It is with a great deal of sadness that I received Beau Surratt's resignation this past week.  As you will see in his gracious letter to me, Beau finds himself called to the more contemplative worship that he finds in the Roman Catholic Church.  As such he has accepted a full-time liturgy and music position at St. Pascal's Roman Catholic Church.  His last day with us will be Christmas morning. Although I am very bummed that Beau will be leaving us I applaud his ability to follow God's call whenever it may lead.  Beau has been affiliated with this worshipping community in one way or another since 2004.  We have been greatly enriched by his presence and his ministry among us.  I look forward to following his path to see all that God has in store for him and for us.

The week before Thanksgiving I hope to have two different search groups formed to begin the process of finding a new music director and new parish administrator.  (I seriously doubt that we will find one person to fill both of these rolls.)  If you are interested in being a part of either search process or if you know someone who might be a good fit for us--please have them e-mail me at bonnie@allsaintschicago.org.

I anticipate that we will have job descriptions for each position by the end of November.  I plan to have each position filled by the New Year, however I will certainly not rush the process.

By way of celebrating his ministry among us, Beau has asked that we have a pot-luck dinner for him on Wednesday, January 4 at 7:00.

Below you will find Beau's letter to me.

And, by the way...NEWS FLASH! My voice is back, so I'll be preaching this Sunday.

All the best,

Bonnie

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Dear Bonnie,

It is with deepest thanksgiving for the blessing of being a part of the All Saints' community that I write to let you know that I will be leaving my position as Associate for Music and Administration here at All Saints' after Christmas, 2011.

I began my time with this community back when I was a 20 year-old student at Elmhurst College and I began to understand then what I know now-that part of All Saints' vocation as a community of faith is to nurture God's call in each of us wherever that call leads. I experienced this when I first encountered All Saints' and I continue to experience it today. Over the past several months, as I have been honored to be here on Sunday mornings leading music and worship, I have come to know that God's call for me right now is to tend to the part of my soul that deeply desires both regular times for contemplative worship and a more slow paced, ordered pattern to my days. I have gotten a sense of what this could be like as I have worshipped in Roman Catholic parishes on occasion and I have discerned that the best way to nurture this longing in my soul while continuing to live into my vocation as a church musician and liturgist is to begin serving a Roman Catholic parish in this capacity. To that end, I will begin as full-time Director of Liturgy and Music at St. Pascal's Roman Catholic Church on the northwest side of Chicago the weekend of January 1, 2012.

As I have mentioned many times before, being part of the All Saints' community has changed my life. All Saints' sense of fun and utterly serious commitment to living out the Gospel in concrete ways in the community, city, nation and world has had a deep impact on my spirituality and what it means for me to live out my faith. I am and will always be thankful for the opportunity to lead in the midst of and help shape this amazing, quirky and often unbelievable (in a "You can't make this stuff up" kind of way) community of faith. I will treasure these experiences always.

I look forward to my final two months of ministry at All Saints' and I stand at the ready to assist in any way I am able with the transition process.

In Christ,

Beau Surratt

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All are invited to join Bonnie for dinner at the rectory on Saturday, November 12 at 7:00.

We'll have great food and plenty of beverages and we're hoping for lots of fun conversation along with 10 mins to talk about how to financially support our ministries, and lots and lots of time to hang out with people we know and meet some people we have not yet met.

Childcare will be provided.

Come along!

RSVP via the Facebook event here or email at stewardship2011@allsaintschicago.org.

Our special memorial for the All Saints' Day/Day of the Dead services this year was dedicated to the lives of Chicago children killed by violence.  From November 1 through November 6, the Hyde Park Union Church is coordinating Urban Dolorosa, a city-wide anti-violence effort in partnership with community groups and faith communities from across Chicago.  Please consider going to 1 or all of these multi-cultural events calling on the city to notice this crisis of violence and to respond by supporting peace-making efforts in our neighborhoods. For more information, visit http://www.urbandolorosa.com or contact Joey Sylvester at jlsylvester@rcn.com.

Bishop Benito, his wife, Angelica, and his son, Eigner, will be in Chicago next month for our Diocesan Convention.  We are arranging an informal evening at The Bad Apple (4300 N. Lincoln Ave.) at 7:00 pm on Monday, November 14, so that All Saints' people (and a few others) can welcome them and enjoy one of The Bad Apple's gourmet hamburgers and maybe a glass of one of their numerous fine craft beers.

Please let Karen Howe (mexico@allsaintschicago.org) know no later than Friday, Nov. 11 if you'd like to join the group for dinner.

Learn how to keep our children safe from sexual abuse in the church and in our community.   Parents  of children and teens in our congregation are especially encouraged to attend.  This session is mandatory for anyone working with our children or youth (or hoping to in the future!), clergy, staff, vestry, and persons providing care to home bound members of our community.

This workshop will be facilitated by Jeanne Wirpsa, vestry member and certified "trainer" of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago and by Norman Linde, social worker/therapist who has worked extensively in this area.

Please register by Wednesday, November 9, 2011 so we can have adequate materials available.  For further information & to sign up contact:   Jeanne.wirpsa@gmail.com or 773-316-6936 (cell).

Ravenswood Community Services (RCS), the food pantry and community kitchen here at All Saints',  is seeking a new cook for the 4th Tuesday of every month.  Our meal each Tuesday night for approximately 125 of our neighbors is planned and prepared by a different cooking team each week.  Starting in November we will no longer have a cook or team in place for the 4th Tuesday of the month meal.  If you are interested in helping to plan and prepare a meal on the 4th Tuesday of the month please contact our volunteer coordinator Liz Embler at liz@ravenswoodcommunityservices.org.

We are happy to have a couple different teams take turns and share the cooking for the 4th Tuesday if we have enough volunteer cooks.  RCS pays for all the ingredients needed for the meal.