Category: In the Community

Come to Craft Night at St. John’s!

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First Wednesdays 1-4/Third Wednesdays 5:30 – 9:00 p.m. in the Parish Hall. Want a place to work on a project with others? Looking to learn a new skill? Are you willing to teach others your favorite craft? Do you want to hang out with some great people? If you answered “yes” to any of these, please join us! Bring a project that you want to work on. Don’t have a project? We’ll provide one for you! We’ll have a few fun projects for you to work on if you need inspiration. Craft Day is the 1st Wednesday of the month from 1-4 and Craft Night is the 3rd Wednesday of the month. Questions or do you have a skill you’re willing to teach? Please contact Debbie Maher

Turkey Day Dinner Assistance Needed!

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Sign-Ups have started for Thanksgiving Community Dinner!

Some of our neighbors face Thanksgiving Day all by themselves. Whatever the reasons, they have no one to share the day with. Some have no food, either.  

For the past 41 years, St. John’s has offered these people holiday food and companionship. It takes 80 of us to brighten the lives of 160 of our community. Come join us! Sign up using this link.

We especially need volunteers to WAIT TABLES from 12:30-2:30pm on Thanksgiving Day.

Children ages 5-8 can wait tables alongside a parent. Anyone age 9 and above can wait tables by themselves.

We also need food donations, Wednesday prep, and other Thanksgiving Day help.

A Personal Tribute to Emmett Till

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In honor of his birthday on July 25

Emmett Till & Marvin Childress, self-portrait
photo of Emmett Till & Marvin Childress, self-portrait

Parishioner Marvin Childress was a friend and classmate of Emmett Till. On Sunday, July 23 at 9 am Marvin honored Emmett’s memory by sharing his memoires of Emmett, growing up on the South Side of Chicago in the 1950s, and his reflection on life and racism in Chicago today. You can listen to the 45 minute talk, including questions with this YouTube link A Personal Tribute to Emmett Till by Marvin Childress.

Electric Vehicle Charger at St. John’s!

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News For Immediate Release
Contact: Brian Urbaszewski BUrbaszewski@resphealth.org 312.405.1175 or The Rev. Kara Wagner Sherer, rector@stjohnschicago.com 773.960.1889

Electric Vehicle Charging Sharing Platform uses Keeling Curve Prize Funding from Global Warming Mitigation Project to Expand Charging Locations in Chicago’s Urban Residential Neighborhoods: St. John’s Episcopal Church Installs First Charger

St. John’s Episcopal Church at 3857 N. Kostner Ave. Chicago, IL  60641
 
Chicago, IL – July 2, 2021 – EVmatch, the first electric vehicle (EV) charging platform for connecting EV drivers with nearby private chargers through a reservation-based system, has a new publicly-available [level 2] charging station located at St. John’s Episcopal Church, 3857 N Kostner Ave in Chicago’s Old Irving Park neighborhood. As the charging station host, St. John’s listed its charger on EVmatch to make driving EVs easier for community members – whether it’s neighbors of Old Irving Park, many of whom rent or live in multi-family housing without a reliable place to charge, or other Chicagoans visiting the neighborhood in electric cars and needing a spot to charge up.

The installation was made possible with the experience and technical expertise of Chicago-based BIG CLEAN POWER, LLC, a worker collective incubated by Blacks in Green (BIG, NFP) and its affiliate Green Power Alliance to connect trade professionals to clean energy business deals. EV Match, St. John’s Episcopal Church, and the Community Charging Initiative are pleased to have partnered with BIG, Blacks in Green in identifying energy conscious contractors Arthur Burton of AMB Renewables and Wendell Terry of W. Terry Electric to perform the installation at St. John’s.
 
The full press release is available at this link.

Reserve your spot here!

About St. John’s Episcopal Church
An inclusive congregation committed to Christian worship and service to the community, St. John’s is a vibrant and diverse group of people of all ages, races, abilities, and identities, engaged in anti-racism and other transformative work. We offer three Sunday services, religious instruction for children, and adult and youth choirs. In addition to our annual Darwin Day celebration of science and religion, St. John’s offers a free series of concerts, sponsors a refugee family, hosts an Electric Vehicle Charger for parish and community use, and is actively working to identify, disrupt, and dismantle racism in our church and community. Established in 1883 in Old Irving Park, the church is located on Chicago’s northwest side, on the corner of Byron and Kostner. For more information visit our website at www.stjohnschicago.com.

Why change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples’ Day?

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Learn about the current movement to change the celebration of Columbus Day to a celebration of Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

Thank you to all who attended our conversation. We discussed this press release calling for the change.

Other suggested reading:
An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

This document will give you background and perspective from the American Indian Center.

Columbus and the Quest for Jerusalem: How Religion Drove the Voyages that Led to America by Carol Delaney

1) Plan and facilitate a series of events to support justice for Native American and indigenous people

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New Ho-Chunk Legislators at swearing in ceremony, Madison, WI

Since the beginning of antiracism work at St John’s we have been especially concerned with our history as a predominately white congregation in northwestern Chicago.  How might have previous generations at St John’s unjustly taken advantage of their privileged status?  We immediately learned that St John’s was gifted with ownership of land that had been forcibly and unjustly taken from indigenous people living in the Chicago area.

Accordingly, we developed a land acknowledgement plaque affirming that the church’s land was previously home to many different Native Americans.  The plague has been installed in the front walkway on Kostner Avenue.  The plaque dedication, however, was not able to happen due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Our revised plan is to present a series of virtual events from now through the dedication event some time in 2021.  Some of the possible opportunities which need your leadership and support include the following:

  • Update the St John website to include resources and links about Native American people
  • Support the development of Indigenous Peoples’ Day in Chicago
  • Organize installation of art by a Native American artist or artists in the church garden
  • Plan and facilitate education and cultural events for adults and for children
  • Sponsor one session of Sacred Ground, a film-based dialogue series on race and faith developed by the Episcopal Church.  Session 3 is “Whose Land? Exploring Indigenous History”
  • Develop other ways to include Native American perspectives during our regular worship services
  • Promote, participate in, and help fund public events sponsored by Native American organizations
  • Identify and invite indigenous leaders to speak at St John’s
  • With guidance from indigenous people design the plaque dedication event (2021)

To assist with the Sacred Ground events, please contact Andria Anderson at classikal4ll@aol.com

2) Child and Youth Group Antiracism Education

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Interfaith prayer service after the Mother Emmanuel shooting, June 2015

We are working to develop and obtain more antiracism education resources for our child and youth group education.

Another opportunity is to attend “How Do We Talk To Our Children About Race” Virtual training sponsored by All Saints Episcopal Church – Fall dates to be determined.

To help out with this gathering education resources or for more information on the virtual training, please contact Courtney Hug at corriehug@gmail.com .