Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower

Message from Pastor Mori 

Ravenswood Fellowship United Methodist Church The Weekly Newsletter    Message from Pastor Mori Dear Ravenswood Fellowship Family.    This week, I went out to grab the newspaper and was surprised to feel the cold wind on my cheeks. It feels like fall/autumn! I look at the calendar, it is SEPTEMBER!    We have been having a turbulent summer. And now we are preparing for fall ministry which will take a different shape than past years since we are living in a global outbreak of infectious disease and a social disease (injustice).    When I pray and plan for Ravenswood Fellowship's fall ministry, the very first thing I focus on is the Ravenswood Fellowship's wellbeing.   Part of this crisis is how it has affected our mental health. Visits to mental health providers are growing and their waiting lists are longer than at any previous time.  According to the federal government- funded Disaster Distress Helpline, request for counseling and emotional support have surged 335% (Chicago Tribune).  As a pastor, I want to focus on pastoral care to you all who are living through these traumatic events every day.    First, I want to invite you to our Japanese Garden Prayer. It is a peaceful time. Our focus this month is on asking God for justice and peace.  We will be using a bell during our prayer, ringing it as we request God's intervention in our search for peace and justice. Come, listen, and help change the world. In October, we will have a pet blessing prayer.    Second, we plan to reopen our church and are in the preparation stages to partially open for worship. Worship is your spiritual nutrition. To safely open for Sunday worship in our building, we need to prepare carefully and we will need people to volunteer to help. The name of this volunteer team is the VIP Team (Volunteer for In-person worship team). If you sign up, you will be my VIP!! Details about our partially reopening information will be shared next week.   Also, I have been continuing to meet with clergy people in our UMC cluster twice monthly, as well as pastors from our neighbor churches. Through these meetings, I am able to reach out to the other churches to talk about their re-opening plans and learn about pastoral care.    Fall is my favorite season because school begins and new ministries start at church, but this fall will be different.  During this difficult time, I am always here for you. Please remember that my office is always open for you if you need prayer or pastoral counseling, or just a friend with whom to talk. Pastor Mori is waiting for you,   Be well  And see you all  Blessings MORI    Give on PayPal Give on PayPal Community Info & Links September Japanese Garden Prayer Saturday, Sep 05, 9:00-9:30AM We invite you to the second Japanese Garden prayer gathering to pray for peace and justice. This time we will pray with handbell ringing and listen to Japanese traditional music. I hope you join the prayer so we can start a beautiful fall season with peaceful prayer. We have limited the prayer to fifteen people due to garden capacity, so please sign-up here. The poster is here.  September Worship Bible Reader  Please sign-up for September Bible Reader. Here are the sermon series and Bible scripture. The sign-up link is here.  The Hope Project People say this is a hard situation. It is very true, but the church never loses hope in Christian history. Please send your children's art drawing or grandchildren's art drawing to show hope to our neighborhood. We will exhibit the drawings outside of the church. The pictures could be about family, friends, or their dreams or flowers, trees, and animals, or anything that shows hope.  Please look at the poster for the information. The due date is Sunday, Sep 13. More information, please email Pastor Mori email    September 06 Sunday Holy Communion We will have Holy Communion in this week's (09/06) worship. Please prepare your own bread and juice. For October Holy Communion, we will have prepared prepackaged wafer-bread and juice. You will be able to pick it up beginning this weekend. It has all been blessed and is in the sanctuary ready to use. If you cannot come to church, please let us know and we will send the package to you before October communion. Again, for this week's worship, we will do a Love Feast, so please prepare your own bread and juice.     The VIP team  (The Volunteer for In-person worshiP) To prepare for reopening, we need volunteers to help with ushering, IT-support, cleaning before and after worship, preparing cleaning supplies, etc. We will make an announcement next week about a reopening Re-Opening meeting for volunteers and provide more detailed information about the different volunteer positions. Please consider becoming a volunteer for the returning worship.  The sign-up link (Ver.1) is here. (If you sign-up now, you will be my VIP. Thank you!)     2020 Church Conference Save the date!  The Church Conference season will look very different this year with most Conferences taking place through Zoom video conferencing. Ravenswood Fellowship UMC's Church Conference date is Sunday, November 15, at 12:00 PM. The SPRC meeting is at 11:30 AM. Click here to access the 2020 online forms for the committee chairs.   The Northern Illinois Justice for Our Neighbors Have questions about the immigration news that seems to be changing daily? Wondering how you can work toward justice for immigrants? Then, please join us for a time of online conversation and updates for one of two dates. RSVP by email to paula.crippsvallejo@nijfon.org  Luminous Lunch with NIJFON, Friday, September 11 from 12 pm to 1:00pm Happy, Hopeful Hour with NIJFON on Monday, September 14 from 6:30-7:30pm.    UMM 2020 Spiritual Congress Online Conference Saturday, Sept. 19 – 9:00 AM to 12:30 PM CT  Prayer and Reflection "Sunrise at the Point"   Sunday, Sept. 20. 7:00 AM  Theme: Be a part of the long-term and permanent solution to end racism, violent crime, intolerance, and social unrest. Theme: Guest Speaker: Danny K. Davis – U.S. House of Representatives. Bishop Sally Dyck – Northern Illinois Conference United Methodist Church. Lori Lightfoot – Mayor, City of Chicago.Father Michael Pfleger – Senior Pastor, Saint Sabina's Community of Faith. Bishop James Swanson –Mississippi Conference United Methodist Church Flyer and information link here  After Covid-19 Updates. Read about the Phases for Re-Opening here. Is that document too long? Read the summary version here.   COVID-19 Assistance Program  -The Illinois Emergency Mortage Assistance Program.  This program will begin accepting applications on Monday, Aug.24, for those who meet the requirements. More Information is here  -ComEd's Customer-Assitance Package.   This program helps customers affect the pandemic with grants up to $500 to more flexible payment options. More information is here.                                                                                                                                                  Links for Worship.  Join Zoom worship by going to this link at 10:30 AM on Sunday: https://zoom.us/j/806489040. Or call in at 1-312-626-6799 (Meeting ID: 806 489 040).  Let's boost our worship! Please sign-up for Worship Bible Reader. September Worship  Bible reader sign-up here. September Bible Scripture here Young People's Bible Study. Ages 12-18 are invited to join the Zoom discussion of Jesus stories at 9 AM on Sunday mornings. Join the Zoom call here (Meeting ID: 828 2305 3546, One-tap mobile+13126266799) Want prayer? During our Prayers of the People, we will read your prayer requests. Submit your prayer requests here.  Download. Get your bulletin here. Having trouble? Try logging off and logging back on to Zoom during the video. Or simply log off and call in.  Missed last week? Check out the Facebook Live video on our page here. Youtube Link here Give on PayPal Our mailing address is: 4511 North Hermitage Ave. Chicago, IL 60640 Contact us at: ravfelumc@yahoo.com (773) 561-2610 Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

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