Blog

24 Feb

There’s an earworm song in the musical Moulin Rouge that, if you aren’t careful, will stick in your head for weeks on end. In it, the two main characters are singing the beginning of a flirtation (on top of a giant elephant, but that’s not the point of this story). Hoping to convince the aloof and beautiful Satine that love is worth the risk, our protagonist, penniless poet Christian, turns to the lyrics of popular...

12 Dec

Have you ever noticed how our favorite holiday songs are filled with images of peace? Silent nights. Fields of glistening snow. Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, lights turned way down low, stars brightly shining - song after song, we’re met with poetry that invites us to step out of the hustle and bustle of the world around us and just… breathe. These songs strike a chord because the moments of peace they picture feel like a...

21 Nov

Some mornings - maybe most of them - we wake up already in the middle of problems to solve.Before our bare feet hit the floor in the bedroom, we’ve scrolled through a few dozen headlines and social media updates. Our eyes squint to adjust to the glow of our small screens, their blue light flooding our pre-coffee minds with the entire world’s latest news. Here, in the early hours before we begin our long to-do...

26 Oct

First held in 1902, the Winnetka Congregational Church Rummage Sale was initiated by a group of determined and inspired women who felt called to give what they had to help care for people outside the walls of the church building. The sale welcomes volunteers and shoppers from both the congregation and the surrounding community. Through the years, the church Rummage Sale has become a Winnetka tradition, raising millions of dollars to benefit numerous social service agencies in...

23 Aug

I love the way kids never shy away from hard questions.If you spend any time around children, you’ve probably been hit with a hard question or two. If you’re a parent, probably before you’ve had your morning coffee. “Mommy, how does it feel to die?” “Uncle Joe, what is a soul made of?” “Grandma, why is there war?” I can still feel the mild panic I experienced when my own kids asked me impossible questions...

19 Jul

“Love God. Love Neighbor. Two simple but difficult directives of our faith. By caring for our environment, we are doing both.”That’s Steve Huels, one of the leaders of our Green Team here at Winnetka Congregational Church. We had the chance to interview Steve this month, as well as fellow Green Team leader Jennifer Guy, about the environmental advocacy work they’re doing to care for the planet, for the neighborhoods and parks in our community, and...

17 Jun

Many kids and teens today aren’t sure they want to be involved with Christianity anymore. I can’t say I blame them. After all, a lot of them are hesitant because of stories like mine. You see, today I openly and proudly identify as bisexual. I love my role as Associate Pastor of Children, Family and Youth here at Winnetka Congregational Church. I have a lot of questions about who God is. A lot of doubts. And a...

28 May

In the wake of the most recent mass-shootings – one in an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and one in Buffalo, New York – words are inadequate. Inadequate to describe the anguish that those most directly affected (the families, the close friends, the immediate communities) are feeling. That we, as a nation, have been here so many times before makes the words feel all the more inadequate. Perhaps, even hollow.This does not mean that we...

27 May

Our kids haven’t had an easy time these last few years. As the parent of a teen, I’ve been paying close attention to the effects the pandemic and the social isolation that came with it has had on my daughter and her peers. It’s a lot to take in. Statistically, teens are more at risk than ever - 20% of high schoolers say they’ve at least thought about committing suicide, and after the pandemic, over 44%...

06 Apr

The science vs. religion debate has been raging for a long time. People have been surveyed. Scientists have been polled. There are whole conferences you can attend to hear all the arguments - some saying 500 years of science have made it all too apparent that God isn’t real. Others asserting, “The questions to which God is the answer are not scientific questions." The pandemic has only exacerbated the debate (and the divide) as many Christians...

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