Acacia Park Newsletter

A Congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Illinois

Monthly news & updates

April 2022

Worship & Christian Education

Sunday Worship

9:30-10:30 am: Hybrid service where everyone can worship from home on Facebook or in-person.

Zoom Book Club

Our discussion of The Other Wes Moore is being moved to after holy week. Inquire about more details by email the church.

Weekly Worship Bulletins

Constant Contact self-guided communion worship bulletins will arrive in your inbox Saturday nights. We also continue to mail out hard copies of the weekly worship bulletins to members who request the service.

Ministry

If you would like to contact us, please email Pastor Meagan at pastormeagan@gmail.com, or email the church office at acaciaparkchurch@gmail.com.

From the Pastor's Desk . . .

Pastor Newsletter article April 2022

Siblings in Christ,

Spring has sprung and Easter is near!

Join us for Holy Week worship:

Palm Sunday, April 10, 9:30 am, procession of the palms worship

Maundy Thursday, April 14, 6:00 pm, Worship with Holy Communion

Good Friday, April 15, 6:00 pm, Tenebrae Worship Service

Easter Sunday, April 17: 8:30am, breakfast and fellowship; 9:30 am, Easter Worship

The Easter promise of new life and hope is one we deeply need in the world right now. During lent we are focusing on coming together. A chain letter was mailed out, pastor may have called you, we are starting fellowship activities again and we are just giddy to see each of you in person at some event or in worship.

After two years of being concerned about where to go, how to do things, when it is safe to gather together many of us got used to a different way of life. We still connect with God, but over a virtual space. We still talk to our friends, but over the phone. And, we are just waiting for the next wave to roll through and it makes us nervous to know when it is ok to do certain things.

Nothing has been easy these past two years. We each discovered what our comfort level is and how we want to live with the virus. I am proud of the council for navigating each change with poise and consistency. Right now we are worshiping in person. We hope it will be for a while. We hope to see you at some point!

Click here to make an online donation on our Facebook page.

You may also mail your donation and/or your pledge form to:

Acacia Park Lutheran Church

4307 N Oriole Avenue

Norridge, IL 60706

Acacia Park Announcements

Council Positions

Hi everyone,

Our council membership is coming up for renewal and we are in need of a council secretary as well as council members in general. The secretary would take notes on our meetings, just touching on the highlights of the meeting as well as any council voting items. We are additionally looking for new council members that are interested in helping us think of different ways to do social outreach, ways to get our word out to new people and to help guide our church on an ever embracing course. If you are interested in joining our council you need to be an active member. We would LOVE to include you, please contact Karen Lanners at karen.lanners@yahoo.com (preferred) or (773) 439-9893 (cell). I hope to hear from you!

Karen Lanners, Council President

Soup and Salad

Come to our Soup and Salad fundraiser for Ukraine on April 9th from 5-7 PM! All proceeds will go to directly to the cause. Entry is a $10 dollar donation & stick around for Bingo during the event too to win fun prizes!

Easter Sunday Breakfast

We will be hosting a mini breakfast before Easter Sunday service on April 17th at 8:30 - 9:30 AM.

Norridge Kindness Day

For Norridge Kindness Day on April 23rd we will be assembling hygiene bags. Join us from 10 AM - 12 PM.

Zoom Book Club

Join us this month for a discussion on The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore.

From Amazon:

In December 2000, the Baltimore Sun ran a small piece about Wes Moore, a local student who had just received a Rhodes Scholarship. The same paper also ran a series of articles about four young men who had allegedly killed a police officer in a spectacularly botched armed robbery. The police were still hunting for two of the suspects who had gone on the lam, a pair of brothers. One was named Wes Moore.

Wes just couldn’t shake off the unsettling coincidence, or the inkling that the two shared much more than space in the same newspaper. After following the story of the robbery, the manhunt, and the trial to its conclusion, he wrote a letter to the other Wes, now a convicted murderer serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. His letter tentatively asked the questions that had been haunting him: Who are you? How did this happen?

That letter led to a correspondence and relationship that have lasted for several years. Over dozens of letters and prison visits, Wes discovered that the other Wes had had a life not unlike his own: Both had had difficult childhoods, both were fatherless; they’d hung out on similar corners with similar crews, and both had run into trouble with the police. At each stage of their young lives they had come across similar moments of decision, yet their choices would lead them to astonishingly different destinies.

Told in alternating dramatic narratives that take readers from heart-wrenching losses to moments of surprising redemption, The Other Wes Moore tells the story of a generation of boys trying to find their way in a hostile world.

Prayer Requests

Please keep the following people in your prayers . . .

Len & Karen Batson

Bonnie Cousins

Linda Engler

Marion Engler

Ruth Igoe

David & Ann Jones

Janet Justiniano

Nancy & Bob Komada

Helen Lanners

Bruce Leckie

The family of Julia Mann

Elsie Michelsen

Berenice Powell

Everly Ramirez

Erv Siemers

Sondra Wince

. . . and essential workers, health care workers, police officers, correctional officers, and the nearly 1 million Americans lost to Covid-19.