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.

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

Last night we had a good time at the Swanson's for a BBQ potluck supper. We watched the video put out Churches Supporting Churches the organization North Shore Baptist Church is working with as it joins in a partnership with a church, New Home Baptist Church in the 9th Ward of New Orleans. Following the video we had a good discussion, and those of us present concluded it was a good thing to continue to explore.

Some points were raised in the discussion that I think were separate from Churches Supporting Churches and the possibility of partnering with North Shore. What follows is what I was hearing about our identity and what we want to be involved with, the order of this list is has no meaning in terms of importance or logical sequence. What do we have the energy and resources to do as a small congregation? Do we know what we want to do? What are we about? As an ecumenical congregation are there points of theology or stances of other congregations or churches that would prevent us from partnering or working with them? Does our character as an Ecumenical congregation effect what we do and how we do it. How many people from our small congregation need to be involved in something for us to claim we are committed to it as a congregation? What are our current involvement and commitments and how does that limit or determine what we should do. Should we take on at this point in time new commitments/projects?

I think these are good questions to ask and to together find some answers. I encourage us all to be thinking about these things and talking about these things with each other. To facilitate this I'd like to take a moment describe what we have done we are doing and point us to our vision documents that tell us who we are and would like to be. While our vision documents were written before most of you came they in the least have lead us to where we are at now and should help us get clear on who we are and what we are about. Our vision statements (http://christreconciler.blogspot.com/2006/02/church-of-jesus-christ-reconciler.html, http://christreconciler.blogspot.com/2006/02/our-vision.html , if you'd like hard copies of these let the pastoral team know.) put our Ecumenical character and our worship as the central and main characteristic of Reconciler. In this we are seeking to witness to the broad historic faith of the whole Church as well as living in three particular traditions of the Faith. This does not exclude being involved in various types of advocacy, or relief and charity, or actively seeking to redress injustices, but it does place these things in context of worship that reflects and proclaims the faith once delivered tot he saints in our time. This I think is reflected in what we do. Our most consistent activity is our worship on Sundays, and our joint worship services with Immanuel and St. Elias. From the stand point of our vision statements the work of the social Action committee or the church council (and all else we do) should come out of our worship together around word and table.

Over time We have been involved in various things. The social action committee has attempted various things: encouraged members to volunteer with the Centro Romero here in Edgewatter which some of us did for a time, and few may still do on occasion. We had a drive for kitchen utensils for Sarah's circle in which we partnered with North Shore Baptist Church and Community Church of Wilmette, we took part in the Jubilee USA grassroots conference and took part in some of their writing campaigns to congressional representatives seeking to expand debt relief. We had a Christian formation series with Immanuel on Interfaith relations with Islam and Judaism. We have had bible studies on various topics. We have had a panel discussion on Fair Trade. We have had booths at two Chicago Summer neighborhood festivals. Through are pastoral team we are members of Edgewater Religious Community Association, which supports and advises a food pantry, Care for Real, and Eppworth Homeless shelter for men. Also through the pastoral team we were present with Immanuel at the Organization of the Northeast conference and a prayer vigil to urge Alderwoman Mary Ann Smith to take seriously the community proposal for Senn High school. We have a yearly congregational retreat. We have occasional gatherings either planed by individual or by the church council for fellowship together; potlucks, breakfasts, going for supper after church.

I think the above list if not exhaustive give us a good idea of where our energies have gone and do go. In writing all that down there is a sense that this is a large variety of things without an obvious specific central idea guiding it. Unless the multiplicity genuinely reflects our desire to have our life together focused on our worship seeking to come from our worship to proclaim the faith as an ecumenical and diverse congregation this diversity may be misplaced. There are advantages and disadvantages to this variety of activity: As an ecumenical congregation we can engage a variety of organizations and causes across various distinctions and divisions, seek live out our life ecumenically working with an ecumenical organization like ECRA and its related organizations. Our members can be involved in a variety of things and we can say that these are things that Reconciler is about. The disadvantage is that it can have a lack of focus and it may be difficult to see how these various things fit into our ecumenical character and the centrality of our worship. Also, in the above there may be to much reliance on our Sunday evening gathering for worship and we may want to ask ourselves if we need more than just a yearly retreat as a congregation to help us deepen our faith and help us make the connection between our worship and how we are going out and living out and proclaiming our faith in deed and word. We may need to give some attention of our spiritual lives together that can help us grow together and deepen our engagement with our worship.

My hope is that this can stimulate some discussion amongst ourselves and help us get clear about who we are and what we want to be about (given our vision as it stand it could be multiple things that only a few of us are involved in supported by all of us, or we could choose to focus ourselves for a time). I hope as we come together on Sundays, or at festivals or social gatherings over the next couple of months that we would attempt to think together about these things and be able to come to the church council with questions or suggestions and gain clarity about who we are as a congregation and how we want to continue to grow in Christ and our faith and life together.

Announcements:
Our Council meets next Thursday July 17th 7:30 PM at the 'Nidge. All are welcome to attend and bring things to discuss.

This 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.

Jorge Sanchez is preaching this Sunday July 13th.

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 trip 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 planning the panel.

In Christ,
Larry

The Pastoral Team

Our vision

Church of Jesus Christ Reconciler is an ecumenical congregation. In calling ourselves an ecumenical congregation, we are seeking to invite and welcome all to Jesus Christ who reconciles us to God and each other. Practically speaking, ecumenical means that three denominations are officially represented through our three pastors and our official affiliation as a congregation. To be ecumenical is to recognize difference while seeking to be bound together by a common relationship to God in and through Jesus Christ. Because of this belief the central activity is our worship of God, focused on hearing God’s word and celebrating communion. In the rite of communion we encounter Jesus Christ in the common objects of bread and wine, also known as the Eucharist.

▲ We come to the Eucharist together from various places seeking the reconciliation of those differences that divide us from each other from ourselves and from God. It is our belief that it is only in relation to Jesus Christ that the differences that threaten to divide us can be reconciled and unified.

▲ All of this leads us to desire to be a place of healing and welcoming love – where through seeking the unity and reconciliation offered and promised by Christ all may find themselves reconciled to God, in love and hope – joining with all the archangels and saints, worshiping our God and Savior Jesus Christ together in the unity of the Spirit.

Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler Vision Statement

Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler is an ecumenical congregation seeking to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ and live together as one body of Christians coming mainly from and in continued connection with the Episcopal Church, the American Baptist Churches and the Evangelical Covenant Church. We seek to be a welcoming congregation, recognizing the differences while seeking to manifest the unity of the church of Christ. Through bringing together the above three traditions we seek to be true to the faith once delivered to the saints and passed down and developed through time form Jesus and the apostles. We wish to honor, affirm and instruct new believers and committed Christians in the breadth and depth of the faith as found in our three traditions and the universal church.

We are taking the spirit of ecumenism and the discipline of Christian humility to heart in this congregation on the north side of Chicago, where we celebrate and uphold these traditions as rich and true collection of human understanding and experience of God’s redemptive work through Jesus Christ and the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, believing that only as living as one can these traditions fully and powerfully give witness to Christ and the Gospel.

We do not expect that this congregation will single-handedly effect Christian unity nor total reconciliation of our differences: denominational, class, cultural, ethnic or racial. Rather we come together weekly; around word and table seeking God in Christ as we worship together, hearing God’s Word, prayer, confession and being joined with Christ in the bread and wine of Communion. We do this acknowledging that it is only in Jesus Christ and being formed in him and transformed by faith baptism and Eucharist that there is any true reconciliation.

It is in worship – word and table – where we are invited to lay aside what divides and are joined together as the one body of Christ.

We affirm and seek the unity we are called to by Christ, following in the steps of Christians who have joined together in various ecumenical efforts and documents. Seeing these ecumenical vision as a mandate in full accord with the teach of Scripture to live in unity; with respect for our diversity (1 Cor. 12), we aim to live out these documents at the grassroots as a single congregation, weaving together as a community of faith the spiritual traditions of our three denominations and of the tradition older than ours.

Why this vision is important for the proclamation of the Gospel?

There are various indicators that the witness of our denominations, while faithful, is impaired by our separation. On the one hand, many looking to choose a “home” congregation no longer feel any pull of denominational loyalty in doing so. Others feel alienated by the necessary demands of loyalty to a particular denominational expression of Christian faith, having experienced each denomination on its own as only a partial expression of Christian faith. For those outside the faith, the lack of agreement and unity between Christian denominations is a stumbling block, allowing for easy dismissal of the truths of the Gospel. Thus we hope by living as a single community of faith from differing traditions that we will more effectively witness to Christ and proclaim the Gospel, as affirmed in the Apostle’s and Nicene Creeds.

Our worship together offers to those outside and on the periphery of the faith an example of the reconciling work of Christ, which creates the one church out of many – united as one body with many members, serving not only our particular identities but the identity of Christ our head.

We recognize this will present challenges for our denominations and ourselves. We hope to meet these challenges through worship and commitment to on going catechesis and Christian formation. We commit to teaching and sharing not only the beliefs and practices of each tradition but also showing how these traditions give witness to the one faith of the Church. The foundational element is the formation of Christian identity centered on the sacraments of baptism and Eucharist and the proclamation of the Word of God.

We see those who desire reconciliation between Christian traditions at the congregational level, those who are wounded by patterns of self-righteous exclusivity, post-Christian spiritual seekers, artists and members of other urban subcultures to be drawn to this congregation and are those we seek to reach.

We then see this ecumenical congregation as a proclamation of the universal body of Christ—the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church as a concrete spiritual reality. We want to be an example of how we can be reconciled one to another not just as individuals but also as institutions. This we hope will be a sign and beacon of the reconciling work of God in Christ through the Cross. As such we hope to draw those who find Christ hidden by the disunity of Christians and our various claims to be church, that all may find reconciliation offered them in Christ Jesus.