A Newsletter by and for the people of Christ Church Bronxville

November 2011 VOL. LXIIV, No. 3

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

Outreach Reflection 4

Adult Christian Formation 5

EYC News 4

Music at CCB 7 November Highlights 8

At a Glance

If we can get to the true depth of the heart, what we find there is the echo of God’s creative word. Each one of us is a unique kind of echo of God. This does not mean that if we uncovered our deepest consciousness, we would find the Ten Commandments written there. It is that we are, by the very nature of our humanity, natural attuned to the reality of God. Our task in growing up in the life of the spirit is to try to recover that attunement. I think of that, for example, when I listen to Bach, who somehow does a great deal more theology in a few bars of music than most do in many words.

- Rowan Willams, Archbishop of Canterbury

The Spire

C

HRIST

CHURCH

BRONXVILLE

During the fall, and particularly after my 8 days in Arizona at a CREDO Conference dedicated to the investigation of health and wholeness in all aspects of life, I have been reflecting a great deal on what it means to be in tune with God. We were, after all, created in the image of God and designed to be co-creators with God in this world. But we have strained the harmonies in any number of ways. We are out of tune. And then the great trouble begins. We become used to that discordant tuning, making the habits of self-regard and self-protection the normal music of our lives.I love those early iPod commercials - the ones in which the main character is dancing along the streets of some city listening to their own personal soundtrack, the music they’ve chosen to highlight and shape the action and emotion of their lives. Would there be dancing if the music pouring into our ears was a steady stream of anger, irresponsibility, selfishness, competition, consumerism and need for control? These are the messages with which we are bombarded so often in our lives, and they slip so easily into our self-understanding when we are out of tune with God. Every night when I kiss Patrick and Edelawit goodnight I worry about the balance of messages in their lives. Are Catherine and I doing enough to keep them in tune with God’s great loving plan for them? I hope and pray that we are.There is one thing that I know for sure. This faith community, our Christ Church family, will always deliver the message of love, forgiveness and reconciliation. And that is certainly one of our main reasons for the many ministries here - to restore us to beautiful harmony with God and our neighbor, and to balance out those things which would pull us out of tune. As we move into November, and celebrate All Saints’ Sunday this weekend, I would urge you to refocus your attention on Christ Church. Take advantage of all that we offer and the harmonies we are pouring out into the world. Everything we do here is done for you, to keep you in tune - the beloved children of God.And to that end I would like to make a request - 5 months in advance. This year, for the first time in years, the public schools do not have vacation during Holy Week. During Holy Week we reclaim and remember the truth and beauty of our story as Christians. It is the most important week of the Christian Calendar. It is also Christ Church at its best. The music, message, and liturgies of that week are extraordinary. We are carefully, deliberately and wonderfully in tune with God. I have postponed my sabbatical to be here with you for that Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday (Easter Sunday). Please schedule your vacations to begin after the morning services on Easter Sunday, April 8th. I promise you will understand your faith and God’s love for you in profoundly different ways after attending the services of Holy Week.I’ll see you in church on Sundays and in between. And together let’s keep in tune and in balance, the beloved people of God moving purposefully to a soundtrack of Love.

- Michael+

Attuned to God, the real music of our lives.

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Children’s Christian Formation

The Spire

Weekly Children’sChristian Formation

Schedule9:55 AM Children arrive in Taylor Hall for a brief music rehearsal10:00 AM Worship for Children Begins10:20 AM Students move to their classrooms or remain in Taylor Hall for art

10:45 AM Students enter church for Holy Communion

Church School Calendar

NovemberChurch School Calendar

Sunday, Nov. 6thSermon on the Mount/Beatitudes Sunday, Nov. 13thYouth Sunday/ BeatitudesSunday, Nov. 20thOutreach SundaySunday, Nov. 27thNo Church School

Nursery Careis always available for babies and children too

young for Church School.

November is National Hospice Month

Please join us as we salute our volunteers during National Hospice Month. Jansen provides compassionate care and

unparalleled services to our patients and their families with peace and dignity.

Unconditional Love Shared on a Daily Basis…To learn about our programs and services, please visit our website at www.

jansenhospice.org or call 914-961-2818. “It really is an honor to be with someone at the end of his or her life.”

- 11th Hour Volunteer Jane Kratovil

Crèche Parent Volunteers NeededChrist Church, Bronxville will continue its long-standing tradition of the Crèche Service on Saturday, December 24th at 4 PM.Rehearsal for this service will take place on Saturday, December 17th at 4 PM and Sunday, Dec 18 at 12 PM after the Christmas Party. However, in an effort to get our children prepared for their speaking roles there will be two additional rehearsals for speaking roles, prior to the general rehearsal, where the focus will be on costume fitting. To make the most of each rehearsal, parents whose children accept the speaking roles are encouraged to have their child at every rehearsal so that they can be fully prepared and confident in their specific roles. Children in the 4th - 6th grade are encouraged to assume the speaking roles and also fulfill the role of narrator. In an effort to for this to be meaningful and inclusive, parent volunteers are needed to help with costumes and angel and shepherd wrangling. Please contact the Rev. Jennifer Brown at jbrown@ccbny.org.

Christmas Helpers Needed!

Volunteers needed for the Christmas Party on Sunday, December 18th at 12:00 PM.

Please contact The Rev. Jennifer Brown at jbrown@ccbny.org if you would like to help.

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In 1975, when I was 15, my stepfather, a professor of Biochemistry, went on a trip to Africa. He was working in Kenya and South Africa with Dr. Richard Leakey and I wanted to go with him; for me Africa was the continent of exotic animals, Daktari, and the cradle of man. I had heard Jane Goodall speak on her book “In the Shadow of Man” and was completely enthralled. Unfortunately our family, a blended one of 6 children headed by two scientists at the University of Buffalo and Roswell Park, could not afford the expense. My longing would have to be postponed almost 30 years. HIV was barely on the horizon. Fast forward to 1981 and I had decided to enroll at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx as a graduate student in the department of Anatomy and Structural Biology. Almost immediately we started to learn about this strange illness affecting the immune system of its sufferers. The epidemic was beginning to brew in its three major US centers, NY, Los Angeles and San Francisco but as yet I was unaware of its insidious spread. In 1985 I called a graduate student meeting and was surprised that one of my younger colleagues, Gerald, was absent because his boyfriend was in Einstein hospital with pneumonia. I wondered at how a young man like Serafin had developed pneumonia but even more shocking, Serafin died a few days later, a victim of pneumocystis carinii. He was the first person I had known to die of AIDS, a handsome graduate student full of life. We were petrified for Gerald but he was stoic. He gave the most eloquent eulogy for Serafin when we held a memorial service for him at the college. At the tender age of 24 he had lost the love of his life and he asked us never to take for granted those we loved. After a brief time as a post-doc at Princeton University, I returned as a medical student to Einstein. AIDS was a full blown epidemic by then and at its peak, 1995, I was both a young mother and a new intern at Montefiore. We still had overnight call every fourth night while on the medicine service and we had an entire floor of the hospital dedicated to AIDS admissions. Most nights on call were spent admitting or caring for young, sick, dying AIDS patients in the prime of life. It was exhausting although I expected no less of internship, but few interns in history had had to deal with the burden of infectious disease the way we did in 1995-1996. The deaths of these patients were hideous and painful and inevitable; it took a toll on all of us and was like fighting in a losing battle for an entire year. And then a miracle happened: in 1996 the first protease inhibitor was introduced – Crixivan. Almost overnight those sick dying suffering patients disappeared from the hospital. I knew; I was a witness to how effective these new drugs could be. It was an answer to the worst epidemic the world had ever known. I graduated and started working in a private practice in order to support my family. I thought I had put AIDS largely behind me because of the lifesaving medications. On a hot August morning, 2002, I went to church. I don’t know what made me do that but something drew me there. The sermon that day was given by Bill Rankin who was a friend of our Associate Rector Elizabeth Searle, a woman I admire greatly. Bill described his experiences in Malawi working with GAIA. I remembered clearly when he said: “Sometimes all you could do was hold their hands while they died.” It was the epidemic all over again, only a thousand times worse in Africa. No drugs, no doctors, no antiretrovirals, no AIDS experts. I shook Bill’s hand after the service and told him I understood what he was talking about from my work in the Bronx. The seed was planted. It took almost a year for me to work up the courage to call Bill and he answered the phone when I called the GAIA number! He invited me to travel to Malawi with him and I arranged to do that in August 2004. I only spent 7 days there with Bill and other GAIA associates but I cried when I got on the airplane to leave and vowed I would somehow return. I had been infected with the biophilia that Jeffery Sachs describes in “The End of Poverty”. I fell in love with Malawi. I kept my promise and have been back 5 times since then, leading groups of church members, teenagers, and medical personnel. GAIA has expanded during this time and has now been credited with saving over 15000 lives in Malawi. I was asked to be a trustee in 2008 and have served with pride and the knowledge that I am unlikely ever to have as much impact on a people more deserving of our love and assistance than with GAIA. We train nurses, educate, clothe and feed orphans, provide food and medicine to innumerable AIDS patients, teach whole villages how to become self-sustaining while empowering women and girls. Working with Malawi and GAIA is like an incredible gift that I want to share with those who wish to offer their talents but who can also find healing in the process of discovering a people that are materially poor but rich in spirit and culture.On Saturday November 5 we plan to honor and celebrate the service of Bill Rankin who started me on this journey so many years ago. I ask all of you to join in to give thanks for this man who had the courage to forge ahead into a foreign land and has now presided over GAIA for more than 10 years. Thank you for your support of GAIA over the years and especially for the amazing people of Malawi who have been stoic throughout the worst epidemic in the history of our planet. I am grateful to Christ Church Bronxville for opening the door to GAIA and for the most meaningful experience of my life: serving the poor in Africa. I hope that you are all able to hear the call to, in your own particular way and according to your own gifts and skills, serve our neighbors here and everywhere. -Etta M Eskridge

Outreach reflectiOn - inspiratiOn and need

4 The Spire

EYC

Ingathering to Mark Close of “Love Serve Give” Canvass On All Saints’ Sunday, November 6, you are invited to bring your completed pledge card to church and join the community of Christ Church in acknowledging God’s abundance by offering it at our annual ingathering. Pledge cards returned earlier will be added to those brought on November 6, and all will be formally received and blessed. This offering symbolizes our joyful and thankful response to God for all that we are and all that we have.

Though the Ingathering marks the official close of this year’s Every Member Canvass, there is still time to participate in Love Serve Give, if you have not already done so. Follow-ups will continue through Thanksgiving. Please call the church office if you did not receive a call or a packet.

In the meantime, we extend heartfelt thanks to all who participated in Love Serve Give and to these parishioners who served as Canvassers: Jen Barr, Bill Bates, Mary Behrens, Hondi Brasco, Margaret Conaton, Carol Costa, Tim Donahue, Liz Folberth, Amy Freed, Randy Frost, Gary Hayes, Hershell George, Tracey Gilliam, Lisa Harrington, Warren Ilchman, Joanne & Stephen Jones, Sarah Kraemer, Barbara & Wink McKinnon, Jeff Minich, Camille & Stephen Mordaunt, Paige Nagle, Mike & Kathy O’Guin, John O’Neil, Michael Pollack, Jim Redpath, Sheldon Reynolds, Ken Richardson, Jim Rooney, Deborah Ross, Luke Sears, Letizia Seirup, Bob & Ruth Singleton, Arthur Taylor, Owen Thomas, Nick Visco, Rich Whitney, Ruth Wood, and Kimber & Harry Yerkes. ~ Suzanne Srebnik and Debbie Cook, Canvass Co-Captains.

The teens in the Sr. EYC spent several weeks last year reflecting on what it means to live in Christian community. They were inspired by their travel to Taizé and the disciplined life of the monks there. The teens looked at the Taizé Rule, the Rule of Saint Benedict and our Book of Common Prayer for inspiration. Monastic “Rules” are community agreements for Christian living. All people, whether written down or not, have a “rule of life”. For example, we brush our teeth and sleep regularly in order to stay healthy. The teens’ reflection ultimately led them to three rules. They agreed to pray, serve others, and build community through regular meals together. Each rule has a scripture reference and Taizé songs that go with it. On the first Monday of October, Sr. EYC parents joined the Sr. EYC for a Eucharist and signing of the “EYC Rule.”. During the Eucharist, each teen signed the “ EYC Rule of Life”. They committed to holding each other accountable to Christian living. It is not easy to do the work of living as Christ’s body in the world, but it is much easier with the support of a church community. -Krista Dias

Sunday Short Series in Advent:An encounter with Art, Scripture and Prayer Led by Hondi Brasco and Jadon Hartsuff After the 10am service starting Dec. 4

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Center for Spiritual Growth NovemberBirthdays

1: Melvin Sarpong; 2: Mary Cherna; 4: Donald Sharp; 5: Wil-liam Elder, Myles Gould; 6: John Barrett, Kristofer DePalermo, John Leferovich; 8: Karen Day, Sinclair Welch; 9: Lilia Noor Al-Omoush; 10: Patricia Park, Catherine Sul-livan; 11: Dorothy Oberhaus, Elena Licursi, Paul Licursi; 12: Amy Bruck, Erin Kaye; 14: Mary Beh-rens; 15: Ella Crystal; 16: Jack-son Freed, Suzanne Srebnik; 18: Corky Frost, Julia O’Connor, Paul Philips; 20: Katherine Andersen, John Warman; 21: Olivia Bruton; 22: Cornelia Bower; 23: Taylor Reynolds, Dorothy Yohannan, Zoe Hamerling; 25: Georgeann Delli Venneri; 26: Lee Johnson, Carol Taylor; 27: Leighton Welch; 28: Jaime Elkerton, Madeleine Foley, William Goodell; 30: Deborah Ross and Rosemary PalmerTo submit birthdays please send them to Amy Capeci at acapeci@ccbny.org.

Christ Church Gay and Lesbian Fellowship Group

The next get together will be on Sunday, December 4th at 6 PM. The location is TBA.As usual, the format will be fun, fellowship, and food. There is no agenda or program. And, invite your friends. This fellowship group is a place where all are welcome.Please let us know, as the time nears, what you’d like to bring for the meal. Suggestions are casserole type main courses, appetizers, sides, salads, desserts, wine and soda. For more information, please contact Jim Robertson jasbrob@aol.com

Labyrinth TalkAs part of its ongoing interest in meditation, the Women’s Spirituality Group has invited Christine Farm-Noble to speak to us about labyrinths. Recently she answered the call from Chartres Cathedral to join an international team to build a new labyrinth in the garden of the cathedral. She has also built her own labyrinth in rural Maine. An accomplished photographer, writer and teacher, Christine is a Veriditas Advanced

Labyrinth facilitator. Her talk will take place in the church conference room. -Hondi Brasco

Thursday, Dec.1st from 9:30-11:30 AM. All are welcome.

6 The Spire

Special Events

Sunday December 4th: Advent Lessons & Carolsat the 10:00AM serviceAt the risk of sounding like a Christmas Grinch, I’ll preface this with: I LOVE CHRISTMAS!! It is, in fact, my favorite celebration at Christ Church. I look forward to seeing and smelling Christmas greens in the church, preparing the choir for glorious descants soaring above our beloved Christmas Carols, and the slightly eggnogish smell of the congregation at Midnight Mass! I already have my Christmas playlist cued up in my iPod: lots of Julie Andrews, Bing Crosby, and some terribly out of fashion Mormon Tabernacle Choir performances.But I think it is the season of Advent that makes my Christmas experience so satisfying: I go out of my way to push these things to December 24th (yes, I confess my Christmas celebration starts at 10:00AM on the 24th when I listen to the BBC broadcast from King’s College, Cambridge). And I simply cannot abide the mid-November shopping experience with “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas” piped through the loudspeaker.Advent Lessons and Carols is the perfect way to get into the spirit of the season – the season of ADVENT. It’s our way of celebrating using the 24 songs in our hymnal before the Christmas section, by putting away the green (ordinary) vestments and decorating the church in Sarum Blue – a color of hopefulness, reflection and expectation in a season that anticipates what is to come in Bethlehem. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel! - Christopher Wells

The Organ at Christ ChurchA new Christ Church Publication is available: The Organ at Christ Church. This detailed brochure contains interesting information about our new organ including each of the 552 moving parts on the console! Pictures and essays describing the history of the organ and the making of the new instrument are available online through the music page at our website or in the Church Office.

October 30th - What an Evening!What a great pleasure it was to have Philip Stopford as our visiting composer on Sunday, October 30. Philip Stopford (b.1977) began his musical career as a Chorister at Westminster Abbey under the direction of both Simon Preston and Martin Neary. After winning a major Music Scholarship to Bedford School, he became Organ Scholar at Truro Cathedral, the original home of the Nine Lessons and Carols Service. Philip went on to Oxford University to study music at Keble College, where he was also Organ Scholar. In 1999 to 2000 Philip was appointed Organ Scholar at Canterbury Cathedral, working with David Flood and Timothy Noon, and then moved to Chester Cathedral as Assistant Organist. Philip was appointed Director of Music at St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast in January 2003, taking charge of the recruitment and training of the choir and directing the choir at Cathedral services. Philip currently devotes his time to choral composition and conducting, offering commissions and workshops globally. At Christ Church he led a workshop with the choir, rehearsed them and then conducted as they performed several of his compositions at Evensong, including the breathtakingly beautiful The Beatitudes. The choir had a marvelous time and so did the congregation lucky enough to be worshiping with us on the day. The choir will sing The Beaititudes again on All Saints’ Sunday, November 6th.The Evensong was preceded by a spectacular organ recital by our own Christopher Wells. Christopher prepared an entire selection of works by American composer Craig Phillips. The music, performed beautifully, also highlighted the warmth and range of our new organ. Recordings of the Organ Recital and Evensong will be available soon on our website - ccbny.org.

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Music

Chorister InstallationOn October 30th at the 10:00AM service, several of our choristers were officially “installed” in their ministry at Christ Church. While several of these choristers have been a part of the Primary Choir and Sing ‘n Ring, entrance into the Treble Choir, is an important moment to mark. For a period of time, these choristers wear only a black cassock during services until they have demonstrated their commitment to the choir. At the installation service, they are presented a surplice (the long white part of their vestments) and a Royal School of Church Music medal. More Choristers are due to be installed later in the year.

Congratulations to the following choristers: Evan Barr, Sarah Billings, Erin Kaye, Amy Laburda, Sarah Meyer, and Sophia Prior

Philip Stopford-Composer

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

HighlightsWed., Nov. 16th 9:30 AM Altar Guild Meeting

Fri. Nov. 11th Veterans Day/Church Office Closed

Sun., Nov. 20th Youth Sunday

Thurs. Nov. 24th Thanksgiving Day/Church Office Closed

Fri. Nov. 25th Church Office Closed

Fri. Dec. 2nd 6:45 PM Midnight Run Sunday, Dec. 4th 9:45 AM Prelude Begins 10:00 AM Advent Lessons and Carols

Saturday Dec. 17th 9:30 AM Crèche Rehearsal

Sunday Dec. 18th 11:15 AM Christmas Party 12:00 PM Crèche Reh. Saturday Dec. 24th 4:00 PM Crèche Service 10:30 PM Brass Prelude 11:00 PM Midnight Mass

Sunday Dec. 25th 9:00 AM Holy Eucharist

Save the Date!December 4th, 2011

Advent Lessons and Carols with the Kensington Brass

9:45 Prelude Begins