A Newsletter by and for the people of Christ Church Bronxville

TheSpire

May 2011 VOL. LXIII, No. 7

Contact us:914.337.3544

Monday-Thursday

9:00 AM to 3:00 PM

Fridays9:00 AM to 12:00 PM

www.ccbny.org

Children’s Formation 2

Adult Formation & Confirmation 3

Youth 4

Music at CCB 5

Parish Life 6

EYC Sermon 7

May Highlights 8

At a Glance

Worship at CCB (feat. The EYC)Inspired by an extraordinary Holy Week, Easter Sunday and Confirmation Sunday, the Christ Church family is rising to the challenge of finding new and wonderful ways to get together and do the work God has given us to do.

We have “Dined In” to benefit Community Service Associates and their soup kitchen in Mt. Vernon. We are actively raising awareness about the importance of permaculture gardens in Malawi and our continuing relationship with the people there. We will enjoy a Youth Sunday and an Evensong this week, and on May 22 we will join together for Communion Sunday and honor the work of our Second Graders, who have learned about Holy Eucharist all year in Church School.

Each of these moments in our community’s life expresses the deeper truth of our dependence on God, our reliance on each other and our need to move ever onward in our pilgrimage of faith. We come together to be challenged to greater discipleship and to be fed for that journey.

This past Sunday we experienced another of our yearly EYC Sundays. We entrusted our worship experience to the members of the Episcopal Youth Community, our High School kids. They read the lessons, ushered, wrote the prayers of the people, rapped one of the announcements, administered the chalices, served at the altar and preached. I know that I was deeply moved and inspired by their efforts on our behalf. On page 7 is a small portion of the sermon preached by seniors Nora Hogan and Karly Redpath. I hope you are able to see in their words and in their statements of faith that the Church is in good hands now and in the future. - Michael+

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Children’s Christian Formation

Godly Play (Ages 3 to 1st grade)May 1st The Synagogue and the Upper RoomMay 8th Doubting Thomas May 15th The Good SamaritanMay 22nd Ascension & PentecostMay 29th Memorial Weekend- Combined Classes Second Grade May 1st The ConfessionMay 8th Instructed Eucharist May 15th Following the BulletinMay 22nd Communion Sunday May 29th Memorial Weekend- No Church School

Third and Fourth GradeMay 1st The Birth of the ChurchMay 8th The Early Church May 15th The Growth of the ChurchMay 23rd PaulMay 30th Memorial Weekend- No Church School

Fifth and Sixth GradeMay 1st The Episcopal Church: History and GovernanceMay 8th The Book of Common Prayer May 15th How are Episcopalians different from other Christians?May 23rd Challenges of the Episcopal Church todayMay 30th Memorial Weekend- No Church School

For more information please contact:Barbara Potgieter Children’s Christian Formation bpotgieter@ccbny.org

Church School Calendar

Last Day of Church SchoolThe last day is June 12th. Pre-K through 1st grade (Godly Play) will have a regular class. Second through Sixth grades will be together in Taylor Hall to play Church School Jeopardy. They will work in multi-grade teams to answer questions relating to what they have learned this year.

The Spire

Nursery Care is available for babies and children too young

for Church School.

Communion SundaySunday, May 22nd, 2011 with the 2nd Grade

At the 10:00AM service we will be joined by the Second Grade class for their Communion Sunday. The entire curriculum of second grade church school is structured around the sacrament of Holy Communion. On Communion Sunday, our second grade class sits together, receives communion as a class and leads the congregation in reciting the post-communion prayer. There will be a special coffee hour following the service to honor their work during the year.

Pentecost is June 12th

On the Feast of Pentecost we celebrate the birthday of the Christian Church. To symbolize the presence of the Holy Spirit, you are encouraged to come to church wearing RED.Please join us in the undercroft after the 10 AM service for a festive coffee hour, including red birthday cake.

Photo by Ken Richardson

“Sunday Shorts” Series: Practicing Our Faith (Part 2)Back by popular demand! We are doing more sessions on Christian practices during May. Please make a careful note of the dates:

May 22: Saying Yes & Saying NoMay 29: Singing Our Lives

All sessions will be held in the Crispell Lounge immediately following the 10 AM service and will be led by Mother Lamborn. As usual coffee and goodies will be available.

Confirmation Sunday, May 1st, 2011Bishop Herbert A. Donovan visits Christ Church, Welcomes 23

From left to right (more or less): Mother Jennifer Brown, John O’Neil, Christian Welch, Ted Meyers, Matt Adrian, Claire Hayes, Alaya Martin, Patrick Early, Lucy Whitney, Tom Nichols, Charlotte Reynolds, Mary Boland, Molly O’Neil, Bishop Herbert Donovan, Peter Licursi, Lissa Villani, Giselle Licursi, Peyton Elder, Maggie Barrett, Paul Licursi, Emiddio Licursi, Jack Redpath, Guy McKhann, Jim Shanahan, Elena Licursi, Father Michael Bird and Marielle Licursi.

On Sunday, May 1, during the visitation of the Rt. Rev. Herbert Donovan, Assisting Bishop for the Diocese of New York, Christ Church Bronxville welcomed 23 members into the Episcopal Church. The Bishop confirmed 12 eighth-graders, who completed a two year program of studies designed to strengthen their faith and their commitment to living a life according to the Christian principles of love of God and love of neighbor. Additionally, Bishop Donovan confirmed two adults and received 9 parishioners into the Episcopal Church, a formal “belonging” for those who have been confirmed by a Bishop in another tradition.

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Adult Christian Formation

Photo by Ken Richardson/CCB

4 The Spire

EYC

EYC End of the Year Pool Party 8th Graders InvitedMay 15th, 7PMHosted by Mary and Chris Behrens

The EYC will celebrate the end of the program year and look forward to summer with a pool party at the home of Mary and Chris Behrens. The teens should bring a swimming suit, towel and food to share. Teens with last names beginning with A-M should bring a dessert and N-Z should bring a side dish. Newly confirmed 8th grad-ers are invited to join the party and get to know the older teens in youth group.

EYC Mission Trip to HarlemJuly 30th-August 6th

Registration and $400 due May 15th

The teens in the EYC will spend the first week of August serving Episcopal Church of the Intercession in Harlem. Intercession is a beautiful church that was built by the same architect who designed Christ Church Bronxville. Over the past few decades, the population of Harlem has shifted, as has the parish. The building is now facing many of the same challenges Christ Church faced a few years ago. Intercession is ripe with the potential to grow and the EYC can make a meaningful contribution to the parish. During the mission trip the EYC will run a religious morning day-camp for any interested neighborhood children at Intercession. In the afternoons the teens will care for Intercession’s building through painting and other maintenance projects. The teens will also have time to learn more about New York City. They will attend performances, eat at “hole in the wall” restaurants and experience parts of then city they may not already know. The cost of the trip is $400. Registration and the $400 fee are due May 15th. Forms are available for download at ccbny.org. For more information contact Krista Dias at kdias@ccbny.org

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The Choirs of Christ Church during Holy Week Music

6 The Spire

MayBirthdays

2: Gigi Pennoyer; 3: Donald Carey, Brook Kaye; 5: Jessica Palfrey, Lisa Wolfgang; 6: Allison Devlin, Shawn O’Neil; 7: Russell Hogan 8: Grayson Elder; 9: Coleman Kraemer, Caroline Richardson; 10: Andrew Callaway, Katherine Elder, Maggie Nichols, Stephen Palfrey, Sally Reynolds, Laura Wolfgang; 11: Grace Devlin; 12: Tyler Hamerling, Caroline Hewitt Eaton; 13: Hongxin Zhao; 14: Deborah Cook; 15: Kimber Yerkes; 16: Thomas Wolfgang; 17: Kayla Visco, Jane Strome, Miller Spencer, Ann Roberts; 18: Susan Brasco, Emily Simpson, Doug Vaughan; 20: Michael Conaton, Elizabeth Harrington, Charles Sorensen 21: Elisabeth Villani; 22: Jess Tighe, Katheryn Whitney; 24: Charlotte Cooley, George Cooley, Susannah Cooley; 25: Matthew Harrington; 26: Jennifer Barr, Mary Marvin, Richard Whitney; 27: Anne Campbell, Charles Hibbler; 28: Jackson Crystal; 29: Mary Anne Carey, Jake Sears, James Sutton; 30:Tyler Ahmuty

Parish Events

Easter Photos, April 24th, 2011

Sacred HeartSoup Kitchen

We will be serving at the soup kitchen Thursday, May 19. Shawn O’Neil will pick up in front of the church at 4:30.We will be cooking Tuesday, May 24th in the church kitchen from 12-2pm.

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Front Page cont’d - selections from the EYC Sermon on Luke 24:13-35Karly:The past four years of high school for us have been a journey, pretty similar to the journey of the disciples on the road to Emmaus. We had all the background in church a kid could want - we’ve gone to Sunday School every week and we’ve been confirmed here at Christ Church. We sang and prayed and ran around like the best of them. But being a teenager and all, we also actively questioned how powerful a relationship with God can be.

Nora:Taizé was the “bigger thing” that Karly and I needed to realize how important and present God is in our lives on a daily basis. My trips to Taizé have given me truly meaningful moments of realization and clarity, like what the disciples must have experienced on the road to Emmaus. And through them I have witnessed personally the power of Christ’s love.

Karly:Every Friday night service at Taizé is Good Friday, recalling the power of Christ’s self-offering and Christ’s willingness to share our burdens. For me, the Friday night service this year was the most powerful service by far. Not only did I feel the love that Jesus has for me, through offering up my own struggles, but I was also able to experience that love through the journey of the younger members of the youth group as they first encountered this truth.I watched as God helped each one of them peel away the layers that keep them from being who they are. And then I joined with them as they turned to love and comfort one another, as God wants us to.

Nora: The day after the Good Friday service, Father Bird leads a eucharist for just our group. It is conducted like our regular services here, but during the “Peace” section, everyone hugs. Every single person in the room hugs each other, and the beautiful part of it is that everyone means every hug they give. After an emotional and powerful week spiritually, to be able to hug all of the people that experienced it with you is incredible. This year, Father Bird said something that finally helped me understand the power of God. During a prayer sometime after the Peace, he said “let the love in this room be the proof of God’s presence.” I suddenly realized that there was so much love in that room because of our time at Taizé and in EYC, and that it really was proof of God being there, and here, loving every single one of us, and all of us loving our neighbors as ourselves. My eyes have never been so open.

- some of the gang from EYC Sunday

8 The SpireThe SpireChrist Church Bronxville17 Sagamore RoadBronxville, NY 10708-1599

Sunday, May 15 10:00 AM Youth Sunday

Thursday, May 19th 4:30 PM Food delivery to Soup Kitchen

Sunday, May 22nd 10:00 AM Family Choral Eucharist/ Communion Sunday for the Second Grade Tuesday, May 24th 7:30 PM Vestry Meeting (Crispell Lounge) 12:00 PM Sacred Heart Soup Kitchen Cooking in Church Kitchen

Monday, May 30th Memorial Day/Church Office Closed

Highlights Thank you and congratulations!

It is with gratitude and heartfelt appreciation that we say goodbye to this year’s Senior seminarian from General Seminary. Todd Hoover has been with us since September, as he worked to complete a one year program in Anglican Studies. Todd will head back to Florida after Commencement and begin his active ministry there. As our seminarian, Todd has been involved in all aspects of our parish life and was a tremendous help during the American Sarum Conference this winter. We wish Todd all the very best as he begins this next phase of life and ministry.