Community Meals REALLY needs your help this Sunday!

We know lots of folks are out of town for the holidays, but if you’re around, Community Meals could really use your help this Sunday, December 28! We still don’t have enough volunteers – and hunger doesn’t go on vacation. If you’re able to join us, please email Barb via the button below, or sign up in the Sign Up Center.

PSST… Pastor Dan here: If it’s a choice to do Community Meals or come to church this Sunday, please choose Community Meals!

Sunday, January 4:  2nd Annual Epiphany Breakfast Pageant!

Last year we tried something new and crazy to end the Christmas season, and it was a hilarious success beyond our wildest dreams... this congregation really knows how to have fun together! So of course, we’re going to do it again. :) 

On Sunday, January 4, we will gather at 9:30am in Founder’s Hall for some prayer and carols. We will share a bountiful potluck breakfast (please check the sheet in the Sign Up Center to see what you can bring to share!). And then, we will ALL put on an Epiphany Pageant together, adults and children alike. Scripts and
costumes will be provided, and the talented kids from the Ensemble Society will be there to help! There will be roles with many lines and roles with few or no lines. The important thing is that everyone will have a part – including online folks! 

The idea is to have a fun, silly, and joyful morning together. Last year, even the people who came in with a bit of apprehension ended up having a great time, and were the first to suggest we do it again this year! Getting playful together is one of the most important ways of creating deeper connections with one another, and opening ourselves to the playfulness of God. Let’s keep the cold of winter at bay with delicious food and mirthful spirits!

If you need some big laughs, watch last year’s pageant here!

Great News!
Better Neighbors Project Update

Bishop Paula Clark, with the recommendation of the diocesan Standing Committee, has given us her consent to sell the Rectory house and adjacent property, according to the resolution we approved this past fall. We can now negotiate in earnest with the Park District for a sale.

On the Parking Lot front, we also have forward movement: the Park District will soon be conducting comprehensive engineering assessments of our parking lot in preparation for bidding out the work. Once we have solid dollar figures, we will negotiate an equitable cost-sharing of this project and future maintenance.

2025 Donations due by December 31

Don’t forget: Donations that need to be recorded on your 2025 tax statement must be received by Wednesday, December 31. As always, you can donate via the offering plate (by Sunday, Dec 28), you can send a check via snail mail, or donate online. 

Thank you!

Midweek Prayer

Every Wednesday | 8:00am

Need a midweek spiritual boost?

Join a lovely small group of folks who gather online every week for spiritual renewal and to pray intentionally for everyone in our community who is in need.

Meeting ID: 750 552 357 
Password: 587299

Common Threads

Second Tuesday of the month  |  7:00pm

Bring a new or ongoing craft project to work on while you enjoy fun and fellowship with other parishioners. Whatever your craft - whether your medium is knitting, embroidery, painting, calligraphy, etc - and whatever your skill level, all are welcome! We meet in the Parker Room.

Book Club

3rd Wednesday of the month  |  7:00pm

Note: A reminder that we take December off, but will resume in January!

January 21:
James by Percival Everett

A brilliant reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn—both harrowing and satirical—told from the enslaved Jim's point of view.

When Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs away until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck has faked his own death to escape his violent father. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.

Brimming with nuanced humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a literary icon, this brilliant and tender novel radically illuminates Jim's agency, intelligence, and compassion as never before. James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first-century American literature.

Meeting ID: 817 1184 3180
Passcode: 893734