Summertime!

Hello WCC Friends! This “blog” today lays out some practical plans for worship and fellowship this summer. There will be more to come — a book study group and other service activities.

Our worship will take place indoors once a month on communion Sundays, and otherwise out on the church lawn. We will rest from service recording and live-stream for our outdoor services. Also, on July 23 we will worship and picnic with other Northside covenant churches and on August 13 with Kingdom Covenant Church. On those days we will not worship on-site here.

Mark down other opportunities on your calendars and enjoy fellowship with others in our beautiful summertime.

Finally, Jen, Lynnea and I are available and hoping to catch some time for conversation and prayer this summer. Please be in touch as you see time and space for a walk, a cup of coffee, or some back yard time together. Thanks!

Love From Here!

Peter Hawkinson

SUMMER 2023 – WCC CHURCH CALENDAR

ONGOING WORSHIP – 10 a.m. weekly beginning May 26.

Inside and Live-Stream June 4 July 2 August 6 September 3 Special Sundays (worship and fellowship off-site) July 23 – with other north suburban covenant churches, Location TBD. August 13 – Worship and fellowship @Kingdom Covenant Church.

Outside and No Live Stream May 28 June 11, 18, and 25 July 9, 16, and 30 August 20 and 27

ONGOING OPPORTUNITIES FOR FELLOWSHIP

Church Picnic Sunday, June 4 following worship on church grounds.

Music on the Steps – Wednesdays, 5:30 bring a picnic, music 6:30. June 21 – XMQ – 7 piece pop orchestra featuring Susie Lofton. July 12 – Glenview Concert Band August 16 – TBD

Backyard Potlucks. Sundays 5 p.m. Bring a salad or dish to share. Dessert and drinks provided. Hawkinson house, 210 Lockerbie Lane, Wilmette.

June 25 July 30 August 27

Wed, July 19 — Anna Kim, Covenant Missionary, Dessert and ministry update, location and time TBD.

Thursday Evening Walks beginning June 1 and ending August 31. Each Thursday evening at 6:30 p.m., walkers meet at the bench outside the Glenview Senior Center, 2400 Chestnut Avenue, Glenview. Walk at your own pace with friends around the beautiful Gallery Park. Welcome!

Thank You

I had a whole blog post planned for this week, about our summer offering from Christian Formation, a 10-week AntiRacism Challenge for adults and youth. And I will still write that post soon, perhaps next week.

But admittedly I cannot write it today. Because I have something much more important to say.

And that is: thank you.

On Sunday, my sister, who had been having some episodes of lightheadedness, suddenly passed out while on a walk with a friend. They wisely went straight to the hospital afterward and learned the cause of her dizziness: a large pulmonary embolism. For those of us who aren’t well versed in medical language – that’s a blood clot in her lungs. Or, to be more accurate, as we later learned, a series of clots that likely started in her legs and moved upwards. Very scary stuff.

The truth about crisis moments is that your world suddenly gets very small. The things I was so worried about before those words came across my text messages paled in comparison to her getting better. To her being okay.

But I knew one thing, despite the shock and the confusion and the fear: that we needed to widen the circle. We needed more people to pray. So I did what remains a very surreal thing, and typed out a prayer request on our Message Line to send to all of you.

And in the hours and days that followed, I was reminded of something that I can often forget. As a pastor, I spend so much of my time and focus on caring for the church, on caring for you, that I often lose sight of something equally important: that you care for me too – for all of us, your pastors.

You at Winnetka Covenant are especially good at that.

By the following morning, I had emails, and text messages, and phone calls asking about us. About my sister, of course, but also about my parents and me. I had someone call me and offer her incredible expertise gleaned from long experience with blood clots. Someone else offer to come spend time with me. Have dinner. Watch movies.

My sister, too, felt the impact of those prayers. Friends from afar sent balloons and called. Friends from close by brought food and medicine to her dog, who had been suddenly placed in boarding. They came with snacks and flowers and clothes from home, the all-important charging cords and a tablet to watch tv on. Books and cards and her own pillow for better rest. And now she is getting better, and today or tomorrow she will go home. My parents are on their way. I will fly to visit her soon.

The tears are going to come, I know. But they won’t be just because I was afraid. They will be because I felt the arms of God wrapping around us all, through the ways that you cared for my family and I in these tender, fragile days.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

-Pastor Jen

Thank You

I had a whole blog post planned for this week, about our summer offering from Christian Formation, a 10-week AntiRacism Challenge for adults and youth. And I will still write that post soon, perhaps next week.

But admittedly I cannot write it today. Because I have something much more important to say.

And that is: thank you.

On Sunday, my sister, who had been having some episodes of lightheadedness, suddenly passed out while on a walk with a friend. They wisely went straight to the hospital afterward and learned the cause of her dizziness: a large pulmonary embolism. For those of us who aren’t well versed in medical language – that’s a blood clot in her lungs. Or, to be more accurate, as we later learned, a series of clots that likely started in her legs and moved upwards. Very scary stuff.

The truth about crisis moments is that your world suddenly gets very small. The things I was so worried about before those words came across my text messages paled in comparison to her getting better. To her being okay.

But I knew one thing, despite the shock and the confusion and the fear: that we needed to widen the circle. We needed more people to pray. So I did what remains a very surreal thing, and typed out a prayer request on our Message Line to send to all of you.

And in the hours and days that followed, I was reminded of something that I can often forget. As a pastor, I spend so much of my time and focus on caring for the church, on caring for you, that I often lose sight of something equally important: that you care for me too – for all of us, your pastors.

You at Winnetka Covenant are especially good at that.

By the following morning, I had emails, and text messages, and phone calls asking about us. About my sister, of course, but also about my parents and me. I had someone call me and offer her incredible expertise gleaned from long experience with blood clots. Someone else offer to come spend time with me. Have dinner. Watch movies.

My sister, too, felt the impact of those prayers. Friends from afar sent balloons and called. Friends from close by brought food and medicine to her dog, who had been suddenly placed in boarding. They came with snacks and flowers and clothes from home, the all-important charging cords and a tablet to watch tv on. Books and cards and her own pillow for better rest. And now she is getting better, and today or tomorrow she will go home. My parents are on their way. I will fly to visit her soon.

The tears are going to come, I know. But they won’t be just because I was afraid. They will be because I felt the arms of God wrapping around us all, through the ways that you cared for my family and I in these tender, fragile days.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

-Pastor Jen