Reflections

A couple of years ago, I attempted to do a series of “person on the street” interviews to include as part of worship. It was this time of year — when we reflect on what we are thankful for — and I was convinced I would get a wide variety of answers on being both thankful and gracious. But I didn’t. From where I stood while doing the interviewing, it seemed to be an abysmal failure. Every time I asked someone to tell me what they were thankful for, they replied with “my family.”

Every time.

But how honest, really, are you going to be with a stranger who interrupts your trip out of Starbucks with a camera and microphone? In hearing their equivalent of a Miss America “world peace” answer, part of me wondered if they didn’t want to sound ignorant or selfish, so they just played it safe.

After about ten of them in a row, I said to the next person “Come on, that’s the answer everybody is giving me. Isn’t there something else that you are equally thankful for?”

She pushed back, ‘Well, how would you answer the question?” (If you ever want to see if a reporter is unprepared, ask them the same question.)

I didn’t know how to answer her, so I asked her another question: “I mean, my family is a pain sometimes. My extended family is a pain a lot of the time. Isn’t yours?”

“Of course,” she said with a smile. Now we were getting somewhere. Now I could get some honesty. “But that doesn’t make me any less thankful for them,” she continued. I pressed the stop button, thanked her and went back home.

Recently, I found that tape. Oddly enough, I had had re-used it for another project. Only a snippet was visible, but I immediately recognized the woman. She passed by in between clips of my daughter riding her trike in the house (and aggravatingly, into the tripod) and my spouse helping me test a new video light (and a small argument about how long it was going to take). I laughed and figured I would have answered the same as all those people.

I think the same kind of thankfulness is present for members of a church family. We are pains to each other a lot of the time, but we are still family. United by the grace of God, we are the very best of the life God offers us to receive. That certainly includes the great moments of love and unity. But it also includes the warts. Be thankful for our Holy Covenant family, sisters and brothers.

Peace,

Pastor Matthew

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I know many of you are weary. The fall does it to me. The darkness. The chill. But in this season, we are also weary as a church. So much transition. So many goodbyes and new beginnings. While there has, indeed, been much change here in the past year, I think it is important to remember more has stayed the same. Without fail, we worshipped every Sunday – usually more than once; many dates three times. We sang thousands of songs. We gave and received signs of peace and love tens of thousands of times. Simply standing where we do, our message and mission were witnessed by hundreds of thousands who pass by our building. We broke bread at Jesus’ table just about every week. By year’s end, we will have served nearly 5,000 meals within the context of fellowship and through the amazing work of Dignity Diner. We opened our baptismal font to our children. We opened our building to our neighbors. When all is said and done, people will have come through our doors more than 15,000 times in 2011. That’s bigger than my town was when I was in high school. And we’ve been doing these kinds of foundational things, year in and year out, for decade upon decade. Honestly, little has changed. And that is because we are part of something that is bigger than all of us. We are part of God. And I hope you find peace in knowing it.

As you think about making an annual pledge to Holy Covenant for 2012, consider what we are a part of, what endures and how it grows. If you have not pledged in the past, consider growing your participation in the sameness of God that unites us, by making your gifts one of those consistent things your friends at Holy Covenant can count on. I, and your leadership team, thank you for everything you do to keep the foundation strong, the community stable and the church alive.

Blessings!

Pastor Matthew

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As you know, Rebecca’s last Sunday is November 20th. The Staff Parish Relations Committee is actively working to hire to fill Rebecca’s position. We have decided to divide Rebecca’s current position into two positions – one to focus on worship in the evening service and one to focus on spiritual formation and small groups. We felt it made sense to divide the position since they need very different skill sets. Here are the job postings for the two positions: Evening Worship Leader and Ministry Associate. If you know anyone who would be a good fit for either of these positions, please send them the job postings. Thank you!

If you have any questions please, feel free to talk to me or any of the members of SPRC or the Lay Leaders. You can also email questions to the Staff Parish Relations Committee.

Mandy Leifheit, SPRC Chair

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Bondye konn bay, men li pa konn separe. (God gives, but doesn’t share.) — Haitian Proverb

The first time I heard this, I was taken aback. Considering the context — and how little of our western lifestyle and comfort has been given to the Haitian over the years — I thought it was an indictment of those (like me) who have much and don’t share. I thought it was a fatalistic answer to the classic “God, why?” question.

But then, after members of a team sent to work on a hospital destroyed by the 2010 earthquake returned, I saw it differently. They told these amazing stories filled with what I can only see as paradox. Life there sucked, but the Haitians loved life. There was no anger. People were not sitting around waiting for the first-world nations to “fix” them. They celebrated what they had, they looked at it all as gift and they shared it with each other. And they even shared it with the team of (relative) economic elites who went there to help them. Bondye konn bay, men li pa konn separe. For the Haitians the team encountered, this proverb was an aim and a way of life. In their understanding of God’s economy, we are all given an important function in creation: distribution. And, if we model our distribution off the way God gives, we can only share indiscriminately and sacrificially.

I was humbled hearing this, “I’ve got a lot to learn,” I thought. “We’ve got a lot to learn.” Bondye konn bay, men li pa konn separe. As far as I’m concerned, there is nothing that better captures what it means for us to be stewards … people entrusted with the gifts of God and responsible for distributing them with mercy and justice.

God has skimped on nothing in this creation. We have been given everything. Everything. Including the action necessary to build community: sharing. When you think of your siblings here at Holy Covenant … be you someone who has moved away, just arrived or anything in between … I hope you will consider what God has entrusted you with, and share just as lavishly.

Remember, you are blessed. Be a blessing to someone else this week!

Pastor Matthew

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Dear Holy Covenant,

I hope that choosing this church for my internship wasn’t too selfish a move on my part! Yes, the University of Chicago requires that Master of Divinity students dedicate themselves to a church for a year of service and education, but is there any reason why I shouldn’t have a little fun in the process? Truly, I look forward to working with you, for you, and among you, and I hope to build many new relationships as well as cultivating those that I already have.

I am originally from Memphis, and I moved to Chicago in 2009 after graduating from the University of Virginia. Having grown up in a completely non-religious household, I think I surprised a couple people (read: my parents) when I decided to join a large PC-USA church in Memphis, major in religious studies in college, and become a member of UVA’s Black Voices Gospel Choir. I have been encouraged, challenged, empowered, and humbled by this course of conversion and coming into a relationship with God, and I can’t wait to engage with you about your own experiences in faith.

I am in my third year of a joint degree program (J.D./M.Div.) at the University of Chicago Law and Divinity Schools, and after a year of torts and contracts and cold-calling, I am very happy to be returning to the Divinity School and to the well of Christian theology and fellowship. I imagine that I am preempting many of your questions when I say, “I am not entirely sure what I will do with my joint degree.” I feel increasingly called to work with families on divorce and child custody issues, so I am moving in the general direction of family law. I see a void of pastoral care in that work, and I am interested in whether and how ministry may be incorporated into non-traditional settings.

Thank you for welcoming me and for being who you are — an energetic, loving, multifaceted community, and a church that makes me feel like I am home.

Peace,
Nora

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Hi, friends! You’ll have to forgive the hodge-podge nature of my narrative this week. There is just so much happening, I don’t know where to begin (or end). We are ramped-up for fall, and there are some amazing things taking place in the life of our congregation. Here’s a sampling:

It’s Here!
There’s Easter. There’s Christmas. There’s U2. As far as the Holy Covenant calendar is concerned, there are no higher holy days in our life than this tremendous troika. While I have never experienced anything quite like it, I am quite excited to be a part of this year’s festivities. For a long time, I have believed that all imagination and creativity are sparked from God’s imagination and creativity. You don’t have to look to hard to see pieces of the divine in much of our pop culture … and I don’t think that is an accident. God’s grace is abundant, and it overflows from us all. Bono, The Edge, Adam and Larry pour it into their music in a way that makes the long-argued rift between the sacred and the secular seem quite silly. Jesus shows up in U2′s music, and I hope you – and everybody you can convince – will be there to hear it for yourself this Sunday at 11:15a and 7p. If ever there was a service to invite your neighbors, coworkers and family to that captures the essence of Holy Covenant and what is great about faith in God: this is it.

Service Project for the Night Ministry
Thanks to everyone who has dropped off supplies for our upcoming project to help the Night Ministry. Please keep ‘em coming! We will be happy to take donations up to Friday at 5p. If possible, please drop off items in bulk form … half the fun in doing this project will be working together on Sunday morning. Don’t have the time to go shopping but still want help? You can make a cash donation toward our bulk purchases.

Welcome Nora Kahn!
The newest member of our staff is Seminary Intern Nora Kahn. That name might sound familiar to you, and that is because Nora has been attending Holy Covenant for a while now. We are excited to have her in this new role and I am delighted already by the insight and perspective she has brought to our team. I know many of you have already welcomed her, but please be sure to introduce yourselves (again, possibly) over cake in the gallery after worship Sunday afternoon and evening. Please be sure to wear your nametag to help Nora learn who you are (and me, too actually). Watch this space for a note from her next week.

Still Time to Join Small Groups
Rebecca has done a marvelous job of assembling a wide variety of groups for you to participate in with an amazing cadre of leaders. Please consider becoming a part of a few … I don’t think you will regret it.

There’s even more (still) on the side of this page. Whew. Needless to day, no matter where your week takes you, chances are it will lead to something with Holy Covenant. And thank God for that!

See you soon!

Pastor Matthew

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Tacked to the wall in the tiny office at the little country church I served in Boone County was a yellowing piece of paper which said “You are now entering the mission field.” I always found it curious, because it did not hang over the door leading from the office into the sanctuary, but rather on the back wall; the outside wall next to the window which faced the highway. From behind the frosted glass, you could hear objects of individual autonomy speed by. They were blurs occupied by people who probably didn’t even notice that anybody worshiped there. We tried signs, lights and balloons; I even spent most non-winter mornings before worship on the stoop waiving at every car. But nobody ever stopped.

It didn’t take long for me to realize there was something fundamentally wrong with our friendly and open invitations…our community “outreach” as it were. They said “You’re welcome … to meet us on our ground; where we are comfortable and happy and historically in charge.”

It wasn’t until we left the building and the old stories and all the phrases beginning “I remember when” that we had any real influence on the community around us. It wasn’t until we moved our conversations about faith to the florist shop, and the diner, and the softball games that people began to listen to our stories and seek us out for help or friendship. It was then that we realized, collectively, that somebody had put that mantra-bearing piece of paper on the outside wall with a purpose. To be in mission with God and grow a community of faith, you have to be willing to go through your own walls and maybe even knock them down.

It is interesting to remember all the movement in the story of Jesus that leaves behind what was once important. The shepherds left behind the fields. The magi put aside their books. Eventually the holy family left behind the stable and the manger. Jesus left his home behind; the disciples left their boats behind; a tax collector left his comfort behind. Even the cross and the tomb were abandoned after they had served their purpose.

What grows communities of faith are not the things, but the people; people who genuinely care about their neighbor enough to go where their neighbor is. The things that we call “church” (buildings, programs and institutional rigor) are all secondary to the people – the body of Christ. They are meant to support a people moving toward their neighbors in love. Without people on the move, structures lose their reason, and the body loses its spirit. The Jesus we know is always on the move, and it is never just his arms. When he says follow, I think he means with all of ourselves. And to do that, we’ve got to get off the stoop.

Peace,

Pastor Matthew

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Is it really almost October? If you couldn’t tell from the weather, you certainly can from our program schedule! We come from all over the map: geographically, politically, and theologically, yet we are gathered together to be the body of Christ. Through our small group and spiritual formation programs, you have the opportunity to share yourself, meet others, learn your neighborhood in a new way, and glimpse God’s vision for this city, this church, and your life.

Here’s what we will be offering this season – some begin this week! Sign up and join us this fall!
(*denotes visitors and drop-ins welcome)

Sundays:
* Welcome Table (at Einstein’s, 10:15 – 11:15a; weekly)
* Family of God (in the Gallery, 10:15-11:15a; weekly)
* Women’s Group (at Pompei, 5:15 – 6:45p; 2nd and 4th Sundays)

Mondays:
* Theology on Tap (Lakeview, Mondays, begins Oct 3rd! 7-9p)
Tales from the Front: Faith meets Life (Location TBA, Oct 17th – Nov 21st; 6:30 – 8:30p)

Tuesdays:
Ordinary Radicals: Join the Revolution (Lincoln Park, 7 – 8:30; Oct 18th -Nov 22nd)

Wednesdays:
* Worship Workshop (at church, 7 – 8:30, begins Oct 5th!)
* Dinner and a Movie (at church, 7 – 8:30, begins Oct 26th)
Food Group, Part III: Take This Bread (Uptown, 6:30 – 8; Oct 12th -Nov 16th)

Thursdays:
The Hospitality of God (location TBA; Oct 13th – Nov 17th)

October 16 – 7th Annual u2charist Sunday
9:30a Hands-On Mission Projects (Off Site)
All ages can join us for opportunities to engage in mission with our community and partner organizations. Contact us to volunteer.

10:30a and 8p Missions Fair (Gallery)
Learn more about what is going on in our church and community, and meet the leaders who are helping us fulfill our mission.

11:15a and 7p Worship featuring the U2charist
Join us for our annual service of praise and worship through the music of U2, featuring a live band and the Celebration Choir. We are very excited to be adding the u2charist to the 7pm service this year. An excellent opportunity to invite your friends and neighbors to Holy Covenant!

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I can’t tell you enough how much Emily, Libby and I have enjoyed the neighborhood gatherings. (One left, by the way! Sign up here to join us in Hyde Park.) It has been a gift to learn more about everyone, but the biggest gift for me has been seeing you meet people you didn’t know. So much of who we are as Methodists is caught up in this idea of connectionalism. When the movement began in Industrial Revolution-era England, it was an attempt to reconnect people with God and neighbor in a world that was fractured by growth and distance. Through small groups, people had accountability partners for all the struggles brought by living on the fringe of society: both to one’s relationship with God and one’s responsibility to their neighbor.

We live in a challenging time, wrought with a quickening of change and uncertainty. From my reading, it doesn’t seem much different than that of the early Methodists. Populations of people on the move for work, distrust and instability in the institutions that had once been reliable, and distance from known support and community all lead to anxiety and the need for something stable. We need to be that stability for each other. When we are, God shows up.

Connection to God come through the ways we are present to each other. Connection to Christ comes in the ways we challenge each other to live beyond ourselves. Connection to the Spirit comes when we travel with our companions into the world, seeking to become the change God imagines. None of it happens alone. And it can’t happen on Sundays alone.

As we get ready to launch our official small groups in the coming weeks, I would ask that you consider becoming a part of one so we can embody connectionalism in a very public and planned way. But I would also ask that you consider continuing the informal neighborhood gatherings by hosting one in your home. I expect that you will be blessed by the presence of God in someone who will become a friend if you do.

Have a blessed remainder of your week, and I look forward to seeing you Sunday (or, hopefully, sooner).

Peace,

Pastor Matthew

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Everything I Know About Church I Learned from Mister Rogers

I’m a big fan of Fred Rogers. His “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” program on PBS was a staple in the the lives of myself and my younger brothers from the early 80′s on. He was an amazing man (here are 15 reasons why via Mental Floss) and I am really only now coming to realize what a profound impact he has had on my worldview. His regular segments going out into his neighborhood and meeting people where they worked created in me a curiosity about (and value for) the work my neighbors do. His focus on belonging and community – always wanting to live in a neighborhood with me – taught me the value of both long before I knew about Jesus desiring the same. And he told me that God loved me just the way I was.

These were critical lessons for me. They have been crucial in the way I “do” theology. And I expect that he had the same impact on many of you, too. Some claim Mr. Rogers, in fact, gave birth to the modern “emerging Christianity” movement. I don’t think that is a stretch, honestly. He was, after all, a Presbyterian pastor who chose to share the ways of faith from the “underside” via pop culture. Like Jesus, Fred Rogers put his faith to work in the context in which he lived. He understood why, in both blessings and challenges, we are intimately connected to our neighborhoods.

In the coming weeks, we will hear about the neighborhoods where Jesus hung out and what he did while he was there. We will call on you to show us around your neighborhoods via your cameras and narration (see the sidebar). We will be launching neighborhood-focused small groups which will ask us all to engage questions like: What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus where I live and/or work? What of the good news of grace and love needs shared in my context?

And we will do this because our mission to “seek God; love all people; change the world” cannot exist in the moments we capture as a community on Sunday. It is a living mission, and it lives wherever we do. That is all over this great city, and the suburbs. That is in all the far-flung places our great alumni have settled and call home. And that is all the places we have yet to go.

We are one church, but we are many neighborhoods. And thanks be to God for that!

Really looking forward to seeing you this Sunday for worship as we return to three services. Be sure to join us at 9:30am, 11:15am and 7pm! If you are coming in the morning, plan on being there as we kick off the fall with a Breakfast Potluck at 10:15am (bring a dish to share … beverages will be provided). If you are coming in the evening, plan on sticking around for a Ice Cream Social at 8pm after worship (bring your favorite topping to share). And, regardless of when you arrive, remember to bring a neighbor with whom you can share God’s love and hospitality.

Shalom!

Pastor Matthew

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