Archive for July, 2009

Dear Holy Covenant Community,

Abundance was our theme for worship on Sunday. As I experience my first summer in Chicago, I’m overwhelmed by the abundance of nature: abundant sunshine, colorful flowers, copious cool breezes, lush green grass, and abundant varieties of fresh food at farmers markets. In the south, where I’ve lived most my life, the summer is so sticky and humid that it’s miserable to go outside. But here, we are able to see, feel, smell, taste, and touch abundance all around us.

Yet in the midst of this season of plenty, we are also in an economic recession. Fears of scarcity, loss, and emptiness stand in stark contrast to the fullness we find in nature. Our current climate preaches that there are just a few resources, a limited amount to consume, and that human beings need to be in competition for those resources; that for us to achieve individual abundance, we must take away from someone else.

Parker Palmer, a Quaker writer and teacher, notices that nature thrives, not through competition, but through a sharing of resources:

Here is a summertime truth: abundance is a communal act, the joint creation of an incredibly complex ecology in which each part functions on behalf of the whole and, in return, is sustained by the whole. Community doesn’t just create abundance-community is abundance. If we could learn that equation from the world of nature, the human world might be transformed.

As the sunshine and rain perform their dance together, the glorious flowers and produce grow and thrive. And they nurture the soil that gives nourishment to the trees, trees that keep the climate temperate and contribute to the balance of sun and rain. The lesson is that giving produces more, for every part of nature, and in turn every part of the whole receives. Through this abundant giving and sharing we are blessed with a beautiful summer.

The recession is hard, and our fear is real: many of you have lost jobs and are worried about how to feed your families and when you might find stability again. There aren’t easy answers, and I don’t pretend to be an economist. But the joy of living in community, especially a community of faith, is that we love and support and nurture one another through difficult times. When fear overcomes us, and we are tempted to turn inward and compete, may we remember the lesson of nature and be confident that through community we will find abundance.

After all, we worship the one who came to teach us that we are all the part of the same body, Christ’s body, and saved us through abundant love and solidarity.

Grace and peace,
Kate

Faith in Abundance
John 6:1-14
July 26, 2009
Kate Floyd, Holy Covenant UMC

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Today, Jesus is hosting a picnic.  A crowd has gathered, by the thousands.  Finding their places in the soft, cool grass, they sit with their legs crossed, ready to listen.  Some stand, because of their bad backs, and lean against trees, providing shade and support.  Others crowd as close as possible to this healer, teacher, prophet, man of miracles……hoping to catch a glimpse of his face, to touch the hem of his garment.
The only problem with this picnic is there isn’t enough food….the disciples don’t have anymore, Jesus hasn’t been to the market in ages, and the crowd has empty hands. (more…)

Dear Holy Covenant Community,

Hymns have a way of speaking truths about God, faith, and community. As a church, we sing our theology, letting the words hum into our souls and effect us as only music can. One of my favorite hymns from childhood is “We are the Church,” #558 in the Hymnal.

A church is not a building, a church is not a steeple, a church is not a resting place, a church is the people….I am the church, you are the church, we are the church together…

This is a seemingly simple hymn with a powerful truth. For you, the people, are indeed the church. Your leadership, participation in worship, prayers, gifts, and service all make Holy Covenant the unique family that we are. As your pastor, I’m grateful for the strong lay ownership, leadership, and vision that guide this church. Your passionate participation is a gift to me and this community. With that in mind, I want to call your attention to two important events happening soon in the life of our church:

*First, on Saturday August 1st we are holding our quarterly Congregational Summit from 9-12:30at the church. This will be a time to evaluate where we’ve been, plan where we’re going, and vision our hopes and dreams for the future. ALL are invited, whether you’ve attended Holy Covenant once or have been here for years. Passionate about mission? Hospitality? Congregational care? Finance? Worship? Study? Social justice? Something the church isn’t currently doing? Bring your ideas and energy as we seek to live out our mission.

*Second, on Sunday August 2nd, Holy Covenant is privileged to be hosting 80 pastors from around the country and the denomination. Our guests are participating in The School of Congregational Development, a continuing education event hosted by The United Methodist Church. Over 500 participants are meeting in Evanston for the week and on Sunday will visit teaching congregations all over the Chicago area. We will host 80 of these pastors who have chosen to learn from HC in our 11:15 worship service. Then they will stay for lunch and an afternoon teaching session. We need your help with greeting, hosting, ushering, and serving communion. Look for ways that you can be involved. You are welcome to stay for the afternoon session, from 1-3pm, and offer your important perspectives on Holy Covenant. If you are planning to stay, please RSVP to Lynda Davis so we have enough lunch: ldavis137@aol.com. Finally, pray for cool weather with all those warm bodies gathered in our warm sanctuary!

The hymn concludes: All who follow Jesus, all around the world, yes we’re the church together.

Let the people say: Amen.

Hope to see you at these events as we continue to be and live the church together in community.

Grace and peace,
Kate

Faith in Miracles
July 19, 2009
Holy Covenant UMC
Rev. Kate Hurst Floyd

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Mark 6:45-51

I love a great miracle story—I always have. When I was a child, I was drawn to fairy tales that had an element of the miraculous: My favorite was Cinderella, a poor servant girl who becomes a princess through the magic touch of her fairy godmother.

My guess is that you love a good miracle too—our culture continues to produce and reproduce stories with an element of the miraculous. We seem to have an insatiable appetite for our fantasies to be realized. (more…)

Dear Holy Covenant Community,

There are moments in life when we say that the Holy breaks in. Moments in our earthly messiness when God’s majesty soars down to meet us. Moments in our worldly brokenness when God’s perfect peace burrows up to find us.

Moments when the miraculous takes hold, and we are left breathless. Filled with awe for the beauty that surrounds us, for the peace that passes all understanding. One of those is the miraculous moment when a couple says “I do”. This weekend, I participated in the wedding of friends in New Orleans and experienced this moment close up.

These days, I find myself on the other side of that holy moment-initiator of the divine decision-making. Asking a couple to repeat after me as I say those sacred words: vows to love and comfort, honor and keep, through health and happiness to loss and loneliness. In richer days and poorer ones, having and holding even in the worst of times.

And while that moment was sacred, it occurs to me that the small moments of a life lived together are just as sacred. We say the holy breaks in, in rare and precious moments, and we have to watch for it. But if we keep our eyes open, we know that the holy is always already here. Is around us and before us, over and above us, in life-changing promises and mundane moments.

For life together, life lived in relationship, IS holy. The fights, the grief, the dishes, the dances. The carpools and movie-watching, the roadtrips and family dinners. The laundry and cooking and crying and celebrating are all lived in divine splendor.

And isn’t this what the life of the church is about? Holy moments, each and every day, lived in relationship with one another, God’s children. The meetings, the worship, the fundraisers and fellowship. The mission trips and budget struggles and pancake breakfasts and congregational summits. As the church, we live together in holy, absurd, radically loving relationship.

As I witnessed their vows, I was painfully aware of the privilege that they have, as a heterosexual couple, to be married in the eyes of the church and the state. A right that is denied to same sex couples. I’m grateful to be at Holy Covenant, which has a taskforce committed to Holy Unions for ALL couples. Look for the on-going work of the taskforce as we covenant as a church to bless the diversity of God-created relationships.

This week, I hope we can all live with our eyes wide open to the Holy. That we awake to the sunshine of grace each and every morning. That the sounds of the sacred meet us as throughout the day. That as a church, the divine dance of the daily inhabits our lives together.

For richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, for better, for worse.

Grace and Peace,
Kate

July 25 & 26: ANNUAL MAJOR FUND-RAISER FOR DIGNITY DINER: 10-15 VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

The Taste of Lincoln Avenue is Wrightwood Neighbors Association’s annual fundraiser. Dignity Diner would like to send 10-15 volunteers to the ‘Taste of Lincoln’ on July 25 and 26th so we can be successful again this year. They historically give $1,000 grant to Dignity Diner. The Taste is always held on the last weekend in July, from Noon-to-dusk, both Saturday and Sunday. Located on Lincoln Avenue between Fullerton and Wrightwood, the event includes food and craft vendors, five entertainment stages, and a great Kids’ Carnival Area.

Volunteers register on line at http://www.wrightwoodneighbors.org/tastevolunteers.htm or by calling (773) 298-6800. It is really fun. Besides hanging out with a few friends for 4 hours, you meet other folks who receive service grants and the music is fun! Volunteers arrive a little before the shift you sign up for and go to the volunteers tent-booth for a T-shirt and instructions about how to ’staff’ the entrance gates and ask for donations. Usually you will start out with a seasoned volunteer partner.

If you decide to volunteer, please mention you are from Holy Covenant, or Dignity Diner or both so that we get credit for sending enough volunteers. Send an e-mail to office@holycovenantumc.org to let us know the shift you have signed up for. Questions? Contact Steve Bindrich or Kara Teeple. For more information, see: http://www.wrightwoodneighbors.org/Taste.htm

Greetings Committee Members and Leaders!

On Sunday, July 5, we welcomed Rev. Kate Floyd as our new pastor. As we continue this time of transition in the life of our church, we would like to assist Kate to get to know you and the ministries of your committees. We have planned three gatherings during the month of July to do this:

1) Administrative Pod: Wednesday, July 15 at 7:30 pm; HCUMC Gallery

Committees: Finance, Staff-Parish Relations Committee, and Trustees

Lay Leader Contact: Scott Reid

2) Church Life Pod: Tuesday, July 21 at 7:30 pm; HCUMC Gallery

Committees: Children & Families; Communications; Community Life and Recreation; Spiritual Formation; Church Care Team; and the Welcome Team: Hospitality & the Sunday Morning Crew

Lay Leader Contact: Kristin Kumpf

3) Mission Pod: Monday, July 27 at 7:30 pm; HCUMC Gallery

Committees: Dignity Diner; Green Team; Lakeview Action Coalition (LAC) Partners; Reconciling Committee; Sister Church Solidarity; Mission Projects Team

Lay Leader Contact: David E Braden

These gatherings will largely be informal and a means for Kate to get to know you and your committees. We ask that you RSVP to your pod’s lay leader and all active committee participants are invited!

We hope to have at least one member/participant from each committee (preferably as many from each committee as possible) attend these gatherings so that Kate gets fully baptized into the lay leadership of the church. If you or any committee member is unable to attend your specified night, there will be other informal gatherings to meet Kate as the summer continues.

In preparation for your pod’s gathering, consider the successes and challenges of your committee this year and be prepared to share 5 – 10 minutes on your participation in the life of your committee.

If you have any questions or comments about these gatherings, please do not hesitate to contact one of the lay leaders: David E Braden, Kristin Kumpf, or Scott Reid. We look forward to seeing you!

Donelle Bergson Sommer will be completing her Master of Divinity (M.Div) Degree at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, IL this fall. She comes to the Chicago area from Winfield, KS where she worked in the realm of performing arts and served in music ministry as an adult and children’s choir director. She recently transferred her candidacy certification for ministry into the Northwestern District of the Northern IL Conference of the UMC, and will be seeking commissioning for elder’s orders through this conference. She is transferring her local church membership from Grace UMC of Winfield, KS.

Carlos J. Rios grew up in West Palm Beach, FL and is the eldest of two sons. After being raised Southern Baptist and becoming disenchanted with that and Florida, he moved to Chicago to pursue his master’s degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Roosevelt University. He works as an HR Assistant for Gibsons Restaurant Group. When he’s not dealing with employees, Carlos loves appreciating the fine arts, traveling, relaxing by the lake, and watching trashy reality TV. Carlos is currently training for his second Chicago marathon with the AIDS Foundation.

Dear Holy Covenant Community,

Taste and see that the Lord is good, the Psalmist tells us.

What a gift it was to break bread with you on Sunday. As you warmly welcomed me into your worshipping community, we met at the table three times to feast at God’s banquet. You’ve welcomed me in many ways, and for this I am grateful: kind notes and e-mails; invitations to meals and coffee; stocking my fridge; cards from the children; preparing the parsonage; hugs, smiles, laughter, and cake on Sunday morning. You even sang an Indigo Girls song for the offering, which you know to be my favorite! You’ve been the body of Christ for me already, and it’s evident you are the body for one another. How appropriate, then, that we began our time together around the common table.

Reflecting on the history and meaning of communion, this holy table, Sara Miles writes in her book Take This Bread:
“The meal remained, through all the centuries, more powerful than any attempts to manage it. It reconciled, if only for a minute, all of God’s creation, revealing that, without exception, we were members of one body, God’s body, in endless diversity. The feast showed us how to re-member what had been dis-membered by human attempts to separate and divide, judge and cast out, select or punish. At that Table, sharing food, we were brought into the ongoing work of making creation whole.”

May we continue in this sacred way of meal-making wholeness together. And may our unity in Christ inspire us to go out into the diversity of the world: sharing meals with those unlike us; filling up those who are empty; and blessing and breaking open the walls that keep us isolated, so that we love intimately with our whole selves, living in the way of compassion.

Taste and see. God is, indeed, good.

Grace and Peace,
Kate

This weekend, I will be in New Orleans, co-officiating at a friend’s wedding. I’ll miss you on Sunday but will keep you in prayer as you gather to worship God. Donelle Sommer will be preaching at the 9:30 and 11:15am services, and Rebecca Anderson will be preaching at the 7pm service.

While I’m away, Monica Isaac, a Holy Covenant Deacon, will be the pastor on call. In case of emergency, you can reach Monica at 773-633-0557 (cell) and 708-216-7888 -pager number 91655 (wk) or by e-mail.