From the Desk of Pastor David, July 2026

I recently had the pleasure of visiting with Pastor Nixon Mwitula who leads First Evangelical Lutheran Church in the north side Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago. The church was founded in 1930 and the building, once vibrant with a large congregation, was constructed in a cathedral style.  Much has changed since then.  After years of declining attendance, the church was eventually closed during covid.  Pastor Nixon, originally from Tanzania, East Africa, studied at Lutheran School of Theology in Hyde Park and, two years ago, accepted a call from our Chicago Synod to re-open the church as a “mission developer,” that is, one who starts a new church from scratch.  His challenges are many. First Evangelical’s building, like many in our synod, suffers from years of neglect and has much-needed deferred maintenance. While some gentrification of the neighborhood has occurred, his primary outreach is to the homeless and migrants.  

Sixteen hundred years ago, St Augustine wrote that faith (religion) and reason (science) are intertwined; our faith motivates us to understand the world around us, and our critical thinking allows us to make good choices, including the ability to fathom the truth of the Gospel. May God open the eyes of more families to come to a saving grace in God and return to our Christian communities.

Now we enter what is known in the Church Calendar as “Ordinary Time.”  This doesn’t mean it is unimportant or uneventful.  The word “ordinary” refers to an order of things.  It is a time to focus our attention on one of the four Gospels, and it carries us to Advent before Christmas.  The Book of Ecclesiastes tells us:
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”
And the same is true with life in the Church. The Christian life is a marathon, not a sprint.  So, as we go into “ordinary time,” don’t think of it as routine, rather see it as a time we can continue to meet and greet, to worship the Lord, and to serve each other and our neighbors. God has great things in store for Grace Lutheran Church!

July 2026 NEWSLETTER NOW AVAILABLE!
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June 2026 NEWSLETTER NOW AVAILABLE!
You can now download this edition of our newsletter below! Stay up to date with news at Grace and information regarding our community.

May, 2026


What an amazing Lenten Season we have just gone through.  We started out with a blessed Ash Wednesday morning of service at the Elburn Train Station with the help of Nancy Burtnette and Steve Butcher.  We had more people requesting ashes than we’ve had in years, including two Elburn detectives who came by specifically to receive a blessing!  We then had an average weekly attendance of twenty at our Lenten Bible study on Judaism, during which we all learned a great deal about our common heritage.

On Maundy Thursday, we held our Seder Dinner celebration of Passover/
The Last Supper with 29 in attendance.  A big shoutout to all the volunteers who put it together, especially Marty Bradley, for organizing the entire event. We then enjoyed a community Good Friday Service with Burlington Methodist Church and Country Covenant Church with 49 in attendance. It all came to a glorious conclusion with our Easter Service with 108 in attendance!

Now we enter what is known in the Church Calendar as “Ordinary Time.”  This doesn’t mean it is unimportant or uneventful.  The word “ordinary” refers to an order of things.  It is a time to focus our attention on one of the four Gospels, and it carries us to Advent before Christmas.  The Book of Ecclesiastes tells us:
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”
And the same is true with life in the Church. The Christian life is a marathon, not a sprint.  So, as we go into “ordinary time,” don’t think of it as routine, rather see it as a time we can continue to meet and greet, to worship the Lord, and to serve each other and our neighbors. God has great things in store for Grace Lutheran Church!

The next Roadrunners trip is scheduled for September 21-25 (or 26), 2026.  We will be going to Frankenmuth, Michigan.  Save the dates – more information to come!

So many items! May 15 & 16th.  Cloths, toys, decor, seasonal decorations, tools, and more. Please stop by and enjoy shopping for a good cause! 

May 2026 NEWSLETTER NOW AVAILABLE!
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I know that many of my newsletters over the past year have had a negative tone to them as I have commented on the world around us.  I’ve never had such a hard time finding good news!  But today we’re in luck.  It’s a mere glimmer, but I have noticed an increasing number of articles coming out that are acknowledging the damage that technology is having in the classroom.  Multiple studies are showing that schools that stick with traditional books, chalkboard, pen and paper produce children with higher IQ’s and more positive self-esteem.

And this trend to kick tech out of the classroom is apparently gaining traction.  It has even been acknowledged by some tech titans that they don’t allow their own children to have cell phones or tablets!  Why is this good news for the Christian church?  Well, it’s no secret that social media in particular has led to the anti-socialization and even demonization of young minds.  Add to that the fact that tech devices and their content have reduced children’s attention spans to an all time low.  Teachers and even college professors report that their students don’t read books or write papers anymore, rather allowing AI to do all the work for them.  These behaviors just lead to dependency and easy indoctrination. It’s no wonder that young people have been leaving the church in large numbers as they travel along the wide road of self-indulgence.  Hopefully, parents and school administrators are finally waking up to the value of traditional methods of learning and the development of critical thinking skills.
 
Sixteen hundred years ago, St Augustine wrote that faith (religion) and reason (science) are intertwined; our faith motivates us to understand the world around us, and our critical thinking allows us to make good choices, including the ability to fathom the truth of the Gospel. May God open the eyes of more families to come to a saving grace in God and return to our Christian communities.

Unless you’re living in the middle of the woods with no access to outside communication, it’s hard these days as an American not to feel discouraged and afraid.  Every day we see footage of wars, impending wars, civil unrest between criminals and police, and high and increasing crime rates. Illegal drug use and deaths by overdose continue to mount.  Nearly half of all marriages end in divorce; almost half of all newborns are born to unwed mothers; and we continue to abort about 1 million babies a year.  The gap between rich and poor continues to grow.  Young adults complain of unaffordable housing, crushing student debt, and shrinking job opportunities. Our political leaders appear to have no concern for their own constituencies. Trust in government, media, and even our education system is at an all-time low.   We are bombarded with social media data, much of it biased, or worse, generated by artificial intelligence posing as a real person.  We are no longer “one nation under God.”
Rather, we have become many tribes, each with their own gods, and all at war with the others.  The enemy is at the gate. What is a Christian to do.

I imagine the first disciples felt exactly the same way those first few days after his death, discouraged and afraid.  Their rabbi, the master, did not turn out to be the hoped-for messiah who would rid the land of the hated Romans. Instead, they ignominiously hung him on a cross to die.  Instead of sitting at the right and left hands of the king, they were being hunted by the Jewish religious authorities and the Roman government.  It seemed like all was lost. They had been deceived like so many before them by another false messiah. Society mocked them as fools and simpletons.

But wait!  What is this we see and hear? He is risen! How can this be? Could it be that he is part of the Godhead he claimed to be all along? And he instructs us to go and make other disciples as he did with us. His final assurances, his presence that we saw and felt, the Holy Spirit that he left behind, all these gave them (and us) hope to endure any trouble this world throws at us, even to the point of death as a martyr.  I pray that such a thing never happens to Christians again, but the point is that this world is passing away.  It has nothing good to offer us, and nothing bad in it can harm our eternal destiny. Our hope is in a better future sitting at the feet of God, with no more pain, no more sorrow. Rejoice and be glad.

Pastor David

April 2026 NEWSLETTER NOW AVAILABLE!
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Join Father Dominic - "The Bread Monk" for an inspiring and interactive baking presentation.  Dom will demonstrate how to mix and knead a basic dough, then show beginner-friendly techniques to shape beautiful braids and rolls.  

Easter comes earlier than usual this year so the Lenten cycle will be upon us soon. We start with our “Ashes at the Elburn Train Station” event on Wednesday, February 18 at 6:00AM. All are welcome to join me to bestow a blessing on the early morning commuters.

Then we start our 5-week Lenten Bible study series on Wednesday, February 25. As usual, we will be hosting a soup lunch at Noon followed by a lecture series. This year the topic is: “Judaism: Christianity’s Foundation and Signpost.” A repeat of the Wednesday lessons will occur on the following Saturdays at 9:30AM with cake and coffee. The Wednesday lessons will run from February 25 to March 25 and the Saturday lessons will run from February 28 to March 28. Since the Wednesday and Saturday lessons are the same, feel free to drop in to either (or both!) as your schedule allows. We will be posting sign-up sheets soon.

After a four-year hiatus, we are bringing back our Seder Dinner celebration on Maundy Thursday, April 2 at 6:00PM. We will recreate the Passover meal that Jews around the world celebrate every year.

On Friday, April 3 we have our community Good Friday service with Country Covenant Church, Congregational Church and Burlington Methodist Church at Congregational Church on Empire Rd at 7:00PM. All are welcome to join us.

Finally, we will celebrate Easter, the high point of the Christian calendar, on Sunday, April 5. I look forward to worshipping with you as we continue to deepen our relationship with God and each other. Blessings to you all.

March 2026 NEWSLETTER NOW AVAILABLE!
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Welcome teens to the 2026 confirmation class at Grace! Class will meet approximately every other Sunday for about one hour after the 9:30 service. Parents are welcome to attend, but not required.

February 1
February 15
March 1
March 15
April 5
April 19
May 10
May 24
June 7
June 21
September 6
September 20
October 4
October 18
November 1
November 15
December 6

Open House at Grace! Saturday, February 21st 9:30-11:30.  Meet the teachers and tour the classroom. 

  ROADRUNNERS 2026 TRIP
 
The next Roadrunners trip is scheduled for September
21-25 (or 26), 2026.  We will be going to Frankenmuth, Michigan.  Save the dates – more information to come.

LENTEN / HOLY WEEK SCHEDULE - Come Join the fun! 

February 18th – Ash Wednesday – distribution of ashes at the Elburn Metra Station at 6 am (see Pastor to assist) and 7pm evening worship at Grace.
Lenten Bible Studies – Wednesdays at noon (soup lunch) on February 25 – March 25 with a repeat study on Saturdays (coffee & treats) at 9:30am, February 28 – March 28th.
April 2nd, Maundy Thursday – Seder meal at Grace in Fellowship Hall at 6 pm.  Reservations needed.
April 3rd – Good Friday – Community Worship at the Congregational Church on Empire Road at 7 pm.
April 5th – EASTER SUNDAY – worship at 10:30 am withBreakfast before and/or after worship from 8:30 am to 11:30am (free will offering.)

February 2026 NEWSLETTER NOW AVAILABLE!
You can now download this edition of our newsletter below! Stay up to date with news at Grace and information regarding our community.

January 2026

It’s a new year and the obligatory time for making resolutions, plans, and goals. It has become mandatory that losing a few pounds (from chocolate chip cookies), getting more exercise, and eating healthier are at the top of everyone’s list. After that, it becomes customized, so to speak. It is the time of year when we reflect on the year past, our accomplishments, our unfulfilled dreams, our wins and our losses. It is also the time when all the major media outlets will go through their own year in review: celebrities who died, sports champions, political trends, world events. Ultimately, these are all trivia and noise, the constant rhythm of the cycle of life.

Our focus is on the eternal. My prayer is that all of you will have a healthy and prosperous 2026, that illnesses will be healed, that broken relationships will be mended, that enemies will become friends. I pray that your faith will continue to grow and that your love will extend outward to touch even more of the lost so they too can come to know Jesus. I believe that as a faith community, we are well poised to see God do great things in His name. Our attendance continues to trend upward, our finances are on more solid ground than they have been in prior years, our service to our neighbors is vibrant, our faith is secure, our love for God is evident.

I am excited to see what plans God has in store for us this year and I continue to be humbled and honored to serve as your pastor.     AMEN