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The Calm Before The Storm

Jesus enters with all the pomp of a future King and departs as the butt of the joke.

Jesus enters with all the pomp of a future King and departs as the butt of the joke.

Read the whole article at The Calm Before the Storm - Mockingbird (mbird.com)


What experiences do you have on your bucket list? You know, that list we humans make of those things that we want to do before we die — whether it’s skydiving, seeing that band we’ve always loved (I see you U2), stepping our foot in Fenway Park, traveling abroad, or visiting all 50 states. This next Tuesday I am checking off the bucket-list item at the top of my list. I’m going to the grandest cathedral in American sport, Augusta National, and the Masters tournament. I joked with my Dad on Sunday night when I called to share the good news that there’s the beautiful experience of “telling your dad you’re having a child,” and just a sliver under that it is“telling your dad you’re going to the Masters.”…………….

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Service, Sunday, Sermons Cris Escher Service, Sunday, Sermons Cris Escher

[Wednesday Lent] Beitza - The Seder

- This week is the Beitza. Remembering those incomplete. Every Week we will be going though the Seder plate of Passover meal. Discussing what each things mean from the Bitterness to the Lamb

- This week is the Karpas. Remembering the Humble though the Vegetable Every Week we will be going though the Seder plate of Passover meal. Discussing what each things mean from the Bitterness to the Lamb



What Had happened at Grace this week. 

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Service, Sunday, Sermons Cris Escher Service, Sunday, Sermons Cris Escher

[Sunday] Truth - The Way

Of all the ways of Jesus, we expect truth to be the least broken. But, our relationship with truth isn't quite as straightforward as we might expect. We are invited to be ambassadors of truth, not by defending it but by embodying new creation, faithfully pointing people to Jesus, and showing that self-giving love is the most powerful force in the world.

Of all the ways of Jesus, we expect truth to be the least broken. But, our relationship with truth isn't quite as straightforward as we might expect. We are invited to be ambassadors of truth, not by defending it but by embodying new creation, faithfully pointing people to Jesus, and showing that self-giving love is the most powerful force in the world.

Questions This Week

  1. How would you have defined truth? 

  2. Read John 18:28-40. Why do you think Pilate questioned truth?

  3. Read John 8:31-32. How would you define the truth that brings freedom here?

  4. How can you live in the truths of the kingdom of God?

April 1 - Clean Up: 9:00 AM for cleaning inside the buildings and outdoor chapel area.

April 2 - Palm Sunday: 8:30 AM & 10:15 AM (10:15 AM will be livestreamed)

April 6 - Maundy Thursday: Communion Service at 12:00 - Noonish…..

                Maundy Thursday: Seder meal at various locations. Please sign up today!

April 7 - Good Friday: 12:00 (Noon) and 7:00 PM 

(Noon service will be livestreamed and broadcast )

April 9 -Easter Sunday: 6:45 AM (outside), 8:30 AM & 10:15 AM 

(10:15 AM will be livestreamed)


Easter Breakfast & Fellowship: starts after Sunrise Service (7:45ish) serving will end at 10:15 AM       Egg Hunt at 9:55 AM


Wednesday Series


What Had happened at Grace this week. 

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News, Photos, Serving Cris Escher News, Photos, Serving Cris Escher

Habitat for Children in Chicago

Habitat for Children in Chicago

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Service, Sunday, Sermons Cris Escher Service, Sunday, Sermons Cris Escher

[Wednesday Lent] Matzah - The Seder

- This week is the Matzah. Remembering the Rush . Every Week we will be going though the Seder plate of Passover meal. Discussing what each things mean from the Bitterness to the Lamb

- This week is the Karpas. Remembering the Humble though the Vegetable Every Week we will be going though the Seder plate of Passover meal. Discussing what each things mean from the Bitterness to the Lamb



What Had happened at Grace this week. 

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Service, Sunday, Sermons Cris Escher Service, Sunday, Sermons Cris Escher

[Sunday] Freedom - The Way

We can hear the cry of our hearts for freedom, but once we have freedom, it's so tempting to just curl in on ourselves. Jesus, however, constantly gives to us from his abundance.

We can hear the cry of our hearts for freedom, but once we have freedom, it's so tempting to just curl in on ourselves. Jesus, however, constantly gives to us from his abundance.

Questions This Week

  1. How would you define freedom?  How do you maintain freedom?

  2. Read John 8:31-38.   What does Jesus say will give us freedom?

  3. What is ironic about how the Jews respond?

  4. What are some times you might fail to acknowledge the slavery of your sin?

  5. How does Jesus free us?  What are we freed to do?


Wednesday Series


What Had happened at Grace this week. 

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Hemmed in By Freedom

True Freedom Feels Like Relief

read the whole article at https://mbird.com/social-science/identity/hemmed-in-by-freedom/

Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope… (Zech 9:12)

The year I graduated from high school and entered, according to popular theory anyway, adulthood, was about the time I embarked on my own case study of freedom by moving out of my childhood home and into a college dorm, living among peers instead of with my parents. Navigating, for the first time of my life, the exponential growth of options available to me: sleeping when I wanted (not enough), eating what I wanted (too much), drinking what I wanted (way too much), dating whom I wanted (no comment). This was the same year Mel Gibson dressed as William Wallace and bellowed “FREEDOM!” through some blue-and-white face……………..

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Service, Sunday, Sermons Cris Escher Service, Sunday, Sermons Cris Escher

[Wednesday Lent] Karpas- The Seder

- This week is the Karpas. Remembering the Humble with the Vegetable. Every Week we will be going though the Seder plate of Passover meal. Discussing what each things mean from the Bitterness to the Lamb

- This week is the Karpas. Remembering the Humble though the Vegetable Every Week we will be going though the Seder plate of Passover meal. Discussing what each things mean from the Bitterness to the Lamb



What Had happened at Grace this week. 

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Service, Sunday, Sermons Cris Escher Service, Sunday, Sermons Cris Escher

[Sunday] Beauty- The Way

What makes something beautiful? Is it a look or maybe a feeling? When John writes to his people, he invites us to the creation then shows us beauty in the resurrection.

What makes something beautiful? Is it a look or maybe a feeling? When John writes to his people, he invites us to the creation then shows us beauty in the resurrection.

Questions This Week

  1. What is the most beautiful thing you have seen?

  2. Read John 11:17-44. What are the places where you see beauty, and where do you see pain?

  3. How have you experienced Jesus bringing you beauty in the midst of a time of pain or struggle?


Wednesday Series


What Had happened at Grace this week. 

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The Truth and Beauty of Jesus’ Resurrection

It is good to remember that this true story, is also beautiful.

Read the whole article at The Truth and Beauty of Jesus’ Resurrection (1517.org)

Above the altar at St. Peter and Paul Church in Weimar, Germany, stands the famous Weimar Altarpiece. Begun by Lucas Cranach the Elder around 1552, and completed by his son, Lucas Cranach the Younger in 1555, this painting is a visual sermon on the doctrine of justification. It is a work of profound Christian theology, and stunning Christ-centered artistry. It is cruciform creativity. It is didactic and delightful. It is a witness, and a work of art. It portrays the truth of Jesus’ crucifixion and does so beautifully.

The gospel writers are doing something similar in their accounts of Jesus’ resurrection, albeit greater than even the greatest works of art. After all, the gospels are divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit, and at the same time, a delight to hear and read again and again.

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Service, Sunday, Sermons Cris Escher Service, Sunday, Sermons Cris Escher

[Wednesday Lent] Zeroah- The Seder

- This week is the Zeroah. Remembering the Ordinary with the Shank Bone. Every Week we will be going though the Seder plate of Passover meal. Discussing what each things mean from the Bitterness to the Lamb

- This week is the Charoset. Remembering the Bricks. Every Week we will be going though the Seder plate of Passover meal. Discussing what each things mean from the Bitterness to the Lamb



What Had happened at Grace this week. 

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Service, Sunday, Sermons Cris Escher Service, Sunday, Sermons Cris Escher

[Sunday] Spirituality - The Way

Often when we think of spirituality, we think of something that is intensely personal. But what if it looks more like vines and jokes than solemn and alone?

Often when we think of spirituality, we think of something that is intensely personal. But what if it looks more like vines and jokes than solemn and alone?

Questions This Week

  1. How would you define spirituality?  How about your friends who are not in church, how would they define spirituality?

  2. Read John 15:1-17.   How are we connected to God according to Jesus?  

  3. As we are connected to Jesus, as the vine, what is our relationship to Jesus?

  4. What does a spiritual life look like to you with Jesus as your friend?


Wednesday Series


What Had happened at Grace this week. 

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Where's The Next Brick?

Finding God Among the Ruins of Christianity

Once there was a great building. Mighty with towers, spiky with spires, a-bubble with domes. Inside it opened into gallery after gallery, vault after echoing vault, so high that human beings who set off across its marble pavements sometimes mistook its roof for the sky and the building for the world itself. And though it showed signs of many styles, and had been built by many different architects over many centuries, it had been………..

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Service, Sunday, Sermons Cris Escher Service, Sunday, Sermons Cris Escher

[Wednesday Lent] Charoset - The Seder

- This week is the Charoset. Remembering the Bricks. Every Week we will be going though the Seder plate of Passover meal. Discussing what each things mean from the Bitterness to the Lamb

- This week is the Charoset. Remembering the Bricks. Every Week we will be going though the Seder plate of Passover meal. Discussing what each things mean from the Bitterness to the Lamb



What Had happened at Grace this week. 

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