Service Recap; October 23

Sermon Recap

This Sunday, Tony Campbell offered us a sermon titled, "Service thru Hope; Hope thru Service." Tony is the associate General Secretary for the Reformed Church in America. He has pastored churches in South Carolina, Houston, and Washington, DC. He worked for Colin Powell during George W. Bush's presidency. And the night prior to joining us for worship, he was returning from a trip to England where he meet with the Archbishop of Canterbury and worked with members of the United States State Department to discuss how religious leaders can promote peace. It was a joy to welcome him!

Rev. Campbell's sermon moved thoughtfully from story to story exploring both the incredible lows of the human experience and the improbable highs that are a result of the hope that we have in the God that can create life out of death. Rev. Campbell told personal stories about family's he had walked with in the throes of grief, and how the ultimate hope of Jesus as the resurrection and the life gave them courage to move forward.

He encouraged us to live lives of service-and suggested that it was in serving others that we experience the hope of Christ. He told stories of people who, at their lowest moments, had chosen to find someone else to serve. In their serving others, they found hope. This is a model for the church as well. When we focus on ourselves and live insular lives, we find ourselves dragging, fearful, and without hope. But when we look at what we can give and choose to live lives of generous service, we experience the hope of Christ. 

Prayer

We pray for all those in our church and our world who struggle with depression and anxiety. We pray that your loving presence would provide comfort and lift spirits. We pray that you would help all those struggling to find the support networks and treatments that can help them live well and enjoy life.
God please hear the cries of the innocents in Syria and other war torn parts of the world. Please pour out your Holy Spirit so that violence will cease to consume the lives of so many. Please make your church faithful to work within every avenue we have available to us to foster the things that make for peace.
Almighty God, we give you thanks for the global and local mission teams from the Reformed Church in America.  In all the ways we reach out as a denomination to those hungry for the gospel we give thanks. From creative localpartnerships to the partners around the globe we ask that your Holy Spirit would continue to move us as a collection of churches to embrace your mission and seek the hurting and lost in the world.  

O Christ Jesus, who reveals God's desire to bless and care for the world, we pray that your Holy Spirit would stir up our hearts to desire peace and reconciliation with loved ones and enemies alike.

Amen

Announcements

• This Sunday after service, Nettelhorst Elementary School is hosting a fun Halloween themed event. Kids from Grace are welcome to participate. We will provide a light lunch so that kids can stick around for the fun.
• There is NO Men's Meetup this Thursday!
• Each week at Grace we pray for "The Prayers of the People." You can submit a prayer to the leadership either to be prayed for privately or for the entire church to lift up on Sundays. Simply send your request to: prayers@gracechicago.com.
• RSVP for our lecture series on November 5th. Dr. Kristen Johnson will be with us and will help us think through the cross sections

Service Recap; October 16

Sermon Recap

Jacob is alone.

It is dark and he is tired. He is nervous because tomorrow, he will meet his brother for the first time in 30 years and he doesn’t know what to expect. He is sitting on the banks of a river when a man attacks him. They fight one another for hours until the dawn starts to break. Then the man who has been Jacob’s equal all night, simply touches his side and Jacob feels his hip move in a way it never has. Pain runs down his side. He looks up at the man and realizes in this moment that he is not wrestling with a mercenary sent by his brother or another man he has wronged. The strange man’s tamest touch convinces him that this man holds the blessing that he has sought his entire life.

“What is your name?” the man asks. “Jacob,” he replies. It was the name given him after the midwives recounted to Rebekah and Isaac how he came out of the womb holding on Esau’s ankle. Heel Grabber. Ankle Biter. Supplanter. It was a name that had defined him.

“No longer shall you be called Heel Grabber, but you shall be called Israel, for you have wrestled with God and won.”

Jacob receives his new name, God’s blessing, and he leaves that place limping. He names the spot Peniel, which means face, for it was there that he saw God face to face.

Three things happen when we encounter God.

First: We receive a new name. What is your name? Heel Grabber. Younger Son. Oldest Child. Disappointment. Middle child. Only child. Over Achiever. Under Achiever. Let Down. Perfectionist. Of course you know that none of these names is legitimate.  You have heard that your name is God’s beloved and that this name ought to help you dismiss all of the other names that we live with.  But it takes being alone on the banks of a river, it takes wrestling through the night, it takes having your hip put out of place to truly know it. Who can tell when that moment of clarity will come, when the truth of God’s new name for you will hit you in that same place in your gut where you feel fear, nervousness, and excitement. Those moments only come as gifts. When we see God face to face, we know deep in our bones what our name is.

Second: We leave with a limp. When Saul encounters Christ on the road to Damascus, he leaves blind. When Isaiah beholds God in a vision, it is as if his mouth is touched with a burning coal. When Zaccheaus encounters Christ, he leaves that encounter poorer, softer, and kinder than before. Encountering God leaves us with a limp. It makes us softer, more vulnerable, weaker. In a way it makes us stronger, but only that kind of stronger that comes from having been broken.

Finally: After Jacob encounters God at Peniel (face), he stands up and Esau is coming towards him. They have a beautiful encounter in which Jacob says, “to see your face, is to see the face of God.” When we encounter God, we see in our brothers and sisters, our enemies, our competition, and even our families, the face of God. When we behold His face, we begin to behold it in the face of others.

Jacob’s story is the story of Israel. And that story is our story. We are God’s beloved, always wrestling with Him, walking with a limp, and seeing in all people the very face of God.

Prayer

We give you thanks that our former pastoral intern, Tim Bowyer, was ordained as minister of Word and Sacrament his week.  We thank you for his gifts for ministry and his passion for sharing the love of Jesus to others.  Continue to provide wisdom to Tim as he seeks you for ministry opportunities.  

As our hearts are drawn to pray for our city we pray for those in our city who need you this day.  From the hurting, those suffering from injustices, those in the midst of violence, the underemployed, those needing a change of employment, the homeless, to those who need your mercy we seek you now to hear our prayers for our neighbors. 

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Announcements

• November 5th, Grace is hosting Dr. Kristen Deede Johnson for a lecture on faith in the public sphere. Kristen is a professor at Western Theological Seminary and has written about and worked in the space around faith and culture. This lecture will help us think critically about our political and public engagement for the good of Chicago. More info here.  

Service Recap; October 9

GIVE US MORE FAITH

Luke 17:5-10

The message translation of the gospel from Luke goes like this:

“The Apostles came up and said to the Master, “give us more faith.” But the Master said, “You don’t need more faith. There is not ‘more’ or ‘less’ in faith. If you have a bare kernel of faith, say the size of a poppy seed, you could say to this sycamore tree, “Go jump in the lake,” and it would do it.”

We can all relate to the disciple’s request. It’s remarkable, isn’t it, that even those walking beside Jesus felt the need for more faith. Even the disciples, who watched Jesus walk on water, who saw him multiply the loaves and fishes, who were at his side as he dispelled sicknesses, asked for more faith. In Jesus response, he seems to be saying, “You’re asking for the wrong thing. The fix for the weakness that you sense in yourselves cannot be mended by more faith.” In his homily, Bob reminded us that faith is not a product of working harder. It is not a good that can be multiplied. It is, Bob suggested, something in us that can be active in the right ways.  And when it is active in us in the right ways, it enables us to live in certain ways that would be impossible without faith.

Faith points us beyond ourselves. Faith causes our attention to shift, almost effortlessly off of ourselves and onto Christ. Faith is absent when we are looking at ourselves. When we focus on our own abilities, our own beliefs, our piety, or our own greatness or wretchedness, faith is not active in us. However, when we look at Christ, at His faithfulness and goodness, then we see ourselves rightly and we see others rightly as well. Faith looks toward Christ.  The disciples, looking at themselves, thought that they needed more faith. “Master,” they say, looking down at their own faith or lack of it, “give us more faith.” Jesus draws their eyes up, off of themselves and onto himself.

When we look at Christ, we see the servant of all. We see in Christ the example of how we ought to live. When we “fix our eyes on him, the author and perfector of our faith” we begin to ask the right questions. We see that our faith is complete in Christ and we are empowered to live lives of service toward others. 

Prayers

We praise you, God, for the gift of new life in Loralei Akiko Inouya born to Jason and Andrea this week. We thank you that both she and mom are healthy.   May you continue to bless this family and bless Loralei with good health.  May she grow up to know you and also bring others to your saving grace.  

We pray for all those affected by hurricane Matthew. We ask for needed supplies to come to those who have needs. We pray for safety for those still in the middle of the winds and flooding. For those who have lost love ones, we ask for your presence to attend them in this time.  

We pray for Pastor Bob, Caleb, Michael Demaray, and Andy who will attend the denominational meetings this week in San Francisco.  We also pray for Jihun Kang as he comes as a local pastor and guest.  May your Spirit guide the discussions, decisions and fellowship at these meetings.

We continue to lift up in prayer the people of Columbia as they voted down the peace deal between the government and the FARC guerrillas. We thank you for peaceful voting last week and for the willingness for both sides to continue to negotiate.  We ask that the churches in Columbia may be a beacons of hope and peace in their communities.

Lord In your mercy, hear our prayers.

Announcements

• Community Dinners are the week of October 17-22. Community Dinners are an initiative with the goal of getting people to share a meal with folks from the grace community that they may not know. Simply choose which day works for you, and Caleb will tell you who is hosting your dinner! Simple as that! Simply fill out this form with dates that work for you.
• November 5th, Grace is hosting Dr. Kristen Deede Johnson for a lecture on faith in the public sphere. Kristen is a professor at Western Theological Seminary and has written about and worked in the space around faith and culture. This lecture will help us think critically about our political and public engagement for the good of Chicago. More info here.  

Service Recap; October 2

Psalm 37 | 2 Timothy 1:6-12 | Lamentations 5

Sunday's text came from the book of Lamentations. Lamentations is small book of poetry, originally titled "How" in the original Hebrew language. It is a poet's response to the flattening of Jerusalem. Devastated by the fall of their beloved city, the poet who wrote Lamentations, cries out to God with a frustrated honesty that we do not often see in churches. The book ends with the ominous line, "Renew our days of old...unless you have utterly rejected us and are exceedingly angry with us." We like our bible stories to end with ribbons tied tight around packaged morals. But Lamentations invites something else. 

First, it invites an honesty in worship. Churches have praise teams, but not lament teams. We are more prone to preach on Paul's command to "Rejoice!" than on Lamentations command to grieve. But Lamentations, like many Psalms or stories in the gospels of Christ's grief, invite us to be honest with our questions, fears, and griefs. 

The second invitation of Lamentations is to listen to the pain and grief of those who can relate to the poet's words. The city of Aleppo came to mind. Like Jerusalem in 587 BC, today, Aleppo is laid to waste. Mohammad Fouad is a refuge from Aleppo whose poem, Aleppo Diaries, could not help but remind me of Lamentations. So too the poetry and longing of the black community in Chicago. The pain and longing of these marginalized communities is not so unlike the longings of Lamentations, and we are invited to embrace their grief and pain-to sit and hear their stories. 

Lamentations invites us to go deeper with our partner Breakthrough Urban Ministries, who is in the business of sitting with the marginalized, lamenting with them, and working alongside of them towards restoration. Robert Rush, an employee of Breakthrough, joined us on Sunday and shared a word about his work with Breakthrough. He reminded us that God is in the business of restoration and that we get to be a part of that work as well. 

Lamentations encourages us to sit around tables with people unlike us. It encourages us to prioritize stories over statistics. Grab coffee with someone different than you. Invite a family over to share a meal. Learn someone's stories. To be human is to be for others. This is the example that Christ leaves us. Lamentations invites us to embrace this reality by being for others in the grief and pain. 

Prayers

This Sunday, we focused locally on our city of Chicago. Take a moment to pray for the city of Chicago. 

We pray for Andrew, Amy and Irene Fields.  We thank you that they are settling in to Colombian life, making friends and connecting to a good church life.  We pray for peace to end conflict that that has lasted over 50 years.  We ask that as the Colombian people vote today to accept or reject the peace accord that your Spirit may begin to heal the injustice that has led to lack of trust and discord.  Overall, we pray for peace, forgiveness, and hope in this nation.

We pray for our young people in the Chicago area.  From threats from violence to proper funding needed for our public school system, our young people are often in the wake of political decisions.  We pray that there may be an agreement in the coming days to keep keep kids in school as it is a safe environment for their growth. Provide wisdom to us and the leaders of our city to work together for things that benefit our children.  

Lord in your mercy...Hear our prayer

Announcements

• Thanks to everyone for joining us at Beer and Hymns Sunday night. Check out the pictures below and put December 11th on your calendar for the next chance to join us at beer and hymns. 
• Sunday, October 9th is the Chicago Marathon. Our worship service will be at 5:00PM at Nettelhorst due to road closures for the marathon.
• Community Dinners are October 17-22. These dinners are a great chance to grab dinner with folks in our community. Simply sign up for a day that is free and Caleb will email you to confirm that date, and will connect you with your host.   Fill out this form to get signed up!

Service Recap; September 25

Genesis 1 | Romans 8 | John 1

Beauty Will Save The World | Rev. Dr. Aaron Kuecker

The title of Aaron Kuecker's sermon Sunday was taken from Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novel, The Idiot. The idea that beauty could be integral to the salvation of the world and integral to the Christian story is not a common idea. Kuecker, though, suggested that beauty is not simply the icing on the cake, a secondary good to be had by the rich and powerful. Beauty and justice, he explained, are intimately connected. "Where you find justice, you do not have to look far to find beauty."

He noted that the Greek translation of the Genesis 1 creation narrative (which the contemporaries of Jesus would have been familiar with) translates the Hebrew, tov, meaning good, into the Greek word Kalos, which we might best translate, beautiful. Beauty is integral to the Shalom of creation. It is present at the beginning.  Our violent world coerces and manipulates for power. Beauty is violence's opposite. Beauty does not coerce. Beauty lures. It woos us. Beauty attracts us to it. And beauty can only happen when there is justice and equality. This Sunday we highlighted the reality that over 45 million people are in modern-day slavery. We talked about International Justice Mission's work around the globe to alleviate oppression and injustice. We talked about the ugliness of our broken world and we longed, not only for justice, but for beauty as well. 

Augustine, the North African Saint of the 400's, told those around him that they must acquire a taste for God's beauty.  The beauty we must pursue takes the shape of the cross. It is self-sacrificing beauty that is always inviting others to participate in the feast of Christ. It is beauty that requires justice and equality in order to be found. As Christians, we long for the sort of world that we see in Genesis 1. "And God looked and saw that it was very beautiful." We believe that justice and beauty are integral parts of our story and that we are called to extend these gifts to a world longing for freedom. In the beginning, God created a beautiful world. Through Christ, beauty will save the world too. 

To learn more about IJM and their work around the world check out www.ijm.org.

Prayer

O God, our words cannot express what our minds can barely comprehend and our hearts feel when we hear of men, women and children deceived, transported to unknown places, force into prostitution or other forms of labor for the financial gain of traffickers—their slaveholders.

Our hearts are saddened and our spirits angry that their dignity and rights are transgressed through threats, deception and force. We cry out against this degrading practice of trafficking and pray for it to end. Protect all victims, especially our young and vulnerable.

Let your tender love and care surround all present victims of trafficking. Deliver them, O God, from their perpetrators’ hands. Give us the courage and wisdom to stand in solidarity with them, that together we will find ways to the freedom that is your gift to all of us.

O God, we pray for the International Justice Mission staff in Uganda who are currently engaged to protect and defend widows whose homes and land have been violently stolen by greedy relatives or powerful neighbors.

May your Holy Spirit guide the IJM aftercare teams as they empower these very poor and neglected widows to become strong and self-sufficient.May your Spirit help these widows find courage and stability as they learn to thrive again. 

Loving God, we pray for all people in our city of Chicago who are engaged in local law enforcement. We continue to pray that those who enforce laws uphold the rights of all people they interact.  We pray for those affected and responding to recent police shootings that they may seek justice in ways that bring healing, accountability, and peace.

We ask for your Holy Spirit to bless and protect those in our congregations in the US and outside the country who serve in law enforcement and public justice systems.

We thank you God for the gift of new life.  We think of Olivia Grace, born this week to Joe and Sarah Lesch.  Bless Olivia with continued good health and the gift your Holy Spirit that she may grow up to know and confess you.    

Lord in your mercy ... Hear our prayer

Announcements

•    Thanks to everyone who helped make the open house for the Falzone Family such a success. Grace is truly thankful for their service to the church and their friendship to the community. They will be sorely missed. 

•    Beer and Hymns is Sunday, October 2nd at 6:30PM. Bring a friend and join us for some song and drink!

•    Sunday, October 9th our service time will be 5:00 due to the chaos and beauty of the Chicago Marathon. We'll have an abbreviated service and then go out in groups for dinner!

•    The next women's meet up is Thursday, October 6th. Check the events calendar for more information. 

Service Recap; September 18

Psalm 113 | Luke 15:11-32 | Luke 16:1-13

The Parable of the Shrewd Manager

The story in this week's gospel is of a wealth manager who knows that he is about to get fired. He has that surge of panic that comes along with any major life setback. His plans are thrown out the window. He pictures his inevitable demise. Afraid, he begins thinking about how to create a safety net for himself. He goes to all of his employer's debtors. He finds the man who owes his employer 100 jugs of oil. "You can make it 50," he tells the man in debt. He finds another person who owes 100 containers of wheat. "Why don't you just pay back 80?" he offers kindly. He acts dishonestly, the Bible tells us, but he wins friends by acting shrewdly. You might expect the Bible to tell us about the hammer of justice coming down on this man. You might expect the preacher to preach about doing the honest thing, even when it is difficult. You might expect the gospel lesson to be about trusting God and not acting shrewdly. 

Ah, but the Bible is so sneaky sometimes. The sneaky man's boss commends him for acting so shrewdly. Jesus tells those who are listening that they ought to be like this man. "Make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth," Jesus tells us. What an odd story. 

Bob pointed out that both the prodigal son in the story immediately preceding this one, and the shrewd manager both "squander" wealth. One of them ends up ruining his life. The other ends up saving his life. The prodigal son squanders money on himself. The end of his use of his finances is his own pleasures-it is used as his escape from reality. The shrewd man in the second story squanders his money on relationships. He recognizes his need for people-he needs someone to have his back, and so he too squanders wealth, but he squanders wealth on relationship. Bob said it this way, "the shrewd manager knows what time it is." He knows what is important in this certain place at this certain time. Do we know what time it is? For Christians, the answer to this question has everything to do with the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is at hand. This reality causes us to look at our time, wealth, skills, and compassion and to use all of these things to enter into relationship with one another and with God in meaningful ways.  

Prayers

We pray for many in our Grace family who are facing uncertainty.  We ask for your patience to guide them in this time as they await major life changing experiences from family health concerns, financial challenges, to job changes.  May each person facing uncertainty seek you for all they need and seek.  Provide wisdom and confidence that you guide and protect us.  

Father, it was said of the Prodigal Son that he “came to himself.” Help us to wake up to ourselves, and to You. Set us free from the illusion of trying to be perfect so that we might be more fully human. Help us not to chase after an imaginary life, and to find satisfaction in our real lives. And turn us away from our self-rejection so that we might see that Your arms open in welcome.

Lord in your mercy....Hear our prayer

Announcements

• Join us next Sunday for worship as it will be James Falzones final Sunday as the music director. Following the service, we will have lunch at Bob and Jill Reid's house. All are invited! An RSVP and more information can be found here. 
• Beer and Hymns is on October 2nd. Everyone is invited to join us at Gideon Welles on Sunday, October 2nd for drinks and songs. Check out this website for more information, and pass it along to anyone who might be interested!
• Men's Meetup is this Thursday. We're meeting at Hopcat, a new bar in Chicago on Clark Street. We'll meet at 7:30. Hope to see you there!

Service Recap; September 11

Sermon Recap | Love Doesn't Hesitate

The title of Bob’s sermon on Sunday was, “Love Doesn’t Hesitate.” It was inspired by the story of the Prodigal Son, whose Father wastes no time in embracing him, accepting him back into the family, and throwing the best party possible, even though the Father would have been entirely justified if he had forced the son to pay some penance, or, as Bob suggested on Sunday, just let the older brother handle prodigal’s return.

Unhesitating love is a Gospel character trait. It was on display in last week’s text too. In that text the Apostle Paul writes to the rich slave-owner Philemon. Philemon’s slave, Onesimus, has run away to Paul. Paul sends the (very passive aggressive) letter to Philemon encouraging him to treat Onesimus as a brother and not a slave. He urges Philemon to forgo his legal rights, social expectations, and economic prosperity in the name of generous hospitality.

Bob asked if the unhesitating love of the Father and the radical hospitality encouraged in Paul’s letter to Philemon are the witness that our church is bearing. Too often the church has made people grovel at the feet of the Father before welcoming them into the family of God. We wait to throw the party until we are sure that they belong. We defer to the older brother’s judgment who is sure to make the younger brother pay the price for his disobedience. We want to be a church to reflects the unhesitating love of the Father. Every week at the communion table we experience the Father's redemptive and unconditional love. How can we embody that love this week?

Prayers of the People

We pray for our children of Grace beginning Sunday School today.  We thank you for every teacher, parent and volunteer who will bring this good news.  Bless this year and may all our children grow up to know you in a deep and meaningful way.

We pray for all those who are in college or doing continuing education.  As this can be challenging balancing life, work and learning -may they never fail to continue to devote time to worship and praise of you.  

God please hear the crys of the innocents in Syria and other war torn parts of the world. Please pour out your Holy Spirit so that violence will cease to consume the lives of so many. Please make your church faithful to work within every avenue we have available to us to foster the things that make for peace. 

We pray for all those in our church and our world who struggle with depression and anxiety. We pray that your loving presence would provide comfort and lift spirits. We pray that you would help all those struggling to find the support networks and treatments that can help them live well and enjoy life. 

Lord in your mercy....hear our prayer

Announcements 

• Thanks to everyone for joining us at Annie and Jason's place on Sunday. We had a great time hanging out on the beach. You can find some photos here. 
• Grace is cooking at Breakthrough this week. If you can help out at 6:45 Thursday evening send Pastor Bob (bob@gracechicago.com) an email.
• We are hosting a Chicago area Beer and Hymns night on October 2nd. We're excited about singing together and inviting the community to join us. Check out this website for more information!
• COOKBOOK. We still need your recipes! This blog explains the project and how to get involved!
• Membership Class is happening after church next Sunday. If you're interested in learning more about Grace and what being a member means, stick around after church. We'll provide lunch!

Grace Cookbook

Dear Grace Chicago Family,

It’s no secret that at Grace Chicago, we love food!  Sharing meals together is a cornerstone of our community. Over the years, recipes have been traded informally. Now, for the first time, we’d like to collect recipes and create a Grace Chicago cookbook. 

Yes, a church cookbook… one that will stay true to the flavor of Grace. The cookbook will be professionally published, and it will be organized by seasons of the year (instead of types of dish). Plus, the cookbook will be a great way to raise money for our growing children’s programs. 

The ask: Please submit your recipes – or nominate your friends to send in theirs! (See instructions below.) And, if you have friends from Grace who’ve moved away, we’d love to include them too so that the cookbook is a real collection of our community. 

To reserve your copies, email gracekids@gracechicago.com with the number of cookbooks you will be purchasing. Cookbooks will be available for $20 and will be available in early December (perfect for Christmas gifts). 

Please submit your recipes online by October 9 so we can meet our deadline. 

Thank you!

To Submit Recipes Online:

• Go to www.typensave.com and click ‘Login.’
• Enter the User Name: gracechicago            
• Enter the password: dessert079 and click ‘Submit.’
• Enter your name and click ‘Continue.’
• Click ‘Add Recipes’ to begin adding your recipes.

Recipe Writing Tips:

• When adding recipes, review the “Tips” and use standard abbreviations. 
• Only enter 1 ingredient per ingredient line.
• List ingredients in order of use in the ingredients list and directions.
• Include container sizes, e.g., (16-oz.) pkg., (24-oz.) can.
• Write directions in paragraph form, not in steps.
• Use names of ingredients in the directions, e.g., “Combine flour and sugar.”  DO NOT use statements like, “Combine first three ingredients.”
• Include temperatures and cooking, chilling, baking, and/or freezing times.
• Additional comments about the recipe (history, nutritional data, suggested uses, etc.) are not allowed unless a “Recipe Note” field is visible. Enter extra recipe content in that field.

Questions: 

If you have questions or you cannot enter the recipes yourself, our committee can enter them for you. Send your questions and recipes to Erin Rozendaal or Danielle Tullier.

Service Recap; September 4

HAPPY LABOR DAY!

Prayer

We thank you Lord for our labors this weekend. Let us not forget those who have close jobs because of corporate changes, those forced into early retirement, those denied employment because of age, sex, or race, those who must work illegally in order to survive, those who seek other work and cannot find it. Renew our sense of vocation and help us to discern your presence in even the lowliest tasks we face. 

We pray for those who have brought increased, senseless violence it our city this year.   Our hearts go out to those who grieve the loss of loved ones in the midst of this violence.  We ask for peace to inhabit our hearts and that in all things we do we may seek those things that make for unity, purity and peace.  

We pray for the new school year ahead for our youth.  from the city leadership, administrations, teachers and students, we ask for a year focused on creativity and learning.  

We lift up in prayer Andrew, Amy and Irene Fields.  We thank you that they have settled into their ministry in Columbia and ask that you would continue to strengthen their Spanish and connection to the people they serve.  Bless the seminary that they would continue to provide education that expands minds to bring your good news to this world.  

Lord in your mercy...Hear our prayer

Homily Recap:

Luke Timothy Johnson writes this about the mission of the church:

"The church is, in a real sense, the continuation of the incarnation, the embodied presence of the resurrected Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit... the church is.... the laboratory for communal life before God, the model that the world can see.... as the basis for its own rebirth."

During the homily we asked ourselves the question: are we living into this calling of the church?

One of our scripture readings was from Paul's letter to Philemon. As he wrote to Philemon, asking him to free his runaway slave, Onesimus, that question, or something close to it, must have been on Paul's mind. For, Paul had already written about 10 years earlier these words to the church in Galatia:

As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

Now, ten years later, Philemon, a friend of Paul's, had the opportunity to put this truth into action in two ways. First, Paul urged Philemon to forgive Onesimus (i.e relate to him according to the gospel and not in the way that a runaway slave would be normally treated in the Roman law and custom of the day. Secondly, Paul urged him to receive Onesimus back into his home as a brother and NOT a slave (emancipation is almost certainly in view here). 

Our cultural context is far removed from this First Century setting, but the question we should be wrestling with every day is the same as the one Paul and Philemon considered in the exchange preserved for us in the Epistle to Philemon: what are we doing in our personal lives that enables us to live into the vision of the church as "the laboratory for communal life before God, the model that the world can see.... as the basis for its own rebirth."

Announcements

• Beach BBQ This Sunday! Join us after church on September 11th for a BBQ on the beach. Kids are welcome. Friends are welcome. You can get more information and RSVP here. 
• New Members Class is on September 18th. If you're interested in learning more about Grace Chicago, who we are, what we believe, and why we exist, join us for lunch after the service. Send ministry@gracechicago.com an email if you'd like to come. 
• Falzone Family Send Off is September 25th. The Falzone family is moving to Seattle. To celebrate their years at Grace Chicago, we're having lunch at Pastor Bob's house after church. Hope you can join!

Service Recap; August 28

Call to Worship: Psalm 81:1, 10-16 | Lesson One: Jeremiah 2:4-13 | Lesson Two: Luke 14:1, 7-14 

Cracked Cisterns

We become like who or what we worship. This is the sober warning from the prophet Jeremiah. As we took up this ancient text, we noted that it is hard for us to connect with a time in the history of God’s people that is so removed from us culturally. But we also noted that the human condition has not changed and that we still struggle with the temptation to not worship the one true God truly and faithfully. The face and shape of idolatrous temptations often change but the human condition does not. 

We also noted that the temptation to idolatry is sneaky and subtle. The temptation to idolatry doesn’t ask you to turn away from the living God - it invites you to violate the substance of what it means to worship the one true and living God. Note that one refrain from the prophets that carries through to Jesus’ ministry is the warning that it is possible to worship God with our lips but not with the whole of lives. 

Here is the thing: none of us worship the one true God truly all of the time. All of us drift into patterns of living when, to use the metaphorical image from Jeremiah, we turn away from the living water and dig our own leaky cisterns. What is required of us is to live our lives in such a way that we are convicted of our folly (regular worship and fellowship helps here!), so that we might repent (turn away) from patterns of living that lead to death, and return to God and the patterns of living that make for life. 

It is not the easiest thing to recognize when we are drifting away from the living water. Jesus’ words in our gospel reading from Luke remind us that the shape it takes is quite often mundane. Jesus confronts the religious leadership about the fact that they are addicted to self-aggrandizement and self-promotion. This has caused them to overlook the weak, the vulnerable, and the powerless. How the religious leadership treated those at the margins proved they were slipping into an idolatrous relationship with Roman patterns of living and thinking that exalt human power and pride (you become like what you worship!); in turn this is why they can’t accept that Jesus’ personhood and pattern of living  is the revelation of the character of the one true God, Yahweh. Jesus confronts the leadership. He says, in so many words, that those who live in such a way that they seek their own good over the good of others will be out step with what God is doing in the world. Contrasted with that way of living, Jesus offers up the pattern of the cross.  “For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” is not a sentimental saying that is just another way of saying, “mind your manners”. It is a caution that the only way to live well and die well in this world is by living in the shape of the cross, and repenting when we don’t. 

Prayers

We pray for those affected by the recent earthquake in Italy. For families who grieve the loss of loved ones and those who are frightened to return to their homes, we ask for your presence to comfort and to guide.Be with those who continue to search and recover. 

Lord God, we continue to lift up to you our concern over the violence that continues to plague our cities and world. We ask for the hearts to be softened by your Holy Spirit.  We also ask for your justice to prevail in this world and that it would guide us to a world of peace. We also pray that we, through all of our actions, may be peacemakers in this world.

We pray for our local schools as they begin to greet students throgh their doors.  We ask for a safe year of learning and growing for your children and youth in the city.  May we all find ways to better our systems of learning for our kids.

Be with Andrew, Amy and Irene Fields in their mission field in Columbia.  Grant fruitful conversations, teaching opportunities, and experiences that can lead others to Christ.  Give the Fields confidence that you are walking with them in this journey.

Lord in your mercy....hear our prayer

Announcements

• END OF SUMMER BBQ! Join us on the beach for some grilling, hanging, and playing on the beach. More information and an RSVP are here.
• SERVICE TIME moves to 10:00 AM starting on September 11th.