Good News!

Soup Kitchen, that is. We're serving food there on Monday. Food that we cooked. So we need food. And Servants.

We already have some volunteers for both, but we could always use more. We had a lot of fun last time, and they even let me keep my hairnet.

In fact, for all you budding young Bobby Flays and Rachel Rays, Mrs. Huels has generously offered to come to the church on Monday and help a group of us cook before we go.

We're leaving the church at 4:30pm on Monday. Give a shout here if you're coming, or cooking, or feeling guilty because you're not.

-Rob

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to all our October Servant Birthday's!

Johnny and Kate Hilbrant - October 1

Billy Sutton - October 8

Stephen Snyder - October 23

Eliza McLean - October 24

Dan Crowe - October 27

Kyle Brown - October 29

Christopher Ritter - October 29

Have a great day and celebrate well! Enjoy and God bless!

Breathe in, Breathe out

Things have been awfully busy lately for me - and I imagine for most of you too. I wish I had more time to pray but I keep falling asleep instead...so I have been trying to pray using "breath prayers." This kind of prayer is really simple, but really helps to center me - all you do is find a short phrase that can be easily divided into two short parts and then you say the first half as you breathe in and the second half as you breathe out. Doing this over and over a few times usually helps me feel connected, centered or less anxious. Try it sometime...here are a few phrases but you can make up your own too:
Come Holy Spirit (in)/give me peace (out)
May all end/in good and blessing
All will be well/all will be well
Gracious Lord/have mercy on me

Dolphins

Hello everyone! It was great to see some of you tonight at Servants--thanks to Julia, Bob, and Diana for presenting their summer adventures to us--you all did some amazing things!

Something else amazing--check out this article about this dolphin getting a fake tail! I love dolphins, and this cute little baby dolphin is even cuter.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14997569/wid/11915829?GT1=8506

Makes up for the dying bird that was outside my apartment yesterday--the girls who came over for girls group saw my friend once he had died. But there's death and then there's life, and this little dolphin looks like he's/she's going to be okay.

Thursday Night Lights

So, I went to see a football game last night. Highlights: New Trier beat Evanston 45 to 18. Lowlights: Dan Crowe got concussed (it's a word!).

This was my first ever NT football game. Yes I went there for four years. I was an indoor kid.

Anyway, I have determined the following based on the night's events: My presence at a game will guarantee a win for New Trier at the cost of bodily injury to Dan Crowe. I'll leave it to Dan to decide whether he wants New Trier to take state this year.

Potbelly's and U2

Next Wednesday (sept 27) we are having our first "Soul Food" night from 6:15 to 7:30. We'll meet in the Servants room for dinner and conversation. We will be enjoying delicious Potbelly's sub sandwiches and other treats...if you respond to this post with what kind of sandwich you want, I'll make sure to get it - otherwise just come, eat and chat with us! This month we'll be talking about how one of the most famous bands of all time is also subversively Christian...the music and faith of U2.

Amazing video

You may have seen this on the MTV VMAs, but this is where it started:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv5zWaTEVkI

This is a really cool homemade video for one of my favorite bands, OK go.

Fall TV

So...what is everyone's favorite new show of the season OR what are you most excited about seeing? And which show can you not wait to start back up again? For me it is Gilmore Girls - how can Loreli leave Luke? And I kinda want to check out all the hype on Gray's Anatomy this season...what do you think?

SAVE THE DATE

Make sure you save the date for our fabulous Fall Retreat November 10-12! Lots of Capture the Flag and Apples to Apples and Die You Schieste (?) Servant and good food...and more.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday this week to:

Meredith Harman on Mon. Sept. 11

Rob Hartemayer on Sat. Sept. 16

Have a great day and wonderful celebration!

September events!

Monday, Sept 11 – No Servants

Monday, September 18th – Scavenger Hunt/Not-a-BBQ
The new year of Servants kicks off with a no holds barred* scavenger hunt throughout the church grounds. You will need all your speed and cunning to decipher each clue and find the next one before the other teams. In fact, bring extra speed and/or cunning. Oh, and there will be food, but it will not be a BBQ. Why? Because barbecue is “a slow process using indirect heat and/or hot smoke” while grilling is “a fast process over high heat.” I guess I could have just said we’ll be grilling. Also, that’s not a “2” up there in the title. It’s a “Q”. You should have learned cursive by now.
*Certain holds will be barred.

Sunday, September 24th - Girls Night
Sunday, September 24th from 6:00-7:30 p.m. We'll meet at Brooke's apartment in Evanston (2112 Sherman Ave #2E) for dinner and games. Bring any pictures or stories you've gathered from the summer and come ready to catch up with one another and maybe meet some new people! Friends always welcome! For directions or answers to your questions, contact Brooke at brooke@wcc-joinus.org or 847.441.3400 x27

Sunday, September 24th – Guys' Night
Guys' Night starts up this year with a nice, relaxing round of golf—disc golf. We'll be going to Fink Park in Highland Park. Don't worry; it's nicer than it sounds. In fact, the PDGA (Professional Disc Golf Association) has this to say about the course at Fink Park: "Beautiful park bordered by a country club, condos and a creek. Long, mostly open and often windy. Good turf for rolling. Some mature trees add difficulty." Yes, there is a Professional Disc Golf Association. Golf discs will be provided, but feel free to bring your own if you have them. Any and all skill levels are welcome, and Rob will provide a short workshop at the beginning, including which excuses to make for a bad throw.
We'll meet at the church at 4pm and drive to the park from there. Afterwards, we'll have dinner at Michael's in Highland Park (so bring a little cash).

Monday, September 25th – I Know What I Did Last Summer
I spent all summer trying to get in shape by playing “Dance Dance Revolution.” Some people spent their time more productively. Hear about some incredible things your fellow Servants did this summer, from Africa to Alaska to places even further down the alphabet.

Wednesday, September 27th – Soul Food
Servants on a Wednesday? That’s right. Servants is expanding. Once a month on Wednesdays we’ll be offering more Servants with a little more. Soul Food is to Monday night Servants as Chicago-style pizza is to New York-style pizza: Deeper. We’ll examine spirituality both in ourselves and in literature and pop culture. Also, there will be food. The name probably clued you in to that.

Greatest Acheivement?

I'm so excited our blog is up and running!
So...who has seen Little Miss Sunshine? I laughed so hard! That little girl should get some kind of an award. And the grandfather - priceless. If you haven't seen it yet, you should go. Sadly I have still not seen the Ricky Bobby movie but I would just like to tell you that one member of our youth group called it the "highest acheivement of Western civilization." But I think that honestly Mint Milano cookies are closer to our crowning invention...what Western civilization creation are you happiest about?

Yay!!

This is going to be fabulous! I'm so excited to be able to communicate with you all via blogging :) Hope school is off to a good start for all of you and I look forward to seeing everyone at Servants on the 18th for our awesome kick-off!!!

--Brooke