by Liesl Hoeldtke | Aug 31, 2023 | Featured
The word in the Potawatomi language for the soft grass that grows near sun-filled meadows is wiingaashk, what author Robin Wall Kimmerer describes as the “sweet-smelling hair of Mother Earth” while also noting that its scientific name, Hierochloe odorata, means “the...
by Liesl Hoeldtke | Aug 31, 2023 | Featured
Beginning Saturday, September 16, the Earth Care Committee will hold a monthly Styrofoam collection time at First UMC Evanston on the third Saturday of the month at the Church Street entrance between 10am and Noon. Material to be collected includes all clean No. 6...
by Liesl Hoeldtke | Aug 31, 2023 | Featured
“I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.” – George Washington Carver The Covenant Hike Group returns this fall and invites new participants who have a wonder of the...
by Liesl Hoeldtke | Jun 22, 2023 | News
First Church is a venue for the Great Lakes Regional Convention of the American Guild of Organists June 25-28, 2023. Organists from around the region will gather for four days of concerts, workshops, and worship services featuring instruments throughout the North...
by Liesl Hoeldtke | Jun 6, 2023 | Featured
As these two Children’s Ministry staff members step down at the end of the program year, we offer our thanks and gratitude for all of their good work. Below they reflect on and share their experiences. Rachel Shepherd, Nursery CoordinatorMy role in the...
by Liesl Hoeldtke | Apr 26, 2023 | Featured
The Progressive Christianity Reading Group announces its final book selection of the program year. The group will discuss Do I Stay Christian? A guide for the doubters, the disappointed, and the disillusioned on Thursdays, May 4-25, at 1pm online. Brian McClaren,...
by Liesl Hoeldtke | Mar 8, 2023 | Featured
Calling all book lovers, storytellers, performers, and readers of ALL ages! Our Change for Change recipient, Erie Family Health Centers’ Reach Out and Read program, is leading its annual Reach Out, Read Out! Virtual Storytime Series this March. This...
by Liesl Hoeldtke | Mar 8, 2023 | Featured
First Church’s Progressive Christian Reading Group begins a four-week discussion of Obery Hendricks, JR., Ph.D.’s Christians Against Christianity: How Right Wing Evangelicals Are Destroying Our Nation and Our Faith on March 23 at their Zoom gathering. The...
by Liesl Hoeldtke | Nov 15, 2022 | Events, News
The Progressive Christianity Reading Group will begin to reflect on/respond to Walter Brueggemann’s “Journey to the Common Good” (updated edition) on Thursday Nov. 17, and continues on Dec. 1, 8, and 15 at 1pm via Zoom. A copy of the book is available in the church...
by Liesl Hoeldtke | Oct 26, 2022 | News
On Nov. 13, the focus of 10:30 worship is “How will we live our faith in this new chapter of the UMC?” Worship will feature youth, new adult members, and celebration of our congregation as a member of the Reconciling Ministries Network (RMN). Helen Ryde,...