Festive Banquet Features The St. Luke’s Bottle Band

Banquet celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Those attending the 2007 Churchwide Assembly will gather on the evening of Friday, August 10th for a festive banquet to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The banquet will be held in the Grand Ballroom of the Hyatt Regency Chicago Hotel and will begin at 6:30 p.m. The menu will feature some foods that are especially unique to the city of Chicago.

Members of the St. Luke’s Bottle Band, from St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Park Ridge, Illinois, will provide the entertainment during the evening. Founded in 1978 by Professor Paul Phillips, the group uses tuned bottles to play everything from Bach to the blues. The band has been heard on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, and seen on Wild Chicago, the NBC Evening News and The Jenny Jones Show. Twice the Bottle Band has traveled to New York to appear on The Late Show with David Letterman. In February 2007 the band performed at Symphony Center for a youth concert.

Dinner for voting members and advisory members is included in Churchwide Assembly registration. Others may purchase banquet tickets for $85 each upon registering for the Churchwide Assembly. If you already have completed your registration for the assembly and would like to purchase additional tickets for this event, please call the registration desk at 800-638-3522 ext. 2840. The deadline for purchasing banquet tickets is July 15, 2007.

Run, Walk 'n' Roll

Living well – all week long

It’s Churchwide Assembly! You’ll be attending important sessions throughout the week. That means a lot of speaking, listening and thinking. It also means a lot of sitting and possibly some stress. 

The ELCA Board of Pensions is here to help you find balance this week. We have suggestions how you can attend to your well-being throughout the assembly – in all six dimensions of the Wholeness Wheel. 

The Wheel reminds us to care for our whole self by centering ourselves in our faith and making the effort to balance our many dimensions – physical, emotional, intellectual, social, vocational and spiritual.

 Around the Wheel challenge

This year, the Wholeness Wheel is our guide. The Around the Wheel challenge invites each voting member and guest to experience all six dimensions of the Wheel – daily. Each morning, stop by the Board of Pensions’ table (near the registration desk at Navy Pier) and pick up a card listing the six dimensions of the Wheel. You simply check off which dimensions you experienced that day. At day’s end, drop your card off at our table and pick up a new card for the next day.

We will tally how many participated in the various dimensions of the Wheel that day and publish the results. No names – but a collective statement that reflects our commitment to care for our well-being and the well-being of this church. 

As in past years, we will also sponsor the daily activities: Run, Walk ‘n’ Roll and Stretch & Pray. These early morning activities have become Churchwide Assembly traditions, and we invite you to join us Tuesday – Saturday mornings. 

Run, Walk ‘n’ Roll

Go at your own pace through Grant Park and along the scenic Lake Michigan

5:30 a.m. – 7 a.m.

Check-in point: West-tower lobby of the Hyatt Hotel 

Stretch & Pray

Join Bishop Murray Finck for low-impact stretching and high-impact prayer

6:30 a.m. – 7:10 a.m.

Truffles Conference Room (West tower, Blue level of the Hyatt Hotel)