Join us to celebrate Indigenous People’s Day (aka Columbus Day). We’ll start by catching up while eating a simple homemade dinner, and then we’ll watch the 1998 movie “Smoke Signals,” marketed by Miramax as “the first feature film written, directed, and produced by Native Americans.”

It has been cited as an important movie by the Indigenous Community, in part because of the beautifully nuanced Native American characters but also because it gave them the opportunity to be stewards of their own story – and proved they could make great movies.

The movie has many comedic moments but has a deeper, thought-provoking level so I’m sure we’ll have a great discussion. It's a wonderful story about how 2 young boys, forever linked together by tragedy & growing up differently - one a storyteller & the other a cynic - find common ground as they take a road trip to bury the cynic father, who abandoned the family a long time before. It’s rated PG-13 for some intense scenes.

All Middle & High School youth are invited to join us – and friends are welcome too. Just RSVP by October 6th to Gloria.cox@pilgrimoakpark.org so that we can make sure to prepare enough food!

Music has been the soundtrack for some of the most important moments in our history. Whether patriotic refrains or rabble-rousing appeals, these songs have become symbolic anthems, from the 1970's women's rights mantra "I Am Woman," to the anti-war sentiments of Bob Dylan, and the new significance of traditional tunes like "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" and "Goin' Home." Join us as we illuminate the connections between music and history in this exciting concert inspired by the NPR series.

For more information and to purchase tickets click here.

We invite the youth ages 4-14 to leave the 11:00 morning worship following the Children's Message and adjourn to the Chapel for CONNECT. This week our leaders are Leslie Sutphen and Bruce Cox.

Our goal is to continue the worship experience that has already begun in the sanctuary in a more engaging way for our youth. We want the morning worship experience to be enriching and engaging for all of our church family, so join us as we stay Connected with God thru story, art, music and movement each Sunday.

This fall we will be exploring the Old Testament stories. Today we continue with the story of Jacob and Esau. All youth are invited to join us!

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".

.Join us this Sunday for worship as our Sacred Conversations On Race committee introduces the congregation to an Action for Racial Justice: Be Bold campaign. Our focus scripture for this week is Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7.

Rev. Gloria Cox is leading worship and preaching. All are welcome!

Adult Education at Pilgrim is a wonderful resource and sustenance for anyone on a faith journey. Meeting in the chapel at 9:45 am Sunday mornings from September to May, it is a time for adults to come together and gather strength for the journey, from God and from each other.

All are invited to join us today for what promises to be an enlightening and action-oriented discussion led by Mony Ruiz-Velasco, Executive Director of PASO West Suburban Action Project. She will update us on what is currently happening with the immigration situation at the border and give us real life ways we can help our neighbors.

Click here to learn more about PASO. We hope you’ll join us for this important and urgent conversation.

All Pilgrim women are invited to join us at the home of Claudia Divis 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 Pilgrim Community Nursery School, in partnership with Pilgrim Congregational Church!

A private, nonprofit nursery school serving Oak Park, Illinois and surrounding communities. We welcome children of all races, religions, ethnic backgrounds, and economic situation and seek a student body that represents the rich diversity of the greater Oak Park area. Our primary focus is a professionally prepared play environment that facilitates the physical, cognitive, social and emotional growth of each child. We strive to encourage each child’s uniqueness as well as his/her responsibility to get along with others. www.pilgrimschool.net

The Angle of Oppression

James’s Epistle is often compared to wisdom literature. The writer is surely adept at distilling complex thoughts into proverbial nuggets. But there’s also a great deal of prophetic heat emanating from his wisdom, with most of the fury aimed at rich people. James wants the church to be the one place where the poor aren’t marginalized and mistreated. And he’s very blunt in what that will require.

NOTE: This and next week’s study will be held via video on the Gather Facebook page.

We will NOT meet in person.

Celebrate the Bounty of the Earth by joining the Green Team in a pot luck luncheon after worship. Sustainable agriculture is designed to protect the environment, support animal welfare, protect public health, and provide economic stability and fair working conditions to farm workers and food processors. Our focus will be on delicious foods that are fair for all God’s creation.

• Vegetarian or vegan

• Organic where possible

• Avoiding food waste

• Supporting local farmers

Bring a sustainable/vegetarian dish for sharing and join in as we begin our “I Speak for the Trees” mission project. Lorax craft activities and All Age Treeology Trivia will be offered

Fun, Fellowship and Facts for All Ages! Join us!

We invite the youth ages 4-14 to leave the 11:00 morning worship following the Children's Message and adjourn to the Chapel for CONNECT. This week our leaders are Leslie Sutphen and Bruce Cox.

Our goal is to continue the worship experience that has already begun in the sanctuary in a more engaging way for our youth. We want the morning worship experience to be enriching and engaging for all of our church family, so join us as we stay Connected with God thru story, art, music and movement each Sunday.

This fall we will be exploring the Old Testament stories. Today we continue with the story of Abraham and Isaac. All youth are invited to join us!

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".

On World Communion Sunday, we consciously gather with followers around the planet to take in the bread and the cup of life and liberation. Today we will also install two new Deacons and collect the Neighbors In Need offering which is one of 4 special UCC offerings each year. The Neighbors in Need (NIN) offering is focused on Justice and Witness..

.Join us this Sunday for worship as we acknowledge the brokenness and hope that exists around the world and proclaim that the death-dealing ways of the powers-that-be are not the ways of God and Jesus, the radical one from Nazareth .

Rev. Gloria Cox is leading worship and preaching. All are welcome!

Adult Education at Pilgrim is a wonderful resource and sustenance for anyone on a faith journey. Meeting in the chapel at 9:45 am Sunday mornings from September to May, it is a time for adults to come together and gather strength for the journey, from God and from each other.

All are invited to join us today for a special viewing and discussion of the movie “Sustainable”. The discussion will be led by Karen Van Meter of the Pilgrim Green Team.

"A vital investigation of the economic and environmental instability of America’s food system, from the agricultural issues we face — soil loss, water depletion, climate change, pesticide use — to the community of leaders who are determined to fix it. Sustainable is a film about the land, the people who work it and what must be done to sustain it for future generations. The narrative of the film focuses on Marty Travis, a seventh-generation farmer in central Illinois who watched his land and community fall victim to the pressures of big agribusiness. Determined to create a proud legacy for his son, Marty transforms his profitless wasteland and pioneers the sustainable food movement in Chicago. Sustainable travels the country seeking leadership and wisdom from some of the most forward thinking farmers like Bill Niman, Klaas Martens and John Kempf – heroes who challenge the ethical decisions behind industrial agriculture. It is a story of hope and transformation, about passion for the land and a promise that it can be restored to once again sustain us."

This is an urgent and vital issue. We hope you will be able to attend.

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

Made for you today by Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in partnership with Pilgrim Congregational Church!

Embracing the diversity of God’s creation and celebrating our oneness in Christ.

www.goodshepherdlc.org

One Letter, Many Angles

We don’t know who wrote this letter, why the author doesn’t reference anything specific about Jesus, or what’s behind his fixation on wealth and oppression, both outside and within his community. With its primary concern focused on sustaining a healthy faith community, James inevitably stirs up all kinds of responses. (Luther famously loathed and loved it.) Working from Elsa Tamez’s classic, The Scandalous Message of James, we begin our October study of this fascinating letter with an overview of its many angles. Join us every Thursday in October at 7:30p.

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 3rd 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. Please join us and share in our story.

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

Made for you today by First United Church Nursery School, in partnership with Pilgrim Congregational Church!

First United Church Nursery School is a community of families and teachers that share in the experience of teaching, inspiring and guiding young children. The nursery school program supports the development of the child through an early educational experience based on play.

www.firstunitedschool.com

Join fellow Pilgrim members and friends after worship for light refreshments and appreciation of Pastor Michelle’s gifts to us. This will follow the worship service where she is formally released from service to Pilgrim.

We invite the youth ages 4-14 to leave the 11:00 morning worship following the Children's Message and adjourn to the Chapel for CONNECT. This week our leaders are Leslie Sutphen and Bruce Cox.

Our goal is to continue the worship experience that has already begun in the sanctuary in a more engaging way for our youth. We want the morning worship experience to be enriching and engaging for all of our church family, so join us as we stay Connected with God thru story, art, music and movement each Sunday.

This fall we will be exploring the Old Testament stories. Today we continue with the story of Isaac and Ishmael. All youth are invited to join us!

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".

Today we will also conduct the Pastor Michelle’s official release ceremony as part of the Sunday worship service. We hope you all can join us for this significant moment in our church life. The Rev. Justo Gonzalez and the Rev. Vertie Powers of the UCC Illinois Conference will be in attendance to witness this special occasion.
Following Worship we will have a party to celebrate Rev. Hughes and the guidance she has given us on this part of our journey. Please note that Rev. Hughes will be serving Pilgrim until Sept 29th. All are welcome!

Adult Education at Pilgrim is a wonderful resource and sustenance for anyone on a faith journey. Meeting in the chapel at 9:45 am Sunday mornings from September to May, it is a time for adults to come together and gather strength for the journey, from God and from each other.

At the UCC Eleventh General Synod it was voted that a Book of Worship be developed and characterized by language that is truly inclusive with respect to God and to people. Although the generic use of masculine terms has been accepted practice, it is exclusive and viewed as offensive by many. Further, the use of only masculine nouns and pronouns for God and of masculine generic terms for humankind has hidden the rich feminine imagery for God and God's people in scripture. Scripture contains many gender neutral metaphors for God such as shepherd, rock, or Holy One.

Inclusive language is far more than an aesthetic matter of male and female imagery; it is a fundamental issue of social justice. Join us this Sunday as Ann Platzer leads us in an exploration of this topic.

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

Made for you today by Pilgrim Community Nursery School, in partnership with Pilgrim Congregational Church!

A private, nonprofit nursery school serving Oak Park, Illinois and surrounding communities. We welcome children of all races, religions, ethnic backgrounds, and economic situation and seek a student body that represents the rich diversity of the greater Oak Park area. Our primary focus is a professionally prepared play environment that facilitates the physical, cognitive, social and emotional growth of each child. We strive to encourage each child’s uniqueness as well as his/her responsibility to get along with others. www.pilgrimschool.net

Join us for our September Book Club meeting to discuss "Sing, Unburied, Sing: A Novel" by Jesmyn Ward.

Set in rural Mississippi, told from each character’s point of view, we learn about the untimely and extremely unfortunate deaths of two people, different generations, both a result of racial strife, who come to haunt a mother and her son. The young boy, Jojo, our protagonist, is caught in a difficult position in his family. He has a seemingly uncaring mother yet the extreme love of his grandfather. He is also the primary caregiver to his sweet baby sister who has rejected their mother, with good cause.

Sing, Unburied, Sing is a slamming, heartbreaker of a novel that is rendered with such stinging beauty and restrained emotion that despite the anguish taking place on the page, you won’t want it to end. Our discussion promises to be relevant and engaging. We hope you can join us!

For more information contact inquiries@pilgrimoakpark.org

All middle school and high school youth are invited to join us as we lay the foundation for a great year with a Team Building Challenge Course, led by trained facilitators from the Barrington Park District. Their programs are designed to help groups get to know each other better and have fun building on each person’s gifts and talents.

Our event will be here, in Fellowship Hall & our lawn/parking lot. RSVP to gloria.cox@pilgrimoakpark.org by September 8th!

We invite the youth ages 4-14 to leave the 11:00 morning worship following the Children's Message and adjourn to the Chapel for CONNECT. This week our leaders are Kathleen Lojas and Jenn Jones.

Our goal is to continue the worship experience that has already begun in the sanctuary in a more engaging way for our youth. We want the morning worship experience to be enriching and engaging for all of our church family, so join us as we stay Connected with God thru story, art, music and movement each Sunday.

This fall we will be exploring the Old Testament stories, beginning with Abraham and Sarah. All youth are invited to join us!

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".

From September 1 to October 4, Christians around the world celebrate the Season of Creation. Some of us pray, some of us do hands-on projects, some of us advocate. During the Season of Creation, we live out our faith to care for creation. The momentum continues long after the season ends through ongoing prayer, changes in lifestyle, and advocacy.

.Join us this Sunday as we celebrate the joy and wonder of Creation, and reflect on how we are called to love and care for the Earth. . Rev. Gloria Cox is leading worship and preaching. All are welcome!

Adult Education at Pilgrim is a wonderful resource and sustenance for anyone on a faith journey. Meeting in the chapel at 9:45 am Sunday mornings from September to May, it is a time for adults to come together and gather strength for the journey, from God and from each other.

Join us this week as we kick-off our 2019-2020 program year with Rev. Janet MacLean sharing an introduction to the United Church of Christ (UCC) history and polity. Candace Enockson will also give her perspective on some of the interesting, and perhaps lesser known aspects of the UCC that came up while preparing the profile for the senior pastor search.

Whether you’ve grown up in the UCC, are new to the denomination or just looking to learn more about it, you’re invited to join the discussion. We promise it will be engaging!

All Pilgrim members are welcome to join us as San Lucas UCC for the September meeting of Cluster 3 churches, within the Chicago Metropolitan Association, UCC.

The Chicago Metropolitan Association’s 96 congregations are spread across the beautiful city and out into its near suburbs. CMA is rich in heritage and worship experiences, and represents the intricate web of our wider church as people struggle together over issues, meet each other in the middle in ministry partnership, and lift one another up in shared hope.

Due to the large size of the CMA, churches are divided into "clusters" to facilitate working together and ensure that all voices have the opportunity to be heard. Pilgrim is a member of Cluster 3. You are invited to join us at this meeting to expand your familiarity with our sister churches and engage in supporting one another on the issues that matter most.

Our next men’s breakfast will be hosted by Bennie Whiten. He will provide the main dish and attendees are asked to bring a side dish or beverage to share (enough for 3-4 people).

Please contact Bruce (dadcox@aol.com) if you are able to attend., and please let him know what you plan to bring. All Pilgrim men are welcome.

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