E

Messenger
Winnetka Congregational Church IN THIS ISSUE

May 3, 2014 No. 16 Volume XLIX

f o e o h t T

-Fiesta del Sol -Interim Pastor Called -Rummage -Adult Enrichment -Call to Meeting -2020Vision Update -Easter Egg Hunt -Music Sunday -A Purse for Joseph -Long-Term Members

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Thursday, May 8, 2014 7AM to 3PM

Countdown to Rummage

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Church Hours Monday Friday 8-5 Sunday 8:30-Noon Business Office closed Fridays

Link to Calendar Link to Sunday Readings

Online Calendar
Sermons of our pastors are available on our website: Sermons.

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Preparations are well underway for our Annual Spring Rummage Sale, so now isthe time to do your spring cleaning and donate your good quality clothing, accessories, household goods and other items to Rummage. We also need medium sizeboxes, shoe boxes and paper bags with handles. Please join us as we work together to raisefunds for nearly 40 social service agencies, carefully selected by theWoman's Society Benevolence Committee. To learn more or to volunteer, please contact Leslie Sholten atwaslks@aol.com or one of the general chairs - Julie Eldring, Beth Maentz, Barbara Robertson, and Luretta Spiess.

The Messenger is published weekly (semimonthly in June, July and August). The deadline for submission of articles is the Wednesday ten days prior to publication date. Please contact the Desktop Publisher for more information (847-441-3400, ext. 14). Joseph A. Shank, Senior Pastor Jennifer A. Gleichauf, Associate Pastor William A. Mueller, Associate Pastor Robert A. Harris, Director of Music/Choirmaster Elaine Clemens, Director of Childrens Music/Organist Floy Schrage, Business/Facilities Manager Sarah Vollmer, Church School Coordinator Paul Allen, Pastor Emeritus 725 Pine Street, Winnetka, IL 60093 Phone: 847 441 3400; Fax: 847 501 4287 char@wcc-joinus.org | www.wcc-joinus.org

LONG TERM MEMBER

SUNDAY, MAY 11
Join us on May 11 when we celebrate our annual Long Term Member Sunday at our 10:00 am worship. As this is a notable year of transitions at Winnetka Congregational Church, we especially want you and your family to be a part of this special day in the life and history of our church family. We will feature our recent tradition of the Living Portrait when all Long Term Members come forward to the chancel as we sing together: Forward Through the Ages Forward through the ages, in unbroken line Move we on together to the shining goal. William A. Mueller Care & Calling Pastoral Liaison

ake.

May Days

Sun

. s i t a h t y a M n i s y da
May 11th: Our 5th and 6th grade Seekers group will serve as worship leaders. We will celebrate Long term Members, honoring those whose tenure at WCC exceeds 40 years. We will thank our church school teachers and then cap it off with a special musical presentation. Pastor Joe joins our Childrens Choir (Alleluia Singers) to present a metaphor for the Church entitled High Flying Geese. The music is great and there are a few surprises. May 18th: One of the favorite services of the church year, we witness our eighth grade confirmands profess their faith and become adult members during the Rite of Confirmation. Fourteen 8th graders will be confirming their faith.

Join us for three incredibly inspiring and diverse expressions of worship on Sundays, May 4, 11, and 18th at 10 AM. You will experience a Bluegrass Mass presented by our Chancel Choir, the honoring of our Long Term Members, a Childrens Sunday, with special music, and the Rite of Confirmation for our eighth grade class. Check out the details below:

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May 4th: The Wilfrid Helms Awards will be presented, we dedicate our rummage workers, and our Chancel Choir presents an exciting and somewhat unusual choral work entitled: The World Beloved-A Bluegrass Mass by Carol Barnett. A bluegrass instrumental ensemble will accompany the choir on fiddle, banjo, mandolin, guitar, and bass. Communion is served.

Such are the May Sundays, mark your calendars and plan to attend. It will feed your souls and affirm the ministries of those practicing

and participating to make it happen.

ADULT ENRICHMENT
May 4 - Introduction to the Islamic faith

May 4 and 11 Sunday Morning

We meet at 8:45 for Refreshments and Fellowship, followed by Program at 9:00.

Chaplain Tahera Ahmad is a dynamic female Muslim scholar who was raised in Morton Grove Ill. and graduated from Niles West High School where she played Varsity basketball. Ahmad studied classical and traditional Islamic Sciences in the Alimiyah/Shariah program at the Institute of Islamic Education. Following traditional madrasa studies, she continued graduate studies in Arabic at Al-Diwan and Al-Azhar in Cairo, Egypt and in Department of Islamic Studies and Christian Muslim Relations and Islamic Chaplaincy at Hartford Theological Seminary in Connecticut.

May 11

Rev. Kozan Jim Matson of the Zen Buddhist Temple Chicago (Evanston) will introduce us to Buddhism.

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May 1: John Urbanowicz, Greg Leadholm, Susan Davis, Jordan Peterson, Madeline Hilbrant 2: Peggy Mitchell, Jeffrey Smith, James Jacobs, Phoebe Brown, Alexandra Benedetto 3: Robert Baker, Robert Cunningham 5: Fiona Tilson, Samantha Shellenbarger 6: Cameron Wray 7: June Reimer, Samantha Hinners 8: Kenneth Tuman, Katherine Powell 9: Abby Adams, Bryan Hales, Maggie Kruse 10: Patricia Van Cleave, Tom Geraghty, Charles Zhang

Happy Birthday

Looking Ahead:
Plan to be with us for worship on Sunday, May 11. On this day, the 5th and 6th grade Seekers will be our worship leaders, the Alleluia Singers and Pastor Joe will share a special presentation entitled High Flying Geese, long-term members will be recognized, and Sunday School teachers will be thanked for their ministry to our children.

Bob Smith, the Clerk of Winnetka Congregational Church, has called our Annual Congregational Meeting for Sunday, May 4, 2014, immediately following the worship service. Please plan to attend to vote on the slate of Church Officers.

Nominating committee:
Mike Walther Theresa Law Jane Dowding Shari Felty Trey Felty Anne West (Chair)

Anyone who is interested in serving on any of our committees can call Anne West at 847-687-5957 or email her at awwest@comcast.net.

2020 Vision: On Tuesday April 8 the Council agreed to have the 2020 Vision team share the latest, and nearly final, strategic plan revision with the Congregation. They will do this through small groups and after-service listening sessions over the next four weeks. Please see Jeanne Ebersole or Brad McLane, or contact them at jgebersole@sbcglobal.net or mclaneb@comcast.net to arrange a 2020 team member to attend your group meeting. There will also be an online survey to provide feedback. The goal of Council and the 2020 Vision Team is to present the final plan to the Congregation for approval at the May 4 congregation meeting.

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Send the Shanks Off With Your Thanks, Love and Blessings; Create a Scrapbook Page!
We need your help to create a memento scrapbook for Joe and Leslie Shank! You'll find a poster explaining this project, sample pages for inspiration, as well as blank pages to take home with you in the Neo-Narthex. Bring your finished page back and place it in the lidded box on the table by Wednesday May 14th. This scrapbook will be presented to the Shanks with our Thanks, Love and Blessings at the May 16th celebration dinner.

ic Mus Sunday!

service? Are you kiddin' me?' -which is exactly the reaction some of the Choir members had when I told them about the music plans for that Sunday. But after the first rehearsal, the Choir fell in love with this piece. Sunday, May 4, is Music And Peter Cosyns was so taken with Sunday at WCC. This year, it that he prepared rehearsal CD's for the musical presentation is the entire choir! Yes, Peter Cosyns, something you will not want WCC's resident music dilettante! A to miss at the 10:00 service. few things about the music and the The Chancel Choir will pres- text. The text of the work include ent an exciting and somewhat both liturgical and adapted prose unusual choral work entitled texts that amplify the traditional The World Beloved - A Blue- texts of the Latin Mass. The Bluegrass grass Mass by Minnesota instrumental ensemble that accomcomposer Carol Barnett. panies the Choir consists of fiddle, You are probably thinking mandolin, banjo, guitar and string and asking yourself 'What? bass. Plan to be in church for this very Bluegrass music in a church special service!

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On Saturday, May 10, our Choirmaster Robert Harris will be conducting the New York premier of his Gloria for chorus and orchestra at Alice Tully Hall. The text of the 30 minute work is set to the traditional Latin text. In addition to several local performances (NU, Millennium Park), the Gloria has been performed in Dallas and just this last December, in Denver with a 105 voice choir and members of the Denver Symphony Orchestra Several members of our Chancel Choir will be a part in the 110 member chorus for the NYC performance.

A Purse for Joseph

As we prepare for Josephs retirement from WCC, we are planning many wonderful ways to say thank you and goodbye. We hope you have all received invitations to the three different events on April 25, May 16 and June 1. In addition, we plan to offer Joseph and Leslie some gifts of appreciation at each event. It is part of our tradition to also offer our ministers the gift of a purse a collection of donations from members of the congregation which offer our appreciation. We would like to present a purse to Joseph on Sunday, June 1st. If you would like to contribute, please send a check to our accountant, Doug Coulter at WCC with Joes purse in the memo line. Joseph and Leslie plan to split most of their time between Ireland and Roatan, Honduras in retirement and we know this purse will go a long way in helping them to settle into their new homes.

Golder Interfaith Lecture at Temple Jeremiah,

937 Happ Rd., Northfield

Saturday, May 10 at 8:00PM Speaker: Dr. Basit Bilal Koshul Topic: Scriptural Reasoning and the Search for Wisdom after the Holocaust

Online Calendar

Parish Calendar
Sunday, May 4 8:45am 9:30am 10am 10:15am 11am 11am 11:30am 4:30pm 6pm Adult Enrichment: CR Child Care: Nursery WORSHIP: S Church School: EW Fellowship: TFH ANNUAL MEETING: S WCC Singers: TFH Servants: LL1 Final Confirmation Class (7 & 8): TFH

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Monday, May 5 9:15am Zumba: AC 3:30pm Prayer Group: CL 4:45pm A Just Harvest Tuesday, May 6 9:15am WERQ w/Candus: AC 1pm WEX Class: AC 7pm NAMI Meeting: LL2 Wednesday, May 7 4:45pm 3-5 Childrens Choir: MR Thursday, May 8 RUMMAGE SALE 7am Rummage Sale 9am AA Meeting: TFH 6pm Bell Choir: MR Friday, May 9 9am 9:15am 6:30pm Bible Study: CR Zumba: AC Seekers: AC
AMP - Amphitheater AC - Alsdorf Center LC - Conference Library CR - Centennial Room EW - Education Wing JK - Jr. Kindergarten L - Library LC - Little Chapel LL - Lower Level (Youth Rooms) MR - Music Room NN - New Narthex S - Sanctuary TFH - Tolman Fellowship Hall WS - Womans Society

Sunday, May 11 Long-Term Members 8:45am Adult Enrichment: CR 9:30am Child Care: Nursery 10am WORSHIP: S 10:15am Church School: EW 11am Fellowship: TFH 4:30pm Servants: LL1