the other. The death and Resurrection of Christ is one act of God, to transform the world and bring an end to sin death and all injustice and unrighteousness. The death and Resurrection of Jesus then aren't primarily about human experience, but about God's acts to return all things to God, that all may be found in the source of all life and who is life and light itself.
May this season of Easter be full of God's joy and peace.
It is now the Season of Easter. In the Church year we have 40 days of fasting in Lent, as we prepare for and contemplate the way of the Cross, followed by 50 days of celebrating and contemplating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. We may not all be at this place of rejoicing and experiencing resurrection during this particular season of Easter, but we celebrate not based on our circumstances but based on what God has done. And we celebrate in hope that we will all know and can know now the power of Resurrection in our lives, even in the midst of grief and death and continued struggle. The reality of Easter, of Christ's Resurrection from the Dead, is our hope when things continue to seem dark. So, it is also important in this festive season of Easter to remember our passage through the three Days, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. We need to keep together the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. One is not more crucial than the other. We don't get at the truth by emphasizing one and ignoring the other. The death and Resurrection of Christ is one act of God, to transform the world and bring an end to sin death and all injustice and unrighteousness. The death and Resurrection of Jesus then aren't primarily about human experience, but about God's acts to return all things to God, that all may be found in the source of all life and who is life and light itself.
May this season of Easter be full of God's joy and peace.
Wednesday, March 11
Reconciler Update
My hope for all of us this Lent is that we may find our faith renewed and find ourselves growing in the love of God. Yet, I am aware that even in my own spiritual life that Lent can have an opposite effect. I can feel burdened by a fast or other discipline I have undertaken. If I break the fast or am inconsistent in keeping to a discipline I can feel like Lent was awash. This is a temptation of Lent and of the spiritual disciplines in general. An other temptation can be to be quite proud of our being able to keep our fast or other discipline through out Lent. I think there are in these temptations a positive and negative impulses. In the positive both can be born out of a desire to follow in the way of Christ perfectly, For we know as our closing hymn on Sunday says "Forty Days and forty night thou was fasting in the wild; forty day and forty nights tempted, and yet undefiled." (#150 Hymnal 1982, Episcopal Church). We want to be "undefiled", yet this desire turns into a work that we feel we must do. We then become burdened and either stumble under this burden or become prideful that we have carried this burden.
So Lent can become quite distressing and especially so, as our Lenten discipline brings to light sins or failings we have and we then encounter them in stark relief, which is suited to a time of repentance and self-examination. However, if we have succumbed thus seeing Lent as a time of Spiritual accomplishment and perfection, finding our dark selves rising to the surface can lead to confusion and distress. The closing hymn from this past Sunday offers us the solution to these attitudes: "Then if Satan on us press, Jesus, Savior, hear our call! Victor in the wilderness, grant we may not faint or fall!" We are not the victors in this wilderness, nor is it upon our own resources that we are to rely in Lent or the Spiritual life, but upon Christ who is the Victor and who has fulfilled the Law and all the requirements of the Spiritual life. If we are to find ourselves perfected it is in reliance on and faith in Christ. We are to rely on Christs strength having faith that Christ has already overcome and is victorious.
So in a sense Lent is nothing special, in our life of faith. What applies to Lent always applies. We keep Lent because it can help us refocus and return to our call and to that reliance on Christ, which is our faith. We undertake these disciplines and we fast, we take this time to focus intently on our Spiritual life and our selves so that we may open ourselves ever more to the tranforming power of the Resurrection. We enter a desert and intensify our struggles with ourselves and sin and temptation, not to make ourselves perfect but to be perfected by God, as we are formed ever more into the image of Christ. A subtle distinction but one essential for a Holy Lent and for our entire spiritual journey in this life.
So Lent can become quite distressing and especially so, as our Lenten discipline brings to light sins or failings we have and we then encounter them in stark relief, which is suited to a time of repentance and self-examination. However, if we have succumbed thus seeing Lent as a time of Spiritual accomplishment and perfection, finding our dark selves rising to the surface can lead to confusion and distress. The closing hymn from this past Sunday offers us the solution to these attitudes: "Then if Satan on us press, Jesus, Savior, hear our call! Victor in the wilderness, grant we may not faint or fall!" We are not the victors in this wilderness, nor is it upon our own resources that we are to rely in Lent or the Spiritual life, but upon Christ who is the Victor and who has fulfilled the Law and all the requirements of the Spiritual life. If we are to find ourselves perfected it is in reliance on and faith in Christ. We are to rely on Christs strength having faith that Christ has already overcome and is victorious.
So in a sense Lent is nothing special, in our life of faith. What applies to Lent always applies. We keep Lent because it can help us refocus and return to our call and to that reliance on Christ, which is our faith. We undertake these disciplines and we fast, we take this time to focus intently on our Spiritual life and our selves so that we may open ourselves ever more to the tranforming power of the Resurrection. We enter a desert and intensify our struggles with ourselves and sin and temptation, not to make ourselves perfect but to be perfected by God, as we are formed ever more into the image of Christ. A subtle distinction but one essential for a Holy Lent and for our entire spiritual journey in this life.
Wednesday, February 18
Preparing for Lent
Lent is approaching. As we prepare to enter Lent this Sunday we reflect on the Transfiguration of Christ in the midst of his earthly ministry. This lent we will have the opportunity to come together and share with each other each week Lent about our spiritual life what helps us in our relationship with God and following Jesus, but also our struggles. Christian faith is not meant to be a solo activity. Also, these are times to reflect on why we take time to fast (give things up) or take on certain spiritual disciplines for Lent. Many of us do not come from traditions that keep Lent, some of us do. What about Lent makes sense? What questions do you have about the keeping of Lent.
To prime the pump let me briefly put forward some thoughts about Lent: Lent is a time of preparation and self-examination. Lent is a Journey to the Cross and then to the Resurrection. The church year brings us back again and again to this central and crucial aspect of our faith that Jesus died upon a cross, was buried and rose again. Our actions as followers of Christ should be motivated from this center of our faith. Our sense of justice, our works of mercy and advocacy, what we do from day to day all should be informed by this great mystery of our faith. Yet, we are also continually learning what this means for ourselves and for the church as a whole, we will never stop being able to appropriate in new ways this great mystery, Lent offers us a time to return and re-appropriate this mystery of our faith into our lives both as individuals but also as a body of believers. What ever you decide to do for lent or not do, may this Lent allow you a time to re-appropriate the central mystery of our faith: Christ has died, Christ is Risen Christ will come again.
In Christ,
Larry
To prime the pump let me briefly put forward some thoughts about Lent: Lent is a time of preparation and self-examination. Lent is a Journey to the Cross and then to the Resurrection. The church year brings us back again and again to this central and crucial aspect of our faith that Jesus died upon a cross, was buried and rose again. Our actions as followers of Christ should be motivated from this center of our faith. Our sense of justice, our works of mercy and advocacy, what we do from day to day all should be informed by this great mystery of our faith. Yet, we are also continually learning what this means for ourselves and for the church as a whole, we will never stop being able to appropriate in new ways this great mystery, Lent offers us a time to return and re-appropriate this mystery of our faith into our lives both as individuals but also as a body of believers. What ever you decide to do for lent or not do, may this Lent allow you a time to re-appropriate the central mystery of our faith: Christ has died, Christ is Risen Christ will come again.
In Christ,
Larry
Thursday, January 29
Update
In the past few weeks we have been looking at call and discipleship and observed the Week of prayer for Christian Unity. We began an ended the week with additions to our usual liturgy and adapting the Lima liturgy to our regular Reconciler liturgy. I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the connection between our worship of the last few weeks, ecumenism and discipleship. Our liturgical worship and especially the liturgies we have been using the past few weeks, subordinate individual expression of faith and worship to something else. This subordination of individual response or expression can run counter to many images of discipleship and living faith as usually found in American contexts. In general in American Christianity tends to see discipleship as an individual endeavor. Discipleship is primarily about my relationship to Jesus, and only secondarily about the kingdom of God or being a member of the body of Christ. I see our lectionary texts for the Season after Epiphany as challenging this American conception of discipleship. Or at least the confluence of these texts asks us to make a major corrective in our understanding of the relationship between our life of faith and our individuality.
Implicit in the Gospel's sense of being a follower of Jesus, a disciple, is that while our individuality is respected it is not the primary focus of a life of discipleship. Discipleship forms our individuality into something better and it does it by emphasizing community, and by calling us to be conformed to the Mind of Christ. If we move our sense of being a Christian and following Christ away from a focus on our individual beliefs, feelings, doubts etc., and realize that the life of faith is seeing all of our individuality being formed by God in Christ into Christ and being built into the the temple of God the Church then ecumenism simply takes on the tinge of discipleship. Also, our worship on Sundays becomes less about whether or not I can come and feel certain feelings or express certain things about myself and my faith and more about being formed and molded and built into something as the person I am. All of this is meant to happen with others who also are also followers and disciples of Jesus.
This formation is not only supposed to happen to us individually but corporately and across space and time. In some sense we might say this is what Church is the site where this happens. If we are cut off from those who are disciples of Jesus either in space or time we then lack something in our discipleship and following of Jesus. This is the place of ecumenism in our lives of discipleship and following Jesus. So, our worship our actions, our vision as a congregation, our lives in the world with friends family and coworkers are also a piece, not because I can individually make it all fit together but because I with others am seeking after Christ and we together can be formed by our worship and fellowship together, which then allows us to go out into the world and witness to the presence and absence of the Kingdom of God in the world. But we are hindered in this ability to witness as long as we are separated from other disciples who can help us be formed together as the Body of Christ.
Announcements:
We are continuing to meet together as a congregation to share and reflect and plan as we take stock of various changes and seek to move into this coming year together. Our next gathering will be February 9 6:30 PM at Beth, Jorge and Hank's house 5419 North Glenwood Ave, Apt. 3. A light supper will be provided. If you would like to augment the soup and bread feel free to bring something to share. Please RSVP to Beth Wetmore by friday February 6th. E-mail her at emwetmore@yahoo.com or call her at 773-275-1918.
Sunday February 15th Bishop Jeffrey Lee of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago will be visiting us for worship. There will be a time to meet him after the service.
Wednesday Evenings on the Immanuel Campus:
Community meal 6 pm. Following the meal at 7 pm there is a prayer service. For January and February it will be a service of Lectio Devina (prayerful reading and discussion of Scripture for the coming Sunday) During Lent there will be a sung Vespers service.
Implicit in the Gospel's sense of being a follower of Jesus, a disciple, is that while our individuality is respected it is not the primary focus of a life of discipleship. Discipleship forms our individuality into something better and it does it by emphasizing community, and by calling us to be conformed to the Mind of Christ. If we move our sense of being a Christian and following Christ away from a focus on our individual beliefs, feelings, doubts etc., and realize that the life of faith is seeing all of our individuality being formed by God in Christ into Christ and being built into the the temple of God the Church then ecumenism simply takes on the tinge of discipleship. Also, our worship on Sundays becomes less about whether or not I can come and feel certain feelings or express certain things about myself and my faith and more about being formed and molded and built into something as the person I am. All of this is meant to happen with others who also are also followers and disciples of Jesus.
This formation is not only supposed to happen to us individually but corporately and across space and time. In some sense we might say this is what Church is the site where this happens. If we are cut off from those who are disciples of Jesus either in space or time we then lack something in our discipleship and following of Jesus. This is the place of ecumenism in our lives of discipleship and following Jesus. So, our worship our actions, our vision as a congregation, our lives in the world with friends family and coworkers are also a piece, not because I can individually make it all fit together but because I with others am seeking after Christ and we together can be formed by our worship and fellowship together, which then allows us to go out into the world and witness to the presence and absence of the Kingdom of God in the world. But we are hindered in this ability to witness as long as we are separated from other disciples who can help us be formed together as the Body of Christ.
Announcements:
We are continuing to meet together as a congregation to share and reflect and plan as we take stock of various changes and seek to move into this coming year together. Our next gathering will be February 9 6:30 PM at Beth, Jorge and Hank's house 5419 North Glenwood Ave, Apt. 3. A light supper will be provided. If you would like to augment the soup and bread feel free to bring something to share. Please RSVP to Beth Wetmore by friday February 6th. E-mail her at emwetmore@yahoo.com or call her at 773-275-1918.
Sunday February 15th Bishop Jeffrey Lee of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago will be visiting us for worship. There will be a time to meet him after the service.
Wednesday Evenings on the Immanuel Campus:
Community meal 6 pm. Following the meal at 7 pm there is a prayer service. For January and February it will be a service of Lectio Devina (prayerful reading and discussion of Scripture for the coming Sunday) During Lent there will be a sung Vespers service.
Wednesday, January 14
Next week is the Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity, or the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The week of prayer begins this Sunday January 18th The feast of St. Peter and ends on Sunday the 25th the Feast of St Paul. The theme for this years observance is from Ezekiel 37:15-19, 22-24a “That they may become one in your hand”. I encourage us to take the time to pray for Christian Unity in our daily prayers and to meditate on the Ezekiel passage over the course of the week. As a congregation with an ecumenical vision and actuality although in the past we have failed to give a great deal of emphasis to this but I believe that this could be an important aspect of living out our vision. A way to remind ourselves why we gather each Sunday as those from a variety of denominational backgrounds and journeys. Reminding ourselves why we join in regular worship with Immanuel Lutheran Church and St Elias Christian Church. We do these things because we are seeking and praying for the unity of the Church
This years theme and resource materials were prepared by Christians in Korea, who not only face the divisions between Christians but the division between North and South Korea, and the loss and hostility on both sides that has remained since the Korean War. Christians in Korea see the prayer for Christian unity to not stop only at creed or denominational divisions but the political and ideological divisions as well as of wealth and class. I encourage each of us during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity to also take time to reflect how Reconciler can deepen its ecumenical calling and reflect on what Christian unity may mean for us. We too in this country and this city of Chicago face various divisions that are also divisions between Christians: race, ethnicity, class etc. In this week we are praying for reconciliation and seeking to repent of all ways we praying for forgiveness for the scandal of our disunity and our inability to be ambassadors of reconciliation in the world. What paths of personal and ecclesial conversion must we take to arrive at full communion in Christ?
If you would like a guide for your prayers and mediation over the week the Graymoor Ecumenical and Interreligious Institute has resources that can be going here . The Graymoor Institutes website also has an explanation of the theme of this years Week of Prayer for Christian Unity as well as a brief history of the Week of Payer. Do take the time to read some of this.
Announcements:
Tomorrow, Thursday January 15 we have a congregational meeting at the Nidge, 7:30 pm. If you consider Reconciler your church home or attend Reconciler on a some what regular basis, you are encouraged to come and join in reflecting on how God is at work and leading Reconciler.
This Sunday, January 18th begins the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
We now have childcare and a Children's Sunday School program during our 5 pm service. Spread the word!
Wednesday Evenings on the Immanuel Campus:
Community meal 6 pm members of Immanuel, the Community of the Holy Trinity and Reconciler join with the youth who take part in Immanuel's after school program for a meal together.
Following the meal at 7 pm there is a prayer service. For January and February it will be a service of Lectio Devina (prayerful reading and discussion of Scripture for the coming Sunday) During Lent there will be a sung Vespers service.
This years theme and resource materials were prepared by Christians in Korea, who not only face the divisions between Christians but the division between North and South Korea, and the loss and hostility on both sides that has remained since the Korean War. Christians in Korea see the prayer for Christian unity to not stop only at creed or denominational divisions but the political and ideological divisions as well as of wealth and class. I encourage each of us during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity to also take time to reflect how Reconciler can deepen its ecumenical calling and reflect on what Christian unity may mean for us. We too in this country and this city of Chicago face various divisions that are also divisions between Christians: race, ethnicity, class etc. In this week we are praying for reconciliation and seeking to repent of all ways we praying for forgiveness for the scandal of our disunity and our inability to be ambassadors of reconciliation in the world. What paths of personal and ecclesial conversion must we take to arrive at full communion in Christ?
If you would like a guide for your prayers and mediation over the week the Graymoor Ecumenical and Interreligious Institute has resources that can be going here . The Graymoor Institutes website also has an explanation of the theme of this years Week of Prayer for Christian Unity as well as a brief history of the Week of Payer. Do take the time to read some of this.
Announcements:
Tomorrow, Thursday January 15 we have a congregational meeting at the Nidge, 7:30 pm. If you consider Reconciler your church home or attend Reconciler on a some what regular basis, you are encouraged to come and join in reflecting on how God is at work and leading Reconciler.
This Sunday, January 18th begins the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
We now have childcare and a Children's Sunday School program during our 5 pm service. Spread the word!
Wednesday Evenings on the Immanuel Campus:
Community meal 6 pm members of Immanuel, the Community of the Holy Trinity and Reconciler join with the youth who take part in Immanuel's after school program for a meal together.
Following the meal at 7 pm there is a prayer service. For January and February it will be a service of Lectio Devina (prayerful reading and discussion of Scripture for the coming Sunday) During Lent there will be a sung Vespers service.
Wednesday, January 7
Reconciler Update
Tuesday January 6th, was the feast of the Epiphany. Epiphany means "manifestation" or "appearance" as we celebrate the manifestation of God in Jesus Christ to the world. This celebration began at some point in the second century. Epiphany was associated with the wise men, the baptism of Christ, and Jesus' first miracle at Cana. All stories of the shining forth of God's love into the whole world. As we move from Christmas to Ordinary Time after the Epiphany our lectionary texts lead us to reflect on Jesus' ministry and the calling of his disciples. Now that we have proclaimed God in our midst in the birth of Jesus Christ and the confirmation of this presence at Jesus Christ's Baptism, we are lead to ask what does this mean for the World, for us, and for the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ.
What does it mean to be a follower of the one who is God incarnate? How might we manifest the truth of the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ, in our daily lives, in a world in turmoil? How do we as one small congregation let this manifestation, this Epiphany transfigure us and transform us, that others may see God?
In this time of transition for Reconciler these are perhaps pertinent questions for our community to ask. The Church and any congregation exists because of this coming of God in Jesus Christ. If Jesus Christ was not God, is not the Word made flesh then our gathering as we do does not make a whole lot of sense. And if this truth does not penetrate ourselves and the world then the Epiphany of God in Jesus Christ is hid from view. We at Reconciler desire that this not be hid, that the divisions and failures of Christians not obscure this truth. So, we have sought to come together as Christians from various denominational backgrounds, for whom this truth has been and is sometimes hid from view, in connection with some of these denominational institutions to show forth the love of God manifest in Jesus Christ.
Announcements:
This Sunday January 11th we begin our nursery and children's program during our 5 pm Sunday worship service Lead by Ryan Brown and Laura Blatterman.
Next Thursday January 15th there will be a meeting of council and congregation at 7:30 pm at the 'Nidge. This meeting and subsequent meetings to be announced in the next few weeks are taking place of our annual congregational meeting. So, you are encouraged if you consider Reconciler your church or one of your church homes please make an effort to take part in these meetings so that we can reflect and share together on where We are being lead together and how we may grow together as a congregation. Your participation in this process is important so that we may have the insight and input of all of us who make up Reconciler.
What does it mean to be a follower of the one who is God incarnate? How might we manifest the truth of the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ, in our daily lives, in a world in turmoil? How do we as one small congregation let this manifestation, this Epiphany transfigure us and transform us, that others may see God?
In this time of transition for Reconciler these are perhaps pertinent questions for our community to ask. The Church and any congregation exists because of this coming of God in Jesus Christ. If Jesus Christ was not God, is not the Word made flesh then our gathering as we do does not make a whole lot of sense. And if this truth does not penetrate ourselves and the world then the Epiphany of God in Jesus Christ is hid from view. We at Reconciler desire that this not be hid, that the divisions and failures of Christians not obscure this truth. So, we have sought to come together as Christians from various denominational backgrounds, for whom this truth has been and is sometimes hid from view, in connection with some of these denominational institutions to show forth the love of God manifest in Jesus Christ.
Announcements:
This Sunday January 11th we begin our nursery and children's program during our 5 pm Sunday worship service Lead by Ryan Brown and Laura Blatterman.
Next Thursday January 15th there will be a meeting of council and congregation at 7:30 pm at the 'Nidge. This meeting and subsequent meetings to be announced in the next few weeks are taking place of our annual congregational meeting. So, you are encouraged if you consider Reconciler your church or one of your church homes please make an effort to take part in these meetings so that we can reflect and share together on where We are being lead together and how we may grow together as a congregation. Your participation in this process is important so that we may have the insight and input of all of us who make up Reconciler.
Wednesday, December 24
Reconciler Update -- December 14, 2008
Dear Reconciler Friends, and Friends of Reconciler,
I enclose a very brief Advent meditation I wrote some years ago, while working as a hospital chaplain. I was asked to write the Christmas message from the Pastoral Care department to staff and patients. I was keenly aware that not everyone staying at the hospital was looking forward to the holidays.
No matter our situation, we may have mixed feelings about the season. There were years I dreaded or felt disappointed by it. As an adult, I learned to enjoy it in a realistic way, and to recapture on a different level the magic Christmas held for me as a child. One thing that helped me do so was learning to live into the spirituality of Advent.
Advent is a wonderfully "dense and multi-layered season," as a colleague writes. Its twin themes are joy and repentance. We remember the first coming of Christ and await his future coming, while attuning our senses to signs of Christ already in our midst. We celebrate a three-fold Advent: past, future, and present. This incarnational focus on a Christ at work in the the world, though unseen, is one I am repeatedly drawn to. It helps me feel more grounded in a season that can frenetically pull us in many directions. It is also very Anglican.
I wish you the deep peace of the prince of peace during this season of hope. Prepare him room to be born anew in your hearts.
Here's the meditation I wrote at the hospital:
Opening the Present
“It’s the most wonderful time of the year,” the carol says. And so it is!
The human race seems at its best. Whether we celebrate Christmas, Hannukah, or winter solstice, we rejoice in the light that breaks through the darkness.
Yet holidays can be difficult. Sun and shadow intertwine in every life. Sometimes we wonder where on earth peace is. We experience loss or illness. We struggle with an uncertain future or a painful past.
Life is a present. But sometimes we don’t get the gift we were expecting.
Few of us are prepared for how our lives unfold. God’s grace moves through our days, abundant but sometimes strange. Who knew the oil would last eight days? Who foresaw the Messiah would come to us in a manger?
As we encounter life’s joys and adversities, we can be open to the present. The openness of a woman giving birth. The openness of a shepherd who has come a long way to see a baby born in poverty. A child with nothing but the whole world in his hands.
“Emmanuel” means God is with us. Perhaps our lives are not unfolding as we’d thought. But God is present. And we find God by being in the present. May these holidays remind us of God’s great gifts to us: unfailing love and unfathomable grace.
+++
Love,
Laura+
The Rev. Laura Gottardi-Littell
for The Pastoral Team
312-316-9697 The Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler
Announcements:
Church Council meets Thursday December 18th at 7:30 PM in the "Nidge. All are welcome. This meeting will be more of a congregational meeting than a Council meeting. We are looking at how we want to function as church in the new year and beyond. If you have been attending Reconciler, consider it your church home, and want to have input, please come and have your voice heard.
Mark your calendars now! We will be having a joint service with Immanuel and St. Elias on December 21, the fourth Sunday of Advent. A potluck dinner will begin at 4:00 p.m., and the service begins at 6:00 p.m. in the Immanuel sanctuary. We need people to bring food to the potluck, and to help set up and clean up. If you can do so, let someone on the pastoral team know. Thanks!
Also, Christmas eve and Christmas Day are joint services with Immanuel. The Christmas eve service begins at 6:00 p.m.and the Christmas Day service begins at 10:30 a.m. Both services will be held in the Immanuel sanctuary.
Mark your calendars for a Reconciler Party for Laura and Melissa. Laura, Reconciler's Episcopal priest, and Mellssa, Reconciler's interim Baptist pastor, will both be departing the pastoral team on Sunday January 4th. There will be a farewell party for them on Jan 4th following our usual 5:00 service. Stay tuned for more details.
Malaria Nets Challenge- Malaria is a terrible disease which has been eliminated inmost of North America, but kills the children of Africa at the rate of two per minute. The Episcopal Diocese of Chicago can put a medically treated net over the bed of a child for just $12. Kate will be collecting the funds and passing them on to the diocese. Let her know to direct your cash, or check made out to church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler (write "malaria nets" on the memo line) Malaria Nets Challenge, or drop it in the offering pot with a note; you can also mail it to her c/o Reconciler at 1510 W. Elmdale Ave., Chicago IL 60660.
Opportunities for service! If you would like to help out at Reconciler, we need you! We are currently in need of greeters each Sunday (to arrive 15 minutes before the service begins). We also need volunteers as nursery workers, and perhaps someone to help with the bulletin each week. If you want to volunteer, contact the pastoral team.christreconciler@hotmail.com
Reconciler now has a phone- You can reach the pastoral team at 312-316-9697
+++
10 tips from Laura for making the most of this time of year (and you can share yours with me):
1) Tune out the excess materialism. Ignore the constant reminders that Christmas is all about things. But enjoy the giving and receiving. At heart, these are spiritual disciplines.
2) Give gifts of time and attention.
3) Support charitable organizations, as your time and finances permit. Give fairly-traded gifts.
4) Take time for your spiritual life. Listen to and sing carols, the Messiah, pray the Magnificat, light candles. Reflect. Go to church.
5) Create or continue holiday rituals that are meaningful and enjoyable for you.
6) Don't over-do. This from a pastor and a parent of young children! Remind me to take my own advice. :-)
7) Open your senses to simple joys: the taste of a snowflake, a smile shared with a stranger on the street. In what quiet ways and unexpected places can you find glimpses of the real spirit of Christmas?
8) Keep your expectations realistic. The season presents us with challenges as well as reasons for joy. Just knowing that can ease the stress associated with having overly high hopes.
9) Watch good Christmas movies!
10) Allow yourself to enjoy the corny and fun aspects of Christmas. Don't worry too much about whether Santa and other not-necessarily-Christian stuff detracts from the real meaning of Christmas. You can always celebrate St. Nicholas, the 4th century bishop from Myra (now Turkey). As long as you're clear about what Christmas is about, a little synchretism and commercialism won't kill you. It's OK to sing "Frosty the Snowman."
+++
I enclose a very brief Advent meditation I wrote some years ago, while working as a hospital chaplain. I was asked to write the Christmas message from the Pastoral Care department to staff and patients. I was keenly aware that not everyone staying at the hospital was looking forward to the holidays.
No matter our situation, we may have mixed feelings about the season. There were years I dreaded or felt disappointed by it. As an adult, I learned to enjoy it in a realistic way, and to recapture on a different level the magic Christmas held for me as a child. One thing that helped me do so was learning to live into the spirituality of Advent.
Advent is a wonderfully "dense and multi-layered season," as a colleague writes. Its twin themes are joy and repentance. We remember the first coming of Christ and await his future coming, while attuning our senses to signs of Christ already in our midst. We celebrate a three-fold Advent: past, future, and present. This incarnational focus on a Christ at work in the the world, though unseen, is one I am repeatedly drawn to. It helps me feel more grounded in a season that can frenetically pull us in many directions. It is also very Anglican.
I wish you the deep peace of the prince of peace during this season of hope. Prepare him room to be born anew in your hearts.
Here's the meditation I wrote at the hospital:
Opening the Present
“It’s the most wonderful time of the year,” the carol says. And so it is!
The human race seems at its best. Whether we celebrate Christmas, Hannukah, or winter solstice, we rejoice in the light that breaks through the darkness.
Yet holidays can be difficult. Sun and shadow intertwine in every life. Sometimes we wonder where on earth peace is. We experience loss or illness. We struggle with an uncertain future or a painful past.
Life is a present. But sometimes we don’t get the gift we were expecting.
Few of us are prepared for how our lives unfold. God’s grace moves through our days, abundant but sometimes strange. Who knew the oil would last eight days? Who foresaw the Messiah would come to us in a manger?
As we encounter life’s joys and adversities, we can be open to the present. The openness of a woman giving birth. The openness of a shepherd who has come a long way to see a baby born in poverty. A child with nothing but the whole world in his hands.
“Emmanuel” means God is with us. Perhaps our lives are not unfolding as we’d thought. But God is present. And we find God by being in the present. May these holidays remind us of God’s great gifts to us: unfailing love and unfathomable grace.
+++
Love,
Laura+
The Rev. Laura Gottardi-Littell
for The Pastoral Team
312-316-9697 The Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler
Announcements:
Church Council meets Thursday December 18th at 7:30 PM in the "Nidge. All are welcome. This meeting will be more of a congregational meeting than a Council meeting. We are looking at how we want to function as church in the new year and beyond. If you have been attending Reconciler, consider it your church home, and want to have input, please come and have your voice heard.
Mark your calendars now! We will be having a joint service with Immanuel and St. Elias on December 21, the fourth Sunday of Advent. A potluck dinner will begin at 4:00 p.m., and the service begins at 6:00 p.m. in the Immanuel sanctuary. We need people to bring food to the potluck, and to help set up and clean up. If you can do so, let someone on the pastoral team know. Thanks!
Also, Christmas eve and Christmas Day are joint services with Immanuel. The Christmas eve service begins at 6:00 p.m.and the Christmas Day service begins at 10:30 a.m. Both services will be held in the Immanuel sanctuary.
Mark your calendars for a Reconciler Party for Laura and Melissa. Laura, Reconciler's Episcopal priest, and Mellssa, Reconciler's interim Baptist pastor, will both be departing the pastoral team on Sunday January 4th. There will be a farewell party for them on Jan 4th following our usual 5:00 service. Stay tuned for more details.
Malaria Nets Challenge- Malaria is a terrible disease which has been eliminated inmost of North America, but kills the children of Africa at the rate of two per minute. The Episcopal Diocese of Chicago can put a medically treated net over the bed of a child for just $12. Kate will be collecting the funds and passing them on to the diocese. Let her know to direct your cash, or check made out to church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler (write "malaria nets" on the memo line) Malaria Nets Challenge, or drop it in the offering pot with a note; you can also mail it to her c/o Reconciler at 1510 W. Elmdale Ave., Chicago IL 60660.
Opportunities for service! If you would like to help out at Reconciler, we need you! We are currently in need of greeters each Sunday (to arrive 15 minutes before the service begins). We also need volunteers as nursery workers, and perhaps someone to help with the bulletin each week. If you want to volunteer, contact the pastoral team.christreconciler@hotmail.com
Reconciler now has a phone- You can reach the pastoral team at 312-316-9697
+++
10 tips from Laura for making the most of this time of year (and you can share yours with me):
1) Tune out the excess materialism. Ignore the constant reminders that Christmas is all about things. But enjoy the giving and receiving. At heart, these are spiritual disciplines.
2) Give gifts of time and attention.
3) Support charitable organizations, as your time and finances permit. Give fairly-traded gifts.
4) Take time for your spiritual life. Listen to and sing carols, the Messiah, pray the Magnificat, light candles. Reflect. Go to church.
5) Create or continue holiday rituals that are meaningful and enjoyable for you.
6) Don't over-do. This from a pastor and a parent of young children! Remind me to take my own advice. :-)
7) Open your senses to simple joys: the taste of a snowflake, a smile shared with a stranger on the street. In what quiet ways and unexpected places can you find glimpses of the real spirit of Christmas?
8) Keep your expectations realistic. The season presents us with challenges as well as reasons for joy. Just knowing that can ease the stress associated with having overly high hopes.
9) Watch good Christmas movies!
10) Allow yourself to enjoy the corny and fun aspects of Christmas. Don't worry too much about whether Santa and other not-necessarily-Christian stuff detracts from the real meaning of Christmas. You can always celebrate St. Nicholas, the 4th century bishop from Myra (now Turkey). As long as you're clear about what Christmas is about, a little synchretism and commercialism won't kill you. It's OK to sing "Frosty the Snowman."
+++
Thursday, December 4
Reconciler Update
We are in the Season of Advent, a time of expectant waiting. As Laura encouraged us on Sunday, take time to wait expectantly on God and God's presence among us and in our world. In this busy time we should remember that the busyness of this time is that we are preparing for the celebration of Christmas. This sense of preparation is also what Advent is about. This expectant waiting is to be a time of preparing for what is to come: preparing ourselves for the appearance of God in Christ, as we celebrate and remember the first coming of God to the world in Jesus Christ.
At this time for our congregation waiting and preparing are difficult because we are facing some changes as we are still without a permanent Baptist pastor as Melissa is stepping down from serving as interim and as Laura is stepping down as our Episcopal Priest and will finish up with us in the Season of Christmas. We have questions about what this means and we may want to rush ahead and think out solutions or worry about our vision as an ecumenical congregation or what it will be like with only one pastor. I wish to encourage us though to wait on God. To take the time of Advent and Christmas to prepare ourselves for what God has for us as Laura leaves us. I encourage us to reflect on where God has brought us, and our character as a congregation with this vision of grass roots ecumenism. I encourage us to remember Laura's ministry in our midst for the past two years, the various ways she has touched our lives and provided pastoral care and lead this congregation.
God may have changes in store for us and Laura's leaving at this time may show what those changes should be but for the moment let us wait. Take time to say goodbye to Laura, to remember and to look forward to how God will come to us in this coming year. God is with us, Emmanuel, this we are promised and assured in the incarnation. So, like four years ago when six or seven of us met for worship in Chase Cafe and waited to see how God would fulfill the vision the Spirit put in our hearts we now find we are still waiting having seen how God has brought us this far and continues to be with us. May we wait and prepare in the hope of Emmanuel.
One possible way to take time to slow down and wait upon God in the season of Advent is on online daily Advent devotional Following the Star.
Announcements:
Would you like to be part of the process of creating a new safety plan for the congregations that meet on this campus? If so, join us on Dec. 11 at 7pm in the Immanuel Library for a meeting. During this meeting we will make suggestions for a new safety plan and this plan will then be approved by each of the congregations.
Church Council meets Thursday December 18th at 7:30 PM in the "Nidge. All are Welcome.
Mark your calendars now! We will be having a joint service with Immanuel and St. Elias on December 21, the fourth Sunday of Advent. A potluck dinner will begin at 4:00 PM, and the service begins at 6:00 PM If you would like to participate in the service or help in some way, please contact the pastoral staff.
Malaria Nets Challenge- Malaria is a terrible disease which has been eliminate din most of North America, but kills the children of Africa at the rate of two per minute. The Episcopal Diocese of Chicago can put a medically treated net over the bed of a child for just $12. Kate will be collecting the funds and passing them on to the diocese. Let her know to direct your cash, or check made out to church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler (write "malaria nets" on the memo line) Malaria Nets Challenge, or drop it in the offering pot with a note; you can also mail it to her c/o Reconciler at 1510 W. Elmdale Ave., Chicago IL 60660.
Opportunities for service! If you would like to help out at Reconciler, we need you! We are currently in need of greeters each Sunday (to arrive 15 minutes before the service begins). We also need volunteers as nursery workers, and perhaps someone to help with the bulletin each week. If you want to volunteer, contact the pastoral team. christreconciler@hotmail.com
Reconciler now has a phone- You can reach the pastoral team at 312-316-9697
At this time for our congregation waiting and preparing are difficult because we are facing some changes as we are still without a permanent Baptist pastor as Melissa is stepping down from serving as interim and as Laura is stepping down as our Episcopal Priest and will finish up with us in the Season of Christmas. We have questions about what this means and we may want to rush ahead and think out solutions or worry about our vision as an ecumenical congregation or what it will be like with only one pastor. I wish to encourage us though to wait on God. To take the time of Advent and Christmas to prepare ourselves for what God has for us as Laura leaves us. I encourage us to reflect on where God has brought us, and our character as a congregation with this vision of grass roots ecumenism. I encourage us to remember Laura's ministry in our midst for the past two years, the various ways she has touched our lives and provided pastoral care and lead this congregation.
God may have changes in store for us and Laura's leaving at this time may show what those changes should be but for the moment let us wait. Take time to say goodbye to Laura, to remember and to look forward to how God will come to us in this coming year. God is with us, Emmanuel, this we are promised and assured in the incarnation. So, like four years ago when six or seven of us met for worship in Chase Cafe and waited to see how God would fulfill the vision the Spirit put in our hearts we now find we are still waiting having seen how God has brought us this far and continues to be with us. May we wait and prepare in the hope of Emmanuel.
One possible way to take time to slow down and wait upon God in the season of Advent is on online daily Advent devotional Following the Star.
Announcements:
Would you like to be part of the process of creating a new safety plan for the congregations that meet on this campus? If so, join us on Dec. 11 at 7pm in the Immanuel Library for a meeting. During this meeting we will make suggestions for a new safety plan and this plan will then be approved by each of the congregations.
Church Council meets Thursday December 18th at 7:30 PM in the "Nidge. All are Welcome.
Mark your calendars now! We will be having a joint service with Immanuel and St. Elias on December 21, the fourth Sunday of Advent. A potluck dinner will begin at 4:00 PM, and the service begins at 6:00 PM If you would like to participate in the service or help in some way, please contact the pastoral staff.
Malaria Nets Challenge- Malaria is a terrible disease which has been eliminate din most of North America, but kills the children of Africa at the rate of two per minute. The Episcopal Diocese of Chicago can put a medically treated net over the bed of a child for just $12. Kate will be collecting the funds and passing them on to the diocese. Let her know to direct your cash, or check made out to church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler (write "malaria nets" on the memo line) Malaria Nets Challenge, or drop it in the offering pot with a note; you can also mail it to her c/o Reconciler at 1510 W. Elmdale Ave., Chicago IL 60660.
Opportunities for service! If you would like to help out at Reconciler, we need you! We are currently in need of greeters each Sunday (to arrive 15 minutes before the service begins). We also need volunteers as nursery workers, and perhaps someone to help with the bulletin each week. If you want to volunteer, contact the pastoral team. christreconciler@hotmail.com
Reconciler now has a phone- You can reach the pastoral team at 312-316-9697
Wednesday, November 12
Reconciler Update
We are in a time of reflection, rethinking, evaluating and attempting to make sense of how we function as a congregation. In the past several months I feel we have done and are doing a good job of this. We are currently and have been by choice and accident a little less active as a congregation. This lessening of activity makes me think of fall and winter, or of a field being left fallow for a season that it may regain nutrients it needs to support future crops.
Fall and winter are times of pruning and waiting. Winter on my grandparents farm of fruit trees and vines was a time of waiting and preparation. The vines and the fruit trees were dormant without leaves. One prepared for the coming spring, but such preparation was of necessity without the activity of the times of spring and summer, when fruit trees needed pollination and ground needed fertilization and intense irrigation, and eventually the fruit harvested. So if things have felt In the past several months at Reconciler like there had been some pruning and if of late things have seemed to slow down, perhaps because we have been in a time of fall and winter. But I think I see a little sign of spring for Reconciler even as we here in Chicago are about to begin winter. So, let us wait together in confidence that we are in a good and natural cycle and be prepared for when the activity and fruitfulness of spring and summer will again be apart of our life. Let us whatever the season continue to seek God together and perhaps find some needed rest and enjoyment in the remaining of our winter.
Announcements:
What Does Larry Think? The Potluck-
Come to our house to find out more about what Larry thinks. We grilled
Laura and Melissa, don't you want to grill Larry (in a nice, warm, cozy
way: maybe just re-heat slightly, at least)? True, he's well-marinated,
but aren't you curious regarding what he thinks about salvation, grace,
and abortion? Fill in the blank: bring your own questions, and bring a
dish or beverage. Relaxed, and quite drinkable.
Monday, November 17th, 7:00pm
Charity and Jeremy's House
1425 W. Sherwin Apt #3-B
Chicago, IL 60626
RSVP:
home: 773-262-2975
cell: 317-850-7383
Church Council meets next Thursday November 20th at 7:30 PM in the "Nidge. All are Welcome.
Loyola University is conducting a Food Drive, as par of Hunger Week in November. We will be participating by collecting cans of food on Sunday Evenings. Bring those Cans This Sunday.
Malaria Nets Challenge:
mMlaria is a terrible disease which has been eliminate din most of North America, but kills the children of Africa at the rate of two per minute. The Episcopal Diocese of Chicago can put a medically treated net over the bed of a child for just $12. Kate will be collecting the funds and passing them on to the diocese. Let her know to direct your cash, or check made out to church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler (write "malaria nets" on the memo line) Malaria Nets Challenge, or drop it in the offering pot with a note; you can also mail it to her c/o Reconciler at 1510 W. Elmdale Ave., Chicago IL 60660.
In Christ,
Larry
Fall and winter are times of pruning and waiting. Winter on my grandparents farm of fruit trees and vines was a time of waiting and preparation. The vines and the fruit trees were dormant without leaves. One prepared for the coming spring, but such preparation was of necessity without the activity of the times of spring and summer, when fruit trees needed pollination and ground needed fertilization and intense irrigation, and eventually the fruit harvested. So if things have felt In the past several months at Reconciler like there had been some pruning and if of late things have seemed to slow down, perhaps because we have been in a time of fall and winter. But I think I see a little sign of spring for Reconciler even as we here in Chicago are about to begin winter. So, let us wait together in confidence that we are in a good and natural cycle and be prepared for when the activity and fruitfulness of spring and summer will again be apart of our life. Let us whatever the season continue to seek God together and perhaps find some needed rest and enjoyment in the remaining of our winter.
Announcements:
What Does Larry Think? The Potluck-
Come to our house to find out more about what Larry thinks. We grilled
Laura and Melissa, don't you want to grill Larry (in a nice, warm, cozy
way: maybe just re-heat slightly, at least)? True, he's well-marinated,
but aren't you curious regarding what he thinks about salvation, grace,
and abortion? Fill in the blank: bring your own questions, and bring a
dish or beverage. Relaxed, and quite drinkable.
Monday, November 17th, 7:00pm
Charity and Jeremy's House
1425 W. Sherwin Apt #3-B
Chicago, IL 60626
RSVP:
home: 773-262-2975
cell: 317-850-7383
Church Council meets next Thursday November 20th at 7:30 PM in the "Nidge. All are Welcome.
Loyola University is conducting a Food Drive, as par of Hunger Week in November. We will be participating by collecting cans of food on Sunday Evenings. Bring those Cans This Sunday.
Malaria Nets Challenge:
mMlaria is a terrible disease which has been eliminate din most of North America, but kills the children of Africa at the rate of two per minute. The Episcopal Diocese of Chicago can put a medically treated net over the bed of a child for just $12. Kate will be collecting the funds and passing them on to the diocese. Let her know to direct your cash, or check made out to church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler (write "malaria nets" on the memo line) Malaria Nets Challenge, or drop it in the offering pot with a note; you can also mail it to her c/o Reconciler at 1510 W. Elmdale Ave., Chicago IL 60660.
In Christ,
Larry
Thursday, August 21
Reconciler Update -- August 15, 2008
"To everything there is a season...and a time for every purpose under heaven." - Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
Friends,
I hope you are enjoying the near-perfect weather we've been having in Chicago! Summer is my favorite season, and these remaining days are to be savored, the sun soaked up. It's healthy to slow down a bit before we get that shot-out-of-a-cannon feeling many of us experience after Labor Day. September is often an exciting time of new beginnings, requiring much energy.
Right now at Reconciler, our internal season is meshing well with the external season. Churches usually slow up in the summer.
As we've eased up a bit on meetings and projects, some of us at Reconciler have identified a need for more relational and supportive ways of being church. Some have expressed a need for more respectful ways of talking and listening to one another. Some would like to share our faith journeys rather than have a lot of meetings. Some feel called to focus less on achieving goals and more on getting to know each other better. We've done many wonderful things and achieved many goals these past several years...and now some of us feel called to do some things a little differently.
At the Reconciler retreat last December, the 14 of us present identified a need for our church to maintain a close balance between head and heart. At times our intellectual sides have dominated our church life. Some on the retreat expressed a need for more warmth and welcoming. To our credit, we recognized and acknowledged this need, and set about correcting our course. However, this kind of correction is an ongoing process. It's like driving: in order to stay straight we need to constantly correct, moving the wheel now a little bit left, now a little to the right.
In the days to come, we will be looking for opportunities to be together that focus more on relationship-building than getting things done. Don't misunderstand, we'll keep on having Pastoral Team and Council meetings, we'll worship together, we'll do outreach and pastoral care. We'll keep our goals in sight. We won't become lazy. But right now it seems we need to focus more on our relationships than our goals. One idea is to try new ways of "checking in" at meetings. Another idea is a faith-sharing group where we might meet over dinner to share our stories, questions, doubts, and certainties, get to know each other better, and support each other on our journeys. This kind of sharing can also be incorporated into our meetings and worship. It need not be gut-spilling or a kind of required intimacy. We hope it will instead be an organic process that helps us feel more comfortable and companionable with one another. Other ideas include a shared time of contemplative prayer and/or Bible Study -- again with a goal of balancing intellect and spirit, and fostering vibrant community.
I'm excited and encouraged that members of our church are expressing a hunger for more nourishing ways of being church. There is much that Reconciler is doing right, and it's good to think about how we can continue to grow in ways of health and wholeness.
Please talk with the pastors and council members if you have specific ideas. What are your needs? What can you contribute? Let us know how you experience the environment at Reconciler, how we can help you feel at home and meet your spiritual needs.
In another positive development, on August 10 the congregation voted to call Melissa Browning as our new Interim Baptist pastor. Welcome Melissa! We are excited to have you with us as part of the pastoral team.
Shalom,
Laura+
The Rev. Laura Gottardi-Littell
for the Pastoral Team
The Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler
ANNOUNCEMENTS
It is looking like we will not be participating in the Glenwood Arts Festival this summer. Stay tuned.
On August 10, the congregation voted to call Melissa Browning as our new Interim Baptist pastor. Welcome Melissa! We are excited to have you with us as part of the pastoral team. Melissa will officially start her new position the second week of September.
Council meeting on Thursday August 21 at 7:30 at the 'Nidge. All are welcome. Come bring your ideas about what you appreciate about Reconciler, and where you would like to see our congregation grow.
Laura will be on vacation August 24 -31.
Friends,
I hope you are enjoying the near-perfect weather we've been having in Chicago! Summer is my favorite season, and these remaining days are to be savored, the sun soaked up. It's healthy to slow down a bit before we get that shot-out-of-a-cannon feeling many of us experience after Labor Day. September is often an exciting time of new beginnings, requiring much energy.
Right now at Reconciler, our internal season is meshing well with the external season. Churches usually slow up in the summer.
As we've eased up a bit on meetings and projects, some of us at Reconciler have identified a need for more relational and supportive ways of being church. Some have expressed a need for more respectful ways of talking and listening to one another. Some would like to share our faith journeys rather than have a lot of meetings. Some feel called to focus less on achieving goals and more on getting to know each other better. We've done many wonderful things and achieved many goals these past several years...and now some of us feel called to do some things a little differently.
At the Reconciler retreat last December, the 14 of us present identified a need for our church to maintain a close balance between head and heart. At times our intellectual sides have dominated our church life. Some on the retreat expressed a need for more warmth and welcoming. To our credit, we recognized and acknowledged this need, and set about correcting our course. However, this kind of correction is an ongoing process. It's like driving: in order to stay straight we need to constantly correct, moving the wheel now a little bit left, now a little to the right.
In the days to come, we will be looking for opportunities to be together that focus more on relationship-building than getting things done. Don't misunderstand, we'll keep on having Pastoral Team and Council meetings, we'll worship together, we'll do outreach and pastoral care. We'll keep our goals in sight. We won't become lazy. But right now it seems we need to focus more on our relationships than our goals. One idea is to try new ways of "checking in" at meetings. Another idea is a faith-sharing group where we might meet over dinner to share our stories, questions, doubts, and certainties, get to know each other better, and support each other on our journeys. This kind of sharing can also be incorporated into our meetings and worship. It need not be gut-spilling or a kind of required intimacy. We hope it will instead be an organic process that helps us feel more comfortable and companionable with one another. Other ideas include a shared time of contemplative prayer and/or Bible Study -- again with a goal of balancing intellect and spirit, and fostering vibrant community.
I'm excited and encouraged that members of our church are expressing a hunger for more nourishing ways of being church. There is much that Reconciler is doing right, and it's good to think about how we can continue to grow in ways of health and wholeness.
Please talk with the pastors and council members if you have specific ideas. What are your needs? What can you contribute? Let us know how you experience the environment at Reconciler, how we can help you feel at home and meet your spiritual needs.
In another positive development, on August 10 the congregation voted to call Melissa Browning as our new Interim Baptist pastor. Welcome Melissa! We are excited to have you with us as part of the pastoral team.
Shalom,
Laura+
The Rev. Laura Gottardi-Littell
for the Pastoral Team
The Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler
ANNOUNCEMENTS
It is looking like we will not be participating in the Glenwood Arts Festival this summer. Stay tuned.
On August 10, the congregation voted to call Melissa Browning as our new Interim Baptist pastor. Welcome Melissa! We are excited to have you with us as part of the pastoral team. Melissa will officially start her new position the second week of September.
Council meeting on Thursday August 21 at 7:30 at the 'Nidge. All are welcome. Come bring your ideas about what you appreciate about Reconciler, and where you would like to see our congregation grow.
Laura will be on vacation August 24 -31.
Friday, June 27
Reconciler Update
Summer is fully upon us. The Clark Street Festival will soon be here, the first of two Chicago neighborhood festivals in which we plan to have a booth. And we are planning another panel discussion for September. We are seeing ourselves grow in being a congregation. As Laura has pointed out we are beginning to live into the ministry of Reconciler as the work of all of us, as was shown in the panel discussion on Fair Trade. However, along with consciousness raising and outreach we need to attend to relationships, both those that already exist within our congregation and those we may form with whom God sends us as we reach out to those around us. This is perhaps the more difficult task than planning events and programs or becoming politically active as individuals and as a congregation. We can inadvertently hurt and break relationships in the process of doing things even the right things, unless we believe that particular human relationships and exhibiting love in those relationships is as important, possibly more important, than what we do. First it should form us and propels us to grow in love for each other and for people in particular. The love we have from God is the basis of what we do, both as a church and as individuals. God sent The Son, Jesus Christ, out of love not just for humanity in some abstraction or generality but in all our particularity. Being able to love each other and others in the world in their particularity is always the most difficult task for the church, because it stretches us beyond our human capacities. This goal leads us to a reliance upon God, as the source of our love and as that which binds our relationships together. So, yes let us do and plan, but may we be attentive that what is done is done out of love of God with love attention to the particular people we already know and will meet as we follow God's leading as a congregation.
Announcements:
Laura our priest and her family are moving as construction begins in earnest on their home. There is a packing party this Saturday.
The Pulse:Africa is this Saturday June 28th at the 1 Pm at the Brixon Ivy Community Center Theater 2 blocks east of Wrigley feild on Addison. Featuring Watoto Children's Choir from Uganda and the Labco Dance Company of Pitsburg. 1 PM, $10.00.
Melissa Browning is preaching again this Sunday, June 29th.
Thursday July 10th we are having a potluck supper at Will and Chrissy's house 3106 W Carmen Ave at 7 PM.
It will be a time to hang out together and briefly hear about our opportunity to partner with North Shore Baptist Church as they have been connected with a church in the lower 9th Ward of New Orleans through the organization Churches Supporting Churches.
Sunday July 13th we are at the Clark Street Festival, see the sign up sheet that has been sent around or talk with Daniel or Kate about signing up to staff the booth. We will have our regular service at 5 PM and be leaving the Festival in time for church that evening.
August 23rd and 24th we will have a booth at the Glenwood Arts Festival in Rogers Park. We are looking for artists of all media to contribute. Talk with Larry about showing your art. Talk with Daniel and Kate about staffing the booth when we get closer to the festival.
Pastors vacations: Larry will be taking a week vacation between July 21 and 27. Laura will on a weekend tripp the weekend of July 20 th and then be away on vacation from August 24th through August 30th.
We are planning a panel discussion on homelessness on September 11th. Talk with Jeremy or attend the next meeting of the Social Action Committee if you are interested in helping plan this event.
In Christ,
Larry
The Pastoral Team
The Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler
Announcements:
Laura our priest and her family are moving as construction begins in earnest on their home. There is a packing party this Saturday.
The Pulse:Africa is this Saturday June 28th at the 1 Pm at the Brixon Ivy Community Center Theater 2 blocks east of Wrigley feild on Addison. Featuring Watoto Children's Choir from Uganda and the Labco Dance Company of Pitsburg. 1 PM, $10.00.
Melissa Browning is preaching again this Sunday, June 29th.
Thursday July 10th we are having a potluck supper at Will and Chrissy's house 3106 W Carmen Ave at 7 PM.
It will be a time to hang out together and briefly hear about our opportunity to partner with North Shore Baptist Church as they have been connected with a church in the lower 9th Ward of New Orleans through the organization Churches Supporting Churches.
Sunday July 13th we are at the Clark Street Festival, see the sign up sheet that has been sent around or talk with Daniel or Kate about signing up to staff the booth. We will have our regular service at 5 PM and be leaving the Festival in time for church that evening.
August 23rd and 24th we will have a booth at the Glenwood Arts Festival in Rogers Park. We are looking for artists of all media to contribute. Talk with Larry about showing your art. Talk with Daniel and Kate about staffing the booth when we get closer to the festival.
Pastors vacations: Larry will be taking a week vacation between July 21 and 27. Laura will on a weekend tripp the weekend of July 20 th and then be away on vacation from August 24th through August 30th.
We are planning a panel discussion on homelessness on September 11th. Talk with Jeremy or attend the next meeting of the Social Action Committee if you are interested in helping plan this event.
In Christ,
Larry
The Pastoral Team
The Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler
Sunday, June 15
Reconciler Update for June 15, 2008
"Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good....For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body..." 1 Cor. 12: 4-11
+++ REFLECTION +++
Dear Friends,
There have been a few things recently I feel particularly excited about -- that I think speak to our health as a religious community and areas in which we are growing.
One is the recent Fair Trade event, sponsored by our Social Justice Committee. For this event, the committee got together a group of three panelists, one a Loyola professor, the other a fair trade worker from Ethiopia, and the third a member of Chicago Fair Trade.
Each of the panelists spoke convincingly and compellingly -- in his/her own unique voice -- about the need for fair trade. I appreciated the opportunity to buy and sample fair trade goods. The hand-out packet listing venues that sell fairly traded goods will be very helpful. I liked the combination of in-depth background information and specific suggestions for action steps. Members of the audience had thoughtful questions and comments. Several expressed interest in worshipping with us. The hospitality was a nice touch (wicked good chocolate chip cookies there).
Another significant piece was that the Reconciler laypeople who organized this event were demonstrating the priesthood of all believers. Ministry is not just for ordained people or professional clergy, it's something for every member of the church, to the degree to which they feel called and capable. Clergy serve as representative leaders, icons if you will. Ordained ministry represents a specific level of commitment and training. But clergy do not have -- and are not meant to have -- a monopoly on ministry, which belongs to all the people of God. Paul talks in 1st Corinthians 12 about the variety of spiritual gifts, and likens church members to parts of a body which united is greater than the sum of its parts. We worked on this passage together on our retreat in December, when we identified areas in which we as a church wanted to grow.
In seminaries and churches there is much talk about every-member ministry and the need for lay people to be actively engaged and empowered, but often this is more talked about than lived out. I am glad to see Reconciler showing health and growth in this area, as demonstated by the Fair Trade event and the harmonious work of our search committee for a new Baptist pastor.
Another exciting new development is our invitation to explore a partnership with North Shore church, a Baptist church in our neighborhood, that is seeking to assist a church in New Orleans with its re-building efforts. To that end, North Shore is planning several mission trips to New Orleans. Larry and I attended an exploratory meeting last week at North Shore, with members of other Chicago-area churches.
Another thing I'm excited about is a conference on the emerging church, sponsored by the Episcopal diocese of Chicago, which I recently attended. Reconciler demonstrates many earmarks of the emerging church movement, including a merging of old and new traditions, an emphasis on community and relationality as exemplified by the Trinity, a concern for social justice, a general "thinking outside the box." And again, an understanding of the church as the body of Christ, a la Paul. Our new bishop, Jeffrey Lee, is supportive of innovative ways of being and doing church, and expressed enthusiasm for follow-up conversation and a visit to Reconciler. I found the emerging church conference exciting, heartening, and instructive, and will be excited to share more with you about it in the days to come.
Yours in Christ,
Laura+
for The Pastoral Team
The Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler
+++ ANNOUNCEMENTS +++
Melissa Browning, our candidate for the Interim Baptist pastor position, will be preaching today at our 5:00 p.m. worship service.
The Pulse: A Gathering for Christian Artists, is having a special event on Saturday June 28th, 1 PM at the Brixen Ivy Community Center 1242 West Addison. The event will be featuring the Labco Dance Company and the Matoto Children's Choir.
Pastor Laura and her family are in the process of moving. She is inviting the Reconciler congregation to a "P" party at her home: Pizza and Packing with Pastor. Date to be announced soon.
We will have a booth at the Clark Street Festival on Sunday July 13th. Talk with Kate or Daniel if you'd like to help set up, take down, and/or take a shift staffing the booth. It's fun! and good outreach to the community.
Reconciler's next church council meeting will be next Thursday June 19th, 7:30 PM at the 'Nidge. All are welcome to attend.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++ REFLECTION +++
Dear Friends,
There have been a few things recently I feel particularly excited about -- that I think speak to our health as a religious community and areas in which we are growing.
One is the recent Fair Trade event, sponsored by our Social Justice Committee. For this event, the committee got together a group of three panelists, one a Loyola professor, the other a fair trade worker from Ethiopia, and the third a member of Chicago Fair Trade.
Each of the panelists spoke convincingly and compellingly -- in his/her own unique voice -- about the need for fair trade. I appreciated the opportunity to buy and sample fair trade goods. The hand-out packet listing venues that sell fairly traded goods will be very helpful. I liked the combination of in-depth background information and specific suggestions for action steps. Members of the audience had thoughtful questions and comments. Several expressed interest in worshipping with us. The hospitality was a nice touch (wicked good chocolate chip cookies there).
Another significant piece was that the Reconciler laypeople who organized this event were demonstrating the priesthood of all believers. Ministry is not just for ordained people or professional clergy, it's something for every member of the church, to the degree to which they feel called and capable. Clergy serve as representative leaders, icons if you will. Ordained ministry represents a specific level of commitment and training. But clergy do not have -- and are not meant to have -- a monopoly on ministry, which belongs to all the people of God. Paul talks in 1st Corinthians 12 about the variety of spiritual gifts, and likens church members to parts of a body which united is greater than the sum of its parts. We worked on this passage together on our retreat in December, when we identified areas in which we as a church wanted to grow.
In seminaries and churches there is much talk about every-member ministry and the need for lay people to be actively engaged and empowered, but often this is more talked about than lived out. I am glad to see Reconciler showing health and growth in this area, as demonstated by the Fair Trade event and the harmonious work of our search committee for a new Baptist pastor.
Another exciting new development is our invitation to explore a partnership with North Shore church, a Baptist church in our neighborhood, that is seeking to assist a church in New Orleans with its re-building efforts. To that end, North Shore is planning several mission trips to New Orleans. Larry and I attended an exploratory meeting last week at North Shore, with members of other Chicago-area churches.
Another thing I'm excited about is a conference on the emerging church, sponsored by the Episcopal diocese of Chicago, which I recently attended. Reconciler demonstrates many earmarks of the emerging church movement, including a merging of old and new traditions, an emphasis on community and relationality as exemplified by the Trinity, a concern for social justice, a general "thinking outside the box." And again, an understanding of the church as the body of Christ, a la Paul. Our new bishop, Jeffrey Lee, is supportive of innovative ways of being and doing church, and expressed enthusiasm for follow-up conversation and a visit to Reconciler. I found the emerging church conference exciting, heartening, and instructive, and will be excited to share more with you about it in the days to come.
Yours in Christ,
Laura+
for The Pastoral Team
The Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler
+++ ANNOUNCEMENTS +++
Melissa Browning, our candidate for the Interim Baptist pastor position, will be preaching today at our 5:00 p.m. worship service.
The Pulse: A Gathering for Christian Artists, is having a special event on Saturday June 28th, 1 PM at the Brixen Ivy Community Center 1242 West Addison. The event will be featuring the Labco Dance Company and the Matoto Children's Choir.
Pastor Laura and her family are in the process of moving. She is inviting the Reconciler congregation to a "P" party at her home: Pizza and Packing with Pastor. Date to be announced soon.
We will have a booth at the Clark Street Festival on Sunday July 13th. Talk with Kate or Daniel if you'd like to help set up, take down, and/or take a shift staffing the booth. It's fun! and good outreach to the community.
Reconciler's next church council meeting will be next Thursday June 19th, 7:30 PM at the 'Nidge. All are welcome to attend.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Friday, May 16
Reconciler Update
This Sunday we celebrate God's self-revelation as Trinity. Trinity Sunday Marks our moving into the Season after Pentecost or Ordinary Time. We have walked through once again the seasons and feasts that mark God's saving acts in Jesus Christ, that make possible our return to the relationship and relationships God created us to have and which apart from God and Christ we cannot achieve. This relationship is to enter the communion and relation of the Holy Trinity. Having Celebrated the feasts of the Gospel, and spent time in fasting and reflection and repentance we now move into a time of living out the Gospel. As we journey through the long season of Ordinary time we are called to live out life in communion with God who is a community of three persons and to allow ourselves to be brought into that community ever more in our daily lives, and our innermost attitudes. The Scriptures we will hear over this long season will address this aspect of the life of faith, and what it means to be a follower and disciple of Christ and member of the church, Christ's body. The season is green, symbol of growth and abundant eternal life which we have and are offered in Jesus Christ. May we find ways to grow and deepen our knowledge of the Love of God who is a community of three persons, Father Son and Holy Spirit.
Announcements:
This Sunday Jorge Sanchez will be preaching again.
The council met this week and decided to have a week of response to the recent tragdies in Burma and China. There are two ways the council is encouraging us as a congregation to respond as a people of faith. First we will have a week for prayer and fasting. We encourage each of us to choose one day to spend in fasting and prayer for the softening of the hearts of the Military leaders of Burma who are preventing aid to come into the country and allocated to the people in need and to simply lift up in prayer all those who are suffering from such great loss in both countries. Second we are collecting means for contributing financially through Episcopal, Covenant and Baptist channels. You will be receiving information about how to make contributions through each denominations aid agencies.
The Search committee will be meeting this week Wednesday the 21st at the 'Nidge, 7:30 PM.
The search committee recommended and the Council agreed to consider a candidate for an interim Baptist Pastor. The search committee is focusing interviewing and presenting this candidate who will be considered in the coming month. More information will follow soon.
Thursday June 5th our Social Action Committee is sponsoring a panel discussion on Fair trade from 7-9PM in Immanuel Lutheran Church's Sanctuary.
We are preparing to take part in two neighborhood summer Festivals. The first is the Clark Street Festival Sunday July 13th, the second is August 23rd and 24th at the Glenwood Arts Festival. Soon you will be receiving communication about helping staff the Clark Street Festival and for setting up and taking down. If you'd like have your art in the booth for the Glenwood Arts Festive please talk with Larry.
In Christ,
Larry
Announcements:
This Sunday Jorge Sanchez will be preaching again.
The council met this week and decided to have a week of response to the recent tragdies in Burma and China. There are two ways the council is encouraging us as a congregation to respond as a people of faith. First we will have a week for prayer and fasting. We encourage each of us to choose one day to spend in fasting and prayer for the softening of the hearts of the Military leaders of Burma who are preventing aid to come into the country and allocated to the people in need and to simply lift up in prayer all those who are suffering from such great loss in both countries. Second we are collecting means for contributing financially through Episcopal, Covenant and Baptist channels. You will be receiving information about how to make contributions through each denominations aid agencies.
The Search committee will be meeting this week Wednesday the 21st at the 'Nidge, 7:30 PM.
The search committee recommended and the Council agreed to consider a candidate for an interim Baptist Pastor. The search committee is focusing interviewing and presenting this candidate who will be considered in the coming month. More information will follow soon.
Thursday June 5th our Social Action Committee is sponsoring a panel discussion on Fair trade from 7-9PM in Immanuel Lutheran Church's Sanctuary.
We are preparing to take part in two neighborhood summer Festivals. The first is the Clark Street Festival Sunday July 13th, the second is August 23rd and 24th at the Glenwood Arts Festival. Soon you will be receiving communication about helping staff the Clark Street Festival and for setting up and taking down. If you'd like have your art in the booth for the Glenwood Arts Festive please talk with Larry.
In Christ,
Larry
Sunday, May 11
Reconciler Update
REFLECTION
Dear Friends in Christ,
Today we celebrate Pentecost, the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles and the birth of the Christian church. It is also, coincidentally, Mother's Day. I find myself wondering...what might Pentecost and Mother's Day have in common?
Thursday was the feast day of Julian of Norwich, a 14th-century English nun and mystic. Julian lived in tumultuous times, experiencing the death of a king and archbishop, the Black Plague raging through Europe, the 100 years war between England and France. She had a near-death experience at the age of 30.
Julian experienced several revelations from Christ, which you can read about in her book Showings. She speaks of Jesus, among other things, as "Mother." For Julian, Jesus is the good mother who cares for us with infinite tenderness.
Understanding Christ as a good mother goes back to Augustine and other church fathers. It is not radical -- unless you understand "radical" in its literal sense of "getting back to the roots." Jesus himself says in Scripture "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem... how often have I longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings!" (Luke 13:34)
Despite the presence of female leaders, the early Church -- born on Pentecost -- later lost much of its egalitarian flavor, probably because it needed to survive in the very stratified Roman world. Historically the church has been a largely male defined and dominated institution Some find it helpful, as a counterbalance, to recall the qualities that transcend gender -- in Christ, God, and Holy Spirit. One Episcopal church that Numa and I used to attend spoke of the Holy Spirit as "She." The Hebrew word for spirit or breath, ruah, is feminine. Its Greek counterpart, pneuma, is neuter.
Last Sunday I was asked to speak to Immanuel's adult ed forum about "The Changing Role of Women in the Church,'" specifically about the journey of women toward ordination in the Episcopal church. One of the first women to be ordained an Episcopal priest, back in 1974, was Dr. Alla Bozarth-Campbell, a graduate of Seabury and Northwestern. She writes of her struggle for ordination in a book called Womanpriest. Bozarth-Campbell objected to the argument that women should be ordained because they bring "women's" qualities -- gentleness, nurturing, caring. In fact, these are human qualities. Male ministers also exhibit these qualities. The point is that women bring "human" qualities to ministry: leadership and rationality as well as warmth and cooperation. Bozarth-Campbell rejects a shallow breakdown of human qualities into "male" and "female." The idea behind women's ordination is to allow all persons to bring their human qualities to ministry, thus enhancing ministry, and allowing the minister to be a whole person.
We see in Scripture a God capable of wholistic behavior, who exhibits both "male" and "female" qualities -- love and wrath, strength and tenderness. We see those qualities also in Christ, the compassionate healer and the angry table-turner. We see a Holy Spirit that is both urgent as a flame and gentle as a dove.
Jesus refers to God in Scripture as "Abba" or "Daddy." Many people find this a compelling reason to continue to call God "Father." But other people, ordained and lay, find it helpful to understand God as beyond gender. They may feel comfortable calling God "Mother" as well as "Father," or understanding the Holy Spirit as feminine. They may find refreshment in Julian of Norwich's idea of Christ as the Good Mother.
The point is not simple political correctness, nor to try to re-make God in female image. The point is that Genesis tells us God created both man and woman in God's image. Thus there must be something of the female, as well as the male, in God.
Bozarth-Campbell and many others are concerned that women are left out of the Church through exclusive language -- only male pronouns for the Trinity, mostly male characters in Scripture -- and how that can contribute to women feeling invisible or powerless in church settings and beyond.
I hope this Pentecost/Mother's Day you will feel included as a full member of the Body of Christ -- no matter your gender identity -- and know that Christ lived and died for love of you and all humanity, as he told Julian of Norwich. May you feel that the Holy Spirit lives and breathes in you.
Peace,
Laura+
The Rev. Laura Gottardi-Littell
for the Pastoral Team
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Today, after our Pentecost liturgy, we will have cake and champagne to celebrate the birth of the church as recorded in Acts 2:1.
Our next Council meeting is May 15 at 7:30 p.m. at the 'Nidge. All are welcome.
The Social Justice committee will host a panel of speakers on Fair Trade on Thursday, June 5th, in the sanctuary of Immanuel Lutheran Church. Mark your calendars.
Reconciler will again be participating in the Glenwood Arts Festival (and possibly the Clark Street Festival). Speak to Larry if you are interested in displaying your art. Speak to Kate or Daniel if you are interested in helping set up, staff, or break down our booth.
Jorge Sanchez will be our guest preacher on May 18, Trinity Sunday.
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Dear Friends in Christ,
Today we celebrate Pentecost, the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles and the birth of the Christian church. It is also, coincidentally, Mother's Day. I find myself wondering...what might Pentecost and Mother's Day have in common?
Thursday was the feast day of Julian of Norwich, a 14th-century English nun and mystic. Julian lived in tumultuous times, experiencing the death of a king and archbishop, the Black Plague raging through Europe, the 100 years war between England and France. She had a near-death experience at the age of 30.
Julian experienced several revelations from Christ, which you can read about in her book Showings. She speaks of Jesus, among other things, as "Mother." For Julian, Jesus is the good mother who cares for us with infinite tenderness.
Understanding Christ as a good mother goes back to Augustine and other church fathers. It is not radical -- unless you understand "radical" in its literal sense of "getting back to the roots." Jesus himself says in Scripture "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem... how often have I longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings!" (Luke 13:34)
Despite the presence of female leaders, the early Church -- born on Pentecost -- later lost much of its egalitarian flavor, probably because it needed to survive in the very stratified Roman world. Historically the church has been a largely male defined and dominated institution Some find it helpful, as a counterbalance, to recall the qualities that transcend gender -- in Christ, God, and Holy Spirit. One Episcopal church that Numa and I used to attend spoke of the Holy Spirit as "She." The Hebrew word for spirit or breath, ruah, is feminine. Its Greek counterpart, pneuma, is neuter.
Last Sunday I was asked to speak to Immanuel's adult ed forum about "The Changing Role of Women in the Church,'" specifically about the journey of women toward ordination in the Episcopal church. One of the first women to be ordained an Episcopal priest, back in 1974, was Dr. Alla Bozarth-Campbell, a graduate of Seabury and Northwestern. She writes of her struggle for ordination in a book called Womanpriest. Bozarth-Campbell objected to the argument that women should be ordained because they bring "women's" qualities -- gentleness, nurturing, caring. In fact, these are human qualities. Male ministers also exhibit these qualities. The point is that women bring "human" qualities to ministry: leadership and rationality as well as warmth and cooperation. Bozarth-Campbell rejects a shallow breakdown of human qualities into "male" and "female." The idea behind women's ordination is to allow all persons to bring their human qualities to ministry, thus enhancing ministry, and allowing the minister to be a whole person.
We see in Scripture a God capable of wholistic behavior, who exhibits both "male" and "female" qualities -- love and wrath, strength and tenderness. We see those qualities also in Christ, the compassionate healer and the angry table-turner. We see a Holy Spirit that is both urgent as a flame and gentle as a dove.
Jesus refers to God in Scripture as "Abba" or "Daddy." Many people find this a compelling reason to continue to call God "Father." But other people, ordained and lay, find it helpful to understand God as beyond gender. They may feel comfortable calling God "Mother" as well as "Father," or understanding the Holy Spirit as feminine. They may find refreshment in Julian of Norwich's idea of Christ as the Good Mother.
The point is not simple political correctness, nor to try to re-make God in female image. The point is that Genesis tells us God created both man and woman in God's image. Thus there must be something of the female, as well as the male, in God.
Bozarth-Campbell and many others are concerned that women are left out of the Church through exclusive language -- only male pronouns for the Trinity, mostly male characters in Scripture -- and how that can contribute to women feeling invisible or powerless in church settings and beyond.
I hope this Pentecost/Mother's Day you will feel included as a full member of the Body of Christ -- no matter your gender identity -- and know that Christ lived and died for love of you and all humanity, as he told Julian of Norwich. May you feel that the Holy Spirit lives and breathes in you.
Peace,
Laura+
The Rev. Laura Gottardi-Littell
for the Pastoral Team
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Today, after our Pentecost liturgy, we will have cake and champagne to celebrate the birth of the church as recorded in Acts 2:1.
Our next Council meeting is May 15 at 7:30 p.m. at the 'Nidge. All are welcome.
The Social Justice committee will host a panel of speakers on Fair Trade on Thursday, June 5th, in the sanctuary of Immanuel Lutheran Church. Mark your calendars.
Reconciler will again be participating in the Glenwood Arts Festival (and possibly the Clark Street Festival). Speak to Larry if you are interested in displaying your art. Speak to Kate or Daniel if you are interested in helping set up, staff, or break down our booth.
Jorge Sanchez will be our guest preacher on May 18, Trinity Sunday.
+++
Thursday, March 27
Reconciler Update
"Our compassionate efforts toward justice guarantee a deepened faith and prayer life. They will lead us to disciplines of the spirit and of the heart. By engaging with suffering, we learn true joy. By touching despair, we discover what it means to embrace hope. By coming to know Christ crucified, we participate in his resurrection. By pouring ourselves out, we gain our lives."
Joyce Hollyday, "Then Shall Your Light Rise."
+++
Happy Easter!
Larry and I met for our Pastoral Team meeting Wednesday and I said to him: "It *feels* like a whole new season!" and he said: "It is! So that works out." and we laughed.
I like it when I register change internally as well as externally, when I feel in synch with the revolving seasons of the church and/or nature. The calendar says it's spring, but hmm....another snowstorm yesterday. The liturgical calendar says the Easter season has begun, and that it has. He is risen! (even if the flowers aren't).
Holy Week was a remarkable experience at Immanuel this year, as it usually is. All of the services of the Triduum, The Great Three Days, were markedly different from one another, each one uniquely beautiful. On Maundy Thursday we followed Jesus's commandment that his disciples wash one another's feet, as he washed theirs, and his institution of communion in asking his disciples to eat bread and drink wine together in remembrance of him. It was a joyful service that ended on a solemn note as we stripped the altar of its furnishings. On Good Friday we remembered Jesus's passion and death in a darker service. We brought our brokenness and desire for wholeness to the cross, and strove to see it as tree of life as well as place of death, knowing that new life comes from what is passing away. At the Easter Vigil, we heard stories of salvation, the Scripture stories that are part of our heritage as Christians: the Creation, Noah's ark, the Exodus,and others. We danced our way to the baptismal font, where we remembered our own baptisms, then danced into the sanctuary, bright and bedecked with lilies -- we sang and clapped and the place rang out with Alleluias. When it was all over there was a champagne reception and teenagers from Sweden singing gospel music in Swedish and English. People ate right in the sanctuary. (This is not your parents' church!) :-) The entire evening was a feast for the senses. On Easter Sunday, the place was packed. It was a very joyful and festive morning, with trumpets and communion and a sermon about rolling away the stones in our own hearts. It was a marvelous four days.
One of the joys of doing these shared worship services with Immanuel and St. Elias -- the other two congregations with whom we share space -- is having people of different traditions and backgrounds come together harmoniously. Children were welcomed as worshippers and participants in the services. Lessons were read in Arabic. People of all ages served at the altar and were present in the congregation. There was diversity of gender and ethnicity and orientation.
One of our joys and challenges, as followers of Christ, is to remember Jesus' openness to the foreigner and the outsider, and to have that same spirit of inclusivity within us. As human beings we often tend to gravitate toward our own kind, those we perceive as like us. And yet Christ continually went beyond the boundaries of his own kind to reach out to the Samaritan woman at the well, the Syro-Phonecian woman who asked him to heal her daughter, the leper, the blind, the lame. As we at Reconciler experience growth and prepare to start a Search Committee for a new Baptist pastor, we do well to keep in our minds and hearts that same openness, and the knowlege that if we are to grow we have to be open to change and difference. All churches struggle with simultaneously wanting to grow and wanting to stay the same, and we are no exception. It's comfortable to see the same faces each week, even while we feel excited about, and hospitable toward, newcomers.
In this season of Easter, let's remember that Christ came for everyone, not only his own, and strive to embrace that spirit of inclusive love for which he lived and died and lived again.
Alleulua, Christ is Risen!
Laura+
The Rev. Laura Gottardi-Littell
The Pastoral Team
The Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler
Announcements:
Laura will be out of town March 29 through April 7. Please contact Larry for pastoral care and emergencies.
The Rev. Jacki Belile will be our guest Baptist preacher on March 30.
Also, on March 30 from 1:30 - 4:30 p.m. Melissa and Wes Browning will host a benefit at their home for Amani, the women's sewing co-op in Kenya with which they have worked. Kenyan coffee, tea, and treats will be served, and there will be wonderful items for sale (clothing, handcrafts) to directly benefit this organization that fosters positive change in the lives of Kenyan families.
On April 15, Laura, Larry, Monte, and Gabi -- the four pastors on the Immanuel "Campus of Discipleship" -- will be speaking at the National Workshop on Christian Unity, about our experiences of being three congregations sharing and working together in an ecumenical context.
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