Starting Sunday, November 2, we are delighted to welcome back to St. Paul’s Pr. Julie Boleyn, who will lead us in worship throughout November, Advent, and on Christmas Eve.  Pr. Julie is well known and loved by our congregation. For those who know her less well, here is a bit more background:

A long-time member and now alum of St. Paul’s, Rev. Julie Boleyn was both married and ordained at our church. She is the Executive Director of the Kaleidoscope Institute, a non-profit that works with churches across the country as they seek to welcome diversity and creatively imagine new ways of being the church. From 2011 to 2021, she served as pastor at Unity Lutheran of Berwyn. During that time, Pr. Julie led the founding of Awake, activating community members across cultures to work for leadership, justice, and relationship. She also led the founding of Project 88 Music Academy, offering children in the community a way to engage classical music at a high level. Additionally, she accompanied the development of Unidad, a Spanish Language mission development that serves the LGBTQ community. Pr. Julie lives in Berwyn with two other St. Paul’s alums: (1) her spouse, Rev. Jeannie Reardon, who serves as interim pastor at United in Faith Lutheran Church; and (2) their 16-year-old child, Maddie (they/them pronouns), who delights in writing children’s storybooks, sewing, and cooking.

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.