Scripture: Luke 24:13-35

“Two Recognize"

Rev. Terry Gallagher

Click here to sign up for Sunday service volunteer opportunities (reader, greeter, acolyte, or usher)

Pastor Erin is on vacation through April 28th. Please email or call the office if you have any pastoral needs. There will be limited office hours on Wednesday and Thursday. Call before you come to the church.

Friday, April 21st, in Dobstaff.

Socialize and eat at 6:30pm

Play begins at 7pm

Monday, April 24th, at 7pm. Free community program!

Grounding and Balance -- Social Media Awareness from the experience of an Influencer. (And how the term "influencer" isn't at all helpful)

The rush from experiencing social media kudos can often be offset or even erased by the negative feelings after reading caustic comments. In this seminar, former associate pastor from St. Matthew UCC, and also a social media personality with hundreds of thousands of subscribers, Rev. Kirk Moore, from personal experience, talks about ways to be grounded into ourselves and to seek balance in our lives both on and off of social media. 

Rev. Kirk Moore is a minister in the United Church of Christ, a certified therapeutic musician, hospital chaplain, advocate, and somehow became "tiktok famous" during the pandemic. 

We are in need of a second volunteer in the nursery on May 7th and May 28th (Memorial Day weekend).

Please consider helping out, especially if you use this service of our church. We cannot have the nursery open if we do not get a second person to help Kira. Please let Dani in the office know if you can help. 

Betty Greer will be at church collecting donations from 11am-1pm on Saturday, April 22nd. Most-needed items are listed in the left sidebar. Thank you for your generosity.

The Fox Valley Chapter of the American Guild of Organists invites you to a Hymn Festival featuring the Great Hymns of the Church.
Sunday, April 23rd, at 4pm, at New England Congregational Church,403 W. Galena Blvd, Aurora.

Area organists will perform preludes based on long-loved hymn tunes and then all will join in singing, along with the Paul Semanic Brass Quintet. (You may remember Paul from our fundraiser concert for refugees several years ago.) Dr. Jane Holstein will provide commentary about the history of the hymns, and a gala reception will follow. This event is free and there is ample parking. Come join us for a glorious afternoon filled with song!

ESSE Adult Day Services is again participating in the 4th annual Giving DuPage Days, a community-wide fundraiser that enables over 100 charities to raise much-needed funds for their organization, and this event is ESSE's main fundraiser in 2023.

We would be so grateful if you could support us by going to https://www.givingdupageday.org/ and choosing ESSE as your charity of choice. Any amount will be most appreciated. Please visit the site above anytime during that 5-day period (May 1st-5th) and make your donation. Thanks for your support!

Do you have a 2023 high school, college, or post-college graduate?

Email the office with their name, where they are graduating from, degree, and future plans! 

Graduates will be honored on June 4th.

Please join the Mission Committee on Saturday, April 29th, from 6:30-9pm, for our Shrimp Boil Fundraiser to benefit Back Bay Mission.

The cost is $25 per adult and $5 for children, with a maximum cost of $60 per family.

RSVP so we can determine how much shrimp we need. The more, the merrier!

There will also be a wine pull. Donations of wine are needed. 

Shrimp, salad, bread, and dessert, as well as mac & cheese will be provided. Checks can be made payable to St. Matthew with “Shrimp Boil” noted. To sign up, please see the board in the narthex, click here to sign up online, or email John Adams with the number of adults and youth in your party.

We hope you can join us for a night of great food and fellowship while supporting Back Bay.

We are thrilled to announce the hiring of Matt Grady as our Director of Youth Ministries. 

Please welcome Matt and his wife,  Aaliyah, to the St. Matthew family.

The Men's Social Group had a great time at TopGolf! 

We are excited to announce that St. Matthew is planning a fun-filled week of activities, June 5th-9th from 9am-12noon. A family ice cream social will be held Friday, June 9th at 6:30pm. 

For children ages 3-4 (must have completed at least one year of preschool) and grades K-5th grade (completed grades K-5th)

Cost is $35 per child. Scholarships available. Contact the office for more information. 

Click here to register!

VBS planning is underway, and we need lots of help this year!

The theme is Compassion Camp: What Every Living Thing Needs, and the dates are June 5th-9th. Prior to that week, we need help with craft prep (will have some at-home opportunities), check-in/registration on June 5th, decorating, as well as helpers during the week for Preschool - 5th grade. If you can help in any way, please let Dawn Schubert know. Thanks in advance for your willingness to help with this fun church event!

Prairie Path Clean-Up #1 is April 23rd at 2 pm. We will meet at the corner of Liberty and West. New waivers will need to be filled out for 2023, and they will be in the narthex. Contact Dawn Schubert with any questions.

Our next Women’s Fellowship get-together is rescheduled for Thursday, May 4th. We will be having a hands-on cooking class — learning to make handmade gnocchi at Dorothy Peterson’s house.

We will prepare the gnocchi together, and then enjoy it for dinner.
We will start the process at 5:30, but feel free to come whenever your schedule allows. 

For this get-together, it would be helpful to have a count, so click here to RSVP to Dorothy! More details to follow.

The Chicago Cubs are having a Pride Night on June 13th! There is a significant discount for a group, so if enough people are interested PCNI will organize a PFLAG group. Signing up here is letting the organizers know you are interested in being a part of that group. It is not a purchase of the tickets at this time. 

Click here to let them know you would be interested in attending!

Please join us for the annual Crop Walk to help end world hunger. This is a great family activity and we are hoping for a big turn out this year! The Crop Walk this year will be held on Sunday, May 7th, at Gary Memorial Methodist Church in Wheaton. Check-in begins at 1pm and the walk begins at 2pm. It is a 3-mile walk. Click here to join the St. Matthew team or donate to our team. Contact Erin Walsh with questions. 

https://events.crophungerwalk.org/2023/team/st-matthew-ucc

Pastor Erin would like to engage with you in person about involvement in this beloved community. Reach out to Pastor Erin via email to setup a time to chat or contact the office. 

Download the Instant Church Directory app from the Apple® App store in iTunes®, Google Play™ store and the Amazon Fire App Store. Simply search for “Instant Church Directory” to get the download. 

You will need to use your email address as listed in our directory to create a log-in the first time you use the directory online and via the mobile app.

To view the directory online, go to members.InstantChurchDirectory.com and follow the prompts under “Sign In” to “Create a login now.” Please remember, you must confirm your email address before you can sign in.

Contact the office with questions.

For coffee after church, please consider bringing a treat on the following weeks:

Last names A-C, 1st Sunday

Last names D-H, 2nd Sunday

Last names I-O, 3rd Sunday

Last names P-Z, 4th Sunday

Anyone, 5th Sunday

Please contact Wendy Fanning if you are able to set up or clean up coffee hour. Thanks for your help.

The St. Matthew worship service will be streamed every Sunday at 9:30am. The service will be available on our website after the service.

Access the service through the St. Matthew YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/user/StMatthewUCC

**Once you are on YouTube, you have the option to turn on closed captioning and resize the font. Once the video is playing, click on the setting wheel in lower-right of your screen, choose Subtitles/CC, then choose English.**

You can also go to the St. Matthew homepage (stmatthewucc.org) to access the online service. 

Go to our website for instructions on how to donate to St. Matthew. Thank you!