Co-sponsored by United in Faith Lutheran Church and St. John’s Episcopal Church
Category: Genesis Group
Fair Trade Day at St. John’s!
Saturday, May 14 between 11 am and 4 pm
Join us in the garden (rain location: Parish Hall)
Visit St. John’s during the 2022 Open House Celebration of World Fair Trade Day with Chicago Fair Trade on Sat. May 14 from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Jerome McDonnel, former host of Worldview on National Public Radio and fair trade supporter, will be doing a bike ride to 3 of these fair trade stops on the north side of Chicago – one of them being St. John’s!
St. John’s open house stop will feature
– Indigenous Columbian art from Tulia’s Artisan Gallery
– Land Acknowledgment (2:15 pm)
– Conversation between Jerome McDonnel and Karen Torres, CEO of Tulia’s Gallery (2:30 pm)
– Clothing Swap – bring an item – take an item
– Fair Trade Trivia Prize Wheel
– Eco Tours of our campus
– Fair trade coffee and tea
More about Open House Chicago around Chicago and suburbs…
Each May, World Fair Trade Day is celebrated by tens of thousands of people in dozens of countries. For fifteen years, Chicago Fair Trade has organized the largest World Fair Trade Day in the U.S.
On Saturday, May 14, Chicago Fair Trade’s member businesses, organizations and allies are hosting multiple events throughout the city to showcase how they support economic and environmental justice. As an attendee you will receive a virtual passport to use when checking in at different sites and if you check in at three or more, you’ll be entered to win a fair trade raffle (over $200 in value!). Proposed itineraries will be neighborhood-based for easy access and an interactive map listing all participating locales will be available on our website.
Here is a sneak peak of some of the day’s activities:
- Kick-off event hosted by Jerome McDonnell at Metropolis Cafe in Avondale
- A fair trade sample sale at Sobremesa’s warehouse in West Garfield Park
- Fair trade cocktails and tours at local indie designer Production Mode in Pilsen
- Studio tours and weaving demos at the Weaving Mill in Humboldt Park
- Shopping, shopping and more shopping at the Andersonville Galleria, Union Handmade, Embellish, and Eco & the Flamingo
- Suburban locations include Glen Ellyn, Oak Park, and Evanston
Join our growing network of conscious consumers and show your commitment to building a better, more just and equitable world. We hope you are able to join us on this celebratory day!
Electric Vehicle Charger at St. John’s!
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.
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.
Pet Blessing
A day of Blessings! In case you missed it, here is the video sermon The Sparrow by Karen Hoyer and Jackson Gage.
Thanks for bringing blessings to us!
Learn a Native language!
A great back-to-school project for kids and teens (and it’s not all online!)
Please help us honor the true native languages of this land by learning and sharing nature words of local Native American Chicagoans. Here’s how!
- Watch this short video about why language preservation is important: https://theways.org/story/living-language
- Visit the St. John’s garden (next to 3857 N Kostner Ave). Write down the words for the things you see that you want to learn the names of i.e. dirt, grass, rabbit, tree, robin, flower, worm etc.
- Choose a language you wish to learn. We recommend the starred * languages because you can look up the word and hear how it is pronounced. You may want to choose a language that is your own heritage or a neighbor’s. For instance, the Ho-Chunk nation has an office near St. John’s on Milwaukee Avenue. Here is a list of the 15 largest groups of Native American people living in the Chicagoland area:
| Language | Link | Color of ribbon |
| * Potawatomi | https://potawatomidictionary.com/Dictionary | white |
| Odawa/Ottawa | https://dictionary.nishnaabemwin.atlas-ling.ca/#/help | dark yellow |
| Ho Chunk | https://glosbe.com/en/win | light green |
| Menominee | http://www.menomineelanguage.com/dictionaries-word-lists | pink |
| Oneida | https://www.uwgb.edu/dictionary/EnglishToOneida.aspx | light brown |
| Blackfoot | https://dictionary.blackfoot.atlas-ling.ca/#/help | medium blue |
| * Ojibwe | https://ojibwe.lib.umn.edu/browse/english | light yellow |
| Cree | https://dictionary.plainscree.atlas-ling.ca/#/help | grey |
| Lakota | https://lakhota.org/teach-lakota/classroom-materials/dictionary/ | red |
| Dakota | https://glosbe.com/en/dak | light blue |
| Navajo | https://glosbe.com/en/nv | tan |
| Choctaw | https://glosbe.com/en/cho | light purple |
| Cherokee | https://www.manataka.org/page122.html | orange |
| Choose your own! | http://www.native-languages.org/ |
- Write the Native word you learned in permanent marker on the colored ribbon indicated. If the word is something that moves (like a rabbit), tie the ribbon to a picture of it (which you draw or photograph or print). If you are a St. John’s member there is roll of ribbon in your Sunday School in a bag. If you need ribbon please email parishoffice@stjohnschicago.com and we will deliver some to you!
- Go back to the garden and tie the ribbon to the thing (tree, flower, wood etc) and bring some sticks to tie on the ribbons and put in the ground (rabbit, butterfly, wind).
- Practice saying the words!
Thank you for visiting our garden
Chicago is the traditional homelands of the Council of the Three Fires: The Odawa, Ojibwe and Potawatomi Nations. Many other Tribes like the Miami, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Sac and Fox also called this area home. Located at the intersection of several great waterways, the land naturally became a site of travel and healing for many Tribes. American Indians continue to call this area home and now Chicago is home to the sixth largest Urban American Indian community that still practices their heritage, traditions and care for the land and waterways. Today, Chicago continues to be a place that calls many people from diverse backgrounds to live and gather here. Despite the many changes the city has experienced, both our American Indian and the St. John’s Episcopal Church community see the importance of the land and this place that has always been a city home to many diverse backgrounds and perspectives.
If you would like to express your appreciation for this sacred ground please make a donation to the COVID response or cultural programming of the Chicago American Indian Community Collaborative.
Link to the Chicago American Indian Community Collaborative website and donation page.
Angels I have known
Today we celebrate the legacy of St. Francis. We’ve probably all heard stories about him – making you believe he was, perhaps, a little crazy – but he was a good man and loved to share the Good News of the Gospel.
One story tells of an encounter with a flock of birds – doves, crows – all sorts of birds. When St. Francis spotted them down the road, he ran toward them and expected them to scatter but to his surprise – and probably anyone else’s who may have witnessed this – the birds stood still and seemed to wait for him. He was filled with awe and he asked them to stay and then proceeded to give them a little sermon, reminding them that they should always praise their Creator for he was the one who gave them feathers for clothes, wings to fly, and anything else that was needed. “It is God who made you noble among all creatures, making your home in thin, pure air. Without sowing or reaping, you received God’s guidance and protection.” And so the story goes that from that day on, Francis made it his habit to invoke all animals to praise and love their Creator.
But wait a minute, Francis. While all of what you told those birds was certainly true – if I may say so – you missed the bigger picture! I believe that animals have a lot to tell us, to teach us, and to remind us of. They are messengers and, I believe, vessels enabling 2-way communication with God. So, Francis, perhaps spending some time listening to them would have done you some good, too.
Click here to read the whole sermon preached by Susan Mitchell on Pet Blessing Sunday, 2019
