Daily Bread - October 12th, 2021

Dear friends:

The Slowing Time small group has been tackling the theme of Embracing Uncertainty this fall. I thought I would share just a portion of our recent discussion. The Biblical passage that guided our conversation was as follows,

“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.”

~Acts 17:24-27

In this text, Paul reminds us and the anxious folks in Athens that God is near, and Paul wants to remind us that this we can be certain of in the midst of much we are uncertain about. In our small group, we talked about the ways we try to cope with uncertainty, some may feel familiar: trying to control others or our surroundings, feeling more anxious, or losing sleep. Our answers were all different from each other, and you likely have your own unique way of coping these days.

Paul reminds us that as Christians we have the certainty of God’s nearness. What an opportunity that gives us to be the beacon of light and hope to one another, as we all are feeling the collective uncertainty of our times. Love our neighbor and leave the rest to God.

Our prayer today: Dear God, remind us often of your closeness, help us trust in that, and relieve our worry about uncertainty. Amen

Grace and peace,

Sue Sklansky

Outdoor Worship Continues

Join us outdoors in our beautiful Fellowship Garden for 10 am worship every Sunday until the weather does not allow. Bring your own chair or use one of ours. This allows us to worship in the safest way we can now, without masks and singing. The parking lot will be available for any who need close access to the Garden. The service will also be live-streamed. Rain plan: we worship in the sanctuary with masks.

If you're joining us via Livestream, a video link will be included in the Saturday evening email. Peggy will begin prelude music at 9:50 am and we'll get underway after that, so please join us as you're able.

2022 Giving Campaign: “A Future with Hope”

The Giving Team is excited to share that our stewardship theme in 2022 is “A Future with Hope.” The theme draws on the beautiful promise from Jeremiah 29:11, “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.” During the last three weeks of October (October 17, 24 and 31), the Giving Team has planned an emphasis on stewardship in worship. We will hear giving testimonies from church members each week, with an opportunity to commit our financial pledge for next year in worship on October 31, Commitment Sunday. If you’d prefer to mail in your pledge card to the church office or pledge online, we welcome that as well. (Letters and pledge cards will be sent in the mail this week and an online pledge option will be available by the end of the week.) Thank you in advance for your generosity to the life and ministry of our church, as we seek to “Experience God, Grow Disciples, Transform Lives” together! We are deeply grateful.

Fundraiser for Stock the Shelves

Thursday, October 14th, 2021

5:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Portillo's at the

9400 Skokie Blvd. location

Portillo's will donate 20% of the sales that Stock the Shelves earns. Please bring in a flyer (smartphone counts) or mention Stock the Shelves at the checkout. Dine-in, carry out, or go through the drive-thru. Requirement: $200 minimum total sales from our supporters in order to receive a donation.

Stock the Shelves Needs Volunteers for October

We need 5-6 volunteers to help us pre-pack the bags with products and load them onto the U-Haul truck. We do this on the Tuesday night before the Wednesday distribution. This month we will be packing and loading on Tuesday, October 26 at 5:30 pm in the FPCW parking lot. Please consider volunteering a couple of hours to support Stock the Shelves. Reach out to Rick Drake and let him know you will be helping on October 26th.

Tower Youth Group has a lock-in on Saturday, October 16th, beginning at 6:00 pm through to 9:00 am on Sunday, October 17th. Please email Scott McElhenie at youth@fpcw.org if your child(ren) would like to attend. The Tower senior high group will also be creating Halloween care packages for college-age students on Sunday (10/24). Please, email Scott if you would like your student to receive a care package.

Troop 5 Pancake and Sausage Breakfast

Help support Troop 5 and Venturing Crew 5 on Saturday, October 23rd, 8:00 am - 12:00 pm. This year the breakfast will be outside under a tent in the fpcw parking lot. Come for a delicious pancake and sausage breakfast. This is a long-standing favorite tradition and this year is the 75th Annual Pancake and Sausage Breakfast. Come and celebrate with Troop 5.

Racial Justice and Equality Community-wide Conversation

On Sunday afternoon, October 24, members of the FPCW congregation are invited to join in a community-wide conversation about racial justice and equality. The gathering will take place in the Wallace Moore Fellowship Center from 4-5:30 p.m., and members of other surrounding churches have been invited to participate in the discussion. A representative from each church will be asked to give a brief summary of the ways in which his/her congregation has responded to the need to take steps to dismantle the systemic and structural racism that has existed in this country since its founding more than 400 years ago. After hearing from each of the attending churches, the discussion will shift to brainstorming ways in which we as a community can work together to bring about change. All are welcome to attend.

Wanted by the Deacons:

Small clear vases for delivering small flower arrangements (preferably around 4-6" tall), or Ball jars work well too! Please leave them in the second-floor kitchen. Please do not leave larger vases. Thank you very much.

Giving gifts at Christmas is a time-honored tradition practiced all over the world. Its origins come from our Christian heritage of the Wise Men bringing gifts of tribute to the Baby Jesus after his birth.

Giving gifts at Christmas is also a time-honored tradition at FPCW as we reach out to our community purchasing gifts for children and adults served by our mission partners to brighten their holidays. This year's recipients will be children from low-income and immigrant communities served by Erie Neighborhood House, disabled adults served by Orchard Village in Skokie, and families in homeless situations served by Family Promise of Chicago's North Shore.

This year, the FPCW mission committee is asking for your help. Not just in purchasing the gifts for the 150 people on our list, but also in helping to coordinate the project. Half of our gift list will be made available to the congregation through Sign-up Genius and the other half will be hung on tags on the Christmas tree located in the narthex of the church for members to select before/after attending worship. We need help with both parts of the project.

If you love Christmas and want to find a way to share the joy of the season with others, then this is the perfect project for you. Interested in learning more details about how you can help? Please contact Mary Watt (mhw1117@gmail.com) or

Jenni Holt, (jenni.holt@yahoo.com) co-chairs of the FPCW Mission Ministry Group.

The Beatitudes Through the Ages – Sundays, 8:30-9:20 am, through November 21st

Join us as we study the Beatitudes together. Our guide will be the excellent book “The Beatitudes Through the Ages,” by Rebekah Eklund. Through a close study of Matthew and Luke, we’ll explore how the Beatitudes have affected readers across differing eras and contexts. Join us in the WMFC at 8:30-9:20 am. or virtually over Zoom: Zoom Link (Meeting ID: 832 3379 4440; Passcode: 389051) each week.

Five years ago, FPCW welcomed two refugee families who arrived in Chicago for resettlement after fleeing their home countries of Afghanistan and Sudan. We worked with World Relief to help them move into and furnish new apartments, enroll their children in school, and begin to adjust to their new life in America. They became our friends and those of us who had the privilege of knowing and working with them were greatly enriched by the chance to participate in their lives.

One of our congregational members who worked closely with the families recently expressed his experience in this way: "Those were some of the more fulfilling times in my life. I felt like we were really making a difference and contributing to the lives of those families. And it opened up doors to help other needy families along the way."

Now, once again, we are expecting a flood of refugees coming to Chicago in the weeks and months that lie ahead. And once again, World Relief is offering ways for us as a church community to get involved whether it is by volunteering as a host church, advocating to protect vulnerable refugees, making a contribution to World Relief or donating household goods or furniture.

Since we participated in a similar effort five years ago, we now know the ropes to a large extent. We know some of the challenges to expect. And we know that we need to have a robust group of members who have time, energy and commitment to devote to this project.

If you are interested in learning more about this opportunity to be the hands and feet of Christ in reaching out to newly arrived refugees in Chicago, please contact