June 30. From the Senior Minister Rev. Susan Johnson. Shalem, Shalom: Mental Health, Balance, Wellness and Peace

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1 Together we celebrate the work of God s Spirit among us through Christian fellowship and service throughout our community, practicing a welcoming spirit, honoring each person, and challenging one another to seek God s purpose in the world with the promise of joy, renewal, and spiritual growth. (Mission Statement, adopted 1996) June Church Calendar Sunday, June 2 Worship with Communion, 10:00 a.m., Rev. Susan Johnson preaching Youth Group, 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, June 4 Thursday, June 6 Choir Rehearsal, 7:30 p.m. Sunday, June 9 Worship with Remembrance of Chicago s Fallen Children and Youth, 10:00 a.m., Rev. Joel Harter preaching Youth Group, 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, June 11 Thursday, June 13 Senior Choir Rehearsal, 7:30 p.m. Sunday, June 16 Children s Sunday Worship, 10:00 a.m., Preacher TBA Animal Poetry, 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, June 18 Thursday, June 20 Choir Rehearsal, 7:30 p.m. Sunday, June 23 Summer Series Begins Worship, 10:00 a.m., Nacole Milbrook, VP Counseling and Youth Develpment, UCAN, preaching Tuesday, June 25 Thursday, June 27 Choir Rehearsal, 7:30 p.m. Sunday, June 30 Worship with Communion, Rev. Susan Johnson preaching HYDE PARK UNION CHURCH Chartered in 1874 in the Free Church Tradition American Baptist/United Church of Christ 5600 South Woodlawn Avenue Chicago, Illinois phone fax office@hpuc.org June 2013 From the Senior Minister Rev. Susan Johnson Shalem, Shalom: Mental Health, Balance, Wellness and Peace Mental health is a very important concern for our nation, county and city; it is also essential to us as individuals and families. And yet it may not sound like a spiritual concern at least not at first. Mental health sounds clinical, and it sounds like the opposite of mental illness. Yet words like balance and wellness, wholeness and peace suggest a kind of spiritual health that we may have difficulty naming and yet long to possess. This summer we will walk the fine line between learning and worshipping. Each of our guest preachers has been invited through his or her professional expertise in fields related to mental and spiritual wellness; they have also been asked to speak with us because they are uniquely engaging people who (as lay people or as clergy) are at home in worship and ready to contribute to it. Two of our services June 30 and August 25 will be explicitly inclusive of children and youth, with themes designed to speak to our families. We are all deeply unsettled when we experience the absence of balance, a sense of unwellness, a lack of peace. We may (even correctly) identify certain situations and relationships which contribute to these feelings. But we do not necessarily feel that we can remain balanced in the midst of overwhelming circumstances, let alone realize where we can contribute to wellness and healing, even experience peace. As a pastoral staff, we have drawn upon the breadth of our relationships around the city to bring you voices of concern, creativity, empowerment and healing. June 23 Shalem for Youth Nacole Milbrook, Vice President, Counseling and Youth Development UCAN (Uhlich Children s Advantage Network/UCC)! June 30 July 7 Embracing Difference Rev. Susan Johnson Social Responsibility Toni Preckwinkle, President Cook County Board continued on page 2

2 July 14 July 21 July 28 August 4 August 11 August 18 August 25 A Mutual Ministry Wesley Sun Faith and Depression Rev. Joel Harter Aging and Mental Wellness Rev. Jeanne Hale Retirement and Hospice Chaplain Integrating Mind, Body, and Spirit Helen Theorodopoulus, theologian Loyola University Chicago Reframing Beauty Rob Lentz, artist and curator Project Onward Balance and Wellness Rev. Betsy Ritzman, Director Dominican University Wellness Center Peace and Restorative Justice Fr. David Kelly Precious Blood Reconciliation Ministry Seeking Calm in School and Beyond Amanda Guthrie When I talk about the development of the Gilead Ministry, I almost always frame it in terms of patient care, field education, and service. In other words, most of my sermons, newsletter articles, and program reports measure this ministry in terms of what we can provide others. This is fitting, I think, because that s why we got into this work in the first place. However, it might be helpful from time to time to take stock of what this ministry ha done for us as the congregation of Hyde Park Union Church. project, but it is what s happening. Kids and grown-ups work down the layette assembly line together, selecting little socks and toys for children who haven t yet been born. How is this affecting our kids as children or our adults as parents? How does this affect our collective theological imagination? I could ask similar questions about Christmas caroling, sorting clothes, or delivering magazines. It is my sincere hope that our ministry at JPH is mutual that HPUC and JPH are both givers and recipients of blessing and care. To put it in a slightly more pointed way, what I m saying is that we too should be beneficiaries of our ministry at Jackson Park. Ok, maybe not in a parasitic or overly consumer-oriented way, but we are the better for it and we should recognize this. Our theology and commitments are challenged, our own sense of piety is questioned and perhaps most importantly our daily priorities and values might just get rearranged. Part of the blessing of having a mission is our own spiritual development that would otherwise be impossible were we to be an insular, selfserving church. And so rather than benefiting in a parasitic way, let us pray to benefit mutually. Let s not pretend we don t get anything out of it. But neither let us fall into the trap of being motivated solely by our own gains. True Christian ministry, it seems to me, insists that service be a two-way street. And as far as I can tell, it demands the sort of humility that recognizes that we too stand in need of transformation. Youth Sunday Amanda Guthrie On June 16 th, the children and youth will lead us in worship. They will gather us together with the Call to Worship, pray with and for us, and invite us to give our offerings. They will sing in several places in the service, read scripture, and share how God has worked in their lives this past year. Consider, for example, last month s Mother s Day offering for JPH, organized by the Gilead Auxiliary. All week long, church members dropped off donations and Gilead Auxiliary volunteers went shopping for onesies, blankets, diapers, and all the things new moms will need when they come home from the hospital. In the second hour on May 12, we spent our time assembling these layettes, and packaging them for the hospital. Ordinarily, we celebrate the blessing we offer others how many layettes we donate, how many patients receive them, and so on. We believe our service is transformative of the JPH community, and life-changing for those who receive our gifts. But isn t it worth our time to consider how this ministry transforms ourselves as gift givers? While most parishioners scurry quickly away from church to a nice Mother s Day brunch, what does it mean for us that we linger to help others? And how does it transform our children to not only see this work, but participate in it? Maybe we didn t start this ministry as a self-educating 2 Many of our children and youth actively participate in the regular worship life of our congregation. They sing in the Children s and Adult Choir, gather together for the Children s sermon, read scripture, and read names for the vigil for those killed in violence. Clearly, they feel empowered to share fully in the sacred space and time of worship. The opportunity to lead the congregation through an entire worship service will help them realize that this time and space is their own and yet not solely their own to help them fully understand what worship is and means. On Sunday mornings at 10:00 in the sanctuary of our church, we worship God together. We recognize the many ways God is working in the world and communally praise and cry out to God in thanks and with hope. We come with our own struggles and celebrations and share them because we are not meant to walk this journey alone. When the children and youth lead us through every single aspect of this service, continued on page 3

3 they will face us to see that their worship service is our worship service. And they will know that this space and time is for all of God s people, one body with many members. They will also know that each member is truly one of God s children with something valuable to say and contribute. The children and youth of our church have spent this year pouring through the stories of the Bible to learn about God s work on this earth and God s relationships with God s people. They have carefully considered what those stories mean for their own lives and the lives of those around them. When the children and youth lead us through an entire worship service, we affirm that they have something important to tell us. We affirm that God can work through their lives and their words to teach us something valuable. As they lead us in worship, we also formally recognize them as leaders whom we trust God can use to guide us to new understanding and transformation. This trust can encourage them to discern the ways God is calling them to lead in our church and in other aspects of their lives. Youth Sunday is one of many ways we show how important our children and youth are to the life of our church. Please join us for this service of gratitude and celebration. The Missa Criolla Jade Maze As the choir gears up to wind down for the summer, I thought it very fitting to go out on a certain piece of music. The piece of music I'm talking about is the "Gloria" from the Missa Criolla by Ariel Ramírez. This is something Father Vaughn fleetingly ran by us, but it never came to fruition. The music is unifying, communal and supports the the social justice work being done here at the church. We will be joined by Ensamble Ad-hoc, percussionist Danny Howard and pianist Susan Chou as we end the choral year on a high note. A little something about the piece: "I felt that I had to compose something deep and religious that would revere life and involve people beyond their creeds, race, color or origin...the song is a tribute to human dignity, courage and freedom, with a distinct message of Christian love." Ariel Ramírez could understand them. Each movement was based around a different form of traditional music from the Andean region, specifically Argentina and Bolivia. The Misa Criolla was the first mass using both musical references from indigenous culture and lyrics in Spanish. The name Misa Criolla translates literally as Creole mass, referring to people with a combination of European and indigenous heritage. Much like the people of Argentina whose heritage is a mixture of cultures, the Misa Criolla combines the European musical traditions with the Latin American musical traditions. It can also be described as a folk mass, meaning that it takes the essential elements of the traditional Catholic mass and recreates them in a folk style. Many of the musical elements are the same as those found in indigenous Andean folk music. Some of the instruments used in the piece are traditional Andean instruments, rather than the European instruments used in the past. Although the Misa Criolla is uniquely Argentine, it has been popular all over the world. It has been performed by choruses with famous soloists like the classical tenor José Carreras and folkloric singer Mercedes Sosa in cities from London to New York. Ramírez wrote the work intending to honor all people of the world, regardless of their religion, ethnicity, or beliefs. He said that he intended to write a piece that refers to man, to his dignity, his courage, to freedom and to his relationship with God the Creator. Part of the inspiration for the Misa Criolla had come to Ramírez years earlier. In the 1950s, Ariel Ramírez was living and studying music in Germany. One day, while staying at a convent in the countryside, he met two nuns who had been at the convent for many years. They told him about how, during the Holocaust, they had secretly helped German Jews, who were confined to a concentration camp nearby, by bringing them food each day. Ramírez was so inspired by their story that he began to think about writing a piece that would celebrate all of humanity. The Misa Criolla is unique because it is distinctly Argentine and Catholic, while at the same time appealing to people all over the world. There is an Argentine saying that says know your village, and you will know the world. The Misa Criolla is a piece that is important for a village (the people of Argentina) but also for the world. In 1963, when the Vatican council authorized the performance of the mass in a common language, Ariel Ramírez began to write his most famous work: the Misa Criolla. Although most people in Latin America are Catholic, the celebration of the mass in Argentina and elsewhere in Latin America was still very European all of the readings from scripture were in Latin, a language that few people understood. The Misa Criolla represented a new direction. Instead of using Latin, the texts were in Spanish, so everyone 3

4 HPUC volunteers assemble layettes on Mother s Day, May 12, Animal Poetry May 19,

5 A Note from Stephen Baker On June 16, I will finish my seventh year as the Children s Music Director at Hyde Park Union Church. Many things have changed in my life over that time, including my new responsibilities as a divorced father of two young boys. It is time for me to let go of leading the children s choir and my partnerships with Jade and all the staff here. Seven years is hard to summarize. I appreciate Hyde Park Union Church for carving out such a valued place for children and for letting me muddle my way into conducting. I appreciate the parents who encouraged their children to come and who shared their own stories. I was energized by the children and also asked a lot of them. As anyone who works with the children in this church knows, they are full of promise and the possibility of leadership. Indeed, at this point, the children pretty much run my rehearsals -- writing the agenda on the whiteboard, running our warm-up exercises, shepherding their rows upstairs. In her multiple roles, Melody Harter deserves more credit than I can articulate. I will be moving to the western suburbs later this summer to begin a new part of my personal life and to make a new home for my boys. I take with me the blessings of my time here. Thank you. Stephen Baker, Children s Choir Director Join Us! Children & Youth Sunday June 16 th during worship We will give thanks to our teachers and for this Sunday School year. And, during Second Hour, we will gather to say thanks and farewell to Stephen Baker. 5

6 Hyde Park and Kenwood Interfaith Council Annual Meeting Congregational Announcements Tuesday, June 4, 2013 Rockefeller Chapel 6:00 P.M. - Vegetarian Dinner 6:30 P.M. - Panel Discussion on Faith Traditions and Immigration Reform 7:30 P.M. - Business Meeting Congratulations to India Daniels and Anastasia Dervin on their graduation from high school. Congratulations to Jack Lesniewski on finishing his doctorate degree from the University of Chicago. Hyde Park Union Church 5600 S. Woodlawn Ave. Chicago, IL 60637