Red, white & blue day...

Perpetual Fund update & plans...

One more graduate...

 

Graduating Fenwick High School in Oak Park, and attending Tulane University in the fall.

Pastor's message... 

In the Phillips' translation of Matthew 5:6, one of the beatitudes, it reads "Happy are those who are hungry and thirsty for goodness, for they will be fully satisfied." Those words, hunger and thirst, are strong words. They certainly suggest a strong desire. Jesus stated that when one has such a strong desire for goodness one will be happy.

 

Professor W.H. Sheldon summarized this beatitude: "Happiness is essentially a state of going somewhere wholeheartedly." If that is true then we might conclude that to be happy in our Christian faith there must be an intense desire that leads to wholehearted commitment.

 

There is a story of a young man who went to Gautama Buddha and asked to be shown the path of true deliverance, so Buddha took the young man down to the river. He expected to undergo the rite of purification. However, when they had waded into the deeper water of the stream Buddha suddenly grabbed him and pushed his head under water and held it there. Finally in frantic desperation the fellow wrenched himself loose of Buddha's grasp and came up gasping. Quietly Buddha asked him: 'When you thought you were drowning, what did you desire most?" "Air," said the young man. And Buddha replied, "When you want salvation as much as you wanted air, then you will get it."

 

In our Christian faith it is very true that if we have only a lukewarm wish for God, happiness will be only a dream out of reach. A fleeting fancy or an occasionally pious prayer will not do the job.

 

Consequently, we frequently see Christians who are somewhat miserable souls because they dabble in only partial commitment. The late Peter Marshall spoke for us when in one of his prayers he confessed, "We are too Christian really to enjoy sinning and too fond of sinning really to enjoy Christianity."

 

When you go the beach there are usually three types of beach folk. There are those who like to play in the sand. They are getting a suntan, playing ball, building sand castles, and listening to their i-Pods. Then there is another group who are way out in the deep water. They are diving off the high board and having a great time swimming like fish. However, there is a third group and they are found wading along the shoreline. Sometimes they get waist-deep, but that is about the extent of it. And this group is caught in a bind for they look longingly out into the deep where the swimmers are, but they are afraid to try getting there themselves. And then they glance toward those playing on the beach; that looks fun, but they have an inner feeling that when you go to the beach you belong in the water. So there they stand, hesitantly, uncertain, and not having much fun...knee deep in the water.

 

Those waders in the third group are characteristic of many Christians. We are afraid of total commitment in the deep, and at the same time we don't want to sell our soul to the devil either...so we stand between the two...we are not happy and our faith is not productive. We are in a traffic jam in the middle of the road and that is not a joyous situation.

 

And when you and I possess this kind of commitment to the Lordship of Jesus Christ then, and only then, will true joy become a part of faith.

 

A long time ago in this country it was said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." That statement came from Scripture. And it is true. Neither can a man stand tall with divided loyalties. No question about it, "Happiness is essentially a state of going somewhere wholeheartedly."

 

Have a wonderful Summer. May your faith in Christ grow each day.

 

Rev. Ron W. Purser   lhchomeron@aol.com 

Gardening Angels & Handy Devils made Monday, June 4  

and Saturday, June 9 two more very productive Work Days at Little Home Church! 

 

Thank you to Susannah Lesswing, Jan Marchese and Kathleen Kaska for their Monday work weeding the Courtyard and Guild House gardens. And thank you to the Saturday team of Jan Marchese, Gary Estes, Wally Setlock, John and Jane Price, and the entire Kaska Family for filling a large dumpster with massive amounts of debris from the Guild House basement and other church nooks & crannies.

 

The Parish Hall storage closet was re-worked, cleaned and cleared to make room for the new Bell Choir cases. Rev. Ron's office is no longer storing an extra church pew and lectern. And the kitchen porch was cleared of all but the gas grill and recycle bins.   

 

July Work Days: Hope to see you there - 9 am to Noon   

Monday, July 9   

Saturday, July 28 - Chainsaw Day! 

 

Contacts:

Kathleen Kaska  630.443.9670   ksk@kaskadesign.com

Peter Gatsch  630.587.0840  gatsch2@aol.com 

 

 

Choir

The choir began their summer break June 17th. Please consider signing up to play or sing this summer in our worship services. The talent show proved there are many talented musicians out there! I will also be doing some special practices for an occasional summer choir and hand-bell choir.

 

Thank you to the Shelton's and the Bouchard's for hosting our annual choir party. It was fun as always and delicious! 

Enjoy your summer!     

Larry Dieffenbach, Director of Music, Organist 

lsdieffenbach@sbcglobal.net

  

 

 

From the Moderator:
As we start a new council year, I would like to thank Ann McLaughlin for her leadership of the council over the past year. Without her guidance and meeting skills, I'm certain we would not have made the progress we have over the past 12 months. I also want to thank outgoing Christian Ed Chair, Nancy Doerr for her unending support and contribution during her term, and Kathy Haben who has bravely accepted the position of Moderator Elect.

Please welcome this year's council:

Moderator-elect, Kathy Haben

Evangelism Ministry, Bob Kaska

Outreach Ministry, Marilyn Poole

Christian Education, Lori Haseltine

Worship & Spiritual Growth, Nancy Schatzeder

Facilities, Peter Gatsch

Members at Large, Carol Berger, Karen Hansen, & Gianna Marchese

Financial, Art Zwemke

Clerk, Jan Marchese

 

Aside from those mentioned above, our church benefits from generous gifts of many who give of their "Time, Treasures and Talents" to so much of what we have at Little Home Church.   Thanks to all of you, once again.

 

The coming year will again be a challenge as it is every year. Certainly finances, ministry activities, Long Range Planning objectives and encouraging a more vibrant Little Home Church are a few of the recurring activities of the council. There is much more however, and we need your help and participation. Roughly ten years ago our Stewardship Chairman presented me with my first pledge card at Little Home Church. I had never been asked to pledge my time nor my talent before, only my treasures. That was my invitation to "be involved and be part of - leave a mark." There's plenty of work to do. We need your viewpoints, ideas, criticisms, skills; your help in any way you can.

 

Please, attend a council meeting (second Tuesday of every month, church hall, 7pm), offer your thoughts and ideas, bring cookies, tell us what's right and what's wrong, and help us make Little Home Church everything we'd like it to be.

by Anne Bouchard

 

Our church council recently voted "yes" to consider becoming an Open and Affirming congregation. I thought it would be helpful to have some history as we begin this journey.

 

In 1985, our UCC denomination adopted a resolution encouraging a policy of non-discrimination with regard to sexual orientation, which includes lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons. Open and Affirming (or "ONA") congregations draft and adopt an ONA statement which articulates their welcoming, inclusive and nondiscriminatory attitude and practice toward all persons involved in the life and ministry of the church, regardless of sexual orientation. ONA statements can -- and often do -- include other groups which may also have felt marginalized by society.

 

In February, the question of becoming Open and Affirming was presented to our church council. An exploratory committee was formed and we met frequently from February until June. We read, watched a movie, visited the UCC website, talked to people in ONA churches as well as friends not in the UCC, and had many committee discussions. As a result, the committee presented a motion to move forward with the process at the June meeting and the motion passed unanimously.

 

The exploratory committee mapped out a plan to begin consideration of ONA together this fall. We will offer reading material, speakers and discussion time throughout the fall and winter, in preparation to begin drafting an ONA statement in the spring. Once we have agreed upon our statement, we will present it to the congregation for a vote, which would be at the 2013 Junual meeting at the earliest. That being said, this timeline is flexible! Typically, congregations take a year or two to study and experience the ONA process but there is no set time limit. However, our committee did agree that we should be diligent in our deliberation, and so it is our hope to steadily continue the process.

 

This is an exciting and challenging issue for our congregation. As I said at the Junual meeting, I believe ONA presents us with the opportunity to listen, think, learn, and hopefully grow in faith together as a congregation. I hope you will open your minds and hearts as we begin the process as a group.

 

You can get a lot more information about ONA from the UCC website and here is the link: http://www.ucc.org/lgbt/ona.html.