This group is for men of faith to come together throughout the year to share their faith and thoughts about topics that are challenging. We support one another through our personal journeys. All are welcome.

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Join us as we continue to take in ideas and inspiration from a variety of topics as a way to launch our conversations. 

 

​​Please contact Steve Oelschlager at steve@holycrosschurch.org or Pastor Bob at pastorbob@holycrosschurch.org with any questions.

​Grounded in Grace is an opportunity for women of faith to connect together in fellowship

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Join us if you can for fellowship and fun.

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Questions? Contact Terry Berger at terryberger.08@gmail.com or (224) 775-1479.

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The Holy Cross Book Club usually meets on the fourth Thursday evening of each month from January through November. Some months may be different due to holidays. We read various genres, including fiction, biography/memoir, nonfiction, mystery, cultural, historical and we include a classic each year. Consider joining the group, if just for a book or two.

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In September, we will discuss The Book of Lost Names by Kristen Harmel. Eva Traube Abrams, a semi-retired librarian in Florida, is shelving books one morning when her eyes lock on a photograph in a magazine lying open nearby. She freezes; it's an image of a book she hasn't seen in sixty-five years. The book in the photograph, an eighteenth-century religious text thought to have been taken from France in the waning days of the war, is one of the most fascinating cases. Now housed in Berlin's Zentral-und Landesbibliothek library, it appears to contain some sort of code, but researchers don't know where it came from-or what the code means. Only Eva holds the answer-but will she have the strength to revisit old memories and help reunite those lost during the war? Our discussion host will be Heidi Dinter.

 

If you have any questions, please email Melanie Houser at housermd@comcast.net View the 2022 Book Club Reading List

This group typically meets twice per month on Tuesday mornings in-person in the fellowship area. All women are welcome to join when sessions resume.

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 The Women’s Discussion Group will resume meeting in September with discussion of the book Wholehearted Faith by Rachel Held Evans.The meetings will be held twice a month on select Tuesday mornings from 9:30 - 11 am on the patio (weather permitting) or in the Fellowship Area. Refreshments will be provided. All women are welcome to join.

 

About Wholehearted Faith from the publisher: “This book is for the doubter and the dreamer, the seeker and the sojourner, those who long for a sense of spiritual wholeness as well as those who have been hurt by the Church but can’t seem to let go of the story of Jesus. Through theological reflection and personal recollection, Rachel wrestles with God’s grace and love, looks unsparingly at what the Church is and does, and explores universal human questions about becoming and belonging. An unforgettable, moving, and intimate book.”

 

The schedule for 2022/23 is as follows:

 

  September 13, 2022 – Chapter 1: On the Days When I Believe

  September 27, 2022 – Chapter 2: My Wicked Little Heart

  October 11, 2022 – Chapter 3: Where Stone Becomes Flesh

  October 25, 2022 – Chapter 4: The Liberation of the Know-It-All

  November 8, 2022 – Chapter 5: Thick Skin, Tender Heart

  November 22, 2022 – Chapter 6: Johnathan Edwards Is Not My Homeboy

  January 10, 2023 – Chapter 7: Beginning Again With Love

  January 24, 2023 – Chapter 8: From Death to Life

  February 14, 2023 – Chapter 9: The Steady Work of Living Water

  February 28, 2023 – Chapter 10: Many Voices, Many Masks

  March 14, 2023 – Chapter 11: Wilderness

  March 28, 2023 – Chapter 12: God has Made a Home with Us

  April 11, 2023 – Chapter 13: Loving Our Enemies

  April 25, 2023 – Chapter 14: Dwelling in Sabbath

 

Please contact the church office at (847) 367-4060 or office@holycrosschurch.org to arrange to pick up a copy of the book. Questions? Contact Pastor Chris at pastorchris@holycrosschurch.org

 

For September, the Antiracism Roundtable will host a booth at Rally Day and will start meeting in person this fall. If you are interested in helping to plan this group's meetings and activities, please email Carol Dikelsky.

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The Antiracism Roundtable & Work Group will meet via Zoom to continue exploring antiracism themes and resources and to find ways to apply what we learn, unlearn, or relearn to our faith journeys. The group may also organize activities that put concepts into action.

 

​All are invited to attend when you can and come as you are, with an open heart for listening to and praying with each other, as we confront a variety of topics that may take us out of our comfort zones and lead us to make new connections to our faith. Please reach out to Carol Dikelsky at carol@dikelsky.org with any questions.

 

 

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This is a wonderful way to begin the day with coffee, breakfast, fellowship and thought-provoking and stimulating conversation. All men are welcome to join us.

 

Questions? Contact Pastor Bob at pastorbob@holycrosschurch.org

The remaining two sessions of our four session video curriculum on Seeking Aliveness will be held in September and October. We will continue our journey with renowned author and emergent Christian leader Brian McLaren as we seek out this new path for our faith. If you have not already received one, copies of McLaren’s book “We Make the Road by Walking: a yearlong quest for spiritual formation, reorientation and activation” are available as a resource and gift for everyone. Drawing on the themes from his book we are offering up some fresh insights for how we go about composing a life of faith. Men (21+) are invited to attend for an evening of fellowship, food, music and conversation.

 

Please register to help us plan for food. Questions? Contact Pastor Bob at pastorbob@holycrosschurch.org​

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Are you interested in learning more and growing your faith? Amplify Media is an online learning platform with 1000’s of study, worship, and devotional videos that can be streamed anytime, anywhere, from any device. Better yet, Holy Cross has arranged a congregational subscription that allows you access to the content at no charge.

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To get started, simply create your account at this link: bit.ly/HCamplify

Access code located in the February 2022 newsletter on page 3. 

 

When you get to the site, you can browse and search for something that catches your attention. You can also see the playlist titled “As Mentioned In the February 2022 Newsletter” for three courses on Jesus and the New Testament. Next, either watch the video preview or, if you click the title under the video, you can learn more about the full scope of the course and its teacher.

 

For questions or more information, please get in touch with Steve Oelschlager at steve@holycrosschurch.org