Practicing Hope

Our Bishop, Dan Schwerin, set our theme for 2026 as a year of practicing hope. He writes that "Our God is a God who holds the present lightly with love, always at work to increase love's reigning in Christ. Our God is a God of commas more than full stops. God is present with grace because God is among us with hope.... I believe these are days to bear witness to God's aim for love and justice, days to innovate for the newness God is bringing, and days to invite others who seek a community with which to practice hope. Hope is not a product on a shelf, but a lived practice of grace as Christian community."

Our worship series, Practicing Hope, uses writings from people in the Northern Illinois and Wisconsin Annual Conferences to help us consider different kinds of hope that we can practice, and give us time to practice that hope during worship each week.