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This Sunday, December 10, we will learn more about Joseph and his role in the Nativity of Christ.

Poor Joseph.  I do believe that he is the most ignored figure in the entire Christmas story.  Usually all the attention is on Mary and the baby Jesus.  Mary wrapping Jesus in swaddling clothes.  Mary laying him in the manger.  Mary holding him softly and tenderly.  Mary, Mary, Mary.  It’s all about Mary!  She even gets her own song. 

Does Joseph have his own song?  No!  I do not think I have ever sung from a hymnal with a Joseph-centered Christmas carol.  The angels have carols.  The shepherds have carols.  The wise men have carols.  The star, for crying out loud, has carols.  Joseph needs a carol! 

We often don’t even notice Joseph in the manger scene—standing quietly, steadfastly there in the background.  We just brush right on past him in our haste to kneel and coo at the babe in the manger.  He doesn’t even get to hold the baby.  How many nativity depictions have you seen with Joseph holding the baby Jesus?  That’s what I thought.  I haven’t seen any either. 

Joseph gets overlooked all the time. Well, not anymore! Now it’s Joseph’s turn to shine.

I’ll see you Sunday.

Jennie

Worship at 8:15 and 10:30 a.m.
On-site at 302 South Main Street       Eureka, Illinois
Online at eurekachristian.org/worship-online or facebook.com/eurekacc/live

We will have a brief congregational meeting this Sunday, December 10 at 9:30 a.m. to approve the 2024 budget.  

For those of you who will be joining from home, we will open the livestream as we do for Sunday services at eurekachristian.org/worship-online or facebook.com/eurekacc/live.  You will be able to vote with the link found on the homepage of our website at https://eurekachristian.org/december-congregational-meeting/

Join us this Sunday, October 29 for a combined Festival Worship Service beginning at 10:00 a.m.  Sunday School for all ages begins at 9:00 a.m.

As part of our Festival Service celebrations, we will welcome special guest Rev. Rick Hamilton, Interim Regional Minister of the Illinois and Wisconsin Region, and our “B.I.B.L.E. Kids” children and youth will sing one of their new songs, “The Perfect 10,” as special music. 

Following worship, we will have an all-church luncheon in the Parish Hall.  Please bring a salad, side dish, or dessert to share; our Hospitality Team will provide the main course and table service. 

It will be a great day!  We hope you can be part of it! 

All month long we have been exploring what it means to be Church, using the metaphor of sanctuary.  We have talked about how we create sanctuary through our acts of hospitality in Jesus’ name; through the creation of trusting and trustworthy community; and through our identity as covenant people, reaching beyond ourselves and out into the world as we embody the mind and heart of Christ.  On Sunday, the last day of this sermon series, it’s commitment time. 

We commit ourselves to this identity and to this work as Christ’s people.

Eureka Christian Church has been committed to this patch of earth in central Illinois for 191 years—to this place and to the people who live here.  We have used the work of our hands, the passion of our hearts, the creativity of our vision, and the resources in our pockets to create sanctuary. 

Safe space. Holy space.

It is my conviction that there are a whole lot of people all around us who do not know sanctuary.  Lord, prepare us to be sanctuary.  If you care about this mission too, then please join me in supporting it.  I believe in what we do together, and I support it with my financial resources.  Because I want to make sure that the most vulnerable in our midst have a place—a safe place—where they can encounter and know the love of God. 

If you have never made a pledge to the work of our church before, I would like to invite you to consider it this year. To make a commitment to this work we do together.  Because it is valuable work; it is needed work.  You can fill out and return an Estimate of Giving card to the church or set up on-line giving.

And if you think, “What I have to give couldn’t possibly make a difference,” let me just say:  little is much when it comes to God.  Don’t forget that we are a people of the five loaves and two fish that fed a crowd of 5000.  We are a people of the widow’s mite and the mustard seed.  God consistently takes our small offerings and multiplies them, magnifies them. 

For little is much when it comes to the work of God.

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

Consecration Sunday is October 29.  We will gather for a combined Festival Worship Service at 10:00 a.m. followed by an all-church luncheon in the Parish Hall.  Our Hospitality Team is providing the main course for the meal; please bring a salad, side, or dessert to share. 

Consecration Sunday is the time when we dedicate ourselves to the work of our church in the coming year and make commitments as to how we will support this work financially.  If you plan to give to the work of our church in 2024, please fill out an Estimate of Giving card and bring it with you to worship on October 29 or return it to the church office at your earliest convenience.  If you have been joining us online, there is a way to set up giving through our website. The Church Board uses these Estimates of Giving to finalize a budget that faithfully balances our envisioned ministries with the financial resources we have available.

In 2024, our proposed budget is $378,942.  The Board developed a pie chart that breaks down this budget into our six ministry areas.  In developing this chart, they assessed how our staff allocates their time and how our building is used for ministry. 

While our 2024 proposal represents a slight decrease from this year’s budget, that doesn’t mean we are cutting back on our ministries.  In fact, we have plans to add two staff positions—a Minister of Pastoral Care and Support and an IT/Social Media Internship.  Meanwhile,

• Our youth group is planning to go on a mission trip next summer to learn about “Justice 101” in Kansas City, Missouri;
• Our children will learn the stories of our faith through our B.I.B.L.E. Kids Sunday School program and Godly Play and are already looking forward to Discovery Day Camp next summer;
• Our men’s and women’s ministries are thriving;
• And we will continue to support local, denominational, and global efforts to lessen the suffering and struggles of others through our Outreach Ministries.

We are an active congregation with lots to share and much to do as we seek to be Church out in the world.  Join us!

Inspired by the Prophet Amos and his commitment to those in need, we have been collecting food throughout the month of September.

This Sunday, October 1 is the last Sunday for our food drive. Please bring your non-perishable food items with you to worship and add them to our overflowing collection! (If you cannot be in worship on Sunday, please feel free to drop off your donations any time the church is open.)

We will dedicated these gifts in worship on Sunday and then take them to the Eureka Food Pantry next week.

Thank you for being part of this effort!

Announcing B.I.B.L.E. Kids Sunday School at Eureka Christian Church! 

The Fall Quarter of B.I.B.L.E. Kids, our children and youth Sunday School program, begins this Sunday, October 1!

All children and youth ages 4 and up are invited to come to the “B.I.B.L.E. Kids” Clubhouse most Sunday mornings from 9:30-10:15 in October, January, and March for fellowship, learning, singing, crafts, games, and all-around fun!  (The Clubhouse can be found upstairs in the Education Building.) 

If you have your own Bible, please bring it!  If you don’t have a Bible of your own yet, we will have plenty of extras in the Clubhouse. 

Sometimes, we will be all together as one group; other times, we will split off into younger and older age groups. 

Plans for October include:
October 1                    Building the B.I.B.L.E Kids Clubhouse
October 8                    The Books of the Bible
October 15                  The Ten Commandments Part 1 (Torah)
October 22                  The Ten Commandments Part 2 (Torah)
October 29*                B.I.B.L.E. Kids begins at 9:00 a.m. today due to the 10:00 a.m. Festival Service

Friends and visiting family are always welcome. 

Our September series on the book of Amos continues this Sunday. Here is a preview.

Amos preached a demanding message to the people of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. He asked them to take a good, long, hard look in the mirror to see where their lives were aligning with God’s priorities—and where they were not.  

According to Amos, the glory of a nation is not about the whirring of its economic engine or the unparalleled strength of its military might.  According to Amos, the glory of a nation, the honor, the goodness, the godliness is directly due to how compassionately and fairly said nation treats the least powerful and least advantaged in its midst. 

Amos lays this specific, passionate judgment squarely at the feet of his people: “This country will collapse because you are unjust.” 

That is an incredible witness.  And an incredibly difficult Word to hear.  Because like the crowds around Amos long ago, this Word scandalizes us, and we feel those defensive walls coming up fast inside us. 

But the faithful response to this charge is not defensiveness.  It’s not squirming, hissing, spitting, shouting, stomping off.  It’s not a shocked, unexamined, “How can I not be the good guy?” 

The faithful response to this charge is the question: How am I part of systems of injustice and oppression right here and right now?  The faithful response to this charge is holding up that mirror and taking a good, hard, long look—even though we don’t want to.  If we are going to allow Amos to speak to us, to move us, to change us, then this is what we must do.

Disciples, are we up to the challenge?

I’ll see you Sunday.

Jennie

P. S. Please remember to bring your non-perishable food items on Sunday to add to our collection for the Eureka Food Pantry.

Worship at 8:15 and 10:30 a.m.
On-site at 302 South Main Street       Eureka, Illinois
Online at eurekachristian.org/worship-online or facebook.com/eurekacc/live

On Sunday, we will begin our deep dive into the Prophet Amos.  

The Book of Amos is the earliest of the prophetic books in the Old Testament. It dates from the middle of the 8th-century B.C.E. You may be wondering…

What can words written 2800 years ago possibly have to say to us today?

Amos was a fiery preacher-prophet. When he looked around, all he saw was deep inequality. The rich were taking advantage of the poor, and the poor were falling farther and farther behind. They were falling into debt—and into despair. Power, influence, and money were all in the hands of a select few; everybody else was falling through the cracks. 

It wasn’t right. It wasn’t the way God intended. 

Over and over again, God made it clear that he expected his people to do justice and love kindness and walk humbly. These were the priorities for the people of God. At least they should have been. 

Old Testament scholar Donald E. Gowan says that there are “two striking characteristics of the book of Amos: the power of its language and the passion of its concern for the oppressed” (Donald E. Gowan, “The Book of Amos,” The New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 7, p. 339). 

Power and passion. Courage and conviction. That’s what we’ll experience this month with the Prophet Amos.

I’ll see you Sunday.

Jennie

Worship at 8:15 and 10:30 a.m.
On-site at 302 South Main Street       Eureka, Illinois
Online at eurekachristian.org/worship-online or facebook.com/eurekacc/live

In September, we will focus on the Prophet Amos each Sunday and his message of caring for those who are in need.  As part of this sermon series, the Worship Team invites you to participate in a “Daily Bread” food drive. 

Please bring non-perishable food items with you to church each week and place them in front of the Traditional Service communion table.  We will collect this food all month, dedicate it on World Communion Sunday, October 1 and deliver it to the Eureka Food Pantry. 

Let us join with the Prophet Amos in offering our “daily bread” to others in need.