Important Staffing Updates Below

Abolition Advent Calendar

Join the Movement

The days are surely coming, says the Holy One, when I will fulfill the promise I made to…execute justice and righteousness in the land. – Jeremiah 33:14-15

This coming Advent, Join the Movement will be offering our third annual Abolition Advent Calendar, featuring reflections offered in daily emails and social media posts throughout the season. This year, our theme is “The Days Are Surely Coming: Reducing Harm, Preparing the Way.” As we await and prepare for the birth of transformational Love in flesh and bone, we invite you to make this Advent journey with us, grounding ourselves in the hope that the freedom-bringing work of harm reduction can prepare the way for a new day of love and justice that is surely coming. Sign up to receive daily emails in Advent here.

Save Money, Renew Now!

UCC Musicians Association

Would you like to save a few dollars? Renew now! Effective January 1, 2025, UCCMA will be raising its membership rates (for only the second time in 30 years!). The one-year membership will go from $75 to $85, the two-year membership will go from $130 to $150 and the one-year institutional membership will go from $100 to $150. Give yourself an early Christmas present and renew now at the current rates. Even if you aren’t due for renewal, you can pay now and additional time will be tacked onto your current due date. Just log into the website using the email address from this email and your password. Click on your name in the upper right corner and proceed. You have until December 31, 2024 to lock in some savings. Renew online here.

Blessing of the Chaplain's Home

Elmhurst University

You are invited to join in celebrating and Blessing the Chaplain’s Home at Elmhurst University on Sunday, December 15th from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. (255 Elm Park Ave, Elmhurst, Illinois). Join as we remember and tell stories and share in a liturgy of closing to return the residence to the University for future uses. Please join me in giving hope and thanks for what has been, and what will be. At 4:45pm we will begin the Service of Blessings. Joining us to lead the Blessing will be the Rev. Dr. Brad Braxton of Chicago Theological Seminary, and Dr. Kenneth Guest, Chair of the Trustees for the World Student Christian Federation. Please RSVP to Rev. H Scott Matheney to help us prepare the afternoon reception. With grace and love for all that you and so many have given, and for the life of this home, a place where all are welcomed, to think, to grow, to become…for this and all, we give thanks.

Environmental Justice

Pathways Theological Education

Throughout history, people have used the gifts of the land creating structures to make our lives easier. The Bailey Island Bridge is such a creation of granite slabs strong enough to withstand the powerful tidal forces traveling between Orrs and Bailey Islands. How do human creations hurt or help our relationship with all people, biodiversity, and the planet? PATHWAYS responds to this question through its Environmental Justice Program, introducing theology, ethics, scripture, policy, pastoral care, preaching and worship that embraces diverse cultures, creatures, and the Earth, Our Common Home. Sign up now and sample an Environmental Justice course, Biomes and Landforms in Scripture (beginning January 8), connecting our lives and lands with the life and land found in Scripture.

Visit our website and learn more about PATHWAYS Theological Education, Inc. You may also contact the Academic Dean, Rev. Dr. Ruth Shaver or the Registrar, Rev. Melissa Ashmore with your questions.

Empowering Communication Workshops

Rev. Joel Westby and Rev. Leslie Ritter-Jenkins are co-facilitating six Empowering Communication workshops between January 27 and February 28, 2025 via Zoom. To the four workshops they offered in 2021 they have added two new workshops in 2025:

1. Embody the Gospel: Facilitate Dialogue, Mediate Conflict, Achieve Reconciliation
2. Liberate the Power of Love: Facilitate Restorative Circles that Heal, Strengthen, and Empower Congregations. 

Empowering Communication has been a framework that has given us confidence in how we choose to live out our faith in our personal and professional work. Empowering Communication is both a skill set and spiritual consciousness that helps us answer these questions. It is not only consonant with Christianity, but in our experience, is a path that liberates the power of love within ourselves and in our relationships. In the six workshops clergy will learn tools that support congregational vitality and help heal in the world.

Participants in the 2021 workshops may participate in Workshops 1 - 4 for free. 

Visit the website for information about each of the workshops and to register.

Cool Congregations Challenge

The Cool Congregations Challenge, is an annual national contest to recognize “Cool Congregations” that are becoming energy efficient and sustainable role models within their communities. The contest is brought to you by Interfaith Power & Light, a nonprofit organization inspiring and mobilizing people of faith and conscience to take bold and just action on climate. There are no fees to enter. Application period opens November 1st. Deadline for entries is December 15. Projects completed in 2022, 2023, and 2024 will be eligible to apply. Awards will be announced in February 2025. Get ready to enter the Challenge! Learn more and enter here.

Blue Christmas Taize Service

Eden UCC, Chicago

Please join us at Eden UCC for our Blue Christmas service. A Taize service of remembrance and hope. Blue Christmas services are intended to reach out to anyone who might be vulnerable this holiday season. In a holiday season that may seem to neglect the hurting, or pressure toward uplifting and sentimental, these services attend to the tender and hidden pains we care. We remember Emmanuel, God with Us, in all seasons. Join us for a time designed for validating this, and offering comfort and nurturance to those who are not having a "happy Christmas”. Joint service led by Rev. Jacki Belile(Eden UCC) and Sarah Foster, Pastor of Congregational Church of Jefferson Park. Service is 7:00 p.m. on December 12 at 5051 W. Gunnison St in Chicago 60630. Please see www.edenuccchicago.org for Zoom info.

Back Home Again Holiday Concert

Congregational Church of Algonquin

Bob Wang, who cut his guitar-playing-teeth on Denver’s music, will present a concert featuring many of the JD classics; all of which Denver performed on his Christmas albums and TV “specials.” Original holiday songs like Aspenglow, Christmas For Cowboys, and A Baby Just Like You. The program will also include the iconic Christmas carol sing-a-long. But to not disappoint, Bob will also perform many other non-holiday classics like Take Me Home Country Roads, Annie’s Song, Sunshine On My Shoulders, and Thank God I’m A Country Boy and the chosen theme title, Back Home Again. Bob will be joined by long-time friend and fellow musician, Charis Mitchell (assisting with vocals and percussion), who will be traveling from her new home in Arizona.

The concert will take place in the Congregational Church of Algonquin sanctuary which will be transformed into a country-like family room setting – guaranteed to put us all in that nostalgic holiday mood that we all yearn for this time of year. Light refreshments will be served during a brief intermission. The concert is free to the public, though there will be a free-will offering with the proceeds going to Church World Service/Hurricane Hellene & Milton Relief.

Congratulations Rev. Terri Smith!

The Rev. Terri Smith was ordained into ministry on Saturday, November 23rd and Installed as Pastor and Teacher of Lake Fork UCC in Atwood. Pictured below is Rev. Smith with the clergy and licensed ministers who were present to celebrate this momentous occasion with her.

Edward Goode Memorial Video

Join us in continuing to honor the life of Edward E. Goode. Please visit the memorial website to view the video from the service, including the tribute video (see link below). We hope to share the full tribute video in the coming weeks, which will include additional photos and the videos submitted by Edward's friends and family. You are also welcome to share memories and photos directly to the memorial website.

Memorial Website – https://www.weremember.com/edward-goode/1l9a/memories

Bereavement Notice

Rev. Dr. William Peterson

It is with deep sadness we share the news that the Rev. Dr. William Peterson died in his home on October 29, 2024. Rev. Dr. William (Bill) M. Peterson was born and grew up In Moline, Illinois on June 5, 1942. He later attended & graduated from University of Illinois, Champaign in 1965 with an engineering degree. He moved to Seattle, working with the Boeing Company during time of the Vietnam War. As a youth minister he began supporting many who were leaving the country to avoid the draft. This experience caused him to return to Chicago where he attended simultaneously the University of Chicago where he was awarded a Master of Arts in Social Services in 1974 & a Master of Divinity from Chicago Theological Seminary. Bill was ordained at the Union Church of Hinsdale where he worked with Granger Westberg at the Wholistic Health Center, worked with the church youth and later served as Interim Senior Minister for the Church.

Services will be held in California in early 2025. Read the full obituary here.

Boundary and Anti-Racism Trainings

The deadline for all authorized ministers to get up to date on the required Boundary Awareness Training is December 31, 2024. If you have not received boundary training since before 2022, you are required to complete a training by the end of this year in order to remain in good standing. Click here to access the full list of available offerings. If you have questions about the Boundary Awareness requirement, please contact the chair of your Association's Committee on Ministry.