Sermon Recap; November 27

Urgent language and violent imagery. This is always the order of the day for the first Sunday of Advent. The liturgical tradition of the church brings us these sorts of readings to get us ready for the coming of Christ at Christmas. Angst filled and scary language gets us ready to meet the infant child, meek and mild. What’s going on here? Well, when we consider where this language situates us in God’s story of his relentless love for the world (the whole of the Scriptures)  we will, I think and hope, see a bit more clearly why this language is appropriate preparation to meet the Advent of Christ.

This kind of language - the language that Jesus employees in our gospel reading this week (see below) is called apocalyptic language. Apocalypse simply means to lift the veil and show things as they really are from God’s point of view. It literally means to disclose or reveal  a meaning. This is why the book of Revelation is called an apocalypse. The early Christians are suffering the beginning  of persecution at the hands of the Roman imperial rule, and it looks like those who have the power of the sword hold the power over world history itself. John writes his apocalypse, the book of Revelation, to tell a different story, a story wherein God defeats all evil through the sacrificial love of Jesus, a story that claims that the evil of Rome will be judged in the end and not allowed to bring harm in the world to come. The colorful imagery that has captivated the imagination of so many over the years is meant to depict the destruction of evil by God, even when it looks like evil might be winning in the short run. For instance, Rome is lampooned as the Whore of Babylon in Revelation, and the like.

In the text before us this morning, Jesus employs apocalyptic language when he says the following:

“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left. “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.”

Here the imagery is violent, and the point seems to be that when Jesus comes some won’t be ready for his coming! Scholars are not in agreement over exactly what Jesus means here. Some think he is referring to his coming at the end of history to set things in order. On this view, it is important to be on the right side of history at the right time in history. Some think he is referring to the meaning of his death and resurrection. On this view, Jesus is warning that many will misunderstand and teach the wrong things about the meaning of his life, death and resurrection, and the consequences of following these errant teachers and false messiahs will be grave. Others think he is referring in symbolic language to the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD…. that is a longer discussion that we won’t get into here.

It might be that the best way to understand Jesus’ warning is in a more general sense that would apply to every instance in our lives when we assign a meaning to Jesus that is contrary to the meaning that he gives himself, the one in which he faithfully represents God to the world. This God ordained meaning of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection can be summarized in terms of the cross. His life consists in cross shaped service to others and his death on the cross is the atoning sacrifice for our sins. His life reminds us of how we are to be with our neighbor, while the meaning of his death reminds us that our relationship with God is defined by our need to absorb his love and forgiveness.

However, sadly, we often make the meaning of Jesus fit into what we we would prefer. Here are some examples that I think are not uncommon.

•   Jesus as a successful CEO. This one tempts you to embrace power without a proper filter and to measure your life according to how upwardly mobile you are.

•   Jesus as a sentimental and cuddly figure, like a grandma that bakes cookies and hugs you but whose opinions and advice you could not take seriously in the real world where forward progress is based on the survival of the fittest.  

•   Jesus as a Santa Claus figure that gives out gifts to people who are nice and not naughty: in this case those who would perceive themselves as nice and worthy of gifts would be so unbearably self-righteous that those in their company  would live in the terror of wondering when they would be unfriended for being deemed naughty, not to mention the spiritual harm done by self-righteousness to the person who is unrepentantly self-righteous.

All of us at times miss the meaning of Jesus as Jesus would have us understand him. But if Jesus is who he said he was and if how he lived and died revealed the fullness of his meaning on his terms and not our distorted meanings that we drift into then there is also hope for us when we are guilty of distorting Jesus’s meaning. There is hope for us  because at the heart of Jesus’ meaning as defined by him is the fact that he will not turn his back on us just because we get him wrong; his love is too sturdy and relentless for that. As the Apostle Paul puts it in Romans: “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”.

As we mentioned at the outset, Advent scripture readings bring us close to God’s people when they realize they need his intervention, or else they will lose all hope. May we be vigilant in our celebration of the gospel and reliance on God to help us return daily to a refreshed understanding of who Jesus is on his terms; for therein does lie our only hope.

Service Recap; November 13

Sermon Recap | The Sun Will Rise

Below is an audio recording of the sermon that Caleb preached on Sunday based on Malachi chapter 4. We celebrated the baptism of Olivia Lesch earlier in the service, which is referenced at the end of the sermon. 

Prayer

God of all wisdom we pray for our mental health care professionals.  We ask that as they care for those entrusted to them that they would have continued hope, courage and strength to encourage those around them.

We lift up our prayers for those who have lost someone close to them this year.  As this coming season brings on gatherings of loved ones for celebrations of hope and thanksgiving, we acknowledge the deep loss some feel because, for the first time this year, they are without their loved on in their midst.    

O Christ  our King, whose glory is in all the world: We commend this nation to your merciful care, that, being guided by your Providence, we may dwell secure in your peace. 

Grant to the President of the United States, and to all in authority, wisdom and strength to know and to do your will. Fill them with the love of truth and righteousness, and make them ever mindful of their calling to serve the people with humility, and in a way that treats all people with inherent dignity and worth, as those who bear your divine image. 

May you enable us to seek the things that make for peace and the common good; may each of us reach out  to those who are not like us and form bonds of unity where your Spirit make it possible;  through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end.  

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. 

Announcements

Advent is coming! Invite a friend to one of our Advent services and if you'd like to sing in our choir, email Davin!

Post Election Letter

Dear Grace Chicago members and friends.

The following is a letter from the consistory, a reflection on the presidential election. Given the raw emotions that many are feeling this week, we felt that it was important to say something, even knowing that it would be imperfect.

This week, even more than usual, I have felt the weight and the privilege of being a pastor and friend to all people, regardless of their political persuasion. Critical to a faithful presentation of the gospel is to recognize that the only political sovereign who will unite all people is Jesus, and to live as if that were true. When we gather around the communion table we make a picture of that truth. This week, in particular, I look forward to meeting each of you at that communion table, as we offer the true sign of hope to one another and to our broken world: communion in Christ.

Grace and Peace,

Bob

Dear Grace Chicago Community and Friends,

The peace of the Lord be with you!

This week’s presidential election results reflect the deep divisions and profound cynicism of the American public around issues related to our political culture.

“For the first time in surveys dating to 1992, majorities in both parties express not just unfavorable but very unfavorable views of the other party. And today, sizable shares…. <about half> …. of both Democrats and Republicans say the other party stirs feelings of not just frustration, but fear and anger.” (Pew Study: Partisanship and Political Animosity in 2016, p.1)

Another research project found that: “‘Two- thirds of the American public (67%) have little to no confidence at all’ in the people who run our government to tell the truth to the public”; and found that “three out of four Americans (74%) agree that ‘you can’t believe much of what you hear from the mainstream media’.” (p.22, Vanishing Center of American Democracy, 2016 Survey of American Political Culture). Also, according to the same study: “the overwhelming majority of Americans (88%) believe that ‘political events these days seem more like theater or entertainment than like something to be taken seriously’.” (17)

For many of us, we aren't surprised by these kinds of statistics. We need not look beyond our own extended families to find painful anecdotes illustrating the drift towards tribal worldviews that are mutually exclusive, and profound cynicism about the political process and the media spectacle in relationship to truth.

At this time when our country is so divided and cynical, as a church community we have an opportunity to redouble our commitment to live into our mission statement*, as we continue to celebrate a union of a diverse group of people who have been called to love one another by the one true political sovereign, King Jesus. Together we continue to work out what it looks like to bring the ethics of Jesus' kingdom to bear on the public good, working out what it looks like to share Christ’s selfless love with a deeply broken world.

But surely part of what it means to see the world through Jesus’ eyes so soon after election day requires us to acknowledge in a non-partisan way that a great many people here and abroad feel afraid and uncertain; they are people who the Bible privileges in a unique way, the vulnerable and the marginalized. Throughout the Scriptures, aliens, orphans, widows, and the poor are symbols of God's unique advocacy for and identification with those who are at the mercy of the powerful. As the leadership of this Christian church, we want you to know that we are concerned for those in our church, in our country, and around the world, who today fear for their well being. May Grace Chicago Church be a welcoming place for the weak and vulnerable; may God bless us as we seek to live more fully into our mission.

We offer this prayer and invite you to join with us. It is based on a very old prayer from the Book of Common Prayer.

O Christ  our King, whose glory is in all the world:

We commend this nation to your merciful care, that, being guided by your Providence, we may dwell secure in your peace.

Grant to the President of the United States, and to all in authority, wisdom and strength to know and to do your will. Fill them with the love of truth and righteousness, and make them ever mindful of their calling to serve the people with humility, and in a way that treats all people with inherent dignity and worth, as those who bear your divine image.

May you enable us to seek the things that make for peace and the common good; may each of us reach out  to those who are not like us and form bonds of unity where your Spirit make it possible;  through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end.

Amen.

*The mission of Grace Chicago Church is to actively seek the good of individuals and the welfare of the city by embracing the good news of God’s redemptive promise.

Service Recap; November 6

Grace Chicago was delighted to welcome Rev. Dr. Trygve Johnson to our pulpit on Sunday. His homily was entitled "The Mountains Are Out." 

Prayer

Oh God our help in ages past, our hope for years to come...

We pray for our country. We pray that this week would see peace and not violence. That it would produce hope and not fear. That we would treat one another with charity and not spite. Increase in us the fruit of your Holy Spirit, that even in this election, you would draw us closer to your heart. 

We pray for our city. We thank you for the joy and unity that a baseball game can bring. We pray that our love for the people with whom we share the streets of Chicago would increase. Make us compassionate for those in our city who are grieving this week-who are afflicted by poverty or illness. Help us to seek the good of our city this week.

We pray for this community. Grant, Oh Lord, that we would love one another well, that we would live together in unity, and that we would welcome a hurting world into our midst. Grant us strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.

Lord in your mercy, Hear our Prayer.

Announcements

• Women's Meetup is Tuesday, November 15th. More information in the bulletin!
• If you live near Edgewater and are interested in being part of a new Community Group, email Caleb!
• Advent is coming soon! We are really excited about our Advent services. Mark your calendars for Lessons and Carols on December 11th and all of the other Advent services. 
• Thanks to everyone who joined us on Saturday for our lecture with Dr. Kristen Johnson. Audio of her lectures will be available online soon!

Service Recap; October 30

Homily | Luke 19:1-10

Bob's sermon on the Zacchaeus story was NOT about Zacchaeus. The second lesson this past Sunday was the familiar story of the wee-little-man. What a great story. It might be the most familiar story in the entire New Testament. Yet, it is quite unremarkable. Nothing super-natural happens. We love it for its familiarity. Children especially understand the difficulty of being short. They understand being unpopular and left out of the in-group. Typically, we focus on Zacchaeus in this story: what changed him, when did "salvation" come to him, what does it mean that it came to his house, what caused him to become generous instead of greedy? On Sunday, Bob suggested that this story is not about the details of Zaccheaus's conversion. It is about the lack of conversion in the crowd. 

The star of this passage in Luke 19, is the crowd. They do not want Zaccheaus to see Jesus. They stand in his way, deeming him unworthy to lay eyes on Christ, and unworthy of having Christ lay eyes on him. Both the crowd and Zacchaeus are jaw-dropingly surprised when Jesus stops, looks up, and invites himself to Zaccheaus's house. Zacchaeus and the crowd are equally shocked that Jesus would regard Zacchaeus as worthy of hosting Christ. 

While there are lessons to learn by focusing on Zacchaeus, what if this story is less about Zacchaeus's conversion, and more about the lack of conversion in the crowd? Jesus and Luke both seem to have the crowd in mind in the Zacchaeus encounter every bit as much as they have Zacchaeus himself in mind. The crowd spends its energy guarding the road along which Jesus travelled. The crowd puts their shoulders together with their backs towards the unfit. They roll their eyes at Jesus' flippant acceptance and apparent endorsement of Zacchaeus. 

We are the crowd. Who are we keeping from the road that Christ travels on? Who have we put our backs to?

Prayers

Our hearts continue to lift up those who seek refuge from war. So many are losing their lives in a record way in a journey to a better place. We ask for refuge for those who seek it. may governments and communities seek ways to provide relief and may your church respond to the call of the innocent. And above all things we pray for peace.

Heavenly Father we lift up to you the Grace members who are having challenging times in their work environment.  Give them grace, patience and a spirit of courage and joy to endure, overcome and bless their colleagues.

O Living God, who raised Jesus from the grave, destroying the power of death, raise us with Christ through the power of your Holy Spirit, that our lives might testify to the forgiveness and hope found in him.

Lord in your mercy...Hear our prayer

Announcements

Our Fall Lecture is THIS SATURDAY. We're thrilled to have Dr. Kristen Deede Johnson with us. More information about the lecture can be found here. Please RSVP for the event here. 

Women's Meetup is happening on November 15th. Check out the calendar for details. 

Interested in storytelling? We're starting a story telling group in January. Contact Paula (paulacarter1@gmail.com) for more information. 

EDGEWATER! If you live in Edgewater or are interested in being part of a new community group, email Caleb. We are starting a group there!

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.