During the summer months, we here at Pilgrim find it is a great time to experiment and to find new ways of worshiping together. As a community of faith we want to continue to grow and expand. Today we are having our 2nd storytelling worship service..to link our particular story to the larger faith narrative..

Why do we tell stories? We tell stories because we’re made in the image of God, who chose stories as the way to share his great love for us. And we tell stories because there is no better way to convey deep truth, deep pain, and deep love.

Since storytelling is such an integral part of our lives, let us use it to get in touch with each other and the sacred present in each of our lives. Today our theme is: “Getting what you deserved”. Please join us and share in our story. Worship will be held in the air-conditioned parlor.

Join us at the Farmer's Market and enjoy delicious, fresh donuts!

Made for you today by L’Arche and Oak Park River Art League, in partnership with Pilgrim Congregational Church!

L’Arche communities in the United States provide homes and workplaces where people with and without intellectual disabilities live and work together as peers, create inclusive communities of faith and friendship, and transform society through relationships that cross social boundaries. https://www.larchechicago.org/

Founded in 1921, the Oak Park Art League (OPAL) is one of Illinois’ longest, continually-running non-profit arts organizations. OPAL fulfills its mission through its offering of high quality art education to people of all ages and skill levels, programs and guest lectures, artist demonstrations and critiques, plus monthly exhibition opportunities in our art gallery. http://www.oakparkartleague.org/

Roma (Acts 27 – 28)

The closing episodes of Acts concentrate on Paul’s final journey, not as a missionary but as a prisoner. Per his request and right as a Roman citizen, he requests a hearing before Caesar. The trip from Palestine to Rome is tumultuous, including a shipwreck and a number of other harrowing moments. So great is the writer’s admiration for his subject, the book ends before the final scene unfolds. Don’t miss our final outing in our summer tour of Acts, “Disorganized Religion.” We push off at 7:30p in the Chapel.

During the summer months, we here at Pilgrim find it is a great time to experiment and to find new ways of worshiping together. As a community of faith we want to continue to grow and expand.

This will be our third of three contemplative prayer services this summer in our air conditioned church parlor. This will be a more intimate service, without a sermon, with singing, silence, and guided meditation drawn from a variety of sources. Paul Kraus - Director of Music at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Joliet, and long-time Sing to Live tenor will be our special musical guest.

Contemplative Worship is an opportunity to still the internal busyness, allowing us to settle deeply into our spiritual center. Contemplative Worship practices us in the rhythm of Christ, a rhythm of moving into prayer and communion with God before going out to engage the world in our work and relationships.

Contemplative Worship does not imply that a person must be proficient in a certain skill or spiritual discipline to participate. It simply implies a desire to seek God and to be open to however God might choose to move within our lives. We hope you will join us.

Join us at the Farmer's Market and enjoy delicious, fresh donuts!

Made for you today by Lux Cantorum and Oak Park River Forest Food Pantry, in partnership with Pilgrim Congregational Church!

Lux Cantorum is a unique sacred choral ensemble with a rich spiritual tradition and an ever-expanding repertoire. For more than 65 years, LCC has enlightened, educated and entertained the people of Chicago and the world. LCC was founded in 1947 as Lutheran Choir of Chicago, and has evolved into a select group of performers from different spiritual backgrounds who share a common desire to make joyful music. https://luxcantorum.org

Oak Park River Forest Food Pantry’s mission is to work together as a community to reduce hunger locally through direct hunger relief services, hunger awareness education and advocacy to influence anti-hunger policy https://www.gobeyondhunger.org/

Join us for our August Book Club meeting to discuss "Pachinko" by Min Jin Lee

n the early 1900s, teenaged Sunja, the adored daughter of a crippled fisherman, falls for a wealthy stranger at the seashore near her home in Korea. He promises her the world, but when she discovers she is pregnant--and that her lover is married--she refuses to be bought. Instead, she accepts an offer of marriage from a gentle, sickly minister passing through on his way to Japan. But her decision to abandon her home, and to reject her son's powerful father, sets off a dramatic saga that will echo down through the generations.

Richly told and profoundly moving, Pachinko is a story of love, sacrifice, ambition, and loyalty. From bustling street markets to the halls of Japan's finest universities to the pachinko parlors of the criminal underworld, Lee's complex and passionate characters--strong, stubborn women, devoted sisters and sons, fathers shaken by moral crisis--survive and thrive against the indifferent arc of history.

We hope you can join us! For more information contact inquiries@pilgrimoakpark.org

Barbara J. Houha nee Olsen, age 87 longtime resident of Oak Park died August 2, 2019, after a brief hospitalization with her loved ones by her side. A Celebration of her life will held at Pilgrim Congregational Church, 460 Lake St., Oak Park, Friday, August 16. Visitation at 5:30, memorial service at 7 p.m., followed by a light reception. Memorial donations may be made to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation or the American Diabetes Association.

The Tide Turns (Acts 21:17-26:32)

Paul returns from his missionary journeys to find out his reputation precedes him—and it’s not good. Word has it that he’s leading expatriate Jews to turn against their own faith and embrace Gentile Christianity. Paul’s enemies scheme to put a stop to him, inciting public riots and appealing to politicos. This is Paul’s Passion, and its echoes of Jesus’s experience are impossible to miss. Continuing our tour of Acts, we hang tight with the Great Lion of God as he faces hard trials. Join us at 7:30p in the Chapel.

At worship we celebrate our relationship with God, we strengthen our relationship with each other, and we explore what it means to "do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God".

Please join us on this as we celebrate Refugee/Immigrant Sunday. Rev. Michelle Hughes is leading worship and we welcome John Bauer, a staff member of Exodus World Service, as our guest preacher. Exodus says its mission is to ”mobilize the Christian community to welcome and befriend refugees…by educating churches and individuals about the plight of refugees, connecting volunteers with refugees through practical service projects, and empowering people to be champions for refugees.”

We are also delighted to welcome Luis Fernando Amaya Munoz as our special musical guest for this service. Please plan to join us for this thought-provoking, inspiriting and hopefully motivating experience.

All Pilgrim women are invited to join us for delicious food and fun fellowship! Please bring a dish to share.
For logistics and more information contact inquiries@pilgrimoakpark.org

Join us at the Farmer's Market and enjoy delicious, fresh donuts!

Made for you today by Rotary Club and South East Oak Park Community Organization, in partnership with Pilgrim Congregational Church!

Rotary is a community of friends who are committed to creating positive change in the world. Find out how joining Rotary can enrich your life and improve the lives of people living in your neighborhood and across the globe. http://www.rotaryone.club/

SEOPCO works to create a positive identity for South East Oak Park and to empower its citizens to act on behalf of their neighborhood. http://www.seopco.org/

Mission and Method (Acts 15:36 – 21:16)

With only a map and a vision, Paul sets out to spread the word among the Gentiles. The success of his first mission (in last week’s passage) would suggest fairly smooth sailing as he turns his focus to more metropolitan European cities. But this ride often gets bumpy and rivalries in ministry begin to surface. This week’s outing gives us a candid and sometimes unsettling account of what missionary work requires. This week we sail the high seas as we continue our “Disorganized Religion” tour at 7:30 in the Chapel.

At worship we celebrate our relationship with God, we strengthen our relationship with each other, and we explore what it means to "do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God".

Please join us on this 8th Sunday after Pentecost Rev. Michelle Hughes is leading worship, and preaching. Rev. Gloria Cox is leading us in celebrating Communion. We will also be blessed by Mary Leger and Janene Bergen, singing two contemporary worship songs composed by Mary's sister

Please plan to attend!

Join us at the Farmer's Market and enjoy delicious, fresh donuts!

Made for you today by Local Motions in partnership with Pilgrim Congregational Church!

Founded in 2001, Local-Motions Inc. is a non-profit organization (501(c)3), dedicated to the promotion of performance arts among school-aged children in Chicago. Providing Performing Arts Instructions in dance, theater, set design, vocal performance, and fine art, which benefit children and youth from ages five to eighteen. http://www.localmotions.net

Widening the Welcome (Acts 11:19 – 15:35)

The villain formerly known as Saul of Tarsus reemerges as Acts’ great hero. How’s this for irony? The man who devoted his life to religious exclusion becomes Christianity’s greatest radical inclusion champion. How radical? Saul’s restyling as “Paul” disrupts the Early Church, launching its first serious identity crisis. Not to fear, though. The result is a wider welcome, along with a surprising deftness for managing conflict. We welcome Paul to this week’s outing as we continue our tour of Acts in the Chapel at 7:30p.

For more than three decades, Alabama public interest attorney Bryan Stevenson, founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, has advocated on behalf of the poor, the incarcerated and the condemned, seeking to eradicate racial discrimination in the criminal justice system.  An intimate portrait of this remarkable man, True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equality follows his struggle to create greater fairness in the system and shows how racial injustice emerged, evolved and continues to threaten the country, challenging viewers to confront it.

Hosted by Pilgrim Church’s Sacred Conversations on Race Committee. Refreshments and childcare will be provided.

Post-high school aged young adults are invited to join us at BATL - the original Backyard Axe Throwing League!
BATL’s mission is to show people the power of being good to each other, using the axe as a tool to build community. And certainly, everyone who’s tried it raves about how fun it is – plus there’s a little friendly competition and good food & drinks involved. Our group experience will include Coaching & Practice, a Round Robin Tournament and a Playoff Championship. A good time will surely be had by all.
If you’re interested in joining us contact Gloria.cox@pilgrimoakpark.org by July 14th. The cost is $35/person.

WINNER OF THE 2017 PULITZER PRIZE GENERAL NON-FICTION

From Harvard sociologist and MacArthur "Genius" Matthew Desmond, “Evicted” is a landmark work of scholarship and reportage that will forever change the way we look at poverty in America.

In this brilliant, heartbreaking book, Matthew Desmond takes us into the poorest neighborhoods of Milwaukee to tell the story of eight families on the edge. Even in the most desolate areas of American cities, evictions used to be rare. But today, most poor renting families are spending more than half of their income on housing, and eviction has become ordinary, especially for single mothers. In vivid, intimate prose, Desmond provides a ground-level view of one of the most urgent issues facing America today. As we see families forced into shelters, squalid apartments, or more dangerous neighborhoods, we bear witness to the human cost of America’s vast inequality—and to people’s determination and intelligence in the face of hardship.

We will be reading the book as a church followed by a book discussion on Sunday, July 28th after worship. Please read the book and plan to join us!

· Copies of the book are available from Pastor Michelle – four copies are being circulated.
· Copies are now available at the Oak Park Library.
· Request a copy from any Library if you have a card.
· Available on Amazon Audible and Kindle.

During the summer months, we here at Pilgrim find it is a great time to experiment and to find new ways of worshiping together. As a community of faith we want to continue to grow and expand.

We will also designate two Sundays this summer to incorporating storytelling into the context of our worship. We will have people come and share their stories on a theme and we will lift those stories up for reflection. We will then compare those stories to a similar biblical text. This is a way for us to embody what we declare: That we serve a still speaking God, and that each of us is a reflection of the divine.

Storytelling is as natural as breathing. When something happens in our lives, whether good or bad, we want to tell someone — and we feel like we’ll burst if we don’t! When we see a loved one in the evening after a long day, we want to hear their story. We greet them with that simple, universal question, “How was your day?”

Since storytelling is such an integral part of our lives, let us use it to get in touch with each other and the sacred present in each of our lives.

Join us at the Farmer's Market and enjoy delicious, fresh donuts!

Made for you today by us - Pilgrim Congregational Church!

Pilgrim Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, welcomes neighbors and friends to participate in the full life of this progressive Christian church. We are committed to radical hospitality, passionate worship, intentional spiritual development, risk-taking mission and service, and extravagant generosity. Our mission is to share God’s love, reaching out to one another and into our wider community. We are becoming a faith community with ever deepening spiritual connections. We are intentionally inclusive and increasingly diverse, visible in and engaged with the wider world. You are welcome here.
www.pilgrimoakpark.org

Join us for our July Book Club meeting to discuss "An American Marriage" by Tayari Jones

This stirring love story is a deeply insightful look into the hearts and minds of three people who are at once bound and separated by forces beyond their control. An American Marriage is a masterpiece of storytelling, an intimate look into the souls of people who must reckon with the past while moving forward- with hope and pain- into the future.

“It’s among Tayari’s many gifts that she can touch us soul to soul with her words.”

— OPRAH WINFREY

We hope you can join us for what promises to be a engaging discussion!
For more information contact inquiries@pilgrimoakpark.org

Peter Figures It Out (Acts 9:32 – 11:18)

Starting with his magnificent Pentecost sermon, Peter has been the Jesus movement’s dynamic, de facto leader. He’s earned the respect of his people. He’s a proven miracle worker and orator. Still, his theology could use a little help—which comes in the form of a peculiar vision that completely revolutionizes his ministry. All sorts of tasty details surface in this week’s outing as we watch Peter figure things out! Join us as we continue our “Disorganized Religion” series in the Chapel at 7:30p.

The theme for this years planning meeting is Embracing Transition: Improve, Expand, Reform, Rebuild.
Please join us as we gather to be purposeful planning for our lives together in community. We will meet in the Parlor. Lite Lunch and child care provided

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:11-13 

During the summer months, we here at Pilgrim find it is a great time to experiment and to find new ways of worshiping together. As a community of faith we want to continue to grow and expand.

This will be our second of three contemplative prayer services this summer in our air conditioned church parlor. This will be a more intimate service, without a sermon, with singing, silence, and guided meditation drawn from a variety of sources. Bethany Hamilton will be our special musical guest.

Contemplative Worship is an opportunity to still the internal busyness, allowing us to settle deeply into our spiritual center. Contemplative Worship practices us in the rhythm of Christ, a rhythm of moving into prayer and communion with God before going out to engage the world in our work and relationships.

Contemplative Worship does not imply that a person must be proficient in a certain skill or spiritual discipline to participate. It simply implies a desire to seek God and to be open to however God might choose to move within our lives. We hope you will join us.

Join us at the Farmer's Market and enjoy delicious, fresh donuts!

Made for you today by Cluster Tutoring and Pilgrim Youth Group in partnership with Pilgrim Congregational Church!

To learn more about the Pilgrim Youth Group for middle school and high school students, please visit our Youth Group Page.

The mission of Cluster Tutoring is to help students realize their potential through the power of learning in an environment that strengthens the student, the tutor, and the community. The organization provides a high-quality learning environment for over 100 elementary and high school students from Chicago's Austin community, as well as a richly rewarding experience for its volunteer tutors. http://www.clustertutoring.org/

Women: Witnesses and Wonder Workers (various texts)

Throughout Acts, women play remarkable roles and make powerful contributions to the early life of the Jesus movement. This week we pause our sequential reading to spotlight some of the extraordinary ministers, providers, caregivers, and witnesses who profoundly influenced the character of early Christianity. Dorcas, Mary, Rhoda, and Lydia are but a few of the powerful women whose contributions so often get overlooked. Not on this tour! Join us as we continue our stroll through Acts at 7:30p in the Chapel.

At worship we celebrate our relationship with God, we strengthen our relationship with each other, and we explore what it means to "do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God".

Please join us on this 5th Sunday after Pentecost Rev. Michelle Hughes is leading worship and preaching. Our focus scriptures are Psalm 82 and Luke 10:25-37. Marcella Richardson will be our special musical guest.

Please plan to attend!

Calling all women to a fun summer event!
Join us for Sip & Dip: An afternoon of wine and appetizers.
Bring an appetizer and/or wine to share.
RSVP to maureen.deahl@pilgrimoakpark.org

Join us at the Farmer's Market and enjoy delicious, fresh donuts!

Made for you today by St. Catherine of Sienna/St. Lucy’s Catholic Church Youth Group in partnership with Pilgrim Congregational Church!

St. Catherine/St. Lucy seeks to deepen our relationship with God and to celebrate God's presence in Word and Sacrament. www.parisheonline.com/scripts/HostedSites/Org.asp?ID=5494

Saving Saul (Acts 9:1-31)

One of the Early Church’s greatest adversaries literally gets floored. He rebounds without his eyesight. But his vision is markedly improved, enabling him to see what God is doing with this raggedy band of Jewish Christians he’s trying to destroy. The Book of Acts takes things to a whole new level with its introduction of the surly figure we’ll eventually come to know and love as Paul. Don’t miss this week’s outing in our “Disorganized Religion” series. The conversation begins at 7:30p in the Chapel.