Servants in December

Monday, December 4th – Progressive Dinner
The Progressive Dinner is a tradition that started in medieval England. A group of families would each host one course of a meal, with everyone starting at one house and traveling en masse to the next. Of course, back then the houses were 15 miles apart, so the entire meal took a month and a half, and by the second course all the food had rotted.
Modern engineering has streamlined the process so that now the entire meal takes a mere hour and a half. We’ll meet at the church promptly at 6:15pm and head immediately to the first house at 6:30pm.

Sunday, December 10th – Girls and Guys Nights
Servants Girls Group
Join us for a Christmas party at Brooke’s apartment from 7-8:30. Come for some or all of the fun as we listen to Christmas music, make a few Christmas crafts, eat Christmas cookies, and maybe watch a Christmas movie or show! Friends are always welcome! Brooke lives at 2112 Sherman Avenue Apartment #2E in Evanston. For a ride, directions, or with any questions, contact Brooke at (847) 441-3400 x27 or brooke@wcc-joinus.org

Guys' Night Out
We'll be going out to the movies! The movie in question will be one of the following:
Casino Royale (see James Bond earn his first spy merit badge)
For Your Consideration (from the makers of Waiting for Guffman and A Mighty Wind)
Deja Vu (time travel movie starring Denzel Washington)
DOA: Dead or Alive (a movie based on a video game; how could it possibly be bad?)
Please RSVP with your 1st and 2nd choice of movie! I'll pick the movie that the most people want to see; the time will be whatever is closest to 7pm.

Monday, December 11th – Christmas Party/White Elephant Gift Exchange
The White Elephant gift exchange is a tradition that started in medieval France. In those days, a group of friends would each give a white elephant, or elephant blanc to each other every Christmas. Unfortunately, after the first few years, most houses ran out of space and fell into abject poverty due to the cost of feeding several elephants. It was an entirely ridiculous tradition.
These days, rather than go through the difficulty of finding and ordering actual white elephants, we instead bring a wrapped gift of dubious value and exchange them in an unnecessarily complicated ritual that borders on Byzantine in its complexity. Gifts should be in the range of $10-$15.

Saturday December 16th – Wish Tree Delivery (and Christmas pageant rehearsal in the morning)
We will need all hands on deck as we pack up all our Wish Tree gifts and take them down to unload at Good News Community Kitchen. Plus, this can count towards a service project for the Mission Trip! We hope you will all join us from 12:00—until we finish, or any part of that time (lunch will be provided). Let us know when you can be there! This year we are going to actually help distribute gifts to the families so you won't want to miss it!

Sunday December 17th – Christmas Pageant at 10:30 service (NOT in the afternoon!)
If you are going to be in the Pageant then you will definitely be there! If you are not in the Pageant then you are missing out on lots of fun, but you can come and support lots of your friends as they sing and tell the Christmas story during worship

Monday, December 18th – Servants Reunion
The Servants Reunion is a tradition that started in medieval Winnetka. Back then, the Servants youth group did not yet exist, and attendance was thus generally quite poor. These days, there is a Servants youth group, and alumni are invited to return and impart their college-learned wisdom on the current Servants members. There will be drinks and hors d’oeuvres.
All Servants past, present and future are invited to attend (future Servants are asked not to reveal any information about the future to avoid creating a rift in the space-time continuum).

Monday, December 25th – No Servants
We aren’t having Servants today. Merry Christmas!

Tuesday, December 26th – Boxing Day (Canada Only)
Be on the look-out for Canadians with boxing gloves.

Thought for the day...

Ring the bells that still can ring.

Forget your perfect offering.

There is a crack in everything.

That's how the light gets in.-- Leonard Cohen

Iglesia Sin Fronteras Update

Here, at long last, are some pictures of the church we built in Mexico this year!

More retreat pics

What a great weekend!!

Here are some photos from this weekend!! I'll try to add some more...feel free to post your own! Anyone know how to make a photo album on blogger? Maybe tomorrow night someone can teach me! Hope you all are getting some rest and finishing up any homework you didn't get around to this weekend! Thanks for a great time--hope to see you all tomorrow for Wish Tree and/or Wednesday for Soul Food and some talk about the movie Hotel Rwanda!

For Movie Fans

Check out this site: http://www.stationerymovies.com/

If you can name all 20 (I've only got 10 so far) I will make sure you get a prize...send me your answers in an email or post for all to see your brilliance!

New Orleans

For those of you who went on the New Orleans trip or those of you who would like to go on the next trip or those of you who just want to see a good video - click on this: http://www.idolator.com/tunes/clips/the-u2green-day-katrina-video-its-actually-not-terrible-210970.php
It's U2 and Green Day's video from their performance at the Saints opening game at home...with some TV coverage of Katrina. When I was in New Orleans the first time I saw the sign that ends the video that says "NOT as seen on TV" - and its right - nothing you see on TV can prepare you for going down there firsthand. We're looking at another long weekend there in the spring - keep it in mind.

Dinner and movie night!

As you can see in the pictures below, girls group is always lots of fun! Join us this Sunday night at the house of Kari and Emmy Grace. We'll be sharing dinner and watching a movie (several options will be there--place your vote now!) If you have questions or need directions, let us know on this blog, in an email to Brooke, or call us. We hope to see you there! Feel free to bring a friend with you!

Girls Group!

Lots of fun with chocolate at Ethel's Chocolate Lounge!

Christmas Pageant

We are starting to look for Servants who want to be a part of the wonderful annual Christmas pageant. Please let me know if you are interested in being: a queen (3), a king (3), Mary, Joseph or Gabriel. Singing is not necessary but is encouraged. There are also spots for more angels or dancers. This is a chance to get all dressed up, have some fun and make your parents very happy - what could be better?

Such a Time as This

I was just reading the book of Esther (its in the Old Testament) and I came across one of my favorite verses in the Bible...Mordecai is Esther's uncle and he is trying to convince her to ask the king (her husband) to save the Jews (her people) from genocide. When Esther hesitates to go speak to the King because she is scared he will have her killed, Mordecai says “ If you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.”

Read the rest of Esther to find out what happens next. But ask yourself today – where in your life is it possible that you are present for such a time as this? Is it possible that in each and every day God has a plan for us – for the people we will meet that day, for the work we will do, for how we respond to injustice and suffering, for how we show love to the world around us? Where or to what is God calling you at such a time as this?

November Birthdays

Wish these Servants a happy birthday in November:
Nov 1 - Kari Polydoris
Nov 10 - Alex Bausch
Nov 17 - Kimmy Cash
Nov 19 - Katherine Kinnaird
Nov 20 - Diane Polydoris
Nov 24 - Olivia Meyers
Nov 25 - Elizabeth Ritter

(and a few recent Servants - Duncan McLean and Maureen Davis on Nov 11, Kirk Hartemayer on Nov 14, Paul Sutton on Nov 18, Alex Ennuso and Greg Van Zuiden on Nov 21, Katherine Davis on Nov 23)

Servants in November!

Sunday, November 5th – Guys & Girls Night
Girls Group
Sunday, November 5th, the Grace family will be hosting our girls group! Meet at their house (1337 Asbury Avenue) at 6:00 for dinner and a movie! We’ll vote on the movie, but rumor has it that She’s the Man will be one option. Hope to see you there! For questions, directions, or a ride, contact Brooke at 847.441.3400 x17 or brooke@wcc-joinus.org

Guys Night
Time and place to be determined – you will get a call from Rob to let you know the secret undercover location and activity soon!

Monday, November 6th – College Care Packages
Remember when you were at camp that summer and you were sad because you missed home and the food was awful and you wanted to cry? Well that’s college. Except instead of archery there’s Intro to Psych. So we’re going to send the freshman Servants alumni care packages to tide them over till they come home for Thanksgiving.

Friday, November 10th – Sunday, November 12th – Servants Fall Retreat
I left my glasses in Saugatuck, Michigan and I need to pick them up this weekend, but I get bored driving alone so I’m looking for 19 other people to keep me company. While we’re there, I figure we’ll stay the weekend and play a ton of games and get to know each other better. You can bring friends if you want. In fact, I’ll send you a reminder about it so you can RSVP, because I really need to get my glasses back.

Monday, November 13th – Wish Tree/Youth Sunday Prep
Every year, Servants organizes the Wish Tree, a gift drive for over 300 families in need of help. We’ll be putting together the ornaments for the tree so we can get an early start. Also, Youth Sunday is in six days. We’ll finish preparing for it while we’re here. Your favorite band will also be performing live in the Servants room so you should come check it out.

DATE CHANGE: Wednesday, November 15th – We are going to talk about the movie Hotel Rwanda. It is an incredibly powerful movie with a lot to say. Try and watch the movie beforehand but if you can’t, that’s ok – we’ll show clips. And let me know if you have ideas for dinner…

Sunday, November 19th – Youth Sunday
Ever watch Joe, Jenny, and Connie up there on Sunday and think to yourself, “Hey, I could do a better job than them.” Me, too. Here’s your chance to prove it. The Servants will be running the entire service, making it all youth-y. It’s fun, and it counts double on your go-to-church scorecard.

Monday, November 20th – Seniors Lead
The Seniors will be leading this meeting, so ask them for a pithy and entertaining description of what we’re doing, because I don’t know. I plan to just sit in the corner and heckle.

Sunday, November 26th – Sunday Lunch
That sermon made me hungry. Let’s get some food after church. We can talk about how our weekends went and how unbelievable that local sporting event was. What? You missed it? It was unbelievable! I am willing to make wake-up calls for those of you who stayed up all night Saturday finishing your homework.

Monday, November 27th – Salvation, Heaven, Hell
We have a definitive list of who’s going where, and what happens when they get there. The results may surprise you (for instance, I’m going to New Jersey).