A Message from the Pastor...
September is here. The bad news is that summer is over. If you're a stickler, you might point up that summer does not officially end until later in the month, but for all intents and purposes, summer ends after Labor Day. For those of us with kids in the school system, it seems to end even earlier. The academic year is well underway. The kids are back in the swing of things. Vacation season is over. Outdoor activities will soon come to wane. The days are growing shorter. And we are all getting back to work. It's hard not to feel a bit wistful as we bid another summer goodbye. There's nothing like the relaxed pace of summer and all the rest and recreation that it affords.
The good news is that September is all about reconnection - at school, at vocations, and at avocations. September always involves a new start of sorts. The same is true at the church. September is the perfect time to reconnect at church. Rally Day, which is September 15, is the perfect time to get your children involved with church school. The Choir kicks off in September, which we all look forward to. If you are of a musical bent, Karen will surely put you to use. September is also the perfect time to get involved with our Missions Ministry which seeks to involve the church in social justice issues. And if you have time or talent you are willing to share, September is the perfect time to let us know. We'll put you to work!
After all, for everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven. Summer can't last forever.
Here's to a September of reconnection at church, to the glory of the God of Jesus Christ.
With you in His service,
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Everyone please give a big, warm welcome to our new (acting) Associate Minister, Rev. Jim Erickson.
Rev. Dr. James H. Erickson is a board-certified physician and ordained minister, and a retired U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Officer. He previously was a U.S. Navy medical officer, and has also been a volunteer medical officer and chaplain in the U. S. Air Force Auxiliary/Civil Air Patrol for many years.
Dr. Erickson is a graduate of North Park College, Stanford University, the University of Colorado School of Medicine, the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, and the pastoral counseling program at Loyola University-Maryland. He also attended North Park Theological Seminary, United Theological Seminary and the Institute for Worship Studies. He has taught much of his professional life, most recently at Northeastern Illinois University and North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago, and Aurora University in Aurora, IL.
He has served in parish ministry, including nine interim pastorates and intern supervision; civilian and military chaplaincy; medical missions; and seminary teaching.
Most recently, he has served as Visiting Associate at Church of the Holy Cross/UCC in Hilo, HI, and then as coordinator of senior ministries at Geneva Lutheran Church. Jim and his wife, Shirley have three children and ten grandchildren, and reside at Geneva Place in Geneva, Illinois (which was move #31 for them 1 - poor Shirley).
To his students, he is Dr.E or Dr.J, and to kids in church, he's Pastor Jim. Otherwise, just “Jim” works fine.
We are only temporarily referring to Jim as our 'Acting' Associate Minister, as it will take the denomination a little while to change his standing from Lutheran to the UCC. After that he will just be our Associate Minister. If you haven't met Jim yet, he's in church most Sundays, and you'll find him in the pulpit the second Sunday of every month.
Welcome Jim!
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 The men’s group, Society of the Sons of God (SoSoGo), will have their next breakfast meeting on Saturday, September 21st, at 8:30am in Fellowship Hall. The men's group gets together monthly for fellowship, food and light chores. Adyone is welcome! |
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 The Book Club is in the process of reading The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffeneger, for their September 6th meeting. The book club meets on the first Friday of the month, at 7:00 pm in the Mayflower Room. If you are interested in joining but haven't read this month's book, don't worry, come anyway and join in the discussion. The book for the October meeting is I'd Like You More if You Were More Like Me, by John Ortberg. Book Club books are all available at the Geneva Public Library in good sized quantities. |
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Please keep the following individuals in your prayers this week:
- Nancy Hannah’s friend, Sharon (illness);
- Marilyn Cuscaden (illness);
- Jodi Holleran’s mom (illness);
- Mercedes Nuss (illness);
- Church friends Larry and Rick (illness);
- Kelsey’s friend, Ryan (illness);
- Padma Lacy’s mom, Grace (knee replacement);
- Jess Knackstedt’s friend, Keeley (illness);
- John Connolly’s sister, Carol, (illness);
- Jodi Holleran’s brother-in-law, Steve (illness);
- Sue Cechner’s friend, John (Illness);
- Linda Moran and her family (death of her sister);
- Karen Howard’s friends, Chloe and Gracie (illness);
- Karen’s cousin Lynn and her family (husband in accident);
- Karen’s husband, Les (illness);
- Danièle Gibney’s friend, Pam (illness);
- Barb and Dick Sharp’s friend, Alice (illness);
- Wayne Kenney (illness);
- Lisa Peterson (illness);
- Linda Moran (illness);
Those affected by violence as well as those serving in the military;
Remember that you can contact Pastor Clancy at any time to discuss any need, burden or prayer request you might have.
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 Our Survey of the Bible Class meets will be taking the month of August off since so many participants are on vacation, so the next class will be on on Sunday, September 15th, from 11:30am until 1:00pm, in the nursery area. Becca will be reviewing what we've talked about so far, and continue on in Genesis. Notes from the last class (6-16-19) are available here. |
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The Fox River Valley Initiative will be holding a candlelight prayer vigil on Sept 5th, at Christ the Lord Lutheran Church, 12 N 462 Tina Trail, Elgin, Illinois. The vigil will start at 7 pm, and is being held in response to the gun violence we have been experiencing recently in our country. There will be several groups speaking, including a representative from the FRVI to discuss the Do Not Stand Idly By (DNSIB) Initiative to try to get the gun manufactures to increase gun safety. A consortium of mayors has been formed to use the buying power of the various law enforcement agencies to purchase from gun manufactures who are making guns safer through requiring dealers to have competent back ground checks, not selling assault style weapons to private citizens, etc.
Additionally, in September there will be a meeting between United Power (our sister organization in Cook Co) and Chicago Mayor Lauri Lightfoot to address DNSIB, decriminalizing mental health, and affordable housing - all things we have been trying to address with the FRVI group. That meeting will be at 5pm on Sept 22, at 931 Homan Ave in Chicago. If you are interested in attending, please let me know.
Larkin House, the affordable housing complex at 1212 Larkin in Elgin is having a ground breaking ceremony on Friday, Sept 27 at 4 pm. The FRVI helped get that passed by the Elgin City Council. There will be 10 units available for people with physical or mental disabilities. This ceremony is for anyone interested in affordable housing, or learning more about it.
FInally, there will be a FRVI leadership meeting on Thursday, Oct 3rd, at 7 pm at the St Andrew Lutheran Church in West Chicago. Let me know if you are interested.
Contact me if you need further details on any of these items. Thanks!!
Susan Cechner SCechner@aol.com
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Have you noticed a large white box outside the accessible lift door? It is a blessing box that was part of an eagle scout project. The scout created a box for Lazarus House, but wanted the project to be bigger then just one box. Someone from Lazarus House contacted me and asked if we would be interested in one too! Now we have a box to supply non-perishable foods and other items for people in need in our community. This can actually be used in many ways. We are thinking about some canned food. Also some snacks for school kids that may not get meals and need something to keep them going. Lynnly is looking into lining it to keep animals out. If you have some ideas on who can use this or ideas on what to put in it,please let anyone on the Mission Board know. That includes Carolyn, Gail, Sue, Dan, Kim, Lynnly, or Becca.
Now we find the holidays are just around the corner. In October we will start collecting food for our Thanksgiving baskets. November will have us collecting food for the Holiday baskets. Open Door will try to get the Holiday Tags (formerly Angel Tags) for their clients' kids to us by the end of October so we can start shopping early. Let the giving begin!
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 September has arrived making an unremarkable entrance; one could hardly tell that August had ended. But, autumn is just around the corner and with it will come cooler days (I hope), leaves changing to red and gold, birds flocking up for their fast approaching departure, crisp fall apples and The Beginning of a New Choir Season. Yes, it is official summer, has ended and choir practice is scheduled to start this week, Wednesday, September 4th. Take note, this week only; rehearsal will start at 7:30 p.m. instead of the usual 7 o’clock.
Thank you to all of the “summer singers” who faithfully furnished special music through-out the summer months. Your voices enhanced the richness of our worship and I am grateful to each of you for every Sunday you were able to sing. A heartfelt thank you to those who made my vacation days possible; I truly appreciated that opportunity. I will be gone one more Sunday at the end of September when my husband and I celebrate our 55th wedding anniversary.
The choir will sing on September 8th and then we will welcome back “Chasing Grace” on Rally Day, September 15th. That is also “bring a friend to church” Sunday so gather the family, your friends and neighbors and come be a part of the Rally Day celebration.
As I organize the music for the fall and the choir gathers to rehearse, I want to issue an invitation to anyone interested in becoming part of the choir…. We’d Love to Have You Join Us!! There are no tryouts, you don’t have to read music; just love to sing. The choir rehearses every Wednesday evening from 7 to 8:30 p.m. and is open to anyone from high school freshmen to ... there is no age limit. We sing every Sunday September through May except on those Sundays when we celebrate music with Chasing Grace. If you are a high school student it is understood that school comes first. Do you have a young family at home? Family comes first. We are the Music Ministry of First Congregational Church. We are a family and we enjoy the music and the time we spend together; why not stop by and give the choir a try?
Do you have a friend or family member who delights in posting how many days until Christmas; in July? I’m not ready to think about Christmas in July but now as we begin September, Christmas is on my mind. The choir will begin work on the cantata music before the end of the month and even then Christmas will arrive too soon. The date is not officially set yet and the music choices not finalized but “watch this space” for updates in the coming months.
“Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things…”
Psalm 98:1
Karen
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Rally Day is Sunday, September 15th. Kids are welcome to bring friends that day, as we will be having over-sized fun at a Rally Day game day after the 10am children's sermon. In addition to games, the kids will get prizes and snacks, so come down and see how much fun Sunday school can be!
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Our annual Congregation Church Golf Outing will be Saturday, September 14th. Golf starts at 2pm at Potowatomie Park Golf Course. Potowatomie Park's course is a public, relatively easy course, so even if your golf skills are sub par *cough*, you can still have a good time. We play a team, best-ball format, and make sure that teams are not stacked with all superior or mediocre players, so that it's fun for all. If you want to play, or even if you think you'd just like to try, contact golf organizer Dave Buchanan at: david.buchanan@gartner.com.
Golf usually takes between three and four hours depending on the other poeple on the course.
Our traditional dinner afterwards, which gives all the players opportunity to brag or make up fantastic stories of their skills, will be held at the Buchanan's house: 38W430 Killey Lane, Geneva, starting at 6pm. You DON'T have to play golf to attend the dinner afterward. If you are planning to come to dinner, try to bring an appetizer to share, or a side dish to share. Dave and Lynnly will supply the hamburgers and hotdogs, as well as lemonade, tea, water and some beer and wine. If you're a beer and wine drinker, consider bringing your favorite bottle to share. If you are planning to attend the dinner, please let Lynnly know by replying to this email. We will have games and swimming at the dinner, so if you like to swim bring a suit (towels will be provided). Hope to see everyone there!
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 The Stewardship Drive begins on Sunday, October 13th with a Stewardship sponsored Pot Luck Lunch after church. The stewardship Board will provide a main dish and beverages. Anyone planning to attend should bring a dish to pass (either a side dish or a dessert). The drive will continue through October, and will finish on November 3rd with a Thank You Luncheon, provided entirely by the Stewardship Board (you don't need to bring a thing). Both lunches will be down in Fellowship Hall immediately following our 10 o'clock service. In anticipation of the upcoming annual Stewardship Drive, the Stewardship Board Chairman, Clyde Jones, has the following message...
"I bring you greetings – my fellow sheep of the flock. We will be starting our 2020 campaign this coming October. The committee will be sending out packets of information for you to decide what you will be willing to do to keep the Church in the black. Our treasury could be in better shape. This would change if we could squeeze the proverbial turnip. And I promise, my sheep, to keep your feet (or other body parts) to the fire! My ministry will plan different events to remind you to make your regular pledges for the 2020 operating year. We would love for everybody to tithe (give a tenth of their income) if you have the ability and the power to do so - that would definitely keep the church in the black - but any amount you can give is appreciated. So, you will be hearing from me from time to time and I don’t want you to shy away. Step up to the plate and hit a home run! Bless you, my fellow sheep. "
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