The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
United Church of Christ
First Congregational Church - Glen Ellyn, IL - UCC
Lillian Daniel, the Senior Minister of First Congregational Church, UCC, in Glen Ellyn, Illinois.
Daniel is the author of "Spiritual But Not Religious" Is Not Enough, and Tell It Like It Is: Reclaiming the Practice of Testimony, which is the story about how God moves in the local church when people speak about God’s presence to one another. A frequent contributor to the Christian Century Magazine, Daniel also has a chapter in Anxious About Empire, edited by Wes Avram, and From Nomads to Pilgrims: Stories from Practicing Congregations, edited by Diana Butler Bass and Joseph Stewart-Sicking. She writes for preaching periodicals such as the Journal for Preachers and the Biblical Preaching Journal, as well as for “God is Still Speaking,” an identity campaign for the United Church of Christ.
Daniel became the Senior Minister of the First Congregational Church of Glen Ellyn, a western suburb of Chicago, in 2004, after serving for eight years as the Senior Minister of the Church of the Redeemer, in New Haven, Connecticut. A frequent speaker around the country, she has taught preaching at Yale Divinity School and Chicago Theological Seminary, where she serves on the Board of Trustees. She writes for preaching periodicals such as the Journal for Preachers and the Biblical Preaching Journal, and also has a regular spirituality column in the denominational newspaper, the United Church News.
She is also the co-host for the television program “30 Good Minutes” which airs on Sundays at 5 pm on Chicago’s WTTW/Ch.11. Featuring the leading voices in religion today, those programs are available at 30goodminutes.org.
Married to Lou Weeks, a labor union organizer, Reverend Daniel is the proud mother of two school age children, Calvin and Abigail Weeks, and the not-so-proud owner of one badly behaved dog named Lucky. Reverend Daniel is delighted to have landed in such a vibrant church community, by the grace of God, and gives thanks every day that she can serve Christ as the Senior Minister of First Congregational Church in Glen Ellyn, where God is still speaking and all people are welcome.
Latest Content by The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
(
UCC)
Excerpt from Psalm 23
"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me."
<strong>Lillian Daniel
There's an early scene in the television show Mad Men, set in the 1960's, where the family enjoys a picnic. The children and their parents enjoy a lovely meal on a checkered blanket next to a pond in a scenic park . Then they get up to leave. After they put their picnic supplies away in the basket, they are left with all the trash on the blanket. The mom blithely picks up the blanket, shakes the trash out all over the grass. She folds her blanket neatly but the family leaves all their litter behind on the ground without comment.
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The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
(
UCC)
Ephesians 6:19
"Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel."
<strong>Lillian Daniel
While waiting in line at a store, the man standing next to me and I engaged in some conversation, perhaps to assuage our mutual boredom. It's amazing what you can learn about a person in a short time. He confided many personal details of his life, and I in turn related to them with stories of my own.
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Other Recent Content by The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
May 02, 2013
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
(UCC)
I am always carrying books around in the hope of reading them. It's as if I believe that if I continually carry piles of books from my church, to my car, to my home and then back to church again, the information from all those books will somehow just sink into my aching arms without my actually reading them.
April 11, 2013
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
(UCC)
It seems to be a growing trend—people who claim to love Jesus but don't want to call themselves Christians. The latest to stake a claim for not staking a claim is Marcus Mumford, of the wildly popular Mumford & Sons, whose Christian-themed lyrics have been a source of fascination to believers and nonbelievers alike.
March 01, 2013
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
(UCC)
There was a story a while back about a guy on Facebook who had about 900 friends, and he invited them all to a party. You know the punch line: not one of them showed up.
February 18, 2013
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
(UCC)
An Important Message from Church Headquarters: Treasuring the freedom that allows us to honor our unique ancient traditions while keeping up with the times, we propose adjusting these special Sundays in the church year.
January 27, 2013
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
(UCC)
When you want your 19-year-old son to take a trip with you, you have to be willing to think like a 19-year-old when it comes to travel plans. That's how I ended up spending a week with him in a remote tree house in Nicaragua.
January 24, 2013
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
(UCC)
There are times in life when you want to be surrounded by other people, in the thick of it, when you are ready and willing to jump into whatever life throws at you. And then there are other times when you want to hide yourself away and take refuge. You want to go to a remote place where the only one who can find you is God.
January 08, 2013
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
(UCC)
When you want your nineteen-year old son to take a trip with you, you have to be willing to think like a nineteen-year when it comes to travel plans. That's how I ended up spending a week with him in a remote tree house in Nicaragua.
December 08, 2012
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
(UCC)
While I have no trouble believing that God constructed us to be more careful with little ones, I think God made us able to love creatures of all ages and to delight in every stage of life.
November 24, 2012
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
(UCC)
I’m a woman senior minister of a large liberal Protestant church in the middle of the conservative Western suburbs of Chicago, where dreams of evangelical mega churches dominate the ecclesiastical imagination. So I didn’t need Justin Lee to tell me that the ex-gay movement doesn’t work.
November 06, 2012
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
(UCC)
Today, on Election Day, our attention is appropriately drawn to the big stage of presidential politics, but there are all sorts of votes taking place today. Let's not forget all the smaller stages where big things also happen.
November 04, 2012
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
(UCC)
Early in my working life, I met with a financial planner. It seemed absurd since we were deeply in debt. We had nothing to save, let alone invest. But a wise friend had said this was just the time for such advice.
October 23, 2012
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
(UCC)
For people who work in hard jobs and under unpleasant conditions, the office does not feel like a place of blessing but something to endure. But what if you blessed your office anyway?
October 09, 2012
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
(UCC)
While we can support our own good health, there is absolutely nothing we can do to guarantee it. At some point, every single person's health will deteriorate, right before death, if not much earlier.
September 29, 2012
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
(UCC)
In Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand, the enchanting debut novel by Helen Simonson, you are invited into a quaint English village to meet 68-year old Major Pettigrew, a retired widower, whose brother has suddenly died. In his grief, the Major comes to look at his life differently, and realizes how lonely he has been.
September 24, 2012
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
(UCC)
The church is so much more than a building. Whether you're in your yoga clothes or in a long black robe, whether you are in the pews or at the gym, once you have a church, it has a way of finding you wherever you are. It's remarkably portable.
September 03, 2012
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
(UCC)
I love to take on new projects. I've never had a new idea I didn't like. At the time, I always think I can take it on and add one more thing. It's like time is elastic and it can expand to include every single thing I want to do. I think at some points in history, we called that heresy.
August 12, 2012
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
(UCC)
Lillian Daniel shares 10 signs you shouldn't be getting married in church...and 10 signs you might be in the right place after all.
August 02, 2012
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
(UCC)
After a great vacation at the beach, packing to come home is not nearly as much fun as packing before the trip. Before the trip, I spend days anticipating the vacation. Will it be cold enough for a sweater? Or so hot that I need to bring more shorts?
July 21, 2012
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
(UCC)
When we talk to people who are going through a very difficult time, we often don't know what to say. We try to be encouraging and instead we say something that annoys the person. Or we say nothing and later find out that they wondered if we cared. How do you get it right with the people you love?
June 25, 2012
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
(UCC)
At times of grief, it means so much to have a church. There's someone to say, "We'll take it from here." And you might actually believe it.
May 31, 2012
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
(UCC)
Sometimes parenting is a job that is so hard, you couldn't pay me to do it. And sometimes it's a job I do so poorly, you wouldn't pay me to do it. And sometimes motherhood is not a job at all, but a calling that feels like a beautiful blessing I did nothing to deserve.
May 27, 2012
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
(UCC)
For our church's 150th anniversary, we celebrated throughout the year in every conceivable way, including commissioning a choral anthem, "Fiat Lux."
February 14, 2012
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
(UCC)
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel draws a powerful life lesson from a story from her youth about her mother's daffodils.
January 09, 2012
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
(UCC)
A few weeks ago, Tim Tebow's pastor said he knew why the Denver Broncos were 7-1 since installing Tebow as quarterback. "It's not luck," Hanson said. "Luck isn't winning six games in a row. It's favor. God's favor." Really?
January 01, 2012
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
(UCC)
In a New Year's reflection on patience, the Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel describes an experience with a trouble-maker on a flight--and how Jesus showed up.
December 04, 2011
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
(UCC)
Someone was complaining to me about why she had stopped going to her church, saying, "You know, when it came to worship, I just didn't get much out of it." To which I replied, "Well, it wasn't directed toward you."
November 13, 2011
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
(UCC)
A devotional on Mark 4:24-26: I have heard rich people say that the poor are lucky before. But I have yet to hear a poor person say it.
The Rev. Martin Copenhaver
(UCC)
This week our host, Peter Wallace, sits down with the authors of the new book "This Odd And Wondrous Calling," The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel and The Rev. Martin Copenhaver.
October 21, 2011
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
(UCC)
Simon's mother was very ill, consumed with a fever, but Jesus was able to cure his friend's mother, to literally "raise her up." What a moment that must have been.
October 13, 2011
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
(UCC)
Two thumbs up for Roger Ebert. Two thumbs up for all those who work to make a more loving, less shallow world.
September 02, 2011
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
(UCC)
In her meditation on Matthew 16:18, Lillian Daniel writes, "Being privately spiritual but not religious just doesn't interest me. There is nothing challenging about having deep thoughts all by oneself."
July 21, 2011
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
(UCC)
Most grandmothers teach their grandchildren how to make cookies. My grandmother taught me how to make a gin and tonic.
July 24, 2011
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
(UCC)
Sometimes we need to be prepared to "stand in" for church in the lives of those who are hurting, sharing our testimony with the grieving, calling out that we have seen light in the midst of darkness.
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
(UCC)
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel, senior minister of First Congregational Church of Glen Ellyn, IL, talks with host Peter Wallace about the unique statement of beliefs her church offers, her calling, how to reach youth, her book on testimony in the church, and other topics of faith and life.
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
(UCC)
Hosts Daniel Pawlus and Lydia Talbot continue in conversation with Lillian Daniel, who says we all have God given passion within us to meet the needs of the world in some way.
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
(UCC)
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel, Senior Minister of the First Congregational Church of Glen Ellyn, Illinois, says Jesus' call to us to live abundant lives is actually a call for the transformation of the world, so that justice will roll down into every life.
February 01, 2009
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
(UCC)
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel focuses on Jesus' teaching in Matthew 5:14-15 about being the "light of the world." She reveals why many mainline Christians are hesitant to share their story of faith, and shows how we can do a better job of it in our daily lives.
January 25, 2009
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
(UCC)
Have you ever been to a wedding reception where the bride sang in her own wedding band? Musicians do things differently. The wedding reception was held upon the stage of a grand old theater in Buffalo, New York. Elegantly set tables dotted the wooden floor, with its stage markings and velvet curtains swagged casually aside.
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
(UCC)
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel sits down with Day1 host Peter Wallace and discusses a wide range of subjects including her upbringing in the church, discerning her call to ministry, youth and young adults in the church, her book "Tell it like it is" on testimony in the church, and what books she has found helpful in her own spiritual growth (she mentions Richard Fosters book on Prayer).
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel
(UCC)
The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel sits down with Day1 host Peter Wallace to discuss a wide variety of subjects including: the congregational United Church of Christ outlook, her work on the "God is Still Speaking" Identity campaign, as well as the four points of interest for her congregation: "everyone is a child of Christ," "God is a part of our everyday lives," "We are free to think of God in our own way," "Another world is possible" and the commitment to social justice, "It takes all kinds to make a difference."
