News from Kingswood United Methodist Church

Kingswood Connected

carrot seeds

July 7, 2011

Greetings!

Thoughts from the Pastor

And Jesus told them a series of stories ....

Piaget was wrong!!! Remember him? Swiss developmental psychologist who placed great importance on the education of children? You read about him in your high school psychology classes. He claimed that small children could not follow an extended narrative ... a story. But we now know that, though kids may not be able to follow complicated theories of cause and effect, they actually turn things into stories themselves when they are trying to make sense of their experience. Stories are how children ... and most of us ... make sense of our world.

Holocaust survivor and writer, Elie Wiesel, opens his Nobel Prize winning book, The Gates of the Forest, with a story that ends with the statement: God made humanity because he loves stories!!

Not only God and children use stories ... and love them ... but we all do. Our Holy Scriptures are a collection of stories that tell us the story of God and God's creation. So again this summer our worship will be focused around some favorite children's books. Putting them in dialogue with readings from the Bible ... we'll see what we can see differently about God and ourselves through the lenses of a little boy planting a carrot seed, a steam shovel in a changing economy, the friendship of a whale and a mouse, a turtle with way too much ambition, a little girl making a choice of how to use her resources and a little boy having one heck of a day!!! Can you guess which books they are from those clues? (You can see the list of the actual books in the "Upcoming Events" list at the bottom of this e-mail.)

This is a great season to bring a child .... or child-like friend to church .... or someone who just loves stories. Members of the congregation (youth and adults) will be doing the telling and interpreting of the stories, directed by our own Drama Teacher, Beth Barber!!!

Blessings!!!! Rev. Margaret Gramley

Summer Interfaith Book Conversations

The Faith Club

A Muslim, A Christian, A Jew --- Three Women Search for Understanding in The Faith Club. Ranya Idliby, an American Muslim with Palestinian roots, wasn't sure how to answer her son's questions after the attacks of 911. One morning, as she waited with other mothers at the pre-school bus-stop, she asked Suzanne Oliver if she'd be interested in working with her on a project of writing a children's book about the connections between Muslims, Christians and Jews. Suzanne, who grew up Catholic and was now worshipping at an Episcopal church, asked her Jewish friend, Priscilla Warner, if she'd like to join them. Thus began a journey of years ... into deep friendship, difficult and delightful conversations, and an examination of their personal faith and the religion they claimed. Their journey is shared in this book which we will discuss at the July meeting of the Summer Interfaith Book Conversations. Rev. Gramley and Rabbi Bellows will facilitate our discussion. Books available in the church office and Fireside Room. We'll meet on July 13 at 7pm at Kingswood.

Summer Kids Camp - Sunday School Schedule

Summer Sunday School is underway and continues through Sunday September 4.

Children age 4 through 5th grade will meet in room 116B/C at both 9am and 10:30am

July 10 - Team Spirit Day - wear your favorite sports team hat, jersey or shirt.

July 17 - Wear your pajamas to Sunday School.

July 24 - Christmas in July

July 31 - "Breakfast and a Movie"

Food Pantry items are cooking oil, spaghetti sauce and pasta.

Nursery care is available for infants through age 3 at both services.

ravinia logo

KAAN Ravinia Events

Bev has picked out lovely CSO evenings for some wonderful music under the stars! We will designate a spot and meet with our picnics to enjoy the entertainment and fellowship. We have access to special lawn ($5) and pavilion ($12.50) pricing and students are free. If you are interested in joining Bev for any of these evenings, please contact her at bevmodlin@sbcglobal.net

Tonight!!! July 7 - Lang Lang, Liszt and Friends

July 24 - Brahms & Beethoven

July 31 - Tchaikovsky Spectacular 1812 (including canons)

August 6 - Itzak Perlman conducts Fleisher

August 9 - Concerto for 5 Pianos

Are you a "Lord of the Rings" fan? Ravinia is sponsoring a very special night Friday, August 19, at 7:30pm. The CSO will be playing the Oscar-winning score as the film "The Fellowship of the Ring" is shown on screens in the pavilion and on the lawn. If interested in organizing or being part of a group, contact Pam Gish.

Summertime goes so fast...June and July 4 have already passed.

Here are just a few pictures of our most recent Kingswood activities.

We celebrated The 4th of July with a potluck on the patio.

july 3 potluck

july 3 alvey

We said "good bye" to Rev. Han and his family.

sang hun potluck

Sang Hun cake

KAAN's Summer Tours Go "Behind the Scenes"

June Yates, Pam Gish, Richard Lake, Cheri Stark, Pat & Lanny Gray and Carol Hansen at the Pullman Neighborhood Tour. Dave Gish took the photo.

Are you curious about how things are made or designed or what happens behind closed doors? Then we have some trips for you this summer! Sign up for 1, 2, or all of the following adult trips. Most group sizes are limited, so sign up early by contacting Pam Gish at pam_gish@hotmail.com or call her at (847) 438-08955

July 13 - Fermilab & Oberweis Dairy, Batavia. Let's see what is going on inside this world famous lab and then get practical at the dairy (Wednesday 10:30 - 3pm, $3 + lunch)

July 20 - BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Madir Complex, Bartlett. Come experience this Hindu temple which is a masterpiece of exotic design built by over 1,700 volunteers. (Wednesday, 10 - 2pm, $0 + lunch)

July 24 - Chicago "L" Tour. Ride the train with author Greg Borzo and learn about its history and see historical sites along the ride. (Leave after services on Sunday, 1-5pm, $11 + lunch)

August 13 - Backstage in "Broadway in Chicago" Haven't you always wanted to see what goes on backstage? This tour will take us backstage at the Oriental, Cadillac or Bank of America Theaters. (Saturday, 11 - 1pm, $13.60 + a Millennium Park stroll?)

****Groups will decide on travel and lunch arrangements****

Tom Gates and the Labyrinth featured in the local paper!

Labyrinth Article in Buffalo Grove Patch

Tommy Gates

Adopt-a-Highway July Clean up Date Filled

The July 10th Adopt a Highway date has been adopted by Regan Frieling and nine of her friends. They will be cleaning up Dundee Rd on July 30th for Stevenson High School service hours. Thank you to the Regan Frieling team!

Any other groups that would like to adopt one of the last 2011 road clean up dates for September or November please contact sheribrubeck@comcast.net. The group may choose their own date and time. If no group signs up for September or November the dates will be September 11 at 11:30am and November 13 at 11:30am. Everyone in middle school and older are welcome to help including friends, family, neighbors, etc. Please wear hard-soled, closed-toed shoes and gloves that will protect your hands from broken glass.

What are you doing this summer?

Kingswood Connected would like to see pictures of what you are doing this summer. Send pictures and information about your summer activities to ehicks@kingwoodumc.com.

Watch for vacation pictures in upcoming Kingswood Connected emails.

Youth Mission Trip

The Senior High Work Camp trip is to Galveston, Texas from July 31 to August 6, to work on homes devastated by Hurricane Ike in 2008. They will be working with One Mission Initiative.
You can sponsor a youth using the donation link in the right hand column. Select "Youth Mission Trip", and please add the youth participant's name where designated.

The youth mission team appreciates the generous donation of the 2011 mission team t-shirts from Don and Maryann Harkess!