SHINE: Share, inspire, engage
SHINE is Our Saviour's monthly, stories-focused publication, where we highlight the work of OSLC's many ministries and mission teams and shine a spotlight on how members of the Our Saviour's family are working to Know Jesus and Make Jesus Known.
Printed copies of SHINE are available at both campuses, and a digital version can be downloaded from our News & Events page or by clicking the image at left.
Below, browse a selection of stories recently featured in SHINE. Happy reading!
someone you should know: Kristyn reed
by Teresa Thompson
For Celebration worship band member Kristyn Reed, a kindergarten teacher at Scott School in Naperville, the journey to Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church started on a school bus.
Kristyn was on a field trip with students, sitting on the bus with a teacher friend and chatting about churches. Kristyn had grown up in a Methodist congregation in Schaumburg and was looking for a new church closer to her new home. One of the parent chaperones on the trip, former OSLC pastor Mark Borgetti, happened to overhear and invited Kristyn to try his church.
After one visit, “that was it,” Kristyn recalls. The worship band’s performance instantly resonated with Kristyn, who had previously sung in a band with her father, and she replied to that morning’s open call for new folks to join the band.
Singing with the band “was a natural transition and a great way to be involved in the church right away,” Kristyn says. “The band members) were so supportive.”
Today, some two decades after taking the leap and getting involved in a music ensemble at a new-to-her church, Kristyn is grateful to continue to serve in worship with the band--and now to have her son Cal, a drummer, sometimes joining her on stage.
“Now it’s Cal’s turn to experience the joys of being part of a group, contributing to worship and serving others,” she says.
Being part of OSLC has been formative, too, for Kristyn’s 18-year-old daughter Avery. Having been part of Our Saviour’s Ignition high school ministry and participated in mission trips, Avery signed on earlier this year to complete a year of service with AmeriCorps. “A year of service will be a wonderful opportunity to continue being involved in other communities and serving their needs,” Kristyn says. “It will be a great way for Avery to know herself more and what she’d like to pursue for a career.”
Kristyn shares gratitude for former Pastor Mark’s invitation to Our Saviour’s on that school bus ride 20 years ago. Something as simple as turning around and extending a kind word and a welcome can have life-changing implications for the person who receives it, Kristyn notes. And at Our Saviour’s, friends and neighbors find a welcoming community with leaders like Chris Brown, she adds, who will find a way for new folks to participate in whatever they’d like to get involved in as we all work to do “Life Together.”
Want to be part of worship band? Email Chris Brown at chrisbrown@oursaviours.com.
Thriving with OSLC: Emotional Wellness
Life is hard. Jesus calls us to live life together for this very reason.
Jesus saw and sought out the overlooked and the overwhelmed, loving them, healing them, reminding them that they mattered. And we find in the stories of Jesus’ ministry and those he ministered to the affirmation that connection gives us strength. Life is unpredictable, but we aren’t meant to go through it by ourselves.
Emotional wellness is about understanding, experiencing and managing emotions in a healthy way. It incorporates self-awareness, being able to express emotions to others in a balanced way, resilience and adaptability.
Nurturing emotional wellness involves building healthy support systems, and we have the opportunity to do this in a faith context at OSLC. As Christians, we are called to be people who listen without judgment, uplift our community members and remind our neighbors of their worth when they question it.
You may say, “That all sounds great, but how do you build healthy support systems?” Here are four principles to start with:
A healthy support system won’t erase life’s challenges, even with OSLC. However, it can make them more bearable. Health Christ-centered support offers perspective, comfort, and hope when we feel overwhelmed. Likewise, being part of someone else’s support network lets us positively impact their faith journey.
If you feel isolated, you are not alone. We encourage you take a small step toward connection within Our Saviour’s by reaching out to a pastor, joining a small group or introducing yourself to someone new to our community. The faith-filled relationships you nurture today may be the lifelines you need tomorrow.
OSLC resources to help strengthen your emotional wellness:
Congregational wellness manager Alexandra Colaianni is a licensed clinical social worker and the founder of Modern Balance Integrative Therapy in Naperville. In her new role at Our Saviour's, she develops and leads special programs and activities around mental, physical and community wellness.
caring for creation: finding abundance at SCARCE!
Did you know that Addison-based SCARCE collects unused/like-new school and office supplies and offers them at a low cost to teachers, not-for-profit organizations (including churches) and humanitarian groups? For just $10, teachers and not-for-profit workers can fill a box with supplies ranging from glue sticks to textbooks. Unused supplies find a home, and teachers spend less out of pocket for needed materials for their classrooms!
If you have any of the following supplies in new or unused, like-new condition, consider donating them to SCARCE, 800 S. Rohlwing Road, Unit D, Addison during regular donation hours of 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Friday or 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Saturday.
For more information, visit scarce.org/accepted-items/
If you are a teacher or not-for-profit employee interested in shopping the resource center, which has textbooks, reading books, science equipment, musical instruments and more in addition to school supplies, visit scarce.org/reuse-center/who-can-get-books-supplies/ for information on requirements and what to bring.
Find the latest from Caring for Creation at oursaviours.com/ministries/caring-for-creation!
