Exodus 2:1-25, 3:1-14Many years after Joseph, God’s people were still living in Egypt, but now as slaves. God wanted to rescue His people and bring them to the land He had promised.When Moses was a baby, God saved him from the Nile River. And when Moses grew up, God saved him from the anger of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.God saved Moses for a very important reason: to rescue God’s people from slave...  Read More

Genesis 37, 45:4-11, 50:15-21Joseph was one of many sons of Jacob. Although Jacob had 12 sons, he loved Joseph the most. Jacob, showing his love for Joseph, gave him a very expensive, fancy, colorful coat. Joseph also received dreams from God, showing he was destined for greatness in his future.Joseph’s brothers were jealous of him and hated him. They wanted to kill him, but they instead sold him ...  Read More

In 2005, God blessed Park Community Church with the opportunity to purchase an old warehouse in the Near North neighborhood of Chicago. For the first time since our founding in 1987, we would have a permanent place to call our own. Thanks to the sacrifice of hundreds of people, the warehouse was transformed into a church home where thousands could engage with the gospel message.Today, we're thrill...  Read More

Hello Park family,My name is Brian Basler. My wife Cathy and I first came to Park in 1993 when the church was one location in Lincoln Park. Over time, we became members at Near North and are now settled in at Forest Glen. Currently, I serve as an usher, help support the setup team, and come alongside the men's and marriage ministries.As God has grown me throughout my Christian journey, I have serv...  Read More

Greetings, Park Community Church family!My name is Kyung Kim. My wife Hera and I have been attending South Loop for four years and are so blessed to be a part of Park. I currently serve as an usher and on the setup and men's ministries and Hera serves in the children's ministry.We relocated to Chicago from San Francisco right in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. It wasn't the best planning, but...  Read More

In the beginning, when God spoke into the darkness, light shone, and all of creation came into being. And yet, soon humanity fell and darkness reigned over us, around us, and in us. But today we celebrate that God stepped into our sinful and broken world.History hinges on the moment when a baby was born so that a weary world can now rejoice.Behold, Jesus, our Emmanuel, God with us, has come. The o...  Read More

Every piece of a nativity scene fits seamlessly together. We place the manger in the middle of the stable, drawing glances from the animals. Mary and Joseph are a pair, kneeling peacefully over their newborn child. The shepherds sit to one side, as at home in this stable as they have been in countless others. Then we line up the wise men.They stand tall, holding their precious gifts of gold, frank...  Read More

We don’t know Joseph very well since the Bible says very little about him, but Jesus knows him well. It was Joseph, alongside Mary, that raised Jesus, taught him to walk, and wash, and talk. It was Joseph who came home from work to find Jesus running into his arms. It was Joseph that spent days with Jesus teaching him the skills of carpentry, how to saw, sand, and sell their creations.Jesus was Jo...  Read More

One pregnancy was late. One was early. The opening chapters of Luke’s Gospel begin with the intertwining stories of two pregnancies.Zechariah and Elizabeth had been trying to conceive for years. They had prayed and waited, and watched other children grow. But never their own. For years Elizabeth’s tidy and quiet home had first whispered then screamed “barren"! And now they were too old.Mary and Jo...  Read More

Telling my children "I love you to all the moons” is my attempt to express to them the weight behind the three simple words, “I love you."I used to say the more common phrase, “I love you to the moon,” but I was left with this nagging feeling that I wasn't adequately communicating what I wanted them to hear.Being able to vaguely comprehend the distance between the earth and the moon made the expre...  Read More

One of the most recurring questions throughout the Bible is “Will God be believed?” In the silence, after God has spoken, will God be trusted to do what he says he will do?It's these questions of belief that are rattling through Mary’s mind as she sits behind the wheel, heading upstate to visit Elizabeth.In the complexity of Mary’s ordinary life, she’s feeling puzzled. Her faith is strong, until s...  Read More

John’s coming marked the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy of one who would prepare the way for Jesus (Isaiah 40:3). He came “in the spirit and power of Elijah” and preached a message of repentance, calling the Israelites to humble themselves before God and to turn away from their sin (Luke 1:17).We too must humble ourselves and magnify the goodness of God through our own repentance. In the same wa...  Read More

Nehemiah leaned in close as he listened to the reports of these Israelites, friends of his brother who had come from Jerusalem. How was the city faring?Other leaders had since returned from exile and had helped the city a great deal. Zerubabbel led the rebuilding of the destroyed temple. Ezra, the scribe, had studied the Torah deeply and taught the people concerning it.It seemed, even out of the a...  Read More

"O come, O Come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel." he melodious cry that arose from the anguished people of God in exile, estranged from the place they’d always called home. They lifted up their voices, longing for Emmanuel, for the Messiah who would deliver them home, once again.For years Jeremiah had prophesied in Jerusalem, with pleading proclamations, trying to turn the people to repentanc...  Read More

Nobody wants to get coal in their stocking. Maybe once it was helpful, providing warmth through cold winters, but now, coal is just bad news. Because receiving coal means we’re bad. Honestly, it’s a hard message to receive. Because it involves acknowledging our own lack of goodness, admitting where we fall short. Most of the time, it’s easier to just sweep those things under the rug and hold out h...  Read More

There was a new king in Israel, Ahab. And this was anything but good news. His first administrative decisions included building an altar for Baal, the Canaanite god, promoting worship of this false deity throughout the kingdom and turning people away from the LORD. And for a while, even with this change, the kingdom flourished. All seemed well. And people began to believe that their flourishing wa...  Read More

Even a glance at King David’s life reveals some impressive feats. As a boy, he defeated the giant Goliath, freeing his country. As a king, he expanded Israel’s territory, guiding the nation in battle. And when it came to his prowess as a warrior, as the song goes, David slayed his “tens of thousands.”Among warrior-kings, he fits in the ranks of Achilles and Hercules, the one exception being that h...  Read More

In this story, if the Israelites had a Christmas list, it would’ve consisted of only one request, one gift they sought for—a king.Samuel, the prophet, had functioned as their leader for decades. Their true king was God, but Samuel was his mouthpiece, speaking and leading on his behalf. The people loved Samuel, but his sons were less capable, less trustworthy leaders.With Samuel growing older, the ...  Read More

“Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, had a very shiny nose. And if you ever saw it, you would even say it glows."Rudolph’s story ends heroically and with a general fondness for that luminous red nose, but in the beginning, everybody hated Rudolph. Because when considering what a reindeer was supposed to be, Rudolph just didn’t fit.He was an outcast. But then, through a single act on one foggy Christma...  Read More

Forty years had passed since God rescued the Israelites from bondage in Egypt. They had been liberated to a new life of freedom, and yet those four decades since their release consisted of nothing but endless wandering around the hot, sandy, wind-blown desert. Essentially, living out of suitcases, always traveling, never settling down, never planting gardens or building homes, but always longing f...  Read More

Santa Claus has a warm personality. Accounts describing him always use the same stock phrases: red suit, funny hat, big white beard, and a love for whole milk and sugar cookies. Not to mention eyes that twinkle, cheeks like roses, and a droll little mouth drawn up like a bow. Occasionally, we see hints of majesty revealed in his persona, but ordinarily, Santa is jolly, warm, and soft.Apart from hi...  Read More

Grocery stores are a wonder. In one building, so many items from so many places. Pink lady apples shipped from the orchards of Washington, pineapples whose homes were groves in Costa Rica, and roasted coffee beans tended in Ethiopia, wrapped up in nice shiny plastic. Grocery stores are incredible.Not just because they pull together the wonders of the world, organizing them under a single roof, nea...  Read More

From his earliest days, God was with Moses.Born into the midst of a genocide, life didn’t look promising for Moses. But his mother hid him for three months, hoping to spare his life. When it became clear that hiding wouldn’t work any longer, she took her son and placed him in a basket, and then she gently set it in the shallows of the river, caught among the reeds.And then she left, praying that G...  Read More

As a teenager, Joseph imagined a bright future for himself. He was the youngest of 11 brothers, but his father loved and delighted in him the most. In displaying his affection, his father even gave him an expensive and fancy, colorful robe. And adding to it, Joseph received these dreams of sheaves in a field and stars in the sky bowing, both implying that his brothers would one day bow to him.Jose...  Read More