Archive for October, 2010

Dear Holy Covenant Family,

This week we begin our stewardship campaign, the time in the life of the church when we pledge our financial giving for 2011. My hope and prayer, as I said in Sunday’s Sermon, is that we use this opportunity to evaluate our finances as a whole. Giving not only strengthens the ministries of the church but also draws us closer to God. After all, we know that “Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above…” (James 1:17)

When you give to Holy Covenant, you enable the work of our ministry to change lives. Did you know that 100% of our church finances come from the gifts of our congregation? It is because of your generous giving that we are able to widely share God’s love. Thank you, thank you, thank you, for all the ways you give to our church family! As we begin this time of stewardship, please be in prayer for our church and for the ways you are called to give to its ministries. If you’ve pledged before, please prayerfully consider stepping up your pledge for the coming year. If you’ve never pledged, please prayerfully consider making a pledge towards the life-changing ministries of this church. Your pledge to Holy Covenant for 2010 will ensure that we can continue to transform lives through seeking God, loving ALL people, and changing the world.

To get started:

*Visit our resurrected, secure, on-line Giving Site: http://www.holycovenantumc.org/giving/
Here you’ll be able to read frequently asked questions about giving, pledge on-line, and set-up recurring auto-debit payments.

*If you prefer, fill out a paper pledge card that you receive in worship and place it in the offering plate by Nov. 21st.

*Read Holy Covenant’s blog, where congregants will be writing about why they give during the Stewardship season: http://www.holycovenantumc.org/get-to-know-us/blog/ Save it as a favorite and check back frequently!

Join me in giving to this Spirit-filled congregation as we continue God’s work of transforming lives. Don’t hesitate to be in touch if you have any questions or would like more information. You can also contact Chris Shickles, stewardship chair, and Nick Taylor, finance chair.

Join us on Sunday morning for Blessing of the Animals, or in the evening for an animal-free service, and think about who you can bring with you!

Grace and Peace, Kate

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Giving Thanks to God–Stewardship Kick-Off
Holy Covenant UMC
October 24, 2010
Rev. Kate Hurst Floyd

2 Corinthians 9:6-15

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God loves a cheerful giver!
I don’t know about you, but when I hear people use or quote this phrase, I want to roll my eyes: God loves a cheerful giver!

This passage brings to mind someone walking up to the altar with a gift, followed closely behind by two cheerleaders, waving their pom poms and jumping up and down with their short skirts swishing and swooshing down the center aisle.

Or I think about children required, reluctantly, to give a portion of their allowance to church. You’ve seen those Sunday school teachers who look out at the class, when they are reluctant to give their quarters away (thinking about the candy they could get at the convenience store across the street), and say to them: God loves a cheerful giver! So put a smile on your face and put the money in the offering plate. Trust me, those kids don’t feel cheerful about giving, they give out of fear….this phrase can strike us as fantasy, manipulation, or both. “God loves a cheerful giver!”

There are places, churches, where giving is a joy-filled part of the worship service. In the Methodist church in Ghana, for example, the time of offering can take a full hour, on its own. And church members actually describe this part of the service as great fun! They don’t wait for the plates to be passed, they actually dance and sing up the aisle to place their offering on the altar.

What a contrast to our service! Giving the offering isn’t often the pinnacle of worship….when people ask you what you love about church, you probably talk about the beautiful music, the powerful testimonies, the opportunities for prayer, learning from the sermons, getting to sing along and clap your hands….you’ve probably never told a friend about how much you love church because you get to put your offering into the plate and then sing the doxology. (more…)

Join us on Sunday evening, November 14th to hear Adam Belcuore’s astonishing story about transubstantiation, among other things. Bring a friend, and plan to stay for homemade pumpkin pie and conversation. Please note: Adam’s funny, challenging, and thought-provoking story is not appropriate for young children.

Adam comes to us from Chicago’s 2nd Story, a hybrid performance event combining storytelling, wine, and music. The idea is that if 2nd Story does their job right, you’ll leave telling your own stories.

If you’d like more information about 2nd Story’s storytelling events, please visit them at www.2ndStory.com

On Monday, November 15, join other HC-ers at Webster’s Wine Bar for 2nd Story’s monthly story-telling event. A typical 2nd Story evening goes something like this: you hang out with your friends and eat and drink and make merry. Three to five times during the night, the lights go down, a spotlight comes up on somebody and they tell you a story. Get your own ticket (and more information) at www.2ndStory.com or bring $12 to the 7 pm service on Nov 1.

Dear Holy Covenant Community,

What do you think of when you hear the word hospitality?

Bringing food or making coffee? This is part of it, but more broadly:

Hospitality means WELCOME.

The root word gives us “hospital” and “hospice”, places of healing and comfort. Hospitality is about sharing food, but it also means offering safety, openness, and acceptance. Christ calls on us to welcome ALL people as if we are welcoming him.

What does this mean on Sundays? Simply that we are called to be a community of WELCOME to all who enter, from handing a newcomer a bulletin to volunteering in the nursery to breaking bread in the gallery. The work of the church is to welcome all in the name of Christ, and as his body, we are called to use our hands to do the welcoming work. What a joy and privilege it is to greet the image of Christ in others!

What can you do? First, pray that we may truly be a community of welcome. As we make some changes in our leadership and vision around hospitality, pray that leaders would rise up to take on this important ministry. Second, lend your hands! We are in need of people to be greeters, provide food and clean up after services, and volunteer in the nursery at 9:30. Contact Rebecca if you can serve. We are especially in need of people to greet this Sunday and next. Third, let me know if you have a particular call and passion around leading this ministry.

May we be a people who take ownership of our community and our mission so that we embody our call to truly love (and WELCOME) all people.

See you Sunday and think about who you can bring with you.

Grace and Peace,
Kate

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Children’s Sabbath
Holy Covenant UMC, October 17, 2010
Rev. Kate Hurst Floyd

2 Timothy 3:14 – 4:5

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Rev. Kate Hurst Floyd’s sermon on learning God’s stories for the annual Children’s Sabbath.

Dear friends in Holy Covenant,

This summer, a 3-year-old was near me on a train that had no air conditioning. “It stinks in here!” she proclaimed, giggling. Her mother shushed her.

Do you know any children who have a knack for stating the obvious? Maybe a little too loudly, maybe with a pointing finger extended? Maybe stating a truth that isn’t really “appropriate”? Witnessing one of these moments, or shushing a toddler yourself, or being on the receiving end of one of these truth-telling sessions, have you ever wondered, “What’s so great about kids anyway?”

This Sunday, as we celebrate Children’s Sabbath we will be reminded what, indeed, is so great about children. We’ll remember why Jesus said that, in faith, we must become as little children, why he gathered them around him. We’ll hear stories about and from young people that demonstrate how children, when they encounter God, point, and giggle, and say a little too loudly, “Look! It’s God!” sometimes even in the face of danger or ridicule. We’ll sing songs that remind us of the breathless joy of encountering God as a child and knowing that God’s love is for us!

Come celebrate the gifts that children bring into Christian community, both here and elsewhere. Come practice being attentive to children who are, as are we all, created in the image of God. Come be changed by the witness that children bear to God’s appearances and work in the world. You may leave changed and charged to be so bold yourself. Come prepare to hear truths, giggling-ly, loudly proclaimed.

See you Sunday,
Rebecca Anderson
Minister of Spiritual Formation

Julie Stevens

Julie Stevens was born and raised in Clearwater, FL and spent 12 years in Atlanta. Julie attended Agnes Scott College and majored in Psychology. She currently works at an Industrial/Organizational Psychology consulting firm focusing on talent management within healthcare organizations. Julie has been in Chicago since last September and lives with her lovable mutt, Waker.

And please welcome…

Bobby and Amy Wagner

Amy is originally from Wisconsin and still visits Wisconsin regularly.  Bobby is from Cary, IL.  Bobby and Amy both attended UW-Madison (Amy for undergrad and Bobby for Law School and MBA), and they met on campus.  After college they moved to Chicago and they’ve lived here for the last 6 years.  Bobby works in finance as a consultant and Amy works at Northwestern Memorial Hospital as an administrator.  In the next few weeks, they are expecting a baby boy!  Although Amy was raised Catholic and Bobby was raised Lutheran, they have never felt more at home than at Holy Covenant, and are very excited to become part of the Holy Covenant family as well as become Methodist.

Read more about becoming a member.

Thanks and Praise
Holy Covenant UMC, October 10, 2010
Rev. Kate Hurst Floyd

Luke 17:11-19

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Religious Imagery is thick in our culture.

It’s baseball playoff season and 4 teams are playing right now to determine who goes to the American and National league championships. On Friday night, as I was watching the Braves come from behind to triumphantly beat the Giants, my ears perked up when a commercial came on: there was classical music in the background, stirring up our emotions, images of inspired Phillies fans decked out in red, and a voiceover reminding us of the no-hitter game a few nights ago. Suddenly, the music slows down, and the announcer says: “We are no longer just fans: we are witnesses to a miracle”

Religious language.

The latest Starbucks campaign features a sign on their doors, with a steaming, soothing cup of coffee. Underneath it are the words: “Take comfort in rituals”. Starbucks has become our daily liturgy, beckoning us to familiar rhythms, to regular practices that provide order and shape to our lives.

And have you seen some of the US Cellular ads on the train? You can’t ride the brown line without noticing the white and blue signs that say “US Cellular Belief Project”. Or Us Cellular: Believe.

Religious imagery is everywhere: In fact, the cover of this month’s Oprah magazine provokes us with the question “What’s your true calling?”. As if Oprah is the one calling and the one who will help us discover our call.

As a culture, we crave this kind of religiosity: We’re drawn to ritual, to the wonder of miracles that surpass what we think is possible, we want to believe in something beyond ourselves, we’re searching for our call: where our gifts and graces meet the world’s needs. We are constantly surrounded by religious imagery, and it speaks to us on a deeper level. So we give (or are given) religious significance to many aspects of our culture.

In our text this morning from Luke, we encounter people living in a world that was also steeped in Religious imagery and significance. Religious significance governed the society and shaped every aspect of life. We meet 10 lepers who are living in a deeply Jewish culture, where the high priests determine who is clean and unclean, acceptable and unacceptable, who we can touch and love and include at our dinner table, and who we should exclude. (more…)

Dear Holy Covenant UMC,

I want to start by thanking all of you in this church family for being so inviting. I feel like I am already part of this congregation and I have only been here a few weeks. I am excited to be a part of such a vibrant church. Already in my short time here I have been able to see so many branches of ministry being lived out by this great congregation. I hope to continue to meet and experience all of the passions that you and this church embody.

If I have yet to meet you, my name is Dan Hart. I am from Michigan and have been part of the United Methodist Church throughout my life. Currently, I am in my second year of a Masters of Divinity program at Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston. I started attending seminary right out of my undergrad experience in Michigan at Albion College (where I met my wife Autumn).

Realizing my call to ministry was not an automatic decision for me. Part of this impediment came directly from fearing my mom getting too excited about me working towards becoming a pastor. My mom was ordained in the United Methodist Church when I was about 10. Since that point she has been my greatest spiritual guide and pastor. Through her experiences and her faith I grew stronger in my own. Even though she was a great spiritual mentor I was always afraid to tell her, or anyone else, that I felt a call to ministry because I knew that many more questions and suggestions would ensue. It is not that I did not want to follow my mother in becoming a pastor, but I did know that some of the hardest choices she had to make came as a result of her call. Even though the thought of becoming a pastor both terrified and helped me to dream, my decision to act on what I felt called to do came through the support of my wife Autumn and both my parents.

My wife Autumn has taught me a lot about what it is to be called to ministry. She is called to her own ministry through teaching. She has worked hard to find ways to reach out to help kids learn and become empowered through teaching, coaching, and tutoring. A big part of my decision to go to seminary and pursue my call came from my inspiration at the hands of my hard-working wife who currently is working in Glencoe with fifth grade special education. From her example I knew that I had to work my hardest to put myself in a place to accomplish what I feel I am called to.

A big part of understanding my own call and living it out is directly tied to my time at this church. Over this year I hope to get more involved with helping to lead worship, building ties to this community through small groups and other events, and growing in my own faith through hearing your stories and experiences.

I would love to get to know you better either from seeing you and talking at church, sharing a small group with you (I am helping to lead a group centered on sharing our stories on Monday nights), or finding a time outside of church to talk and share experiences. I am so excited to know this church better and to continue to see the way this congregation lives out its mission in the world.

In Christ,

Dan Hart
Holy Covenant UMC Intern
2nd year Garrett ETS student

Blessed Are You
Holy Covenant UMC, Oct. 3, 2010
Rev. Kate Hurst Floyd

Luke 6:20-31

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Jesus looks out at the world and says:

Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

Josh awakes to loud alarms beeping and harsh light suddenly flipped on. It’s 5:30am, everybody must be out of the shelter by 6. He stumbles out of his top bunk, grabs his backpack, and hurries to the bus, hoping to make it to his high school in time for breakfast. The three buses and a mile walk take much longer than the route he took from home, before his parents kicked him out. They said they didn’t like the way he “dressed” or “acted”, but what they really don’t like is that he likes to kiss boys. He tries to choke back tears on the bus ride, steeling himself up to be strong at school. He makes it in time to grab breakfast—one of the sweet cafeteria workers always passes him a tray with a wink and tells him he doesn’t need to pay. He stuffs down as much as he can and saves the banana for lunch. It’s all he’ll eat today.
The students at the table next to his are gathered for a morning bible study, reading out loud the words: blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

Josh almost snorts the chocolate milk out of his nose. God has done nothing to bless him. He’s alone in the world, fighting to pay to eat and find shelter and buy shoes that aren’t worn out. Blessed are the poor? Those kids know nothing about being poor, he thinks, and neither does God. (more…)