Archive for November, 2010

Expect Hope
Rev. Kate Hurst Floyd
Holy Covenant UMC
November 28, 2010, Advent 1

Luke 1:5-25

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Shut up! Shut up. No, you shut up!

Have you been told this before? How does it make you feel?

Probably not very good. This phrase is used to make us feel insignificant, isolated, silenced. When I was growing up, my brother and I weren’t even allowed to say “shut up”. It was a bad word in our house. Or, as my mother would say, as women in the south are wont to say: it’s ugly talk. Don’t use such ugly language.

When we hear this phrase, we hear more than these two words: “shut up”. We hear “What you have to say doesn’t matter, doesn’t count”. Or “What you have to say does matter, but I don’t want to hear it”.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons we’re so scared of silence….because we’re scared of not having a voice. We wonder: If we live into silence, will it mean we are invisible? I don’t need to tell you that we live in a world saturated with noise, with non-stop communication. From hundreds of television stations to instant updates on Facebook and Twitter, the ability to have music and podcasts streaming through earphones night and day, wherever we are…we’re a culture that’s afraid of silence. We don’t want to be invisible.
So we post on Twitter where we are, what we’re doing, what we ate for breakfast. How much homework we have left to do or the state of our cold. It’s easy to make fun of these means of communication, or lament that they are taking over our lives and making us even more self indulgent than we usually are. I often critique these methods and use them, at the same time.
But at the root of our culture of noise and constant communication, I think, is something deeper than mere self-consumption—at our core, we want to be heard. It’s a basic human desire. And in 2010, we have more ways than ever to communicate.
It’s one way of saying: hey, world, you can’t tell me to shut up. I’m worthy of being heard. We need to have a voice. (more…)

by Cindy Kuzma

“Compassion is a muscle that gets stronger with use. And the regular exercise of choosing kindness over cruelty would change us.” – Jonathan Safran Foer

This past year, I got certified as a running coach, and started working to help other runners reach their goals. In a training plan, each workout has a purpose, making the runner faster, stronger, better. Mile repeats build speed. Long runs build endurance. Hill runs build power.

For most of us, this type of “practice makes perfect” makes sense when it comes to physical pursuits. We don’t often think about moral and spiritual endeavors—compassion, patience, justice—in the same way. Advent offers us an opportunity to reconsider this narrow view.

This season, we’re asked to live with hope, work for justice, wait with joy, and prepare for love. You’re not alone if you find yourself a little rusty in these areas. Even if we can squeeze in a trip to the gym, our daily lives don’t always leave much room for contemplation or preparation. Nevermind the often-catalogued physical hustle and bustle of the holiday season—for some of us, this spiritual to-do list can be just as daunting.

It may help to think a little bit more like a runner. You don’t start a plan with a 26-mile dash; each shorter distance covered builds toward a marathon effort. Similarly, a small spiritual workout each day—a kind gesture, a moment of meditation, a peaceful thought—leads to exponential benefits. Train your body hard enough, and you’ll notice its shape start to transform—your waist shrinks, your quads grow, your muscles become more defined. Train your soul hard enough, and you’ll notice the world transform.

by Liz Dierbeck

In Chicago, as everyone knows, you will one day become a victim of holiday traffic.

If you live in Chicago long enough, you start to understand the grid system and its idiosyncrasies; you predict which major thoroughfares are most likely to be clogged with tourists and holiday shoppers; you anticipate the collective insanity that ensues whenever the weather changes significantly. You even even grow accustomed to tacking on an extra 30 minutes to your travel time. You need those precious 30 minutes, even if it’s just in your mind, because without them you will arrive late, frazzled and road-weary. Better to set yourself and your hosts up for hazards and disappointments, than to count on an even-keeled trip across town to make merry.

As any of Oprah’s spiritual gurus will tell you, if you “think positive,” you can obtain or achieve anything. They describe it as if you are drawing an idea, a possibility, an experience closer and closer to yourself, and fully into your life, by a slender silver cord woven together by thought and belief. (It is clear that these “gurus” have never driven on Lake Shore Drive after the first snowfall.)

But I have personally found success in this concept of “expecting” good things. It’s as simple as writing down a personal goal, and sticking the post-it note to my computer screen. That paper square boldly proclaims: I have a vision of how my life could become better, and I’m giving myself some mental space, and extra time, to consider that something wild and new might be possible for me. It becomes a daily witness, each time I catch sight of it: a silent, yellow prayer-turned-pep-talk. It doesn’t have to happen today, but the day will come when that post-it turns into reality, and all because I dared to believe it could be so.

The season of Advent is a daily progression toward an audacious event. God wrote down the idea of far-reaching, ever-lasting change, and He stuck it to our collective mental “screen.” Every day for the next 28 days, we can think about that promise, and make it a little more real by drawing it closer, into our lives. We can take extra time and mental space to “re-calibrate” our own expectations. Even when our commitments require us to battle long lines and traffic to live up to the expectations of others, we can still engage daily with God in waiting, and create something new that once was impossible.

by Rob Rawls

Advent begins again today.

Ordinary time, if there is such a thing, is over and the Christian calendar begins again. In a way, today can be looked at as a Christian New Year. A time to begin again. As a community, we prepare to welcome the incarnation. Emanuel. God with us.

Advent begins today. The spiritual journey towards Christmas morning. Twenty-seven days. As a child, these days after Thanksgiving would creep and crawl. As an adult, they can slip by way too fast–a calendar overstuffed with work parties, trips to the mall, and an exhausting effort to fill every day with holiday joy. We look forward to those brief, elusive moments where we feel complete; the one we remember from childhood surrounded by new toys  and the ones from a few years ago when the music was perfect and the house was warm.

We know that these moments pass quickly–but still we wait for them. It seems that Advent can be all about waiting and distracting ourselves from waiting. We hurry around confident that soon we won’t just be waiting, but we’ll finally experiencing.

On this first morning of Advent, this New Year’s morning, I challenge you to create an Advent resolution this year. I challenge you to take some to time to experience this time, this period in your life, this place where you are. God is with you. Not just some time in a few weeks or when the music is right and the house is warm.

Right here and right now.

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The Communications Committee is very happy to again work with the members of the Holy Covenant community to offer the Advent Blog. During the Advent season, we’ll publish a new devotion every morning. We encourage you to check the blog every day, comment on the thoughts that inspire and encourage you, and use this as one of the ways that you experience the season.

If you have any questions or would like to submit a blog post, please email the Communications Committee at communications@holycovenantumc.org.

Dear Holy Covenant Family,

On this week of giving thanks, I offer this prayer of gratitude from The New Zealand Prayer Book:

Eternal God, compassionate and merciful,
We your servants give you humble thanks for all your goodness and loving kindness
To us and to all people.
We bless you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all for your boundless love in the redemption of the world by our Saviour Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory.
And, we pray, give us that due sense of all your mercies, that our hearts may be truly thankful,
And that we praise you, not only with our lips but in our lives, by giving ourselves to your service
And by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days;
Through Jesus Christ our Redeemer, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be all honour and glory,
Now and forever.

Amen.

Prayers to all of you for safe travels, warm gatherings, and a spirit of gratitude towards God.

The church office will be closed on Thursday and Friday for the holiday. If you have a pastoral emergency during this time, please call me at 773-528-6462 x2.

See you on Sunday, the First Sunday of Advent (!), and think about who you can bring with you.

Grace, peace, and gratitude,

Kate

P.S. Thank you to all of you who have pledged your generous gifts for 2011! It’s not too late to show your thanks for this community by pledging online right now.

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Sunday, November 21, 2010
Holy Covenant UMC
Dan Hart, preaching

Philippians 4:4-13

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Why I Give

When asked to comment on why I give financially to Holy Covenant, I thought first of considerations that are not the reasons I support Holy Covenant:
- A surplus of money. With two sons in college and, at the moment, two mortgages, there seem to be plenty of destinations for my dollars.
- For the income tax deduction. While I’m grateful for the deduction for charitable contributions, the taxes saved are a minor portion of the total dollars involved, not alone adequate reason for contributing.
- To prevent feeling guilty. Since guilty feelings about other things I don’t do consistently (like daily meditation, regular exercise, taking time to express caring and affirmation) have not driven me to correct to those omissions, I doubt guilt avoidance would be sufficient motivation for giving either.
- Because Holy Covenant needs the money. In fact, it does. No matter how frugally it operates any vital, active congregation or other organization needs funds to function. But myriad organizations are engaged in worthy, needed efforts that also require operating funds, and I don’t give to all of them.

So why give to Holy Covenant?

In my few years as part of this congregation, I have listened as people share their stories in small groups, during Sunday services, and in informal conversations. Frequently they say things like, “This church changed my life.” Or, “This church saved my life.” “I have been accepted here for who I am and as I am.” “Holy Covenant has been my way back to God.” I can’t help but want to support such experiences, for others and for myself.

After the fact, I do not always feel gratified by some of the ways I spend money. When the market crashed two years ago, and we watched our 401(k)s drop to 201(k)s, I questioned having pumped money into my retirement account. Some concerts, dining experiences, gadgets acquired or other purchases – even some donations – have been disappointments in retrospect. But I have never had one moment’s remorse about what I have given to Holy Covenant. In fact, I am increasingly convinced that the best hope for the world – for meeting human needs, saving the planet, achieving justice, as well as finding personal meaning and joy – is through God’s presence touching lives like ours through faith communities like Holy Covenant.

Your and my financial gifts not only enable ministry among our fellow church-goers, but impact lives throughout the community. They combine with the gifts of others to bring help and hope throughout the world. Perhaps most importantly, giving transforms us individually. Winston Churchill reportedly said: “We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give.” During this time of focus on Stewardship, we are invited not just to give but to live, and in our living, to bring life to others as well.

Dear Holy Covenant Community,

Advent is upon us! Beginning November 28th, we’ll prepare for the birth of Christ. Through worship, a congregational retreat, and Alternative Giving Fair, Holy Covenant will escape the trap of stress and consumerism and focus instead on love. Join us, with great expectations for this season, and invite friends!

Great Expectations: Advent 2010
This Advent, live with hope. Work for justice. Wait with joy. Prepare for love.
Expect Jesus to change everything.

Sunday Services
9:30am, 11:15am, and 7pm

Nov. 28th Expect Hope
Dec. 5th Expect Justice
Dec. 12th Expect Joy –Choir and Children Service
Dec. 19th Expect Love
Dec. 24th Candlelight Christmas Eve, 7pm and 11pm

Special Services and Events

Saturday December 4th
Expect Renewal: Congregational Advent Retreat 9am – 12pm
During this busy season, you are invited to push the pause button and gather with the Holy Covenant community for a time of prayer, silent reflection, and sharing. To RSVP, please contact Kristin Kumpf.

Saturday December 11th
Expect Generosity: Alternative Gift Fair 10:30am-2pm
Learn to make holiday gifts, focus on love rather than consumption. All proceeds will support emergency relief in Haiti.

Sunday December 19th
Party at the Parsonage 3-5pm
All are welcome!

Monday December 20th, 7pm
Expect Light: Longest Night Service
A service for those experiencing grief, loss, depression, or anxiety during the holidays.

Sunday December 26th, 10:30am
Christmas Celebration: Carol Singing and Potluck Brunch (one service)
See you on Sunday, our final day to bring pledges and give thanks. Haven’t pledged yet? Do so online right now! Think about who you can bring with you.

Grace and Peace, with Great Expectations,

Kate

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Sunday, November 14, 2010
Holy Covenant UMC
Rebecca Anderson, preaching

Isaiah 65:17-25

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I like to hear myself talk. I would never admit that in public, but it’s the truth … and one of my biggest flaws, because it gets me in trouble. The only thing I love more than my oratory skills, are my writing abilities … so when Chris and Meaghan asked me to write a blog, I was like … yep, and oh, it will be epic (I was picturing Dante’s Inferno, but in an uplifting way), so prepare for a flood of people contributing to the stewardship campaign, because I am singlehandedly going to turn that tide!

Truthbomb: my blog entry is almost done.

They (that being Chris and Meaghan) asked me to do this a couple weeks ago, and in that time, I have been thinking what to write that I haven’t already said. I think the best way to illustrate why I give is to take a look at what I did with my money on Tuesday, November 16th, 2010:

1 ticket to the Aquabats/Real Big Fish show: $28
1 Aquabats T-shirt: $20
The Goldfrapp discography: $40
2 Cheeseburger Meal Deal at the Arches: $6.48

That totals almost $100. One hundred bucks spent on frivolous stuff. What kind of change could I make if I gave away that amount every day? Not only that, what if I just gave a fraction of that total? I’m not a betting man, but I figure Holy Covenant UMC could make that money go a long way, and not even with the maintenance, upkeep, or salary issues that face the congregation … because it’d also go to numerous ministries, or charities that need financial backing.

Why do I give? Because people need to eat, or hear words of hope and praise, more than I need to listen to electronica, and campy 3rd wave ska revivalists.