Tuesday, March 21st, 2023

Peggy and I have spent the last few weeks focusing on two texts with the Midweek Meetup kids as they prepared to lead worship last Sunday. 

The first was our spin on the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30), in which the master leaving his property in the care of his servants was changed to an artist leaving materials with her children to create with.  

Our second guiding text was “We are God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10)

I love the idea of God as Artist, Creator of all that is beautiful. And I love, too, the call for us to co-create with God, to do the work of truth and goodness and beauty in the world, apprenticed to the Master Artist. 

The author Sarah Clarkson sensitively and vulnerably explores these ideas in her book, “This Beautiful Truth: How God’s Goodness Breaks Into Our Darkness.” Here is Clarkson, speaking with Dr. Grace Hamman on her podcast, “Old Books with Grace”:

“I think there’s this constant choice to renew our wonder. Because I think either every small beauty…either the daffodil growing in a pot on my windowsill, either the slant of light on the apples, either these things mean something, or they don’t. And I very deeply believe that every good and beautiful thing is gesturing to the goodness of its Creator. And I think when you come to that point of saying, ‘I will see every bit of goodness as meaningful,’ you begin to interact with and enter into this whole different way of experiencing the world. I cannot see something beautiful without realizing I really believe with all my heart that this gestures to the Goodness that began, and will heal, the world.”

….

“When Beauty confronts us—even in the ordinary moments—there’s this moment of invitation, and this incredible agency we’re offered that allows us to become those who not only receive it and are healed by it, but those who accept it and participate in it. One of the things I love about the Annunciation is that Mary’s yes isn’t passive. It required huge courage, but made her one of the storytellers, one of the agents acting with God. We are given such mighty capacity to be those who create beauty as God did. May my life, my person, my story, be the place that Beauty arrives again in the broken world.”

May it be so.

Lindley Traynor

Director of Children’s Ministries

Lent 2023 Theme: “Hope: A User’s Manual”

This Lent at First Pres, we are focusing on hope. Few theological ideas are more resourceful and generative for our time than this one! Using MaryAnn McKibben Dana’s new book, Hope: A User’s Manual, as our guide, we explore what hope is, what it is not, how it lives in our body, finds best expression in story and is, in the end, a practice we must keep at again and again. In Sunday worship, we reflect on Scripture passages that touch on hope. We invite you to purchase a copy of Dana's book (available in the church office for $12, or from your book retailer) and read along with us. It promises to be a rich and thoughtful shared journey as we rediscover hope together! 

Adult Faith Formation Class

Sundays, 8:45-9:45 am through April 2 | In-person in the Lounge and over Zoom

Join Pastor Jeff for this six-week Lenten study that serves as a “deeper dive” into our broader theme for the season: “Hope: A User’s Manual,” drawing on the recent book written by MaryAnn McKibben Dana. Each week, we look at one of the book's six sections. No pre-reading required – just come and grow with us as we together seek to wrestle with what hope is, what it is not and to find it even in hopeless times. The hybrid class meets on Sundays from 8:45-9:45 am in-person in the Lounge and virtually via Zoom: Zoom link; Meeting ID: 840 3593 7190; Password: 815640.

Racial Justice Pilgrimage, November 2023

In November, First Pres Wilmette will sponsor a racial justice pilgrimage to a number of important historic civil rights sites in Birmingham, Selma and Montgomery, Alabama. While specific plans for the pilgrimage are still in the development stage, the itinerary will likely include the Edmund Pettis Bridge in Selma; the Legacy Museum, the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, and the Civil Rights Museum in Montgomery; and the Civil Rights Memorial and the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham.

The tour will begin in Birmingham on Thursday morning, November 2 and end back in Birmingham on Sunday, November 5. Travel arrangements include direct flights from/to O'Hare or carpooling with other participants if that is preferred.

Cost of the trip is estimated to be around $2000 per person...although costs are yet to be finalized. A $500 deposit is required by April 15 to hold your place in the tour group. 

If you have questions or would like more information about the tour, please contact Mary Watt at mhw1117@gmail.com or reach out to another member of the Racial Justice Committee...and mark your calendars to save the dates of November 2-5. 

Racial Justice Pilgrimage &

Brown Chapel AME Church

This building and congregation played pivotal roles in the Selma, Alabama marches that helped lead to the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The starting point for the Selma-to-Montgomery marches, Brown Chapel also hosted the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) for the first three months of 1965. Brown Chapel AME Church was built in 1908 by a black builder--of whom little is known -- Mr. A.J. Farley. On Sunday morning March 7, 1965, despite a ban on protest marches by Governor George Wallace, about 600 black protestors gathered outside Brown Chapel to march from Selma to the state capital in Montgomery, led by SCLC's Hosea Williams and SNCC's John Lewis toward the Edmund Pettus Bridge where mounted troopers confronted the marchers and ordered them to disperse. What came to be called "Bloody Sunday" is widely credited for the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act in the United States Congress. Brown Chapel was added to the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage on June 16, 1976 and declared a National Historic Landmark on February 4, 1982. In front of Brown’s Chapel is a monument that was dedicated to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1979 (https://www.nps.gov/)

If you would like more information about the November 2-5 Racial Justice Pilgrimage, please contact Mary Watt mhw1117@gmail.com or reach out to another member of the Racial Justice Committee.

Gospel Mass on Sunday, April 23rd

We invite you to experience Robert Ray’s Gospel Mass (as sung by our Chancel Choir), led by Kent R. Brooks, Assistant Professor at Northwestern University.

Kent has dual roles as the Director of Religious and Spiritual Life and Assistant Professor in the Department of Performance Studies where he focuses on the language, performance, and social/historical implications of Black gospel music in the United States. Kent is also a seasoned church music director, worship leader, and composer. 

Our own Chancel Choir will offer Gospel Mass as the proclamation of the word on Sunday, April 23rd. If you are moved by the sounds and rhythms of gospel music, this event is not to be missed! 

(This event made possible by the Margaret Neuhaus “Gift of Music” fund)

Family Promise April 16-23

First Presbyterian Church of Wilmette and Congregation Sukkat Shalom will again partner to host families from Family Promise at First Pres the week of April 16-23, 2023. 

We seek volunteers to cook and serve dinner, spend the night at church, or help with set up and clean up. Sign up online or call the church office for more information.

Introducing Realm, a New Online Directory

We hope you have received your invitation link to First Pres Wilmette's new online directory, Realm, by email. After opening your account, please review and update your contact and profile information and add a photo. (If you see an asterisk next to your name or any name in your family unit, please delete it.)

After verifying your information in your new Realm account, consider downloading the Realm Connect App for your mobile device (see the FAQ linked at the end of this page for details.)

If you give to the Church online, do not change those settings yet; giving through Realm will come at a later phase.

Parents may request an invite link for children who are 13 years or older.

More information and helpful suggestions for getting started appear in this Realm FAQ.

Realm Leader Team: Pastor Kara Smith-Laubenstein, Amy Miller, Scott McElhenie, and Linnea Jacobs.