Eureka Christian Church

Reflecting Christ's Light from Our Doorsteps to the Ends of the Earth

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Keep Vigil with Jesus

For a 24-hour period from 8:00 p. m. on Maundy Thursday, April 6 until 8:00 p.m. on Good Friday, April 7, we will keep vigil with Jesus during the pivotal moments in his journey to the cross.

In this reimagined experience of the classic Stations of the Cross you will be invited to pray and meditate at eight prayer stations that will be set up in our Chapel:

  • Station One:  In the Garden
  • Station Two:  Betrayal and Arrest
  • Station Three:  Peter’s Denial
  • Station Four:  At Trial
  • Station Five:  Torment and Anguish
  • Station Six:  Crucified
  • Station Seven:  Last Breath
  • Station Eight:  Laid in the Tomb

There are a few one-hour prayer times still available. Sign up this Sunday or contact Rev. Jennie at (309)467-2369 or minister@eurekachristian.org.

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Register for Summer Camp!

It is time to register for summer camp!

Through our CCIW regional ministries, we have camps for students grades K through 12 plus two family camps. To register, please go to the camp program page of the CCIW website, click on the camp you are interested in, and follow the registration instructions. Eureka Christian Church pays ½ of the registration fees for church members, so when you get to the payment, select the option “I am making a partial payment and my church will pay the balance.”  Please register by April 30th because the fees increase after May 1st.  If you have any questions, contact the church office at 467-2369.

Visit the Camp Walter Scott website for more information about the campground and the programs they have available.

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What will I do for work?

What will I do this winter for work?

I think I hear in your question not only uncertainty but maybe even a little fear, and I can understand why. Having a seasonally-dependent job means the loss of that job when the seasons change. Which also, obviously, means a loss of income. And that is scary. So what can you do? While this is not my area of expertise, I have some thoughts:

Find a winter-specific job to supplement your other income. For example, you can join the IDOT “Snowbird” program. Retail and package-delivery services also hire seasonal workers, at least during the holidays. These are just a few ideas to get you started; I am sure there are others.

Manage your cash flow to take you through the winter months. My sister is self-employed and never knows just how many clients she will have from month to month. Because she has owned her business for over twenty years, she has been able to chart her cash flow and can now anticipate which months will be lean. What this means in practice is that she sets aside funds during months of higher income to use when she has less money coming in. Perhaps something like this will work for you too.

Expand your employment options. Is there a specific certification you can earn or more education you can complete that will make you a more viable candidate for different employment opportunities? Think about the skills you already have and build on those. If what you are doing now is not enough to meet your financial needs throughout the year, then perhaps a change is what you need most.

These are all specific actions you can take to manage the fear (and possible reality) of not having enough income. In my experience, taking action has been the best antidote to fear.

I can get myself absolutely tangled in knots of anxiety, worry, fear, you name it. So much so that I can’t think of anything else except for this thing I’m stressing over. And what has this done for me? It hasn’t solved my problem, that’s for sure. Instead, I have poured so much energy into being afraid and anticipating all the things that can possibly go wrong that I haven’t left any energy for actually dealing with the problem. However, when I have been able to channel all that energy into making a change or doing what needs to be done, I have realized that—yes!—I can do this! Perhaps you don’t struggle with fear like this. But if you do, maybe this will help.

And one more thing. For me, life has been much more satisfying when I have found meaning and purpose in what I do. Sometimes we talk about having a sense of “call” in our work; that’s what this is. Doing something with our lives that makes a difference. What do you enjoy doing? Where do you feel like your gifts can be the most useful? These might be good questions to ponder and pray about. When I am living out my call, it doesn’t feel like work.  It just feels right.

“Find a job you enjoy doing,
and you will never have to work a day in your life”
Mark Twain

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How can I grow my mowing business?

How can I help grow my mini-mowing/yard work bisness [sic]?  (I am just a kid.)

This is a great question! It speaks of your work ethic, your determination, your independence, and your sense of responsibility. I bet your parents are very proud of you!

How can you grow your mowing/yard work business? Work hard and do good-quality work are my first responses. Mow when you say you are going to mow. Communicate with your customers if you know you might be delayed. (For example, if you get sick or overwhelmed with homework or if your family goes out of town.) Do a thorough job. Clean up after you are done. Pay attention to the things your customers have asked you to do or not do—for example, don’t weed-whack the flowers they asked you to leave alone.

Your customers will appreciate all your efforts and, perhaps more importantly from a business point of view, they will stay your loyal customers. Some businesses are really good about getting new customers, but they do not do enough to keep the customers they already have. You can’t grow a business that way. You grow a business by keeping the customers you have and adding new ones.

Which brings me to the next thought for growing your business: ask your current customers for referrals. If they are pleased with the work you have done for them, then they will be more than happy to let their friends, neighbors, and family know about your business. You might even want to create fliers or business cards for them to hand out. One word of caution, however: don’t add so many customers that you can’t continue to offer good-quality work to your current ones. There is a sweet spot here—having enough customers for your business to thrive, but not bringing in so many new customers that the quality of your work suffers.

And one last thought: be open to new possibilities. In addition to mowing, maybe add weed pulling in the summer, leaf raking in the fall, snow shoveling in the winter, or hedge trimming in whatever season hedges are trimmed. Pet sitting might also go well with a yard business because you’re at the house already—might as well feed and water the animals!

Good luck!

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Where was God when I was suffering?

Why was God or an angel not there when I was bleeding and beaten on the floor?  I had to get the help [on my own].  Why did I have to suffer for so long and so young?  I didn’t sin or hurt people—if anything, me being abused was protecting the others.  But why?  Why was there no one to save or to help me?  

Editor’s Note:  Because of the depth of pain in this question, two members of the Response Team have offered their perspectives.

Response One: I am so sorry you had these experiences. It hurts my heart to know this kind of thing happens, and that this happened to you.

To answer this is difficult, and there are not satisfying answers. An early church teacher, Irenaeus, spoke of an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving God allowing evil as a way of soul-making—that the existence of evil would help us be more aware of and draw us closer to God. There is a whole branch of theology devoted to this dilemma, called theodicy. However, it is wholly inadequate for addressing many of the horrors in this life, including those you experienced.

The best understanding I have of why situations like yours occur without God’s direct intervention is that God chose to create a world in which we were given free will—free will to choose God or not to choose God.  Part of this free will means we have the freedom to hurt others. I am sure this hurts God, too. However, it seems there is something about redemption and salvation that requires us to respond directly and personally to God, and that it would somehow be ruined if God forced us to follow him. I am a parent, and think of the love of my children. I want them to choose to love me, I do not want to make them love me—and I cannot. The downside of this freedom is that we are also free to do great harm.

Response Two: I am so very sorry that this happened to you. The trauma you experienced at such a young age is heartbreaking. I join with you in weeping for the pain your younger self endured and the scars that linger still today. People are often capable of terrible actions toward each other. Call it sin. Call it evil.  Either way it is an unmistakable sign of brokenness. The person who abused you was/is broken. I am so very sorry that you bore the brunt of that brokenness.

Sometimes people think that bad things happen to them because God is punishing them. Personally, I do not believe this, but the idea is definitely out there. “If you are suffering, it means you have done something wrong.” This is not a helpful response to the question of why we suffer, as you even point out in your question. “Why did I have to suffer?” you asked, “I didn’t sin or hurt people.” Exactly. The abuse you endured wasn’t because you did anything, and it wasn’t God punishing you. It was the abuser taking advantage of the power he or she had over you and causing you deep pain. In other words, the brokenness belonged to the abuser, not to you.

Why do bad things happen to good people? This is a huge question. People have been asking this question probably since the beginning of time. There are many, many books on the topic—one, in fact, called When Bad Things Happen to Good People. We have received several questions about the problem of suffering through this Questions Ministry too. You can find some other responses here.   

For me, I think bad things just happen. Sometimes unspeakably bad things happen—as you experienced when you were young. We can’t get away from pain and suffering because they just are. They are a part of living in these mortal bodies (for example, the suffering that comes from disease), and they are part of living in a world where people struggle with their own brokenness (for example, the person who abused you). Pain and suffering just are.     

So what do we do with the pain and suffering we experience? Well, when we are in the moment of crisis, we put all our strength into surviving. Making it through. Doing what we have to do to keep going through the valley of shadows. But then, once we are on the other side of the pain—once we are safe and on the road to healing—we can look back and say to ourselves, “Look at that! I made it through. I am strong. I am resilient. I am me—wholly and fabulously me!” And, once we are safe and on the road to healing, we can look around with eyes more attuned to see the struggles that others are going through. Then we do what we can to help them because we’ve been there, and we know what it takes to survive.

Where is God in all this? The answer I have received through my faith and my personal experience is that God is right beside me. Right there always. Weeping with me when I am weeping. Comforting me. Mourning with me. Giving me the strength to make it through. And, healing me when I’m on the other side of the pain. 

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,” Psalm 23 says, “I fear no evil, for You, O God, are with me.” Notice the way that is phrased: even though.  In other words, the valleys will come. The suffering will come. The pain will come. Even though I walk in all those difficult places, the psalm says, God is walking there too, never abandoning me to the pain. In my experience, I have felt God as a presence within me—rather than a bodily presence coming to my aid in the way you describe in your question. But that’s just my experience; others may have the experience of a bodily presence.

I think I hear in your question that you felt abandoned by God in your greatest moment of need. I am sorry for that too. And it makes me think of Jesus’ own prayer from the cross. When he was in his greatest moment of need, he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34). In other words, why have you abandoned me? He was praying the words of Psalm 22 in that moment. If you are looking for God in the memories of your painful experiences, perhaps this might be a pathway to discover where God was in those awful times. 

You might want to spend some time with Psalm 22. You can even say what Jesus did out loud, “My God, my God, why did you abandon me?” (I mean, if Jesus can pray such a prayer, then surely we can!) “My God, my God, why did you abandon me?” Say it as many times as you need to, as many times as you want to. Shout it. Whisper it. Write it down in a prayer journal. “My God, my God, why did you abandon me?” And then wait. Wait and see what thoughts come to your mind, what images rise up. 

When I pray like this, I begin to realize that new thoughts come into my mind. Things I never realized before, things I never saw before. I believe these are messages from God. Sometimes we call this the “still, small voice of God” (1 Kings 19:12); sometimes we call it the “peace that passes understanding” (Philippians 4:7). But either way, it has helped me to recognize that God was actually there for me, even though I didn’t see it at the time. I was not as alone as I had thought. Maybe this will be of help to you as you continue your healing journey. My prayers will be with you.

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Illinois Valley Cluster Highlights

With the return of the Illinois Valley Cluster Lenten gatherings, you may be wondering, “What is the Illinois Valley Cluster?”

The Cluster is made up of sister congregations in our immediate geographical area. These congregations are: Creve Coeur First Christian Church, Henry First Christian Church, Mackinaw Christian Church, Pekin First Christian Church, Peoria First Christian Church, Glen Oak Christian Church, Memorial Christian Church, Washburn Christian Church, Sunnyland Christian Church, and us, Eureka Christian Church.

We gather regularly for worship, service projects, and fellowship events. See the Highlights newsletter for more information about up-coming Cluster events.

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Youth-Led Worship This Sunday March 5 10:00 a.m.

Make plans to attend the youth-led worship on Sunday, March 5! The service begins at 10:00 a.m.

Under the leadership of our Youth Ministry Interns Grace Dearhamer and Hayden Skaggs, our youth have designed and prepared this service on the theme of caring for God’s Earth. They will also offer special music. Please come not only to support our youth but also to hear the Good Word they bring.

Holding Tenderly to God’s Earth
Photo by Roberta Sorge on Unsplash

I’ll see you Sunday. 

Jennie

Worship at 10:00 a.m.
On-site at 302 South Main Street       Eureka, Illinois
Online at eurekachristian.org/worship-online or facebook.com/eurekacc/live

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Week of Compassion Update

What a great celebration of Week of Compassion we had on February 26! Many thanks to guest preacher and Executive Director of Week of Compassion, Rev. Vy Nguyen, for telling us more about this ministry. If you would like to make a contribution to Week of Compassion, there is still time! You can bring your check on Sunday or drop it by the church office any time the building is open. Please make sure to note that it is for Week of Compassion.

In the First Light Service, I made reference to the beautiful banner hanging on the east wall of the Sanctuary.

This quilted map was lovingly designed and made by Robin Staudenmeier for Week of Compassion Sunday a few years ago. It was inspired by the interactive map on the Week of Compassion website that shows where we are at work all around the world. Click on any of the pins for more information about our responses.

Get ready to be amazed…we may be small, but we are mighty. And we are mightily sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ from our doorsteps to the ends of the earth.