THE PUNJABI PSALTER: A UNIQUE HERITAGE OF THE CHURCH IN INDIA AND PAKISTAN
Yousaf Sadiq
Psalms for All of Life
Our Pastors, Directors and Residents: Caleb Aulie, pastoral resident | Cheryce Berg, ministry director of children | Roger Burgess, pastor of visitation Julie Clemens, ministry director of STARS disabilities | Matt Heaton, pastoral resident | Baxter Helm, high school pastor | Dan Hiben, middle school pastor Tim Hollinger, technology director | Jim Johanik, pastor of evangelism Ann Karow, human resources director | Howard Kern, facilities director Ethan Kim, pastoral resident | Bruce Main, pastor of visitation | Josh Maurer, pastor of discipleship and care | Curt Miller, missions pastor | Josh Moody, senior pastor | Jacob Samuel Raju, pastoral resident | Mindy Rynbrandt, ministry director for women’s discipleship and care | James Seward, pastor of community | John Seward, executive pastor | Nancy Singer, director of administration and finance | Wil Triggs, director of communications
Connections is a monthly newsletter published for and about the people of College Church. Send news items and suggestions to: connections@ college-church.org. Keep Connections in mind to promote a community event to the College Church family. Send event information by the following dates: For the December issue: November 9 | For the January issue: December 9 | For the February issue: January 9
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CONTRIBUTORS
WALLACE ALCORN
is a regular contributor to Connections, which is now contemplating asking his grandson to join his Papa as a contributor, too.
HASSELL BULLOCK
is the Franklin S. Dyrness Professor Emeritus of Biblical Studies at Wheaton College, where he taught Old Testament and Hebrew language for 36 years. His specialty in recent years has been the Psalms, authoring Encountering the Book of Psalms, The Psalms, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 (“Teach the Text” series), and Theology from the Psalms: The Story of God’s Steadfast Love (Baker Academic. He and his wife, Rhonda, have worshiped in College Church through the years between his interim pastorates. They have been married for sixty years and have a son and daughter and five grandchildren.
KEITH BURTON
is the author of Shadows of Sobriety: A Journey of Self-Discovery and Healing a Family Legacy. A former journalist and award-winning documentarian, Keith is passionate about exploring the intersections of faith, recovery, and leadership. Keith and his wife, Sue, live in Geneva and have three children.
PAT CIRRINCIONE
brings her wit and wisdom to Connections on a regular basis. Pat enjoys reading, attending musicals and coffee and conversation with friends, old and new. She is devoted to praying for her grandchildren and writing.
SARAH LINDQUIST
serves with the Sanctity of Human Life Task Force and serves on the Evangelism and Culture Impact Committee. Sarah is a home-school mom, who also teaches Suzuki violin and viola at the Community School of the Arts at Wheaton College.
LELAND RYKEN
served as professor of English at Wheaton College for nearly 50 years. He has authored and edited over fifty books. He and his wife, Mary, have been members of College Church for nearly thirty years, and Leland has served on the Council of Elders and in Kids’ Harbor.
YOUSAF SADIQ
is a global leader for the Lausanne Persecuted Church Initiative to serve the persecuted church worldwide. He is also the president for the Punjabi Psalter Society, and author of a pioneer work on The Contextualized Psalms (Punjabi Zabur): A Precious Heritage of the Global Punjabi Christian Community.
JIM TEBBE
and his wife, Beth, are retired missionaries of College Church. Jim has a BA in Psychology from Indiana University, an M.Div from Gordon-Conwell Seminary, an MA in Modern Islamic Institutions from Princeton University, and a PhD in Religious Studies focusing on Scriptural issues in Christianity and Islam from St. John’s Nottingham/Open University in England. He also studied Islamic History at Punjab University from 1978-80.
CHERYL WARNER
and her husband, Charley, serve with Barnabas International in Irpin, Ukraine. They teach missions students and help churches mobilize and care for Ukrainian missionaries and engage in gospel ministers in Irpin Bible Church.
KAYE WAUGH
and her husband, Kurt, have been members of College Church since 2019. She loves getting together with friends and families from College Church. A retired banker, Kaye’s passion is to start writing stories about seasoned missionaries, past and present.
PSALMS & THANKSGIVINGS
WIL TRIGGS | EDITOR
With November the month we observe the day of prayer for the persecuted church and the Thanksgiving holiday here in the States, it seemed like “psalms” would be a perfect theme for Connections. Given cries of lament and the offerings of thanks and praise throughout the psalms of Scripture, I have been eager to see what our writers would come up with. They have not disappointed.
With “All Creation Sings: A Reflection on Psalm 148,” Keith Burton kicks us off with natural revelation as seen through both a telescope and a psalm. Kaye Waugh considers the intersection of psalm and tragedy in her “Grace to Carry on One day at a Time.” C. Hassell Bullock helps unlock layers of meaning for understanding psalms for us in “Metaphor, the Literary Prince of the Psalms.”
Pat Cirrincione’s “The Rock of My Strength” reveals the extraordinary power of Scripture in ordinary life. And Leland Ryken considers the life-shaping power of Psalm 23 in his firstever sermon in his “Stones of Remembrance.”
Our authors also explore other lands, with Yousaf Sadiq’s moving look at different kinds of psalms in “The Punjabi Psalter: A Unique Heritage of the Church in India and Pakistan.” Cheryl Warner illuminates both life-and-death world events and Psalm 37 in her piece “Out of the Quagmire.”
Many of us will be spending a lot of time with family this month, and in his article, “Papa Alcorn and Me,” Wallace Alcorn reveals not only why he and his grandson like spending time together, but also why he likes spending time with the heavenly Father.
This seasonal issue also reveals the projects within our Thanksgiving Offering for this year, (they all sound great!), an update from Jim Tebbe on the impact of a past Thanksgiving offering project, and a fresh look at The Outreach Christmas Store. It’s safe to say that this issue puts us in the thick of the holiday season.
If I had enough space in this column, I would reprint each psalm our writers chose to write about, but because it’s Thanksgiving, I’ll close with Psalm 148:11-13 Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth! Young men and maidens together, old men and children! Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted; his majesty is above earth and heaven.
AllCreation Sings:
A Reflection on Psalm 148
KEITH BURTON
As a child, I prized a telescope received as a Christmas gift. On clear winter nights, I would carry it out to the vacant lot near our home and set it up so I could see the moon, Venus, Saturn and distant stars. I remember marveling as they moved across the sky—brilliant, constant, ancient—set in motion by the hand of God long ago. Even then, without fully understanding it, I sensed that what I was seeing wasn’t just science or light, it was worship. The heavens themselves were proclaiming the glory of their Maker.
Psalm 148 is one of Scripture’s most sweeping songs of praise. It gathers all creation—angels and stars, mountains and oceans, wild beasts and humankind—into a single chorus of worship. It’s not just a call for us to praise God; it’s a reminder that everything already does. “Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights! Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars.” (Psalm 148:1, 3)
From the highest heavens to the depths of the sea, the psalmist names each part of creation as though it were an instrument in God’s grand symphony. Even the winds and storms are portrayed as servants carrying out his commands. Everything—absolutely everything— flows from his hand and returns to him in praise.
Psalm 148 unfolds in two movements, like verses in a hymn of creation. The first half (verses 1–6) calls upon the heavens—angels, sun, moon and stars—to praise their Creator. The heavens glorify God not with words but by being what he made them to be. Their order and beauty declare his wisdom and power. God established them in place forever and ever (see verse 6) a poetic way of saying that creation itself stands as a lasting testimony to his faithfulness.
The second half (verses 7–13) turns to the earth: sea creatures, mountains, trees, weather, kings and children. From the powerful to the humble, every living thing is summoned to wor-
ship. It’s a breathtaking vision of a world united in praise—no hierarchy, no division between sacred and ordinary life. All creation exists for one purpose: to glorify the One who made it.
God speaks to us through his creation. As Psalm 19:1–2 declares:
“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.”
All around us, creation reveals the heart of its Creator.
All around us, creation reveals the heart of its Creator. In the world he made, we see beauty, creativity, order and grace. He is the grand designer. As Paul writes in Romans 1:20:
“God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been
clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” (NIV)
All creation, in its own way, knows its Creator. Mountains stand tall in reverence, rivers sing as they move, and stars blaze in silent obedience. Each fulfills its purpose, reflecting the glory of the One who spoke it into existence.
Psalm 148 ends where it began: in praise, yet with an unexpected turn. After summoning heaven and earth, the psalm closes with a deeply personal truth:
“And he has raised up for his people a horn, the praise of all his faithful servants, of Israel, the people close to his heart.”
(verse 14, NIV)
Here, the psalmist moves from the universal to the intimate. The horn is an ancient symbol of strength, victory and salvation, like a bull lifting its horns in triumph after battle. It represents God’s power to rescue and restore.
This image echoes throughout Scripture. Hannah sang of it in 1 Samuel 2:1, rejoicing that “in the Lord my horn is lifted high,” (NIV) celebrating God’s justice that humbles the proud and exalts the humble. Her song pointed forward to a day when God would “exalt the horn of his anointed”— the Messiah. Centuries later, Zechariah would sing of that promise fulfilled:
“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed His people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of David His servant.”
(Luke 1:68–69, NKJV)
In Jesus Christ, the “horn of salvation” was raised for all people. The Creator who spoke the stars into being entered his own creation to redeem it. In him, heaven and earth meet, and the psalmist’s vision finds its fulfillment— all creation praising God for his greatness, and his people praising him for his grace.
Psalm 148 reminds us that our worship joins a song already in progress, the unending hymn of creation itself. Every sunrise, every bird’s call, every breath we take is an echo of that eternal praise.
The heavens, the seas and the smallest living things all fulfill their purpose by glorifying the Creator. So should we. Worship, then, is not merely something we do; it is a way of being, a way of aligning our lives with the rhythm of creation’s song.
May we take our place in that chorus, not as spectators, but as grateful participants, lifting our voices with all creation to honor the One from whom all blessings flow.
Grace to Carry on One Day at a time
KAYE WAUGH
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth give way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.
PSALM 46:1-3
Have you ever faced tragedy and, in your confusion, questioned God asking, “What in the world just happened?”
Several weeks ago, as I went about the ordinary routines of the day, our nation was shaken by a shocking tragedy. Every news outlet carried the same headline: Charlie Kirk had been struck down by a single bullet.
That moment startled me and was a shocking reminder that life is precious and every moment spent on this side of heaven is a gift from God. At the same time, I wondered that as faith-filled believers, do we really have the right to question the sovereignty of God?
I
wondered that as faith-filled believers, do we really have the right to question the sovereignty of God?
I was in my early twenties when my father, only in his fifties, suddenly complained of sharp chest pains as the
family was getting ready for bed. The pain was so severe that my mother and I rushed him to the hospital. In our panic, we didn’t even realize we were both still in our nightgowns and my dad was not fully dressed. Tragically, my dad passed in the car on the way to the hospital. By the time we reached the ER, the doctor gently told us there was nothing more they could do. In those moments of shock and grief, it felt like time stopped and the earth stopped spinning on its axis. The fragility of life became painfully real.
Tragedy has a way of shaking us, not only outwardly but inwardly. It presses us to wrestle with questions we may not be ready to ask: Why, Lord? Where are you in this?
In the years that followed my father’s death, nothing was ever the same. It was not “business as usual” as some would say. Though my father’s absence is still a wound that will never fully heal, my faith has grown stronger. I have learned that hope is not the absence of sorrow but in the courage to lean into God’s love when the world feels unbearably heavy, and to find him a refuge and ever-present help in trouble as the psalmist wrote in Psalm 46.
And in that hope, I have discovered a resilience I did not know I possessed, a faith that can endure even the deepest pain. Through it all, I have discovered that we are never truly alone. The same God who held me in my darkest hours still walks with me today, and his grace is more than enough to carry me forward, one day at a time, through life’s trials.
To all of us who have been through tragedy and pain, the Lord has shown me this: God’s grace carries us through when the night feels cold, giving us strength beyond measure. When our loved ones are gone but our love for them remains, a river of comfort flows through all our pain. The grace of God helps us to carry on and to endure when we are weak and feeling tossed about by the storms. And it’s then, he whispers, “Be still; I am here. I am your refuge and strength when fear surrounds you.”
Metaphor, the Literary Prince of the Psalms
C. HASSELL BULLOCK
Human speech is a combination of sounds, eye movements, facial expressions, hand gestures and sometimes even whole-body movements.
Realistically, physical movements are generally lost to written language, but we have other features that, to some degree, compensate for the loss. Those are the literary devices that language has developed and incorporated into the written text. Much like punctuation, which basically contributes to clarity, literary devices are the facilitator of meaning.
When we read the Psalms we may assume that we do not need to look further than the simple text to derive meaning and encouragement from these great poems of faith, and that assumption is true to a degree. In fact, most of us do a surface reading of the Psalms. That is not, however, to be disparaged because the Holy Spirit meets us where we are as we read God’s Word. Yet, the very presence of literary forms, so prominent and critical to the meaning of the Psalms, is also an agent of the Holy Spirit, summoning readers of the Psalms to listen more carefully to the tones and overtones of their lines. Literary figures are a guide to interpreting the Psalms.
Indisputably, the prince of literary figures in the Psalms is metaphor. A metaphor uses the familiar to describe the unfamiliar, or a known thing or person to describe a different kind of thing or person. When David said, “The LORD is my Shepherd,” he wanted to say something about God that he couldn’t quite ar-
ticulate in the common story line. “Shepherd” is the metaphor, and the following clauses, utilizing the works of a shepherd that David was so familiar with, describe the shepherd’s occupational functions. The “shepherd” metaphor is now in control of the poetic lines—the Lord is the Shepherd and David is the lamb. To describe the Shepherd’s function, the psalmist could have simply
The “shepherd” metaphor is now in control of the poetic lines—the Lord is the Shepherd and David is the lamb.
said, “The Lord supplies all my needs,” and “he gives me cool water,” and he leads me in safe paths.” But that would have deprived the metaphor of its poetic power and left David struggling with his common language to pick up the very special character of the power and presence of the “shepherd” metaphor that provided all these insufficiencies. Moreover, the spirit in which God’s power and presence met his earthly servants was something David really needed to say, and he found the key in his own experience of shepherding. That is, he chose to use the familiar life/person he knew so well to express the spiritual realities he had also experienced and were so difficult to describe in common language. So, the “shepherd” metaphor takes control of the lines as the Lord also takes control of David’s life and destiny—the Lord is the
Shepherd and David is the lamb—that has become the storyline. Readers of the psalm resonate with the familiar, and in a mental and emotional transaction identify with the spiritual realities more readily than the plain words could have elicited.
This brings us to a second and obviously related transaction that metaphor creates. Metaphors sometimes use the familiar to describe the inexpressible, the latter becoming a force that seeks to be released to the readers’ understanding. How often do we see a beautiful landscape or a lovely portrait and are silenced by their beauty! But the very power of beauty creates a force within us that needs to loosen our tongues so we can complete the transaction, and metaphor rushes to the rescue: “That sunset is God’s coloring book.” In the case of the “shepherd” metaphor, David needed to draw to the readers’ minds the emotional realities of the shepherd and his sheep, whether explicit or implicit—it was a memory-conclave: how the loving shepherd carried the little ones on his shoulder after an injury or when they couldn’t navigate the terrain, “I shall not want”; how he walked unafraid through the valley of the shadow of death because “you (Lord) are with me”; how the shepherd left the ninety-and-nine, so to speak, to find that one little lamb that had wandered astray (“goodness and mercy shall pursue me”).
These functions of metaphor are basic, but there is another function that gives our rational senses a jolt: how could the psalmist call God whom he wanted us to meet in his power and presence, beyond all human imagination, how could he call him a shepherd, the lowliest of occupations! “King”—sure! But “Shepherd”? I think this is a point that puts us in touch with the inspiration of the Spirit like no other feature of the psalm. With metaphor David portrays both the inexpressible power and presence of Almighty God, and configures him in the humblest of vocations. In fact, standing on tiptoe and looking across the ages, we can call this a template of the Incarnation. Paul would eventually strip the metaphor clean and express this truth in words so plain that we could not miss their meaning, that God is both omnipotent and humbled: “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:5-8, emphasis added). In his book Orthodoxy, G. K. Chesterton expressed this truth in his own unique way: “Christianity alone has felt that God, to be wholly God, must have been a rebel as well as a king. Alone of all creeds, Christianity has added courage to the virtues of the Creator. For the only courage worth calling courage must necessarily mean that the soul passes a breaking point and does not break.” “The LORD is my Shepherd, . . .”
Before I am done with this presentation on the power and effectiveness of metaphor, the prince of literary figures, I want
to consider another function of metaphor which is drawn from other Scriptures and fixed in the psalmic lines. That, of course, has its own unique challenge. First, we must recognize them as Scriptural allusions—and we should take them seriously. Second, we must recognize how they instruct in their source context and also how the transfer to the new setting is related to the old and instructs in the new. Psalm 46 begins by acclaiming God as “our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling” (46:1-3, emphasis added). The psalmist draws his allusion from Genesis 1 where God’s work of creation on the third day consisted of gathering the waters into one place, and the response of the land, submerged beneath the waters, separates from the waters to form the earth: “‘Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.’ And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good” (Gen. 1:9-10). The psalmist takes this image of the dry land emerging from beneath the waters to form the earth, and reverses it. The earth is resubmerging itself in the seas, and the transaction is so perturbing to the seas that they are roaring and turbulent, and the mountains are trembling in reaction to the seas’ disorderly movements. The reversal of the created order has thrown the cosmos into an upheaval. The message of the metaphor, drawn from its Genesis context and inserted into its new setting, is that, even when the world, morally and theologically speaking, is moving in the wrong direction, God is still there as our refuge and strength. He is the creator of the world which he spoke into existence, and still “makes wars cease” and “breaks the bow and shatters the spear,” and “burns the chariots with fire” (46:9). A more powerful metaphor could hardly be possible in order to describe the power and presence of God, and that means “The LORD of hosts is with us!” (46:11) If readers miss that message, they miss the central message of Psalm 46.
Metaphor is one of God’s ways of speaking to us, and its power moves our understanding beyond our normal human capabilities.
Gallery SPOTLIGHT
ADVENT HARVEST
Visions of hope, peace, joy, love
With our ArtSpace Gallery opening mid-November and running through December, we decided to focus on Advent and creativity around its themes of hope, peace joy and love from around the world. We are still collecting and putting together (harvesting) submitted images with the theme of the show.
We have invited participants from Voice of the Martyrs, missionaries and some of our own in-church world travelers.
This month’s cover image comes from our own photographer, J. Marr Miller, who always travels with photography in mind. With all of us carrying cameras on our phones, the volume of photographs is surely increasing dramatically, but not all photography is the same. Some capture a moment, tell a story, and express life and beauty in fresh and inspiring ways. Those we have selected, we believe, express Thanksgiving and Advent in a global and celebratory way.
We will also feature this gallery in our December issue. We encourage you to visit the gallery and return to this page next month to see and learn more about these images of Advent Harvest.
GALLERY
CREATION
Art from the STARS Family Services Art Studio
SEPTEMBER 28-NOVEMBER 7
Closing night art auction starts at 7 p.m.
The artists at the SFS Studio have been exploring the days of creation. Come share their insights into the handiwork of God and his good creation.
ADVENT HARVEST
Visions of hope, peace, joy, love
NOVEMBER 16-DECEMBER 28
Curated global images of hope, peace joy and love from around the world.
Our winter open show for everyone expressing light and truth in winter. Registration opens in December.
GALLERY HOURS:
Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 12 to 2 p.m.
NOTE: For other opening times, contact the church office at (630) 668-0878 or email artspace@ college-church.org
GATHERING
A monthly coming together, where we discuss our personal projects and the many facets of creativity and God.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 11 at 7 p.m. in Crossings
Nov. word of the month: PSALMS ALL ARE WELCOME!
WORKSHOPS
GROWING YOUR WRITING MUSCLES IN 2025
FALL WRITING WORKSHOP WITH ANDY LE PEAU
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8
9-11:30 a.m. in Crossings
Registration: $20 includes a copy of Andy’s book Write Better [financial help available, email artspace@college-church.org]
IMPROV GROUP
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15
12-2 p.m. in Crossings conference room
FREE | No registration.
Join this new recurring group to learn and practice principles and practices of improv, led by Doug Lindhardt.
ORIGAMI & ORNAMENTS
Celebrating the holidays with paperfolding and handcrafts.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 13
Noon-2 p.m.
FREE | Registration required.
Come celebrate the holiday season by making and decorating your own origami ornament, a keepsake to cherish and remember as the years go by. Come learn a bit about the art of paper folding from Ruth Gregornik and CJ Wenninger. This is a workshop suitable for adults and children eight years and older.
For more information or to sign up for a workshop, visit our webpage: college-church.org/artspace.
The Rock of My Strength
PAT CIRRINCIONE
Lately, life has been extremely sad and depressing for me. I know, not exactly a way to begin a story, but it’s all I’ve got right now. My patience has run dry. I am aghast at so much. It all just troubles my already weary soul. Even as a saint “in training” with the help of the Holy Spirit on a daily basis, I’ve been tempted to avoid the long check-out lines at the trouble lane and just stay buried in bed with my trusty pillow. It’s beyond me how David or the prophets and even Jesus himself persevered and remained steadfast in trouble.
Instead of bailing, I do stay in the trouble lane and keep reading my Bible—my lifeline to sanity and hope, the rock of my strength, but I still don’t have the patience for this turmoil my family is going through right now.
Kindness and patience have always been my trademark, but lately even flowery descriptions in books make me fidget and fume. What is going on? Am I in need of a change in perspective? Because right now I don’t have much tolerance for the circumstances surrounding our family and their lives. I’m tired, overwhelmed and sick of all the nonsense. I feel like I’m left-handed in right-handed surroundings. I can’t make my mind figure out how to cope from a left-handed perspective, so I give up. I’m done mustering the enthusiasm or interest for anything, and like Donna Cameron says in her book A Year of Living Kindly, “I’m going to roll my eyes back and look at my watch” (which mine, by the way, needs a battery).
Right now, as Donna says: “I’m allowing my granddaughters and son to stumble, fumble, or even just sit and think about their lives without jumping in to fix, show them how to ‘do it right’ or do it for them.” Right now, I’m experiencing compassion fatigue, so withdrawing at times does help to restore my sense of
balance. Until I read Psalm 121, and verse two keeps reminding me that “my help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” Grace upon grace, God will restore us all. As Jill Briscoe says in her book Faith Enough to Suffer: “You can’t say Jesus is all you need UNTIL Jesus is all you’ve got.”
I guess my tears are talking right now, affecting both my heart and tear ducts, yet I know that God never fails us. Briscoe continues: “Above all I know, with a huge sense of gratitude, that moment by moment, day by daily day, yoke by yoke, crisis by crisis, because His compassions never fail and because great is His unfailing love—I am heard!”
But all this illness cannot be happening to my family! I know that God sends us hardships when we least expect them but come on! God just gave our family an amazing miracle, and now all this illness again. Three in a row? All causing pain and discomfort?
There is one thing I know (actually I know more than one), I am not independently sufficient. I cannot get through these days alone or on my own. I know that light is shining in the darkness. I read Psalm 6: 6-9 and I know.
“I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping; My eye wastes away because of grief; it grows weak because of my foes.
Depart from me, all you workers of evil, for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping. The Lord has heard my plea, the Lord accepts my prayer.”
So, I will have hope in the middle of my grief because God is listening. He hears my weeping even when I have no words. I know, through faith, that God hears each one of my pleas for help, just as he heard David, and the prophets and his Son’s anguish cry to “let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not as I will but as you will.” (Matthew 26:39) I know I don’t have to suffer in silence, just look at me writing this aloud, and I know that has not shut his heart to my weeping. I will continue in “my distress to call out to the Lord” (Psalm 120:1) and know that “my help comes from the Lord “(Psalm 121:2).
Forgive me for lamenting. Life is not always a bowl of cherries. My tears cannot compare to Mary, Jesus’ earthly mother, when
she watched him breath his last, but our pain is unique to us and our family. And we remember that we are never alone. God hears us! We have experienced two major miracles already in our family, and I will relentlessly keep praying for the rest as I recite these lines from my favorite prayer, the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
Becoming a follower of Christ doesn’t mean life will be nothing but joyous achievements. It means we follow Jesus in the pain; we follow Jesus while we suffer, we follow Jesus because of how he died for us, and we trust in him to give us rest even while the storms keep pushing at our doors.
Stones of Remembrance
LELAN D RYKEN
The Book of Psalms holds an esteemed place in the lives of the faithful, and a brief survey of famous statements about the Psalms can alert us to some reasons for this exalted position. Martin Luther, for example, called the Book of Psalms “a miniature Bible,” in tribute to the comprehensiveness of subject matter that we find there. In this regard, it is worthy of note that the Book of Psalms is the longest book in the Bible by a wide margin (2,161 verses), a fact concealed by the way in which the self-contained units make the book user friendly.
Charles Spurgeon urged upon his congregation in London that “in these busy days, it would be greatly to the spiritual profit of Christians if they were more familiar with the Book of Psalms, in which they would find a complete armory for life’s battles and a perfect supply for life’s needs.” The emphasis here is on the practical spiritual usefulness of the Psalms, in an acknowledgement that daily life is difficult and requires combat gear.
Some of the most famous sayings about the Psalms appear in John Calvin’s preface to his commentary on the Psalms. One of these is Calvin’s designation of the Psalms as “an anatomy of all the parts of the soul, for there is not an emotion of which any one can be conscious that is not here represented.”
Statements such as these provide an excellent roadmap to guide our experience of the Psalms, but by their very nature they leave the personal story of individuals out of the discussion. For the remainder this article, I will share ways in which specific psalms on specific occasions left a permanent imprint on my life, so that I can look back on these psalms and events as stones of remembrance from my past.
For example, I can remember from early childhood that on days of the birthday of a family member, after the evening
meal my father would interrupt the regular sequence of Bible readings and read, without explanation, Psalm 103. It had the status of a birthday psalm (a tradition not limited to my family). As I recall this family ritual, it encapsulates for me the solidity of my family’s faith that I absorbed from earliest childhood.
In a similar vein, I remember a specific occasion when following the quarterly communion service, the pastor began to read (again without explanation) Psalm 103. For me, at that moment in my childhood, it was awe-inspiring—a stone of remembrance. I now know that the reading of Psalm 103 as a postcommunion psalm has been a standard practice in Reformed churches dating all the way back to John Calvin.
My largest stone of remembrance centers on Psalm 23, and I need to clarify that it was not the psalm alone that made it formative in my life but rather the occasion in which the psalm played a central role. During the final spring of my graduate education in Eugene, Oregon, the pastor of our tiny home mission church was absent for a Sunday, so he entrusted the adult Sunday school class to me. We need to picture a class of a mere seven or eight people, meeting in the living room of a church-owned house that eventually became the site of a church building.
On a human plane, I cannot reconstruct why I chose to teach Psalm 23. I remember that as a high schooler I had been captivated by an article in the Reader’s Digest that I had read in my family’s Iowa farmhouse. It was a Basque shepherd’s interpretation of Psalm 23, with emphasis on the literal details of a shepherd’s daily routine in Bible times. That coincided perfectly with the way in which literature, my chosen area of study, is a record of human experience.
To my astonishment, I discovered a bound copy of that issue of the Reader’s Digest in the bowels of the University of
Oregon library. It provided what I needed to compose what in the world of literary scholarship is called an explication or close reading of a text. I threw myself into the venture with zest, and I have a faint memory that the presentation was so extensive that it spilled over into the next Sunday’s meeting. All of the ingredients of my educational life up to that point converged in this event— my Christian school background, my literary education, my desire to relate my academic life to my life of faith, and my desire to make myself useful to ordinary people.
I was aware relatively quickly of the formative nature of this humble church assignment in my life. Now, sixty years later, I can see even more clearly how I discovered my vocation as I prepared for a Sunday school class on Psalm 23. My whole career and calling as a spokesperson for the literary approach to the Bible and the integration of literature with the Christian faith started with my interaction with Psalm 23, and in the church, not the academy. It has been a stone of remembrance like the twelve stones that Joshua erected on the bank of the Jordan River.
My remembrance of specific events related to specific psalms is not everyone’s experience. Nonetheless, a takeaway from what I have said might be to take a stroll down memory lane to see if psalms from the past are in fact a precious memory. Additionally, we can be open to the possibility that a specific psalm, at a specific moment in our life, might turn out to be a burning bush for us.
The Punjabi Psalter: A Unique Heritage of the Church in India and Pakistan
YOUSAF SADIQ
Christianity is often misperceived as a Western religion in the Indian Subcontinent. However, the unique heritage of the Punjabi Psalter refutes it. The Punjabi Psalter is a fullest expression of indigenous Punjabi Christianity, which is deeply rooted in the region of Punjab. For over 150 years these Psalms have been a symbol of unity and a backbone of Christian worship within the Punjabi congregations in both India and Pakistan.
The Punjabi Psalter (commonly referred to as the Zabur) is the metrical translation of the Psalms into the Punjabi language. One cannot envisage worship among the Punjabi churches without the singing of psalms and without question, the Punjabi Psalms are the most familiar part of the Scripture. Their use is beyond denominational boundaries as they are equally cherished by non-denominational, Anglican, Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal and Catholic churches alike. According to a former Anglican Bishop in Pakistan, when Punjabi mothers nurse their babies, they transfer the Punjabi Psalter in their milk. In other words, it is common for as little as a two or three-year-old child to sing some of these Psalms by heart. As the Psalmist writes: “One generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts” (Psalm 145:4).
HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?
In the late nineteenth-century in North India, worship in local churches was done using the Western melodies as some Western Christian workers were biased to the use of their style of music in Christian worship. However, it did not attract the local congregations. The Punjabi congregations could not connect to the Western forms, as it was neither their language nor the style of music that they were familiar with.
One generation commends your works to another
PSALM 145:4
Nevertheless, after an approach to missions was modified, the Psalms received an immediate and warm welcome by ordinary people. Dr. Rev. Imam-ud-Din Shahbaz, who can truly be referred to as the man behind the making of the Punjabi Psalter played an integral role. He was a convert from an Islamic background, who embarrassed the Christian faith through the Church Missionary Society, and with assistance from the American Presbyterian workers in India, he translated the entire book of Psalms in poetic Punjabi and set them to local Indian melodies (ragas).
Dr. Shahbaz first translated each psalm into Punjabi in versified form. The next step was to evaluate the translation of the Psalms against the Hebrew text of the Psalter. The final stage was to select the tune to be used with each psalm. The committee for this project worked tirelessly to collect data and listen to various commonly used tunes, members with musical skills spent a considerable amount of time listening to traveling minstrels in North Indian settings. It is to be noted that at that time, and even today, Indian music is
learned and passed on solely by repetition and memory. The Punjabi Psalms are regarded as Bhajan style, which was and is the type of devotional singing commonly used in the Indian Subcontinent.
During the later stages of his life, Dr. Shahbaz lost his sight and is often referred to as Milton of the Punjab. His legacy continues to this day. Of all the languages of the Indian Subcontinent, only Punjabi possesses, and widely uses, the entire Psalter in versified form. It is therefore fitting to consider the remarkable work of Dr. Shahbaz as a precious gift to the Punjabi Christian community in the Indian Subcontinent.
HOW ARE THE PUNJABI PSALMS BEING USED?
Corporate worship within Punjabi congregations is considered incomplete if it does not include the Punjabi Psalms. First of all, believers use them for their spiritual growth and the building up of their faith in both personal and communal expression of devotion. These versified Psalms have played a central role in the theological development of the Punjabi church. Virtually all Punjabi Christians know a number of the Punjabi Psalms by heart. The majority of the older generation has had no schooling, so their memorizing God’s Word as translated in the Punjabi Psalms contributes greatly to their learning truths about God.
The Punjabi Psalms also play a vital role in church liturgy. Psalm 24 (part 2) which is the opening song at services, is certainly the most familiar Punjabi Psalm. It is often referred to as the national anthem of the Punjabi congregations in India and Pakistan. Psalm 72 (part 4) is normally sung at the end of a Punjabi church service. Another interesting feature that has been linked with Psalm 72 is the church offering. Psalm 20 (part 1) is usually sung at funerals. Churches use the second part of Psalm 45 at wedding ceremonies. In the Subcontinent on a wedding day, the bridegroom, accompanied by friends, relatives and family members, arrives at the bride’s house with drums and big horns that play well-known Bollywood or folk melodies. It is a way of celebration. Christians who do not approve of using worldly melodies at such an occasion, however, replace them with melodies of the Punjabi Psalms. And at a service for the birth of a child, Psalm 127 is usually read and is used as the sermon text.
In 2023, 28 churches and 100 Christian homes were burned down by an angry and violent mob in the town of Jaranwala in Pakistan. The very first Sunday after that incident, the believers gathered outside their burned churches. They knew exactly what to do. As a community, with tears and weeping, they sang the Psalms of lament in the Punjabi language. Through this, they expressed their grief and sorrow before God, but also showed their trust in the Lord, who can sustain us in difficult times.
The impact of the Punjabi Psalter is beyond church boundaries as well. Two years ago, an event on the Punjabi Psalter took place at the High Commission of Pakistan in London, UK. The ambassador took five minutes to speak about the cultural, social and linguistic aspects of the Punjabi Psalter that he could connect with as a non-Christian Punjabi person. The non-Christian musical bands learn the tunes of the Punjabi Psalter to play on social events. It is to be noted that there are 180 million Punjabi speakers in Pakistan, 30 million in India, one million in Canada and 300 thousand in the United States.
HOW IS THIS UNIQUE STORY SHARED LOCALLY AND GLOBALLY?
It is regrettable that Dr. Shahbaz’s work in creating enduring Punjabi poetry and his contributions toward spiritual development have not yet been more widely recognized.
The Punjabi Psalter Society was founded to preserve, propagate and publicize the Punjabi Psalms, for the glory of God. Currently, the work on ‘A Pictorial Journey of the Punjabi Psalter’ is underway. The goal is to collect historical documents, original images, and creative illustrations to tell the full story of the Punjabi Psalter. The work will serve as a primary resource to document the story of the Punjabi Psalter that will also be of greater value for travelling exhibits and a pictorial presentation.
This work not only serves as a significant step in preserving the heritage of the Punjabi Psalter but also opens doors to connect with non-Christian Punjabi speakers through shared cultural, social and linguistic ties. It is hoped to exhibit the Punjabi Psalter at the Museum of the Bible next year, as well as at other places both locally and globally.
The story of the Punjabi Psalter is remarkable and fascinating. If one is to ask how to do missions successfully in an oral culture? The answer is the Punjabi Psalter.
CHURCH LIFE
NOVEMBER HIGHLIGHTS
SUNDAY MORNING WORSHIP SERVICES
Everyone welcome.
Join us at 8, 9:30 and 11 a.m.
You can watch it at college-church. org/livestream
MORNING SERMON SERIES: JESUS’ HEAVENLY KINGDOM
Senior Pastor Josh Moody preaching
NOVEMBER 2: The Secrets of the Kingdom, Matthew 13:11
NOVEMBER 9: The Beginning of the Kingdom, Matthew 13:1-23
NOVEMBER 16: The Growth of the Kingdom, Matthew 13:24-43
NOVEMBER 23: The Culmination of the Kingdom, Matthew 13:44-52
ADVENT SERMON SERIES: SIX STEPS TO CHRISTMAS
Senior Pastor Josh Moody Preaching NOVEMBER 30 (Advent 1): A Child Who Is a Mighty God, Isaiah 9:6
SUNDAY EVENING SERVICES:
Everyone welcome.
Join us at 5 p.m. in Commons Hall. Songs of Wisdom Sermons from the Psalms
NOVEMBER 2: Psalm 119:145-152, Pastor James Seward preaching, International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church
NOVEMBER 9: Psalm 119:153-160, Pastoral Resident Caleb Aulie preaching
NOVEMBER 16: Psalm 119:161-168, Pastor Curt Miller preaching
NOVEMBER 23: Psalm 119:169-176, Pastor Dan Hiben preaching
NOVEMBER 30: Thanksgiving weekend, no evening service
THANKSGIVING EVE SERVICE
Wednesday, November 26, at 7 p.m. A time to give thanks together. Bring friends and family. Pastor Moody preaching, What Makes Jesus Thankful, Matthew 11:25-30.
SWEET TIME GATHERING
Enjoy a sweet and some fellowship after the service.
ADULT COMMUNITIES
FORUM 15 Sundays 8 a.m. Commons Hall (C104F)
• Teacher: Bruce Main (Nov. 2 & 9)
• Study: A Journey Through the Five Books of Moses
• Teacher: David Fetzer (Nov. 16 & 23)
• Study: Thanksgiving in the Old Testament: Who, How and Why
• Teacher: Dick Albright (Nov. 30)
• Study: Old Testament Prophecy and Christ’s First Coming
• Description: prayer, singing and study with class interaction.
GREEK EXEGESIS Sundays 9:30 a.m. in the Board Room
• Teacher: Jon Laansma
• Study: 2 & 3 John
• Description: reading and discussion of the Greek New Testament. Knowledge of Greek is not required for this class.
LIFE TOGETHER Sundays 9:30 a.m. room 211 (old library)
• Teacher: David Kelley (teaching team coordinator)
• Study: Parables of the Christian Life
• Description: short teaching with small group discussion. Authentic biblical community for adults, ages 25-40.
LIVING WORD Sundays 9:30 a.m. Commons Hall (C104A)
• Teachers: Dick Albright, Felipe Chamy, Gary Cook, Jacob Samuel Raju, Jay Cunningham, Phil Ryken
• Study: John 16-21
• Description: A “community within a community,” where we share, pray and learn together.
LOGOS 9:30 a.m. Commons Hall (C104C & E)
• Teachers: Rob Nordstrom and Tim Sattler
• Study: Exodus
• Description: a caring community centered around interactive Bible teaching and prayer, spanning a range of ages and family situations
THRIVE Sundays 9:30 a.m. in Clapham Fine Arts Center
• Teachers: Joe Becker (teaching team coordinator)
• Study: Letter to Titus
• Description: a vibrant group, ages approximately 40-60, committed to growing with Jesus and his church through Bible-based teaching, small group discussion, common prayer and fellowship.
VERITAS Sundays 9:30 a.m. Commons Hall (C104B & D)
• Teacher: Dr. Gregg Quiggle
• Study: The Person and Work of Christ
• Description: a teaching class with active discussion and interaction. Most attendees are middle to upper age.
WOMEN’S MINISTRIES
COOKING WORKSHOP
Monday, November 3.
Join us for a cooking workshop. This will be a relaxed and fun evening with Teri Hiben and Julie Busteed. We look forward to seeing you then. Please register online. Free.
MEET UP FOR LUNCH!
Enjoy a potluck meal and an opportunity for fellowship with a smaller group. Once you sign up, we’ll coordinate the attendees (6-8 per gathering) and communicate via email. You can choose to host in your space or attend as a guest, but either way we hope you’ll be a part of these special gatherings. We have both a midweek option, on Friday, November 14 or Sunday, November 16. Please sign up online by Monday, November 10.
MOM2MOM
NOVEMBER 10: Large Group Gathering in Commons Hall, 9:3011 a.m., topic: God’s unfailing love
NOVEMBER 17: Playdate in Commons Gym, 9:30-11:30 a.m.
WOMEN’S BIBLE STUDY
Wednesdays, with a break on November 26 for Thanksgiving
MORNING: 9:30-11 a.m.
EVENING: 6:45-8:15 p.m.
MEN’S MINISTRIES
MEN’S BIBLE STUDY
Wednesdays at 6:45-8:15 in Commons West. Not meeting on Wednesday November 26 for Thanksgiving
MEN’S BASKETBALL Thursdays at 8 p.m. in Commons Gym
MEN’S WINTER RETREAT
Save the Date: February 6-7
Dr. Paul House will be our speaker. Registration now open.
CHILDREN’S MINISTRIES (KIDS’ HARBOR)
SUNDAY MORNING
Nursery (0-2) at 9:30 and 11 a.m.
Bible school (preschool-third grade) at 9:30 a.m.
At the 9:30 hour, fourth and fifth graders begin with their families in the service (or an Adult Community) until dismissed for Bible school.
Wonders of Worship “WOW” (K-third grade) dismissed during second half of 11 a.m. service
Children’s church (older preschool) during second half of 11 a.m. service
KMs meets in the KMs Room (lowest level of the Commons) 9:30-10:30 for fun & fellowship, worship & prayer, and Bible & small groups.
WEDNESDAY NIGHT
KMs meets in the Crossings 6:458:15 for fun & fellowship, worship
& prayer, Bible & small groups, and snacks. No KMs on Wednesday, November 26.
HIGH SCHOOL (HYACKS)
SUNDAY MORNING
HYACKS meets in the Clapham Space in the Crossings building 9:30-10:30 for a time of teaching and worship. The entrance is on Wesley Street across from the ATM machines. There will be a flag outside the entrance door.
WEDNESDAY NIGHT
HYACKS: 7-8:30 p.m. Large Group meets in Clapham on Nov. 5 & 12.
Small Groups meet in homes on November 19. No Hyacks on Wednesday, November 26.
COLLEGE GROUP
(for college-age young adults)
SUNDAY MORNING
College Group gathers at 10:45 a.m.–12 p.m. in the Crossings for fellowship through God’s Word, musical worship, prayer and testimonies.
SUNDAY NIGHT
Discipleship Cohort meets 6:308 p.m. for a deep dive into systematic theology and how it translates into our discipleship and calling; registration required.
WEEKNIGHT LIFE GROUPS times and locations TBD; Life Groups meet in homes to read through the Book of Mark and build intentional fellowship within the body of Christ.
continued on next page
STARS DISABILITY
Children, Adult and Multi-Generational Sunday classes meet at 9:30 and 11 a.m. No classes on November 30.
Praise in Action: Wednesdays, 6:45-8:15 p.m. in Welsh Hall/Choir Room. No PIA on November 26
STARS Choir: Sundays, 5-6:15 p.m. in Commons C002 (tunnel level). No choir on November 30.
Friday Night Fun: November 14 6:30-8:30 p.m. in Commons Gym
ARTSPACE
Details on page 9.
SIGNS OF LOVE
BUILDING BRIDGES: 3:30-5 p.m. on November 2 and 16 in Crossings conference room, with a special speaker on November 2.
MEMBERSHIP CLASS
Come find out about College Church’s history, core beliefs, ministries and what it means for you to be a member. This membership opportunity will be on Saturday, November 8, from 8 a.m.- noon in the Commons; registration is requested. For more info, contact Christy at membership@ college-church.org, or call (630) 668-0878, ext. 175.
ABOUT US LUNCH
Are you new to College Church or would you like to learn more about us? If so, you’re invited to a special lunch on Sunday, November 16, at noon in the lobby outside the Sanctuary. Come and meet pastors and staff, learn about College Church, and find out how you can get involved. Lunch is on us! RSVP to help us plan.
SURVIVING THE HOLIDAYS
Has the loss of a loved one left you wondering how you will survive
the weeks surrounding Thanksgiving and Christmas? Come be encouraged about dealing with loss during the holidays. This special GriefShare seminar will be held on Monday, November 17, from 7-8:30 p.m. in Commons Hall. For more info, contact Christy at ext. 175 or griefshare@college-church.org.
BECOMING ONE
KEENAGERS
On Friday, November 21, Pastor Roger Burgess will share about Todd Beamer, Flight 93, and other events from 9/11. Roger taught and coached Todd in junior high at Wheaton Christian Grammar School and has unique insights into this man of character and integrity. The evening begins with a reception at 5:30, dinner at 6, and the program at 7 p.m. Sign up by November 18 by emailing keenagers@college-church. org, or use the QR code. The cost is $10 per person, payable that evening.
GRACE GROUPS
Grace Groups are for those affected by mental illness. Family Grace is for those who have a loved one living with difficult mental and emotional issues. You’ll find it to be a warm, caring and confidential environment. Meets almost weekly, October 20 through May.
STEPS OF FAITH
Steps of Faith such as believers baptism or confirmation, and infant baptism or dedication are important signposts in our lives. If you are interested in pursuing one of these for yourself or a family member, contact Christy at baptism@college-church.org.
is a class for engaged couples. It provides a biblical perspective on topics such as the covenant of marriage, roles of husbands and wives, finances, intimacy, communication and conflict resolution. Becoming One will be Saturday, January 31, 2026, from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. It includes one daylong session with other couples, plus two personal sessions with a mentor couple. Cost is $50 per couple for the online premarital assessment, lunch and expenses. If you have questions or would like to register, please contact Christy at marriage@ college-church.org.
THIS Thanksgiving
THREE WAYS TO REACH OUT THIS THANKSGIVING
Make Room at Your Thanksgiving Table. As Thanksgiving approaches, consider setting a few extra place settings at your table for international students. Your hospitality may open a door for conversations about life and faith, and perhaps a new cross-cultural friendship will continue after the holiday. You can choose to host on November 27, 28, or 29: it doesn’t have to be Thursday, November 27. Some students will prefer a different day than Thursday. You can sign up online on our events page. Register by Sunday, November 16.
International Multi-Nations
Thanksgiving Potluck Event. November 22 starts at noon, in the Commons. Bring a favorite dish and share it with folks from the Vietnamese Christian Missionary Alliance Church, Salam Christian
Fellowship, Jerusalem Baptist Church, Zomi Community and Immanuel Myanmar Church. Questions? Contact Emmauel (630) 456-0910 or Emmanuel.Tahear@ gmail.com.
Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day. Join us on Thanksgiving morning for the 14th annual GO Ministries Turkey Trot 5K. This year’s funds will help launch the Faithful Friends Project, empowering local pastors and leaders in the Dominican Republic to include people with disabilities in their churches and ministries. College Church missionaries Kyle Bradley and Libbie Casey Liriano serve in the DR with GO Ministries and are involved in launching this new initiative. Register and donate at gomin.org/ wheatontt25. Deadline to purchase a T-shirt is November 14.
Looking Ahead
CHRISTMAS PROGRAMS AT COLLEGE CHURCH
DECEMBER 7: Child of Light, Children’s Choirs Christmas Program, 5 p.m. in the Sanctuary
DECEMBER 14: Love Came Down, STARS Christmas Program, 5 p.m. in the Sanctuary
DECEMBER 21: Abide With Us, Adult Choir Christmas Program, 5 p.m. in the Sanctuary
MEN’S RETREAT
FEBRUARY 6-7, 2026:
VENUE: Hilton Doubletree Inn, Oakbrook, IL
SPEAKER: Dr. Paul House
TOPIC: “Our Story Ends with God Singing”: A study on the Book of Zephaniah
Under the Radar
AT WHEATON COLLEGE
Billy Graham’s Legacy for a New Generation, November 7, 2-3 p.m., Barrows Auditorium
Jazz Ensemble and Combos Concert, November 21, 7:30 p.m., Armerding Center for Music and Arts Concert Hall, Visit tickets. wheaton.edu
AT THE ARBORETUM
Illumination: Tree Lights at the Morton Arboretum, Opens November 15-January 3, 2026. Purchase tickets online at tickets. mortonarb.org
Breakfast with Santa in the Ginkgo Room, a holiday-themed buffet breakfast. Ten dates in November and December. Visit the arb’s site for more information.
AT KLINE CREEK FARM
Backyard Chickens: Learn how to buy and raise chickens. November 8, Register by phone at (630) 2069576, Ages 18+, $40
Guide House Tour: Winter Holidays in the 1890s, November 21, 10 a.m.4 p.m. Tours begin at the top of the hour, $5 donation.
DOWNTOWN WHEATON
Annual Christmas Parade, followed by the Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony, Friday, November 29 at 6 p.m. The tree lighting is at the Pavilion near Liberty Drive and Main Street, just south of the railroad tracks
Facilities FACTS
THERMOSTATS
There are over 60 thermostats in the Commons and Sanctuary buildings alone. Thermostats monitor ambient temperature via internal or remote sensors, sending on/off or modulating signals to your boiler, pumps, and zone valves (temperature sensing). There are three types of commercial thermostatsmanual, programmable, and smart thermostats. Large buildings are divided into zoning to bring the heat where most needed. These thermostats need bi-annual checks and routine maintenance to clean sensors and inspect batteries to provide the precision for directing powerful boilers and pumping systems. Facilities maintains a check list to inspect each thermostat to keep the spaces comfortable throughout the year.
Out of the Quagmire
CHERYL WARNER
Living in Ukraine and seeing the devastating effects of war in people’s lives, with new waves of attacks causing further loss and destruction, there are moments when I am just flat-out angry. Angry about lost lives, destroyed property, traumatized children, displaced people—and the evil behind it all that seems to run rampant, unchecked. We are told, “In your anger, do not sin” (Psalm 4:4, quoted in Ephesians 4:26, NIV). Anger is an appropriate response to evil attacks, but it can so easily take us to a bad place. How do we avoid that?
Psalm 37 [all Scripture quotations are from the NIV] shows the way. “Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil.” (verse 8) How ironic that I can be appropriately angry about the deeds of evildoers, yet in danger of having my own heart poisoned with evil if I let the anger simmer.
Three times in Psalm 37 David tells us not to fret. “Do not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of
those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.” (verse 1) “Do not fret . . . when they carry out their wicked schemes” (verse 7). “Do not fret—it leads only to evil.” (verse 8)
But how do we turn from anger and stop fretting? This wisdom psalm, written when David was older, shows us the way out of the quagmire of anger, fear, anxiety and hopelessness. He reminds us of the big picture: God is not absent, and he will deal with evildoers.
What will God do about the wicked?
“Those who are evil will be destroyed.” (verse 9)
“A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found.” (verse 10)
“The Lord laughs at the wicked, for he knows their day is coming.” (verse 13)
“The power of the wicked will be broken.” (verse 17)
“The wicked will perish.” (verse 20)
HOW
CAN ANGER AND FRETTING
LEAD TO EVIL?
My anger, allowed to fester, would only lead to harm—harm to my own soul. In this psalm God invites me to remember that he is the judge of the wicked, and he will do it. Fretting over evil and stewing over the deeds of the wicked only robs me of my peace today. Instead of fretting, he invites me to replace worry with a conscious delight in the Lord. Obsessing about all that is wrong in the world takes
Instead of fretting, he invites me to replace worry with a conscious delight in the Lord.
my eyes off of Jesus and runs the risk of causing me to miss the sweetness of his presence. I am invited to “be still before him and wait patiently for him” (v. 7). What a beautiful posture of trust in his character and his promises.
This trust is not inactive, even in the waiting, but it leads to action. “Trust in the Lord and do good.” (verse 3) There is much good being done in Ukraine in the name of Jesus by people who trust God and are waiting for him.
WHAT ARE WE TO DO?
“Do not fret.” (verses 1, 7, 8)
“Trust in the Lord and do good.” (verse 3)
“Take delight in the Lord.” (verse 4)
“Commit your way to the Lord.” (verse 5)
“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him.” (verse 7)
“Refrain from anger and turn from wrath.” (verse 8)
“Turn from evil and do good.” (verse 27)
“Hope in the Lord and keep his way.” (verse 34)
DWELL IN THE LAND
The phrase “dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture” (verse 3) is interesting
to contemplate in a country that is continuously being attacked. Yet we live here, so that is exactly what we are doing, along with many others in Ukraine who follow our Good Shepherd every day and trust him through the darkest nights. His presence and comfort are real and precious. He is our refuge. He is our “stronghold in time of trouble” (verse 39). He himself is our peace, all the more real against a backdrop of war.
And surely David refers to a future fulfillment of our inheritance in the coming age when he writes, “The righteous will inherit the land and dwell in it forever” (verse 29). How we long for that day, living under the righteous rule of King Jesus, with no more war or sorrow or pain. Come, Lord Jesus.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR PRAYER
Call the church office or email info@college-church.org for details on these prayer meetings.
SUNDAY MORNING PRAYER: 8:15-8:40 a.m., meets in the Commons board room
MONDAY MORNING PRAYER: 6:15 a.m., meets in C104A
MIDWEEK PRAYER MEETING: Wednesdays at NOON via Zoom
NOVEMBER 5: Mihai & Tamara Lundell, One Challenge International, organizational and member care in Italy
NOVEMBER 12: D. and V. A., discipleship and counseling in the MENA region
NOVEMBER 19: Caleb & Marissa Duttweiler, Faith & Learning (East Mountain), discipleship in South Africa
NOVEMBER 26: not meeting on Thanksgiving Eve
PRAYER FOR THE PERSECUTED CHURCH: Fridays, 12-1 p.m., Commons board room
AARON-HUR PRAYER FELLOWSHIP
will meet on Thursday, November 13, at 7 p.m. at the home of Eric and Marilyn Enstrom, 1460 Stoddard Avenue in Wheaton, (630) 248-5016. Please join us.
BARNABAS PRAYER FELLOWSHIP
will meet at 1:30 p.m. on November 18, in the Patio Dining Room at Windsor Park, and will hear from Daniel Bair about the work he and others are doing—and hope to do—in the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago.
MEMBERSHIP CLASS
Saturday, November 8 from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Ready to participate fully in the life and ministries of College Church? Come find out about College Church’s history, core beliefs, ministries and what it means for you to be a member. Registration is requested; walk ins are welcome!
To register, use QR code. For more info, contact Christy at membership@collegechurch.org,or call (630) 668-0878, ext. 175.
God Centered Life is an independent, listenersupported ministry that brings the preaching and teaching of Pastor Moody to all corners of the globe. Listeners from more than 200 countries visit the GCL website for resources.
A broadcast listener shared this: “I live and work in Japan. My wife is Japanese and not a believer. We have two daughters. There has been a lot of pressures, suffering and difficulties. But I am hopeful, holding on to God’s wonderful promises. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. God bless God Centered Life…”
MILESTONES
BIRTHS
Lyneah Rose and Lucy Renee were born to Sarah and Justin Dalton on September 26, joining their big brothers Micah, Levi and Remy. Their maternal grandparents are Paul and Lynette Trautwein.
MARRIAGES
Jennie Nicodem married Bob Coon at College Church on October 10. The Coons are making their home in the Wheaton area.
DEATHS
Pray for mid-term missionary Michael Walker and family as they grieve the loss of Michael’s mother, Susan, who passed away on October 1.
Pray for Cindy (Dave) Roberts and family as they grieve the loss of Cindy’s brother, David Mulder, who passed away on September 10 in New Lenox, Illinois.
This global ministry is here for you, College Church. Use it to augment your daily devotions and re-listen to pastor Moody’s sermons throughout the week. Or get it in your email daily. Download the God Centered Life app and listen to the daily podcast, wherever you get your podcasts.
People Profiles
JAMES SEWARD
ONE ANOTHER
GETTING TO KNOW OUR COLLEGE CHURCH FAMILY
Each month, we’ll have a chance to get to know various people who call College Church home. It’s a little way we can make our big church feel a bit smaller.
BETH BRIA
Aside from the Bible, what is one book that’s shaped you spiritually?
I greatly enjoyed Allie Beth Stuckey’s You’re Not Enough and That’s Okay. It’s a great reminder during our time of social media comparison that no amount of self-love or self-improvement can make us good enough, and our true worth is found in God alone.
What’s the strangest job you’ve ever had?
I was a television news reporter for a station in North Carolina. Every day was a wild ride. In one day, I could go from a deadly forest fire to a charity event where the hosts tried to convince me to shave my head on live TV. Every day I met people I’d otherwise never have known. What do you know now you wish you had known when you were young?
I wish I had known just how much feelings change in new seasons of life and how much is great that is still in the future. There are so many things I worried about in the past that just seem so silly now, and so many wonderful things I never even hoped for.
DIANA CLEM
What’s something most people wouldn’t know about you?
I went down the Colorado River on a Grand Canyon rafting trip. It was six days and was scary but also exhilarating. What is the deepest valley you’ve walked through?
My sister contracted a rare cancer at age 36. She fought hard and succumbed at age 45. I know the Lord carried all of us, not only during her illness but also since her death in 1999. Because of this, I am very close to my family, particularly her husband, her daughter (and her husband), and now her grandchildren.
Think of a hard experience you’ve had. What would you say to someone who’s walking through the same thing?
I think this question is related to the one about my deepest valley. When I was having difficulty processing my sister’s illness and eventual death, it was important to talk through what was happening to her and how that was making me feel. I needed to trust that while I was powerless to save her, that the Lord was not and that he loved us and even hurt with us. If someone is experiencing loss, lean on the Lord and on fellow believers. Sharing grief with others is important.
KAREN SEWARD
In the last year, in what ways has Jesus shown himself as beautiful and of supreme worth?
I’ve experienced a lot of low parenting moments in the past year. At times it has made me question my abilities and worth. Yet again and again, the truth of God’s Word has reminded me that there is something more going on in this world. Something good and beautiful that is all because of Jesus’ worth and work, not mine.
How have you been able to best connect with the College Church family?
My family tries to sit in different places every week at church. I try to talk to people around me, remember their names, and say hi when I see them again somewhere. As an introvert, this is a great way to meet someone new and for their faces and stories to become more familiar each time I see them again.
What is a mundane fact about you?
I really love cheeseburgers.
What’s a key to thriving spiritually as a parent? Be honest with others and yourself about your weaknesses and need for help/growth.
Shop for The Christmas Store
“I’m going home and setting up my Christmas tree!”
A Christmas Store volunteer heard this exclamation as the smiling mom was leaving the Store. The volunteer laughed and said, “It’s already the second Saturday of December. Why haven’t you put up your tree yet?” The volunteer recalls how the mom replied a bit slowly, “Well… there weren’t going to be any gifts this year. I thought no tree would be easier on my children than a giftless tree. I’ve been working two jobs, we had unexpected expenses and our family budget did not include any extra for Christmas. But now, thanks to the Christmas Store, I have wrapped gifts and I need to go set up my tree!”
For families in southeast Carol Stream, The Christmas Store at Outreach is a much-anticipated event. This year the Store will be held on Saturday, December 13, and we are hoping to welcome close to 300 shoppers who will be shopping for nearly 1,000 children! However, the Outreach Carol Stream Christmas Store is far more than just a place to buy gifts—it’s a source of hope, dignity and Christ’s love during the Christmas season.
Outreach Carol Stream (formerly Outreach Community Center) is a community-based, Christian neighborhood resource center. The center offers youth development and family stabilization services to approximately 1500 people with modest incomes and living in vulnerable situations. Amid these challenges, the Christmas Store allows parents the dignity to purchase meaningful gifts for their children, at 25% of the retail price—prices they can afford. Parents take great pride in selecting gifts for their children at the Christmas Store and leave with great anticipation of seeing their children unwrap their gifts.
While shoppers wait for their gifts to be wrapped, they visit a hospitality room where they are treated to festive refreshments, live Christmas caroling and an offer of prayer. Many shoppers enthusiastically accept the opportunity for prayer, finding comfort and spiritual support during a season that can be challenging. This shared moment reminds families that they are not alone in their struggles and points them to a God who loves them.
Proceeds from the Christmas Store go directly to support Outreach Carol Stream’s family stabilization programs which assist families with basic needs and make a lasting impact in their neighborhood long after the holiday season. Outreach Carol Stream serves people. People who are created in God’s image. People with hopes and dreams for their children. The center walks alongside them at all the stages of life. From after school enrichment, tutoring, ACT prep, summer work experiences, college opportunities and so much more. In good times, when they celebrate the first ever family member to graduate from
college and in hard times, when the counseling center works to restore hope and stability to the family. It’s a journey. It’s partnership. It’s investment.
The Christmas Store began 31 years ago as a small initiative to serve 65 families and has grown to be a full day of activity at the center that requires months of planning. Last year a volunteer shared this, “It was special to think about the ripple effect of the experience. First there are all the people that donated the gifts to Outreach, then there were us, the volunteers, that got to see the joy and excitement on the parents’ faces as they searched for the perfect gift for their kids, and then finally to think about the kids opening their gifts on Christmas morning. It was a joy to be a part of this event.”
College Church has been a key partner with the Christmas Store for over 20 years. Our gift drives, both in person and online, have helped stock the shelves with high quality gifts for children ages 0-18. Our volunteers have consistently filled important roles from coming alongside a shopper as their shopper helper, to gift wrap, to quality control to make sure all things run smoothly!
This year we are anticipating a need for more than 400 volunteers, both the day of the Store and the days leading up to the Store. With our goal of serving nearly 1,000 children, we will be working to make sure we have more than 3,000 gifts on hand for parents to choose from.
How can College Church get involved?
1. Donate gifts. There will be Christmas trees decorated with gift tags in Kids’ Harbor, the narthex and the Commons lobby from November 5 to December 3. These gift tags will give you more details and provide a QR code to take you to the list of suggested gifts as well as our Amazon and Target wish lists. If you choose to bring your gift to the church, there will be collection boxes located in these same areas.
2. Host your own gift drive. Perhaps through your work, neighborhood or a group of friends, encourage others to help us stock our shelves.
3. Sign up to become a volunteer. You will find the Store a wonderful way to spend part of a December Saturday and will leave encouraged by seeing the body of Christ putting their faith into action.
4. Donations. There are many expenses involved with the Christmas Store. A donation helps us offset those costs so that proceeds can go to assisting families throughout the year.
For more information please visit weareoutreach.org Then click on EVENTS and choose Christmas Store Carol Stream.
community outreach SPOTLIGHT
Key ministry updates and events from the Evangelism & Culture Impact Committee and the Local Ministry Partners of College Church
COLLEGE CHURCH MINISTRY TASK FORCE UPDATES
Prison Ministry Task Force: On October 10, nine men from College Church traveled to Mississippi to serve at Parchman Prison. The team included Pastoral Residents Jacob Samuel Raju and Caleb Aulie, Bruce Aulie, Adam Kallal, Mark Margason and his son Andrew, Randy Atkison, David MacKinnon and David Sohmer.
Sanctity of Human Life Task Force: In partnership with the National Life Chain organization, SOHL joined local Christians on October 5 for a peaceful, prayerful public presence along Roosevelt Road in Wheaton. Participants held pro-life signs while silently praying for life and hope in our community.
SUPPORTED LOCAL PARTNER UPDATES
Decision Point launched a nationwide 21-day, 24-hour prayer event. Learn more at https://dp-prayer-initiative.prayer.tools/ They also released a new book featuring testimonies from people freed from abuse, addiction, abortion, alternate lifestyles, and false religions.
My Half Kitchen is expanding—hiring more women and growing its mentorship circle! Their 2025 Gala will be held on December 6 at AquaViva Winery in Maple Park. They also hope to host the Christians Against Poverty financial training next year and are seeking a volunteer to lead the women’s class. If interested, contact Pastor Jim Johanik.
Reformed University Fellowship (Northwestern University) campus evangelist Mike Hernberg reports that 10–15 non-believing international students have been attending a weekly inductive Bible study. He also noted the “remarkable maturity of the believing international students and their spouses” who participate.
Be sure to read Sarah Bradley’s excellent article in Connections about the Outreach Community Center Christmas Store ministry.
Join a small-group Vision Tour on Thursday, November 20, from 7–8 p.m. at the Glen Ellyn Caring Network Center. Meet President Kirt Wiggins, tour the pregnancy center, and hear how the ministry connects with clients—while enjoying refreshments. Praise God that Caring Network has already seen over 60 clients come to faith in 2025, surpassing last year’s total.
our VISION
2025 INITIATIVES
Vision: “Proclaiming the Gospel” PATHWAY.
Coming to College Church you have the opportunity to Discover Jesus, Grow in Your Faith and Impact the World. We want you to discover Jesus if you don’t already know him personally, discover College Church if you’re not yet a part of the church, and for all to grow spiritually and have a real impact on the world around.
COMMUNITY.
Community matters to all of us at College Church. There are many ways to connect with one another. We treasure connection and deeper care for one another, with the help of our pastoral staff and other leaders, as we move forward side by side.
DISCIPLESHIP.
Being disciples of Jesus brings real-life change as we embrace the foundations of the Christian faith, grow spiritually, and reach beyond ourselves in gospel witness. CAMPUS.
We are increasing our campus capacity for community outreach and ministry activities, as well as advancing safety and accessibility, through a current capital campaign.
PARTNERSHIPS.
We are developing one new partner in church planting, strengthening, and revitalization this year that reflect our
THIS YEAR’S Thanksgiving Offering
Thanksgiving is such a meaningful time of year. We dedicate a day to thank God from whom all blessings flow. In a season when we celebrate many heartfelt traditions, College Church continues the blessed tradition of collecting and sharing a special Thanksgiving Offering that enables more people to hear and be encouraged by God’s Word. This year, our Board of Missions has selected, and our Council of Elders has approved, the following 2025 College Church Thanksgiving Offering projects that support Bible training and Bible distribution.
TRAINING PASTORS IN SRI LANKA
Global Training Network’s (GTN) goal is to train and equip pastors and church leaders to faithfully teach and preach God’s Word to the local body of Christ so they can live as faithful followers of Christ in their Buddhist culture. Through workshops using eight Dig & Discover principles, participants of this training will study eight books of the Bible across most of the biblical genres. By supporting this project, we will partner with GTN to fund one of eight trips planned to Sri Lanka.
DEVELOPMENT OF A BIBLE WEBSITE TO REACH UNREACHED POPULATION
Zoway Media is developing an adaptive Bible-content website that allows designers to rapidly test and deploy inviting content and intuitive features that help a least-reached people group in Asia understand and engage with the Bible. The team has, over the past six years, successfully connected digitally with over 30,000 individual Muslims resulting in over 1.6 million total encounters with the Bible and dozens of individuals connected personally with the team’s national partners.
AUDIO PLAYERS FOR DISCIPLESHIP AND SCRIPTURE ENGAGEMENT
These audio players give access to the Scriptures, oral Bible stories and worship songs in 20 languages in South Asia, including many minority language groups who are just beginning to get Scripture-based materials in their language. This project comes in response to requests from national church leaders to help the church disciple believers and to engage those who are still searching. These funds will place 1,500 players into the hands of those individuals.
INCREASED GOSPEL ACCESS USING SOCIAL MEDIA IN RESTRICTED AREAS OF ASIA
Thousands of people in this inaccessible region of the world have no access to the gospel by conventional means. This project will develop strategic digital access using social media to pierce through firewalls constructed by oppressive governments. Tilling the hard soil of this country will, with God’s help, pave the way for national missionaries and others to encounter soil that is ready to receive the gospel.
NEW TESTAMENTS FOR SPIRITUALLY CURIOUS ISRAELIS
As the war began in the Middle East, demand for New Testaments increased dramatically. A spiritual hunger and openness to explore the life and teachings of Jesus is on the rise. This project is a gateway to long-term spiritual engagement as recipients of the Scriptures are invited to join Bible studies, ask spiritual questions and connect for one-on-one discipleship. Israelis will encounter the gospel through Scripture and relationship.
Would you pray for these projects and for the individuals whose lives will be touched as a result? Would you prayerfully consider financially supporting these projects? You can give online via our giving page or drop off or mail your gift to College Church. One hundred percent of your gifts will be distributed to these projects. Thank you for your faithful partnership.
REPORT ON THANKSGIVING OFFERING GRANT TO PAKISTAN IN 2023
By Jim Tebbe
My wife, Beth, and I retired from my University Rector/ President’s job and moved back to Wheaton from Pakistan in November 2020. A year and a half later, I was asked if I would be willing to stand for election as chair of the Board of Missions (BOM). After discussion and prayer, I agreed. People on the board were both tolerant and kind. There may be things that I know something about, but College Church missionaries were not among them! After two years I had to step down because I agreed to take on a project in Pakistan which involved living there for most of the year. But while I was on the BOM, I was impressed at how much work it does and how thoughtfully and
carefully they allocate funds in addition to recruiting and caring for missionaries. Curt Miller, the missions pastor, was excellent in using the knowledge and help of the BOM members. I learned a lot from the board and from him. While I was on the board there was a crisis in Pakistan. The BOM chose to respond through the Thanksgiving Eve offering and were able to give some $20,000 towards a two-year rehabilitation project. That two years is up, and I am reporting on that project to encourage College Church in what a difference it can make, and in this case make through your generosity in the Thanksgiving Eve offering.
On August 16, 2023, Muslim mobs attacked local churches in the city of Jaranwala, a city of about 1.5 million which is two hours’ drive from Lahore. The Christian population of the city is 15,000, or about one percent. Muslim mobs burned and vandalized 24 churches, six pastors’ homes and 75 other Christian homes of which 15 were totally destroyed and another 60 were badly damaged. This was mob violence at its worst. A rumor was spread that a 60-year-old pastor and his 20-year-old son had burned Qur’anic verses. Such action is considered to be blasphemy and is punishable by life imprisonment or the death penalty. Mobs were stirred up by calls for violence from mosque loudspeakers. The mob was made up of mostly unemployed fundamentalist Muslims. People that had been neighbors and even friends suddenly turned on the
Christians and attacked their churches and homes. Christians fled their homes, going into the fields to hide.
Once the violence died down and peace was restored the Pakistan Government stepped in and gave compensation to many Christian families. Churches and aid agencies also helped significantly in the aftermath of this disastrous event. But the damage was not just the loss of material possessions and places of worship but rather trust had been broken. How could Christians continue to live in that city where their neighbors had attacked them? How could they support themselves and live vibrant Christian lives?
The project that College Church supported aimed to provide long-term trauma support-care and training that would eventually be self-sustainable. They did this through Forman Christian College. College Church has supported Forman Christian College in Lahore through scholarships for Christian students as well as several one-time small projects. We retired from there and now Daniel L., also from College Church, teaches Old Testament there.
There were two stages to this project. Forman Christian College has established a Christian Trauma Care and Research Center (CTCRC). For the first year it was through this center that the continued on next page
project in Jaranwala was carried out. From December 2023 through the end of 2024, Ms. Sarah, the director of Forman’s CTCRC, interviewed some 1,300 Christians in Jaranwala for trauma. She identified 25 with PTSD. They have been under ongoing trauma care. In addition to working with individuals, Ms. Sarah and Dr. Matthew Jeong, director of the Jaranwala project, also provided basic training in appropriate trauma care for separate focused groups for parents, teenagers and children.
Many of the Christians did not have jobs or had lost their jobs. The need for vocational training was clearly evident. Thus, they screened and financially supported candidates who could be successful in the government run vocational training institute in the areas of computers/IT and sewing and knitting. This vocational training was for six months. Two batches of 25 each in computer/IT programs and sewing and knitting were selected for a total of 100 over the course of the year in 2024. This training has enabled a number of families to stay in the city and their Christian community.
The project also screened for candidates with the qualifications and aptitude to do a BA degree at Forman Christian College. Five Christians were carefully selected and given full scholarships for a four-year bachelor’s degree at Forman Christian College.
After this first year, the project changed its focus to deal more directly with the 24 churches that had been damaged or destroyed
in that infamous mob violence of August 16, 2023. The project leaders decided to work through CTCRC rather than using Pakistan’s national vocation and technical training (or VTTC). They began a program of equipping local pastors and Sunday school teachers, instead of doing the screening and trauma care themselves. This training evolved into a special focus on the Sunday schools as most of these churches did not have a Sunday School program. 40% of the Christian population in Jaranwala are primary age or younger!
They helped the pastors of the 24 churches to select, train and appoint Sunday school teachers. They felt that this could be more effective than running their own center. Ms. Sarah and Dr. Matthew began giving training in the basic principles of trauma care to these local pastors and Sunday School teachers. This training was to enable the teachers to do the active listening and trauma care instead of the VTTC doing it. This was a first and necessary step in a bigger strategy for the revival of the churches. Good teaching, good materials and godly leadership can lead to revival—and this can begin with the children. Thus, for the second year, the project focused on training and tools to help pastors and Sunday school teachers lead children to Christ and help them grow in their faith after addressing the trauma that may be in their lives.
The funds for this project lasted through August of this year. The Sunday schools are still running. Ms. Sarah, Dr. Matthew and others still make regular visits to each of these churches. They hope to provide a projector and computer for each church so that Sunday school materials can be accessed from the web. They hope to continue to help these 24 churches and their Sunday Schools for another two years to ensure that the programs are well established.
It was a joy for me to see the excitement of those involved during this past year that I spent in Pakistan. Long after interest, and with it relief funds, have dried up, this project has continued to build up the Christian community in Jaranwala.
Thank you, College Church!
Papa Alcorn and Me
WALLACE ALCORN
The fourth-grade assignment was to write a brief essay about a person the student admires that also tells why so. Our grandson was in that class, and this is what he wrote as he wrote it years ago: I love to visit my Papa Alcorn. Papa Alcorn is very funny. He plays tricks on me and lets me play tricks on him. Once I put a toy solider on the bookshelf in his study, so that he was under fire when he sat down at his desk. Last week Papa called me and told me that we were taking a trip to Indiana to the Levi Coffin house [a restored station on the underground railroad]. But then he told me it didn’t open until June, and that disappointed me. Then he said in April and May [only] the school groups are allowed in. That disappointed me, too. Finally he said they’d open it just for us, and I was happy.
We tell jokes to each other. Sometimes we tell jokes on the phone, sometimes we send them by e-mail, and sometimes we get to tell them in person. Papa’s favorite kind of jokes are puns, like: Why did a golfer bring an extra pair of pants to his game? In case he got a hole in one. When I was little I would make up jokes that weren’t even funny, but he would still laugh. My favorite joke was: Why did the elephant sit on the marshmallow? Because he didn’t want to sit in the hot chocolate.
What I really like about Papa Alcorn are his stories. Sometimes his stories teach lessons and sometimes his stories are funny. He tells me about Great Papa Brisbane and the Underground Railroad. He also tells me about my mom when she was little, and some of those stories are pretty funny.
Papa Alcorn spends a lot of time with me. We go swimming, play games, and read together, but it doesn’t really matter what we do. We just like to be together. These are some reasons I look forward to visiting my Papa Alcorn.
The boy shows he gets it with the recognition, “spends a lot of time with me.” This doesn’t just happen; it’s my conscious
commitment to my grandson precisely because he is my grandson. That’s what grandfathers do. That’s being Papa.
I cherish most his final paragraph: “It doesn’t really matter what we do. We just like being together.” It was important to me to relate to and treat him in such a way that he always wanted to be with me. (This hasn’t changed even now that he is an adult.) But it was and is important to me that he knows I like being with him at least as much as he likes being with me.
I don’t equate inter-human relations with the human-divine, but how we relate to each other does grow from and upon how God in Christ through the Holy Spirit relates us to himself. It can seem audacious to assert that God actually enjoys our company until we recall why God created humans.
“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’”
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Gen 1:26, 27)
God does like being with us, for example:
“…the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love” (Ps 147:11). “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing” (Zeph 3:17).
I, of course, like being with God in Christ by the work of the Holy Spirit. What truly astounds me is the recognition that he actually likes being with me. (He gets “the short end of the stick,” of course, but who am I to argue?)
My Lord spends a lot of time with me. We do a lot of things together, but it doesn’t really matter what we do. We just like to be together. These are some reasons I like every opportunity now as well as yet being with him eternally.
THE LEGAL LANDSCAPE: CHANGES AND IMPACT SINCE THE FALL OF ROE V. WADE
SARAH LINDQUIST
The legal landscape has been in nearly constant flux since the Dobbs Supreme Court decision in 2022. The website for 40 Days for Life lists the post-Roe legal status currently in place for each state. Total abortion bans are in place in Idaho, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama and West Virginia. States with no abortion restrictions whatsoever include Alaska, Oregon, Colorado, New Mexico, Minnesota, Michigan, Maryland, New Jersey and Vermont.
Due to uncertainty since the court decision, some abortion centers moved to more permissive states and opened new centers right on the border of the state they just vacated. Others have been waiting out legal changes, hoping to hold on to their brick-and-mortar locations. For those Planned Parenthood locations in states that have banned abortion, Planned Parenthood refers and schedules abortions for their clients in other states, but are not able to sell and do abortions in-house which is the foundational “service” supporting their business. Abortion quotas are established, and staff are rewarded for hitting or surpassing goals at their clinic.
Interestingly, closures of abortion businesses are taking place in permissive and abortion promoting states as well as the more restrictive states. A lack of profitability and loss of donations and tax-payer funding have caused closures. In 2025, 44 Planned Parenthood locations closed. As recent as this fall, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin stopped doing abortions due to federal defunding because 60% of their 50,000 clients are covered by Medicaid.
PUBLIC PERCEPTION VS. DISTURBING PATTERNS
Planned Parenthood has cultivated a positive public image through decades of lobbying and public relations. Abortion proponents use euphemistic language to obscure reality, and well-worn slogans have become common parlance. If a friend bemoans that closures of Planned Parenthood locations cause “lack of access to healthcare,” share about pregnancy resource centers and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs). In 2024, FQHCs saw nearly 16 times more patients than Planned Parenthood, outnumbering Planned Parenthood facilities by a factor of 29 to 1. FQHCs are certified by the Centers for Medi-
care & Medicaid Services (CMS) to provide health care to the countries’ neediest regions.
Many Americans are also unaware of years of investigations by Live Action and pro-life activist and investigative writer David Deleiden or the lawsuits that uncovered misconduct and illegal acts. The abortion businesses’ darker side is far more concerning than their self-promotion appears. Some abortion proponents claim footage, documentation, and information is fake, but an industry profiting off of intentional killing does lead to many kinds of sin. Daleiden was targeted for nine years by California for his exposure of Planned Parenthood’s partial birth abortions (a federal crime), delivering babies alive and intact, and selling aborted baby body parts for lab and university experimentation. His organization, Center for Medical Progress, also publicized Planned Parenthood supplying UC San Diego with aborted babies’ parts. Live Action created a video series that details aid given to sexual abusers and deviant “sex education” from Planned Parenthood.
Though some have dismissed the validity of these investigations, client experiences at abortion clinics have often been described as cold and unprofessional in online reviews. and increasing employee dissatisfaction has been relayed in the media in the past couple years. Staff turnover is high and efforts have been made to unionize in some affiliates. Former employees at clinics have alleged racist treatment, which is not surprising considering the founders were committed eugenicists. Contributing to the negative publicity are whistle-blowers such as Sue Thayer and Mayra Rodriguez who have brought lawsuits regarding billing fraud and sloppy procedures that result in medical complications. Perhaps one of the highest profile former abortion workers is Abby Johnson. Now, she is a prolife powerhouse who helps abortion workers leave their jobs, repent and turn to Christ. Her book and now movie, Unplanned, includes the key role 40 Days for Life president Shawn Carney played in helping Abby leave her Planned Parenthood clinic.
Abortion clinics are notoriously staffed by untrained individuals who do not follow standard medical basics (like how to
sterilize) as well as sub-quality doctors who did not find success in a different specialty, had financial and/or legal difficulties, and chose to become an abortionist. Abortionists don’t elicit respect in the medical community, because the abortion businesses tend to employ doctors whom others won’t hire. An anonymous Indiana woman is suing abortionist Keith Reisinger-Kindle of the Equity Clinic in Champaign, alleging that he botched her abortion at 22 weeks gestation—resulting in the death of her preborn child and placing her life at risk. Emergency room doctors found that her uterus was perforated and “the remains of ‘half a deceased preborn human being’ were found in her right pelvis and pieces of the skull adherent to the patient’s intestine.” Dr. Reisinger-Kindle is challenging her anonymity, arguing that it is “unfair” for her identity to remain concealed. In March 2025, the same month the lawsuit was announced, six other women needed emergency assistance immediately after abortions for heavy bleeding and intense pain—abortions that took place in Aurora, Chicago, Flossmoor and Granite City according to Operation Rescue and 911 call records.
Lately, people who are “detransitioning” have described their experiences when they were transitioning at Planned Parenthood—rushed access to cross-sex hormones, little to no oversight, and some even starting “transition” as minors. Claims of misleading, unscientific and woefully incomplete information are unsurprising considering the many women who have expressed the same when having abortions at Planned Parenthood. There will likely be many more lawsuits seeking damages in the near future. Campbell Miller Payne recently founded a firm specializing in so-called “gender affirming care” harm, and likely will be bringing more cases as clients experience regret about experimental, medical protocols impacting them negatively as they mature.
SANCTITY OF HUMAN LIFE ANNOUNCEMENTS
40 DAYS FOR LIFE PRAYER
Saturday, November 8, 1-2 p.m. Join Sanctity of Human Life Task Force at 40 Days for Life’s year-round peaceful prayer vigil as we unite with Christians around the world in over 60 countries for the 40 Days for Life Fall Prayer Campaign. Meet on Waterleaf pregnancy center’s property across from Planned Parenthood Aurora. Questions? Email sohl@ college-church.org.
CARING NETWORK CORNER
Vision Tour Join SOHL at an informal, small group Vision Tour Thursday, November 20, 7-8 p.m. at the Glen Ellyn Caring Network center. Meet President Kirt Wiggins, tour the pregnancy center, learn how the ministry connects with clients, and enjoy refreshments. https:// www.caringnetwork.com/events/growing-together/
60 Clients Have Accepted Christ in 2025 so Far, many more than last year. One recent client who was abortion-minded came to the Caring Network in Aurora. The twenty-year-old client was accompanied by a 17-year-old friend who had already had an abortion previously. The pregnant client changed her mind about abortion after holding a medical model of the baby and her teen friend accepted Christ.
Baby Bank Bring diapers (size six especially needed), wipes, baby lotion, shampoo, and wash, diaper cream, and formula to the crib (outside the sanctuary on the 1st Sunday of every month and in the Commons the rest of the month). Check out Everylife diaper company which funds pregnancy centers. https://everylife.com/ (20% off with auto renew. Use code LIVEACTION10 for an additional $10 off first order.) You may also order from the Baby Bank Amazon QR code.
at the BOOKSTALL
Tenofthose Christmas Sunday
We’re delighted to have 10ofThose coming on December 7 for our annual Book Sunday. They will bring a large, carefully curated bookstore and it will be located in the fireside room for all services that day. Come prepared! It’s a superb opportunity to get gifts for Christmas, and resources for the coming year.
Bookstall Price: $14
PARADOX PEOPLE
by Jonathan Landry Cruse
challenges us to live differently in a world that tempts us to blend in. By following the surprising wisdom of the Beatitudes, we grow spiritually and discover the deep blessings Christ promises. Short, insightful, and full of practical truth for everyday life.
THE BEST BATH EVER
by Paul Tautges
Illustrated by Ingrid Sawubona hows that even when life seems perfect, we all have problems deeper than they appear. With fun illustrations and a simple biblical story, kids ages 5–9 learn that God’s grace can change any heart, helping us to listen and obey. A playful yet powerful lesson on trusting God’s transforming power.
Bookstall Price: $15
HALLELUJAH!: JOURNEYING THROUGH ADVENT WITH HANDEL’S MESSIAH
by Dave and Sally Gobbett invites readers to reflect on Advent through the timeless music and Scripture of Handel’s Messiah. Each daily reading offers a devotional guide that helps hearts connect with Christ’s redemption through song. Perfect for personal, family, or small group worship during the Christmas season
Bookstall Price: $8
THE JOY OF JESUS
by Josh Moody
is a 25-day Advent devotional that helps readers focus on the true meaning of Christmas: the gift of Christ. With daily Scripture readings from Matthew and Luke, plus a daily carol, it encourages reflection on God’s grace, humility, and peace. Perfect for cultivating wonder and rejoicing in Christ throughout the Advent season.
Bookstall Price: $9
Positive Outcome
LORRAINE TRIGGS
The other day I took an online quiz to find out my “social biome.” I wasn’t exactly sure what a social biome was when I took the test, but I am happy to report that I got a high score. Yay me.
I didn’t bother taking the quiz on my exercise IQ, because I already have a pretty good idea what my IQ was when it comes to exercise.
I like interactive quizzes, especially ones that make me feel good about myself, and if I don’t like the results of the quiz, I can go back and retake the test until I get the result I want. I also enjoy checklists like five fool-proof ways to organize my closet, or tips for a stress-free life that include take a nap, listen to music and play with a pet. With every tick mark I make, I achieve an outcome I can see every time I open a closet or toss a toy to my dog—or not.
There is something about us humans that prefer tangible outcomes over ones that build slowly over days or even years. We prefer results now rather than in the fullness of time.
In Exodus 32, the children of Israel had enough of waiting for Moses who had gone up to Mount Sinai to meet and speak with God. Instead of waiting for “this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt,” (32:1), they told Aaron to make them a god who would go before them.
Huh? Didn’t they already have the one true, promise-keeping God to go before them. Never mind. The people wanted an outcome, and Aaron delivered. . . a golden calf. Like me looking for affirmation in a man-made online quiz, those chosen people were looking in the wrong place.
Hebrews 11 reminds us that faith isn’t a checklist to achieve a specific outcome. No, faith is “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” It’s building an ark for “events as yet unseen,” (11:7). It’s considering the One who promised to be faithful, not considering outcomes—good or bad.
I look back at Hebrews 11:3, and in that paradoxical way of Scripture, I am reminded that by “faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen is not made out of things that are visible.”
The word of God, the Word that was in the beginning, the Word that was with God and was God—this is the Word that became tangible and visible. This Word became flesh and lived among us. This is the One that John and the other apostles saw and heard and touched with their hands. This is the One who invited Thomas to “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” (John 20:27b).
As Thomas obeyed, he put his hands out and touched; he saw the outcome of the Word becoming flesh for him, for us—he felt and saw the scars of eternal life. Every Saturday morning, a musing like this one goes out by email from College Church. If you would like to sign up for the “Saturday Musing” on the footer of the College Church website.
JIM JOHANIK
God continues to show his faithfulness through the Gospel Now campaign. To date, we have received $5.8 million in pledges—a remarkable expression of generosity and shared vision. Every dollar is helping us reduce our overall debt and position College Church for a strong and sustainable future of ministry.
The deacons are currently developing options for the expanded parking lot that will include accessible parking adjacent to the Sanctuary, carefully weighing feedback from our neighbors. As we move forward, our top priority is to be a good neighbor, reflecting Christ’s love in how we plan, build and serve those around us.
At the same time, teams are refining the final designs for the Crossings, our next major ministry space. We are exploring ways to accelerate the creation of flexible areas that can serve some of our fastest-growing ministries, such as Wednesday night Bible studies and other midweek gatherings.
Now is a pivotal moment. With $5.8M already pledged, we’re trusting God to help us reach our $8.5 million goal—a milestone that will fully prepare us for what he is calling this church to accomplish in our community. Every gift, every prayer and every step forward brings us closer to that vision. Let’s finish strong, for his glory and for the good of those he’s placed around us.
WHAT SIZE IS YOUR GENEROSITY?
ANONYMOUS
There are many ways to live a generous life, and the Bible is filled with real-life examples. One size does not fit all. Here are just a few examples.
ABRAHAM. God told him to sacrifice his only son. Abraham obeyed, but God provided a ram instead. Ultimately God offered up his own Son for us all. (Genesis 22)
THE SHUNAMMITE WOMAN. She began feeding Elisha whenever he walked by her home. She prevailed upon her husband, and they put an addition on their home for him to use. (2 Kings 4).
THE PRINCES AND PEOPLE OF JUDAH. When King Joash decided to restore the house of the Lord, a proclamation went out, and all the princes and people rejoiced and dropped their money into a chest. When the chest was filled, the Levites emptied it, not just one time, but day after day because they had collected money in abundance. Not a bad problem to have. (2 Chronicles 24)
PETER AND JOHN. The beggar cried out for silver and gold. but they gave him far beyond what he asked for—healing and he walked and leaped and praised God. (Acts 3)
BARNABAS, the “son of encouragement,” sold a field and put the proceeds from the sale at the feet of the apostles. He stands in sharp contrast to Ananias and Saphira who lied to give the appearance of being more generous than they really were. Barnabas’ gift was without reservation, guile of subterfuge. (Acts 4)
THE CHRISTIANS IN MACEDONIA. These people were poor and faced incredible trial, yet they begged to stand with Paul through generosity that far outstretched their means. Paul said there was no other church like them. (2 Corinthians 8)
THE WIDOW. Jesus famously praised her for giving all she had. It was a small amount by any human scale, but Jesus saw, knew and praised her. Unknown by most everyone at the time, I wonder if she had a special place in the early church or what kind of mansion she might have in heaven (Mark 12)
JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA, a rich man, gave away his own tomb in order to give Jesus a respectable burial. “The rich are different,” and so their gifts are unique and often surprising. (Matthew 27)
ZACCHEUS, one of the hated tax collectors, repented and believed in Jesus. Sitting in the tree, Zaccheus saw Jesus who changed his life, so Zaccheus said, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” (Luke 19)
The more the gospel grows in us, the more generosity does. We cannot help but give to those around us. What size is your generosity? Is it time to exchange it for a larger, more generous size. Look, pray and give.
