Patience, please! Let’s go for April 25

We’re making progress, but not quite there. We had hoped to be ready for our first Sunday morning Gathering on April 18, but that’s not a good starting date for us after all. Two of our organizers had planned on helping out at the Latino Book and Family Festival, on the morning of Sunday, April 18. So, now we’re working on preparations for the following week, April 25.

Please plan to join us for the first Sunday morning Gathering on Sunday, April 25, 10:00 am.

Until we get our location established more centrally, we’re planning to meet at Sandi Justad’s home,  April 25, at 10268 Southwest Hwy, Unit 1; Chicago Ridge IL 60415. Her phone is 708-422-7877.

Other events are still on track. Check out the “full calendar” and original announcements of these events:

• Alex Cook concert – April 30
• Planning for interfaith day with Swedenborgian church – May 1
• Interfaith event with Swedenborgian church in Glenview – May 16
• Discussion meeting on medical ethics II – May 22

We look forward to sharing all these with you. Thanks for your support while we work out the details!

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Sunday morning Gatherings

Update: Starting date for Gatherings has been postponed to April 25

Spring is a great time to get ready for new ideas. So, with a little encouragement from Mother Nature, we’re trying on a new look. As we mentioned a couple of weeks ago, we realize it’s time to “graduate” beyond the introductory Sunday afternoon Gathering samplings to the real thing on Sunday morning. Just to recap a bit, the reason we can’t keep permanent afternoons for Gatherings is that those who come in the afternoons have usually already attended a service in the morning. The afternoon Gathering either becomes redundant or artificial. We’re really happy we’ve been able to share some of the new ideas with lots of people around the Chicago area. Many of our blog readers have enjoyed putting some of these ideas to use in their own churches. Mission partly accomplished!

So, what’s next?

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Where oh where?

Bonniesue Wadleigh’s song yesterday at the Gathering began with “In this world I walk alone with no place to call my home. But there’s One who holds my hand…” We needed those words – for ourselves, for our CS Fellowship-Metro Chicago, and for our prayers for the whole world. We’re becoming increasingly conscious of the geographic lack of identity for the Fellowship; on the other hand, we’re becoming increasingly clear that there’s “One who holds our hand!”

We were huddled together in the beautiful home of Robyn and Eric Sonnesyn, in Lake Zurich, when Bonniesue sang. The day before, we met at 17^th Church, downtown Chicago, and the Young Adult Retreat got together in Michigan over the weekend. Two weeks ago, our Gathering was in Oak Brook, and next month, we’ll be back in Glenview. Every place we go, we have a chance to experience fellowship with a relatively new set of people. For those of us who get to all the meeting places, it’s thrilling to keep meeting new people whose hearts are on fire about something. But we’d like to welcome your prayers about our location.

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Next Leadership Team meeting

Tuesday evening, December 15, 7:00 – 8:30, followed by fellowship

• Ray and Mary Lou Cesca’s house
• 46 Mockingbird Lane
• Oak Brook, IL 60523

If you’re interested in participating in the development and plans for CSF-MC growth, please consider joining the Leadership Team and our meeting on December 15.

The agenda for this meeting will include three roughly equal parts:

1. How to begin our commitment to the relevance of Christian Science beyond ourselves. Assuming that the activity will take form in one of our “small groups,” meeting some time other than Sunday Gatherings, we expect to discuss the spiritual foundation for such ministry and where it is leading us. We may find our first calling in the context of service, interfaith, youth issues, learning more about our relationship with Christianity, or something we haven’t thought of yet.
2. How to participate in our social media efforts and what we’re discussing regarding the website
3. Further discussion about our identity, as expressed in a Statement of Faith. We have taken ideas from the previous Leadership meetings, and they are incorporated in the current rough draft. Our purpose in working with this is to identify the meaning of our Fellowship and how we relate to each other. If you plan to attend the meeting and would like to see a draft of what we have accomplished so far, please email Sandi to request a copy (sandi.justad@comcast.net).

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Calling, calling! Next leadership team meeting

If you like what you’ve been hearing about the Christian Science Fellowship-Metro Chicago, and you like the idea of contributing whatever you can – then you qualify for joining the “leadership team.”

Five people from our first organizational meeting on October 8 in Oak Brook have signed on. That’s Davy Cady, Linda Kopec, Barbara Stout, Liz Vander Velde, Rob Wadleigh. We’re ready for more of you to join in.

We’re meeting again, Sunday afternoon, after our first fellowship worship meeting on November 8, at Shirley Paulson’s house, around 4:00 pm.

The focus of this meeting will be more in-depth conversation about our points of faith. The Next Generation Christian Science Fellowship from St. Louis has been using the term, “Covenant,” and we’ll discuss items along those lines. Even if you don’t think it’s the right time to join the leadership team, you’re still welcome to attend the meeting and share what you’re thinking about.

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