Middle School and High School youth are invited to join for an outing to the Chicago History Museum. We will enjoy a production of The MLK Project: The Fight for Civil Rights by Writers Theatre and a musical performance by the Chicago Chamber Choir along with storytelling and crafts that reflect his messages of peace and justice. And of course, we’ll have lunch!

Museum admission is FREE for Illinois residents on Commemorative Days, so just bring $10 per person to help cover the cost of food. Contact gloria.cox@pilgrimoakpark.org to sign up!

Please join us on this special Sunday as we honor and reflect upon the life of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King , Jr. We are pleased to welcome Rev. Steven Saunders as our very special guest preacher.

Rev. Saunders is an ordained minister, lecturer and civil rights activist, celebrating 50 years of service, for justice and equality for all Americans. He began as a youth activist at Englewood High School protesting to enforce school desegregation as Chairman of the Afro-American History Club. He is a founding member of Operation PUSH and a former board member of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition. He is Executive Liaison for Featherfist Social Services, serving the homeless in Chicago.

He was featured in a 2008 PBS documentary “Poverty In Chicago” to discuss causes and solutions to ending homelessness, and current work includes collaboration with Elmhurst College and District 6 Museum of Cape Town South Africa in a live video course for American and South African college students to examine the parallels in civil rights and Anti apartheid movements.

Please join us for this very inspiring, motivating and thought-provoking worship service. All are welcome!

We begin the new year by examining our beliefs, our theology, and how it affects how we live.

This week Candace Enockson will lead us in an exploration of our personal journeys as people of faith..

Please join us for these special sessions.

All women are welcome to join us!

Participants are asked to bring a dish to share. 

Join us for our January Book Club meeting to discuss Rachael Kadish’s "The Weight of Ink" - WINNER OF A NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD and A USA TODAY BESTSELLER,

Set in London of the 1660s and of the early twenty-first century, The Weight of Ink is the interwoven tale of two women of remarkable intellect: Ester Velasquez, an emigrant from Amsterdam who is permitted to scribe for a blind rabbi, just before the plague hits the city; and Helen Watt, an ailing historian with a love of Jewish history.

Electrifying and ambitious, sweeping in scope and intimate in tone, “The Weight of Ink” is a sophisticated work of historical fiction about women separated by centuries, and the choices and sacrifices they must make in order reconcile the life of the heart and mind.

The Lord’s Prayer is very deliberate in asking that God’s will be accomplished in our world and lives “as it is in heaven.”

When the ancients spoke about “heaven,” however, they weren’t thinking about some kind of extraterrestrial theme park full of harp-playing angels afloat on puffy clouds. Heaven was an ideal that pointed toward something achievable in this life. We’ll unpack “on earth as it is in heaven” this week.

Join us at 7:30 in the Pilgrim Chapel

Please join us special Sunday when we will be blessed by a special oral “telling” of our focus scripture, Luke 3:15 -17/ 21-22. Come here this familiar story in a new way, and perhaps gain a new understanding.

Rev. Michelle Hughes is leading worship and preaching.

All are welcome!

We begin the new year by examining our beliefs, our theology, and how it affects how we live.

Using the book, Steeplejacking, by Sheldon Culver and John Dorhauer, Candace Enockson will lead us in an exploration of some of the forces that shape our beliefs - some of which we may not be aware – and the politicization of religion.

Please join us for these special sessions.

“It’s all about making small changes in your day to day life to ensure that the health of your mind, body and spirit are first and and foremost in your daily decisions”

Co-sponsored by the Ministries of Christian Education & Christian Community, this afternoon will feature programming for both Adults and Youth

Adults will have the opportunity to take a FREE NIa class with Andrea, a certified Nia instructor who also offers classes at the Yoga Center and Oak Park Park District. Combining dance, martial arts and mindfulness, Nia tones your body while transforming your mind. More than just a workout, Nia is a holistic fitness practice addressing each aspect of your life - body, mind and soul. And it’s fun and accessible for all skill levels, e.g. no Yoga, Dance or athletic experience required!

There will also be healthy eating and living information provided - plus a light snack.

For our youth ages 3-12 running simultaneously exercise, healthy snack preparation, stories, games and more…..

For more information or to register please contact Maureen Deahl by January 7th at maureen.deahl@pilgrimoakpark.org

When modeling prayer for his students, Jesus first point centers on reverencing God’s name. In ancient times, your name amounted more than what you were called. Your name encapsulated everything about you: your character, the respect due your name, your place in the world.

To “hallow” God’s name declares God’s holiness. What does that actually mean, though? What should we be thinking and feeling when we pray, “Hallowed be thy name”?

Join us at 7:30 in the Pilgrim Chapel as we sort this out.

United Lutheran hosts the annual Twelfth Night concert in the sanctuary, with participation by several Oak Park and River Forest churches - including Pilgrim! A reception follows in the fellowship hall and lounge.

Please join us and support our Pilgrim Chancel Choir!

Please join us on this first Sunday of the New Year!

The meaning of "epiphany" is "manifestation"; it may also mean "a new understanding." When the Magi approached the child Jesus, new understandings came to them and to all about who Christ would be a messiah for the entire world. This service builds on such concepts of new understanding.

Rev. Michelle Hughes is leading worship and preaching. Our focus scripture is Mathew 2:1-12.

All are welcome!

We begin the new year by examining our beliefs, our theology, and how it affects how we live.

This week Candace Enockson will lead us in an exploration of Christian theology from Fundamentalism through Liberal Theology. Come and find where you fit along that continuum.

Please join us for these special sessions.

We begin 2019 looking at the most familiar words in Christendom, the prayer Jesus taught his students.

In its original context, the Lord’s Prayer embodied Jesus’s theology, social ethic, and politics. We’ll begin with the most problematic phrase in the prayer, the salutation, “Our Father who art in heaven.”

What is Jesus saying to the people of his day? What do we hear in our time? And are they the same things? We’ll dig into this at 7:30 in the Pilgrim Chapel.

Please join us on this first Sunday after our celebration of the birth of Christ.

In addition to magnificent music from the Recorder Society we will have one last chance to sing some of our favorite Christmas carols! There will also be a special lighting of the Kwanzaa candles!

Rev. Michelle Hughes is leading worship and preaching. Our focus scripture is Luke 2:21-34.

All are welcome!

Gather closes out 2018 with a fresh look at an oft-told story from John’s Gospel.

For nearly four decades a disabled man languishes beside a pool alleged to have healing powers. But the situation is rigged against him and that raises all kinds of questions—not only for him, but also for us. How often do we get stranded in situations that hold us captive to false hope?

A valuable discussion provides some food for thought as we move from one year into the next. Join us at 7:30 in the Pilgrim Chapel.

Middle School and High School youth are invited to join us for lunch and bowling on at Striker Lanes, 6728 W. 16th Street in Berwyn.

Only $15 per person for 2 hours of bowling, including shoes and lunch.

Please RSVP to gloria.cox@pilgrimoakpark.org by Friday, December 21st and let me know if you'll need a ride or plan to just meet us at Striker Lanes.

Adult volunteers welcome to join as well!

Please join us for a very special worship service on Christmas Eve. It will be full of lessons, carols and candlelight. Rev. Gloria Cox and Rev. Michelle Hughes will co-lead worship. There will also be a special "blessing of the children" as part of the service.

All are welcome!

Please join us on this fourth Sunday of Advent!

In Advent we watch and wait, and prepare to welcome the Christ Child into the world. Today we light the fourth candle of Advent, a candle of Love.

Rev. Michelle Hughes is leading worship and preaching. Our focus scripture is Mathew 1:1-16.

All are welcome!

Join us for an evening of liturgy & scripture. A time to pray, light candles, and sing. Space to let ourselves lament...our personal sorrows and the hurt and brokenness all around us...and walk toward hope for a more generous, just and loving world.

The Many's indie-folk gospel music makes you want to sing and helps you believe in the power of love over hate, hope and faith over despair. Learn more about them at https://www.themanyarehere.com/

6:30 p.m. Food & Fellowship

7:15 p.m. Service

Please join us. All are welcome!

“Jah” (Love)

In our final Advent study session, we’ll explore the big topic of love. In her essay, “Jah,” Anne Lamott urges us to frame our understanding of love as “a gift between people, and between people and the divine.” Yet the essay—by far the most complex and daunting of her new collection, Almost Everything: Notes on Hope—is very canny about the limits of love. As we move into the final moments of the Advent season and move ever closer to Bethlehem, a richer awareness of love will most assuredly enrich the holiday. Join us at 7:30 in the Pilgrim Chapel as we look at love from a number of angles.

Please join us for a very special worship service on this third Sunday of Advent, as our children and youth (and some young-at-heart adults) engage us once again in the story of Christmas.

Worship designed and led by Maureen Deahl, Director of Children’s Ministry. Our focus scriptures are Luke 1: 41-54 and James 5: 7-8.

All are welcome!

Leslie Lauderdale provides us space for peace, an opportunity to share family traditions, and samples of reusable gift packaging for those last-minute presents.

Please join us!

"Lux Cantorum" roughly translates to "Light Singers" —we herald the season with songs of light from across the globe.

Featuring both holiday favorites and works that may be new to you, including selections from Bach, Forrest, Nordquist, Peevla, and Rutter.

To purchase tickets click here https://luxcantorum.org/upcoming/2018/12/15/light-of-the-world

Join us for our December Book Club meeting to discuss "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas

“They finally put a sheet over Khalil. He can’t breathe under it. I can’t breathe.”

The last words of Eric Garner, adopted and amplified by the Black Lives Matter movement, echo again in the early pages of Angie Thomas’s young-adult novel The Hate U Give. By the time she’s 16, Starr Carter, the protagonist of the book, has lost two of her childhood friends to gun violence: one by a gang drive-by, and one by a cop. A timely topic and we’re sure to have a lively discussion.

This is our final meeting of the year and we’ll celebrate the holidays with our Annual Gift Wrapped Book Exchange. Please bring a wrapped book (new or gently used). For more information, please email: office@pilgrimoakpark.org.

“Humans 101” (Joy)

“Some of us periodically need to repeat the joy training,” Anne Lamott writes in her essay “Humans 101” (from her new collection, Almost Everything: Notes on Hope). Could that be one of the big lessons of Advent: training ourselves to receive this “joy to the world” we sing about? And why do the Advent readings relish the pairing of comfort and joy so often? How are they related? We’ll dig into some of these thoughts in our third Advent study. We meet at 7:30 in the Pilgrim Chapel.

Please join us on this second Sunday of Advent!

In Advent we watch and wait, and prepare to welcome the Christ Child into the world. Today we light the second candle of Advent, a candle of Peace.

We are delighted to welcome Rev. Tim Wolfe as our guest preacher. Rev. Michelle Hughes is leading worship. Our focus scripture is Luke 3:1-6.

All are welcome!

Come to sing; come to learn; come to enjoy. Facilitated by Janene Bergen, Claudia Divis and Cristine Vesely.

Everyone is welcome to join us!

The Oak Park & River Forest Encore Choir will hold a free public performance of its program, “Season of Light,” Linda Crabtree Powell, conductor of the OPRF Encore Choir, will lead the program. Encore Choir will present eight songs on the concert, all of them celebrating the holiday season. Pianist Lurana Brown is the accompanist for Encore in Oak Park.

The singers of the Oak Park Encore Choir will perform “Keep Your Lamps”; “Calypso Christmas”; “Gesu Bambino”; “Bring a Menorah, Jeanette, Isabella”; “Allundé, Alluia”; “Ocho Kandelikas”; “Glow”; and “Do You Hear What I Hear?”!

For more information e-mail encoreillinois@gmail.com

Featuring beloved classics and Pentatonix hits
with programming by Kathryn Kamp

Chicago a cappella’s annual December concert, Holidays a cappella: Silver Bells, ignites the holidays with a celebration of the ensemble’s silver anniversary season. Guest Music Director Paul Nicholson and Guest Programmer Kathryn Kamp present a spirited collection of fresh takes on beloved classics such as “O Tannenbaum” and Chanukah classic “Maoz Tzur.” The acclaimed ensemble will also take on contemporary hits such as an arrangement of “Winter Wonderland” from the hit a cappella group Pentatonix, and more. Audiences will enjoy the “best of” Chicago a cappella’s holidays concerts, as well as familiar holidays tunes new to their stage.

For tickets and more information visit http://www.chicagoacappella.org/concerts