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Pastoral Fellow

Pr. ELIZABETH PALMER


We’re delighted to be welcoming back our good friend, Rev. Elizabeth Palmer, as our Pastoral Fellow starting on Ash Wednesday and continuing through Easter Sunday.  Pr. Elizabeth has led us many times over the years, most recently last year as our February Pastoral Fellow.  We are thrilled and grateful to have her returning again to St. Paul’s, this year for the entirety of the Lent through Holy Week season.   Pr. Elizabeth is currently senior editor at the Christian Century magazine. Prior to that call, she served as the Lutheran Campus Pastor at the University of Chicago for eight years. She has also worked as a hospital chaplain. She holds a Ph.D. in theology from the University of Chicago Divinity School and is the author of

Faith in a Hidden God: Luther, Kierkegaard, and the Binding of Isaac

(Fortress Press).


Pr. Elizabeth lives in Skokie with her husband Liam, their 15-year-old daughter Anna, and their 11-year-old daughter Miriam.

Pastor of care & engagement

Pr. matt holmes

It is a great joy to have the Rev. Matthew Holmes as our longterm Pastor of Care & Engagement at St. Paul’s. In that role, Pr. Matt provides us pastoral care & counseling, clergy leadership for our ministries engaging with the St. Paul’s and larger Evanston-area communities, and weekly worship leadership in our Sunday morning services and Wednesday evening prayer. Pr. Matt is a 2010 graduate of The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago and is ordained to Word & Sacrament in the ELCA.  After seminary, Pr. Matt worked as a chaplain, pastor and grief support specialist in several settings. He continues to serve (in addition to St. Paul’s) as an adjunct instructor of religious studies at Triton College and a paid-on-call firefighter/EMT with the village of LaGrange Park.


Matt is married to Rachel Wind, a former St. Paul's MIC student and another graduate of LSTC who works in development for the ELCA. They have two children, Hugh (12) and Louisa (9). In his free time, Matt is a prolific if rarely published writer and an avid amateur scholar of philosophy (his undergraduate major). Matt is the author of two published books Breath: 52 Reflections for those who Care for the Dying (Avenida Books, 2017), and coauthor with Rev. Thomas Gaulke of Everyday Armageddons: Stories and Reflections on Death, Dying, God and Waste (Cascade Books, 2023).

Formerly, Matt has worked as a commercial fisherman, nervous bouncer, short order cook, carny and plenty more.


Dr. Kurt westerberg, director of music

Kurt Westerberg has been privileged to serve as Director of Music at St. Paul’s since 1998, performing on piano and pipe organ, directing the St. Paul’s chancel choir, and arranging music for the choir as well as instrumental and vocal soloists.   He recently retired from the DePaul University School of Music, where he served as an Associate Professor of musicianship and composition and held several administrative posts.  He holds degrees from St. Olaf College and Northwestern University and has been active as a composer of modern classically-oriented music. 


Kurt, soloists, and choir aim for a blend of classical, gospel, and global music to meaningfully enhance the worship experience at St. Paul’s like

Come and Fill Our Hearts With Your Peace featuring soloists, choir, and cello.

Thank you for your generosity

Clicking the "offering plate" photo fuels St. Paul's and our ministries - learn more about them!


We believe our search for meaning in life falls hand in hand with a purposeful life.  At St. Paul's we believe that our work, worship, and prayers together allow the living Christ to meet us where we are and transform our lives.  Come join us as we discover ways to publicly share and live all of our gifts through God's Living Word.