Dear Friends,
I would like to introduce you to Anna Piela, our new Pastoral Intern. Anna will be worshiping online with us this Sunday and will join us in person next Sunday. After that, she will begin serving our community through worship leadership, preaching, and cultivating opportunities to share with one another and with the communities around us. As you can see in her introduction below, she brings to CCW a wide range of different experiences and knowledge. I am excited to see how these gifts will shape our community.
Welcome Anna!
Peace,
Rob
Greetings!
My name is Anna Piela, and I'm about to start my role as a Pastoral Intern here at the Community Church of Wilmette in my journey to ordination with American Baptist Churches USA. I am grateful to the CCW community who have graciously invited me to join their circle.
I live in Evanston with my husband Michael and three-year-old daughter Zofia. I originally come from Poland, where I grew up in Catholic faith. However, I was attracted to Protestant theology and critiques from the moment I learnt about Martin Luther in History class. I always enjoyed opportunities to interact with people of other faiths who lived in or were passing through town - German Evangelical Protestants, Orthodox Christians, Turkish Sufis, and Hare Krishna movement members.
This interest in religions continued into my university education; I have a PhD in Women's and Islamic Studies from the University of York, U.K. I am currently a visiting scholar of religion at Northwestern University. For the last ten years, I have been studying women's interpretations and applications of Islamic scriptures. My research involved interviews with dozens of women, and thinking about how they make meaning with the help of religion.
My call to ministry came as a surprise to me, but the leap from thinking about religious meaning-making to helping people make meaning is not a long one. I was carried to ministry by my social justice concerns; I believe ministry will help me make a different kind of impact than academic scholarship, which is often constrained by paywalled access, available to few. Currently, I am working on a new project focused on creation of anti-Islamophobic church that will make a case not only for building relationships with neighbors of other faiths, but actually developing a more nuanced perspective on our own Christian faith through the knowledge of other traditions.
“Jesus Teaching His Disciples” by Rudolph Bostic
Join Us Online for Worship
Everyone in invited to join us online this Sunday morning at 10:00 am for worship. This week concludes our reflections on Jesus’ "Bread of Life” sermon in John’s gospel. The passage concludes with Peter declaring that the Christ offers “the words of eternal life.” Together, we will be reflecting on how and where we are hearing the words of life spoken in our own communities.
Music will be led by CCW Music Director Winifred Brown, accompanist Reid Taylor, and Adelaide Leonard. Pastor Rob will be leading worship and hosting our online coffee hour.
To join us online, please click on the button below or go to our website at www.ccwilmette.org and follow the link at the top of the homepage.
Join Us In-Person for Worship on Sunday, August 22nd at 10:00 am
Our August in-person worship gathering will be on Sunday, August 22nd. As breakthrough cases continue to rise, we are requesting that everyone wears masks during worship. Cookies and lemonade will be served on the CCW lawn after worship.
Prayers of the Community
Please keep the following individuals and families in your thoughts and prayer this week.
Alistair and Leslie Henderson as they grieve the loss of Alistair’s father. Alistair is currently in Scotland providing support to his mother.
Susan Fischer as she recovers from a recovers from an illness that caused her to be hospitalized earlier this week.
If you have a prayer concern that you would like included in the Prayers of the Community, please email me at rrawls@ccwilmette.org.