Reflections

The Staff Parish Relations Committee is excited to announce that we have hired an Evening Worship Leader and a Ministry Associate. Steve Thorngate will be our Evening Worship Leader starting the week of January 2. Rev. Polly Toner will be our Ministry Associate starting the week of January 9. Please help us welcome them into the Holy Covenant Community.

Evening Worship Leader – Steve Thorngate
Steve grew up in an evangelical church, where he cut his musical teeth playing in praise bands. He studied classical music at Wheaton College and has since worked in several churches that have welcomed his passion for music that a) is stylistically eclectic and b) encourages everyone present to sing. Steve loves many kinds of music but has a particular interest in traditional country gospel.

By day Steve works in nonprofit journalism. He’s currently an editor at the Christian Century magazine; before this he interned at Sojourners and the Utne Reader and edited publications for a social policy advocacy organization. Steve is also the music director at Christ Lutheran in Albany Park, a job he’ll continue alongside his work at Holy Covenant.

He and his wife, Nadia Stefko, live in Hyde Park, where Nadia is a student at the University of Chicago Divinity School. They like to cook, preserve food, geek out about beer, play Scrabble, and lavish embarrassing amounts of attention on their cat.

Ministry Associate – Rev. Polly Toner
Polly has been a resident of Lakeview/Lincoln Park since 1997 where she currently lives with her Beagle, Bella. She has also lived in Idaho, Massachusetts, Southern California, and briefly in both Wisconsin and Salt Lake City. She completed her undergraduate work and Occupational Therapy school at the University of Southern California.

She attended Divinity School at the University of Chicago with some extra work at McCormick Theological Seminary, and is ordained in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Raised in the Roman Catholic tradition, Polly has been involved with Protestant churches since junior high when she persuaded her family to give the Presbyterian church in San Diego a try. Both Fourth Presbyterian and Lakeview Presbyterian churches in Chicago have been formative during her journey into ordained ministry.

Polly enjoys her work with older adults and youth in physical rehabilitation, mental health and school settings, and in faith communities. She continues to work at St. Joseph Hospital where she has been on staff for 15 years. She looks forward to getting to know the Holy Covenant community, learning and growing along side everyone, and participating in God’s work in the world here.

Those who look at her eclectic music collection, books or inbox may struggle to put her into a category. She is passionate about people, inclusion and health care; loves the outdoors, travel and dogs; and is happiest when she makes time to exercise regularly.

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“You are laughing at me, aren’t you,” my friend quipped.

I wasn’t actually. I was just smiling. But I could understand how he would view it as inappropriate. He had just shared his distress, concluded that nobody cared, and that nobody was listening.

“I’m not laughing,” I said. “I care, I am listening, and I don’t think any of this is particularly funny. I just find it interesting that you think of me as ‘nobody.’”

I had a body. I was present. I was there. I put my hands on his as we prayed. He could smell aroma of the onions that still lingered on my clothes from dinner. I watched his lips quiver with sadness and fear. I captured the sound of his voice with my ears. My brain processed the sounds, matched them to the language and context I knew, and the life I had experienced. It fired information back to my mouth and tongue to form a verbal response. It sent other information to small muscle groups in my face and hands to form a non-verbal response. I had a body. I was present. But I don’t think it was me that he considered “nobody.” He wanted God in-the-flesh.

I think this is why so many of the faiths that are practiced in the world have icons and/or idols. We need a deity who shares our space. We need a sensory experience of the divine; or at least an approximation of it. We need a God who is embodied.

When incarnation happens, God is no longer “nobody.” God becomes present.

Real.

Here.

This is the God we pray for. This is the God who arrives. This is the God who is coming again.

I hope you continue to be blessed in your waiting, friends!

Pastor Matthew

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Saturday will mark the completion of a circle for me. This time last year, I was still in the suburbs and well into promoting the “Waiting2010″ campaign on Twitter when a curious tweet popped up in my timeline. It was from our very own Matt Kuzma and it linked to a now-famous (locally, at least) Chicago Tribune article about the Alternative Giving Fair. I was enamored as I read it. I forwarded it on to a few of my staff colleagues, trusted laypersons and pastor friends, saying “We need to be doing something like this, too!”

At the beginning of this year, Matt connected me with Brit Holmberg so we could discuss how to replicate the AGF out in Geneva. We planned on a summer conversation, but the Spirit (and the Bishop) had other plans. Instead, with wonder and excitement, I get to formally invite and encourage you to come for the original this Saturdray from 10:30am to 3pm. And I hope you are as excited about it as I am! God’s hand at work is quite beautiful.

I have enjoyed hearing stories about how the AGF has been transforming people’s habits; about how people are thinking about the season differently; about how your friends and family love, cherish and long for more of the gifts that are hand-crafted at it. And now I am looking forward to making it a part of my family’s tradition and conversation.

I am thankful to be in a place that is home to innovative, missional people like Brit and his team, and one that will nurture that innovative spirit through prayer and support. I pray it will continue, and that the AGF is only a glimpse of the picture that God is using our community to share. And I pray it will continue because people are watching us looking for inspiration. In the season of gift-giving and sharing, that is an exciting thought: we have life and faith to share that sustains people miles from the corner of Diversey and Wilton. So, bring your friends and family as you can and talk it up to those you can’t. You may be surprised by what it yields.

Blessings and love,

Pastor Matthew

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If I said, “The darkness will definitely hide me; the light will become night around me,” even then the darkness isn’t too dark for you! Nighttime would shine bright as day, because darkness is the same as light to you! – Psalm 139:11-12 (CEB)

I was reading this psalm yesterday on my customary Brown Line ride home after dropping my daughter off at school. When I looked up from my phone and glanced out the window, I saw a woman with a personal shopping cart standing in the middle of the crosswalk. She was an immovable object. And she was facing traffic. Her face was obscured by a hood. She was motionless … it was as if she were a sculpture. The wind was gusting, swirling up plastic bags and leaves into a torrent, but there she stood. She didn’t seem to be be going anywhere. It was an oddly serene moment and it was definitely out of place. What possessed her to walk to the middle and stand there? Why had she made such strange claim on that piece of pavement; to not act as expected, but to just “be”?

Her claim on that pavement transformed it. It wasn’t a street or a crosswalk anymore. Instead, it was where she stood and lived. I find the same tension in this psalm. If God chooses to walk into the center of the darkness, it won’t be dark anymore. God doesn’t even see it as darkness. Everything is light to God. And if God would do such a thing, somebody is bound to notice. That is, if they’re looking out the window at the right time.*

I hope your waiting this Advent is as inspiring and eye-opening as it has been for me already, and I look forward to hearing about where you’ve seen God in your waiting.

Blessings,

Pastor Matthew

*Reflection originally posted on Pastor Matthew’s blog, The Unfiltered Wesleyan, where he will be blogging every day of Advent. Please be sure to read the Advent reflections of other Holy Covenant bloggers.

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For a while, I was part of the “Take Back Christmas!” crowd. Yes, I knew that it had pagan origins. And yes, I also knew that December 25 probably wasn’t actually Jesus’ birthday. But I desired so much for it to become a real holy-day kind of holiday that I fought against the culture. I realize now that fight is wasted energy. The Christmas I long for is not something that an entire nation will ever get behind. In fact, I don’t think it ever did. I’ve come to grips with the idea that Christmas in its evolved form (what I call ComsumermasTM) is here to stay. Our economy claims to run on it. Its lights, tunes and targeted advertisements make the kids happy. For adults, it is like a Las Vegas-style neon green yard glass full of cheer. I submit to its wonderfully whimsical and nonsensical virtues.

I have not, however, given up on Advent. At its core, Advent is the darkness of a morning just before dawn. It is hopeful. It anticipates. And Advent does this because it has seen the dawn before. It remembers the light. Advent does not lament in prophecies of doom, nor does it linger in sadness and pine for what once was. Advent says this may be the new day we’ve been waiting for; the greater day we’ve longed to live in. It may be God’s day; God’s future becoming the entirety of our reality. ComsumermasTM wants nothing to do with it. It isn’t threatened by it at all. Because at Advent we pray and wait for the seemingly impossible to happen: peace; reconciliation; equity; and rebuilding. These gifts are not things we can buy, nor are they things that an economy can produce. They are only what we can inherit. And we can only claim that inheritance by waiting.

This Advent, I invite us into a season of waiting. Naming the holiest of things and ideas, we wait upon God to bring them into our midst. And, while they may not come this Christmas, it is still possible they could come the day after. Or the day after that. Because the impossible has already been done in Jesus. We have seen the dawn before. And we cannot forget that light.

Blessed Advent, friends!

Pastor Matthew

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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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