The Courier

February 2002

Volume 55, Issue 2

On the Way to Jerusalem

We belong to a liturgical tradition. In a nutshell, what this means is that we act out what is true for us as people, and as people of God. It is not enough for us just to “think the right thoughts”, as if Christian faith were something that takes place only in our brains. Instead, we find that by performing the drama of God’s truth in our lives (liturgy), it enters us and becomes part of us in new and profound ways.

The heart of Christian faith beats with the sound of cross and resurrection. Hundreds of years ago, a group of Spanish nuns found that by retracing the last steps of Jesus, and thus reenacting the passion and death of Jesus by creating little “stations” at each point along the way, they could enter into the heart of Christianity in ways that shaped who they were and how they behaved. These “Stations of the Cross” became a popular liturgical tool in Christian communities around the world, utilized not only during the six weeks of Lent, but especially during the eight days of Holy Week (Palm Sunday through Easter Day).

In the past few years I have become aware of two trends which concern me. The first is that our pluralistic society does not provide the kinds of allowances for Holy Week participation which it did when the country was “mostly” Christian. The most obvious example of this is Good Friday. Only a few decades ago the business, government, and school communities would virtually shut down at noon on Good Friday so that everyone could get to their church for the three-hour service based upon the “seven last words of Jesus”. Does your place of employment shut down on Good Friday afternoon? Probably not. The result of this trend is that fewer and fewer of us are able to “act out” the last events in the life of Jesus, which are so powerful in the continuing formation of our spiritual lives.

My second concern has to do with the forty days of Lent, and the liturgical offerings specified in the Book of Common Prayer for the Sundays in Lent. Although the themes are Lenten in nature, the readings and psalms are barely distinguishable from those of other Sundays during the year. In my opinion, the Lenten liturgy lacks a certain “punch”. It does not clearly and necessarily lead us to Jerusalem and the cross of Christ.

My solution to these two concerns is to stretch out the events of Holy Week during the six Sundays in Lent. This will add focus to the readings, hymns, and sermon, and it will also enable those whose work schedule prevents them from participating in Holy Week liturgies to experience the power and drama of Christ’s Passion. To help this along, I will be referring to Bruce Chilton’s book Rabbi Jesus in which he presents a plausible biography of Jesus: Bruce, who is an Episcopal priest and religion professor at Bard College, believes that the events of the Passion actually occurred over a period of about six months, but were condensed into one week by the gospel authors in order to render a more compact literary vehicle. Bruce is one of only a handful of Aramaic scholars in the world, and he is extremely knowledgeable about life during the first century in Palestine. He will be guest preacher and celebrant on March 17.

So, we will spread the events back out, over a period of six weeks, in order to look at them more closely, and to work our way carefully and prayerfully to the foot of Christ’s cross before the joy and wonder of Easter. Our Sunday schedule will be as follows as 8 am and 10 am:

February 17	Lent I	From Galilee to Jerusalem Sunday
February 24	Lent II	Entry to Jerusalem Sunday (Palm Sunday)
March 3	Lent III	Cleansing of the Temple Sunday
March 10	Lent IV	Last Supper Sunday
March 17	Lent V	Arrest and Trial Sunday (the Rev. Bruce Chilton)
March 24	Lent VI	Crucifixion Sunday
March 31	Easter Day	Resurrection Sunday

Each Sunday, the Adult Forum will provide opportunity for you to discuss and ask questions regarding the liturgy (drama) of the day. Since the liturgies are based upon sequential events, it will be most beneficial for you to attend every Sunday, or at least as many as you can. The sermons will be posted on the website (www.christchurchpok.org) but there is nothing like being there.

The only question left to be answered then is: “What to do with Holy Week?” If we are observing the Holy Week liturgies on the Sunday mornings during Lent, shall we repeat them again on the weekdays before Easter? My answer to this is: “Yes”. We will observe the liturgies of Holy Week much like we have in the past. It remains an important week throughout the Church, and perhaps we will view them more fully, having given them extra attention during Lent. Also, it is important for us to continue our custom of a joint liturgy with the Latino congregation on Maundy Thursday. Along the same lines, the drama of the Easter Vigil cannot be summarily “dropped”. And, frankly, I just can’t imagine myself sitting at home reading a light novel while I know that the rest of the Christian world is at prayer, focusing on these great events in the life of Jesus and the life of our faith. I’m very excited about these Sundays as liturgical events, and I look forward to hearing from all of you regarding the effect they are having on your Lenten experience.

A Note from God

Lent I	February 17	Galilee to Jerusalem Sunday	Numbers 3:1-5; Psalm 51; Mark 6:17-29
Lent II	February 24	Entry to Jerusalem Sunday	II Samuel 6:1-5, 13-19, 7:1-3; Psalm 122, Mark 11:1-11a
Lent III	March 3	Cleansing of the Temple Sunday	Zechariah 14:16-21; Psalm 15; Mark 11:11-19
Lent IV	March 10	Last Supper Sunday	Exodus 16:1-7, 11-12; Psalm 14:12-25; Mark 14:12-25
Lent V	March 17	Arrest and Trial Sunday	Psalm 37:1-18; Mark 14:10-11, 32-35, 43-64
Lent VI	March 24	Crucifixion Sunday	Zechariah 14:1-11; Psalm 18:1-20; Mark 15:1-5, 16-39

From the Wardens

At the January meeting, the Vestry passed a balanced budget for 2002; heard about a grant from the Diocese for $8,000 for obtaining specifications for repairs to the tower, bring to $13,000 the amount received in grants for this estimated $16,000 job; authorized funding for the feasibility study for a capital campaign; pledged to clarify the use of the Winant Fund income and the intention to specify its support to the community ministry of Christ Church; and set the date for the next Vestry meeting which will be on Tuesday, February 19^th.

Phyllis George, Senior Warden

Rural and Migrant Ministry

The Rural & Migrant Ministry Youth Empowerment Program desperately needs experienced adult drivers. Persons must have a current, clean license and be available on Friday evenings, and some Saturdays and Sundays. Availability on short notice is also helpful. Ministry vehicles are available. Please call Mira Fink, YEP Coordinator, at 485-8627. Thank you!

Episcopal Relief and Development Update

In recent months, Episcopal Relief and Development awarded 18 emergency grants to provide immediate aid and help alleviate suffering in the wake of terrorist attacks, flooding, drought, hurricanes, and civil unrest around the globe. Our congregation of Christ Church is very much a part of this work among God’s people. Our 2001 Advent Offering now totals:

$ 896 Sent by Christ Church Treasurer

110 Sent directly by Individuals

775 Payable to ERD and sent by ERD Representative, Gordon Plowe

$1,781 Total

Now disaster has come upon us once again. Beginning January 17^th, Mount Nyiragongo, Congo has been erupting and hundreds of thousands of people have fled before the rivers of molten fire. And, once again, help from Episcopal Relief and Development is on the way. As of January 20^th, gifts for the people of the Goma, Congo region from Christ Church totaled $120. As Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold recently wrote, “Our ministry is for the whole world, without qualification. Episcopal Relief and Development reaches across cultural barriers, religious differences, and all the walls of division that separate people and nations.” Thank you!

Gordon Plowe

Peace with Justice

Did you know that the Episcopal Church is a member church in the Washington-based organization on Churches for Middle East Peace? Their newsletter urges us to call or write our members of Congress to sponsor H. Con. Res 253. More information will be on the bulletin board with Community Ministry notices. Please consider making this small effort for a large cause.

Evie Fortna

Parish Library Additions

Two recent additions to the parish library are worth your notice and are as follows:

The first is “Jesus the Rebel: Bearer of God’s Peace and Justice”, by John Dear, a Jesuit priest who was, until recently, Executive Director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. With a foreword by Daniel Berrigan, this is a highly accessible read, not demanding in a scholarly way. Dear takes the sayings of Jesus (and a few miracles) that he considers, 33 in all, largely at their face value. And in a translation probably not familiar to most readers, the Roman Catholic “New American Bible”, which is useful in overcoming the dulling that familiarity can breed. He writes meditations, or rather reflections, about each passage, often commenting on experiences he has had as priest and pacifist. These make them most congenial. At the same time he finds an unfamiliar, radical Jesus, siding with God on behalf of the poor and oppressed. For example, he treats the tale of Jesus walking on the water as a “description of the risky, political work of nonviolence and social revolution”. You won’t find anything trite or predictable in this little book.

The second is “Remedial Christianity: What Every Believer Should Know about the Faith But Probably Doesn’t”, by Paul Alan Laughlin, a scholar of comparative religion. Don’t let the title insult you; we’ve all got gaps and misconceptions in our knowledge of Christianity. The book is no primer, but a solid piece of theological and historical interpretation. Lively too, with cartoons! It demands close attention and conveys a lot of fresh ideas. And it has vivid Discussion Questions and Exercises at the end of each chapter; for example, “Find the humor in an English translation of Matthew 21:1-7”. Its eight chapters would make a worthwhile study book for the Adult Hour or during Lent. So would John Dear’s book.

Robert Fortna

Capital Campaign

Last October thirty-eight members of the congregation participated in a Discernment Retreat that constituted the first step in the Church’s consideration of a capital campaign. Now we are about to undertake the second step, a feasibility study to determine the congregation’s willingness to support a capital campaign aimed at taking on projects that are considered central to parish maintenance and growth.

Why are we doing a feasibility study? A church that wants to take on a capital campaign, the type of fundraising done only once or twice in a generation, is by definition attempting to chart a course across unfamiliar terrain. So our Vestry, with the work of a capital campaign committee appointed by the Rector and the Wardens, on which they also participate, sought and contracted for the services of Holliman Associates, a Pennsylvania-based consulting firm that has advised over 175 Episcopal churches and dioceses in their capital campaigns. Those of you who attended the discernment retreat met the president of the organization, Glenn Holliman, who led the discussions at that meeting.

The feasibility study is a process taking about 12 weeks in which a group of parishioners is interviewed individually about the purposes and possible projects to be underwritten by a Christ Church capital campaign and the parishioners’ likelihood of making a contribution toward the successful completion of the campaign. Members of the congregation who are interviewed will spend an hour meeting with a consultant from Holliman Associates. In addition, the survey questionnaire will be sent to every member of the church so that we can all participate.

The results are then tabulated. No particular individuals are referenced. A report is sent to the Vestry that provides a portrait of possibilities should the Vestry decide to proceed with a campaign.

What are the specific projects that are now on the tentative list? The Vestry has given its approval to a list of projects carefully assembled by the Property Episkopos that share the common purpose not only of securing the physical structure of our building but also providing a more congenial home for our spiritual journeys and our efforts to welcome a wider community to our work and worship. Property assembled its list of projects based upon the concept of drawings produced by the Design Team.

On the Vestry’s tentative list of projects totaling approximately $1.2 are: $178,000 for improvements to church grounds; $300,000 to restore the tower; $110,000 for improved handicapped access and air condition of the main meeting room; $106,000 for Parish House renovations; $86,000 for an all-season connector between the office wing and the Parish House; and $107,000 for architectural fees. The specifics of these projects will be shared during the feasibility phase.

This is an open process, one that we hope is deliberative without being laborious, and one that elicits both your confidence and your participation.

Don Moore

2002 Budget (amended and adopted by the Vestry on January 16, 2002)

Income

Endowment $110,653.00 34.2%

Pledges 178,988.00 55.4%

Special 23,540.00 7.3%

Other 9,950.00 3.1%

TOTAL $323,131.00

Expenses

Salaries/Benefits $161,188.00 49.9%

Office Operations 74,677.00 23.1%

Community 7,696.00 2.4%

Parish Life 10,420.00 3.2%

Property 69,150.00 21.4%

TOTAL $323,131.00

OVER/UNDER $ 0.00

Joseph S. E. Crown

Treasurer

Silent Auction/Pancake Supper

There will be a Silent Auction, to benefit our Neighborhood Programs, on Shrove Tuesday at the Pancake Supper from 5:30 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. A Silent Auction is one in which you become the auctioneer and try to outbid your silent bidding rivals. Items received so far: sail on the Hudson; restaurant gift certificates; personal services such as haircuts and massages; delicious eats, wine; and more. Additional forms for auction items are available on the bulletin board across from the Rector’s Office, as well as on the tables in the front and rear of the Church. For further information, call Alice Bunnell at 452-7031. Invite your friends and neighbors to join us for pancakes, auction and a good beginning for Lent. Thank you.

Alice Bunnell

Habitat for Humanity

One of the simpler ways of helping the housing needs of low income families is to take part in a Habitat for Humanity project. One need not be an expert carpenter, have to travel far, or be rich. We have had a chapter here in our county for some time. In 2001, two excited and grateful families moved into their new homes: one on West Arnold Street near Corlies Manor, and the other on Skidmore Road near the Taconic and Route 55. The Community Ministry Episkopos is planning to make periodic announcements of its Habitat for Humanity activities and stories through the “Courier” so that our parish members can enjoy what is happening with the Project.

This organization started building “SIMPLE, DECENT AND AFFORDABLE” houses for “LOW INCOME” families 25 years ago; since then, volunteers worldwide have built over 100,000 family units. Former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn have been participating for the past 18 years and have given it a major impetus.

Question 1: What are the maximum and minimum annual incomes to qualify for a Habitat House?

Question 2: What mortgage interest would they pay, and for how many years?

The answers will be in the next “Courier”. If you have any questions about Habitat for Humanity, or would like to become involved in the organization, contact Sam Im at 485-0106 or e-mail him at samim123@aol.com.

Sam Im

Dutchess County Coalition for the Homeless Wish List

The following items are needed: hats/scarves; pajamas-men’s & women’s; single sheets/blankets; pillows; laundry soap; paper products; razors; shaving cream; and small wrapped soap, shampoo, etc. Please bring items that are new or in very good condition to a box provided in the Parish Office. Thank you.

Evie Fortna

New Christ Church Web Page

Christ Church has a new website.  Our new web address is www.christchurchpok.org. You will now be able to access information such as upcoming church and music events, Michael's sermons, information on church activities, and even read The Courier on-line!  Thanks to Carol Lundergan, a member of our choir, for creating and maintaining our new site.

Carol would like to obtain more information (and pictures) about Christ Church, especially its history, community programs, Mission Guadalupe, and anything else that would be of interest.  Please contact Carol with any ideas, questions and comments about the website.  Her phone number is 256-1841.  You may also e-mail her at soprano.one@verizon.net.  Happy surfing!

Newsletter Deadline

The DEADLINE for the March “Courier” is Sunday, February 17. Please bring items to the parish office. Thank you!

Michele Haynes

Youth Catechumenate

The following are the dates that the Youth Catechumenate Group will be meeting:

v February 10, 2002

v March 3, 2002

v April 14, 2002

v May 5, 2002

Please mark your calendars.

Thank you,

Jackie Vierno

February Acolyte Schedule

February 3 Andrea Easton, Gracie Phillips, John McCleary

February 10 Jessica Lawrence, Tiffany Shepherd, Derek Easton

February 13 (Ash Wednesday) Johanna Kraft

February 17 Chris Morgan, Gracie Phillips, Monica Lievers

February 24 Adam Gregorius, Michael Shepherd, Alice Friedle

Milestones

Happy Birthday: John VanBenschoten will celebrate his 90^th birthday on February 11. Please join in wishing him a Happy Birthday. If you would like to send him a card his address is: Lutheran Care Center, 965 Dutchess Turnpike, Poughkeepsie, NY 12603.

Congratulations: Sally & Bill Vasse are the proud grandparents of Samuel Benedict Bole who arrived on January 7, weighing in at 7 lbs. 2 oz. and 19.5”.

Lenten Series

Wednesday evenings, beginning February 20, the following Lenten Series will begin:

6:00 p.m. Opening Eucharist

6:30 p.m. Dinner

7:00 p.m. Study Sessions:

A. Examination and Comparison of the Passion stories in the Bible

B. Fundamentalism as a global factor

8:15 p.m. Compline

Please join us for any or all parts of these evenings. For purposes of food and/or study materials, please sign up with Michele in the Parish Office if you’re planning to attend dinner and/or a study session.

Marge Bliss

Directory Update

We are in the process of updating the Church Directory. Please check your Parish Directory and make sure the information about your entry is correct. If there are any changes to be made, contact Diane Sherer at 471-5918 (there is an answering machine) or you can e-mail Michele at christchurch@mindspring.com. Please include the following information:

Name(s)

Address(es)

Names of children

Phone Number

E-Mail Address

From the Baton of Laura Russell, Choir Director

Christ Church to form interfaith musical group: Among the many choirs and individuals singing with us last November for the Mozart Requiem Benefit Concert was Cantor Rena Shapiro and her choir from Temple Beth-El in Poughkeepsie. After the benefit concert we met together to discuss possible future musical collaborations. We are now in the process of selecting music and planning ways in which our two choirs can sing together the great music that celebrates our common religious traditions.

Temple Beth-El has a newsletter similar to ours, and Cantor Shapiro wrote recently about how music can foster interfaith cooperation and understanding in today’s world. I quote briefly from some of what she wrote:

“Since ancient times, it has been understood that music has the power to heal. Some three thousand years ago a young shepherd boy succeeded in curing the King of Israel of depression through the sweetness of his musical improvisations! But music can heal in other ways as well … As a vehicle of communication, music can bring together people who may be divided by walls of language, politics, or religion … I have been asked by the choir director at a local Episcopal church to collaborate on a project to combine our choirs in a musical venture … I look forward to building our own sacred bridges, starting right here in Poughkeepsie … The whole world is a very narrow bridge, and the essential thing is to fear nothing. May be overcome our fears and begin to build sacred bridges in a spirit of brotherhood and sisterhood.”

I am very excited about the prospect of working with Rena and her choir. If you would like to become involved in any aspect of planning future interfaith events, please contact me at the church.

Spring Choir Concert: The Christ Church Choir will perform the Faure Requiem in the church on Saturday afternoon, April 27^th. Please save the date!

Handbells: The church owns a two-octave set of handbells. I am looking for people interested in forming a Handbell Choir that would use the bells for special occasions during the church year. I would particularly welcome people who are NOT already involved in the regular choir. The Handbell Choir is ideal for people age 12 and up, and is a wonderful way to get involved in church music if singing is not your strength! You do NOT have to have previous musical experience to play in a Handbell Choir. Please contact Laura Russell if you are interested in being involved.

Piano Trucks: The church’s two grand pianos are now perched happily on strong, metal wheeled structures which will enable them to be moved carefully, but safely, as needed. Small gatherings in the chapel may now make use of the piano. Concerts held in the church by our choir or by community groups renting the space may now easily use the piano. The piano in the community room can now be moved to make better use of the space for concerts or other church or community activities. Anyone attempting to move the pianos should be aware of the following:

1. Each wheel has a lock that must be unlocked before the piano can be moved. They should be locked again once the piano is in place.

2. The wheels need to be pointed in the direction of the movement. Two or three people are an ideal number to use to move the piano.

3. It is extremely important not to place the pianos next to radiators during the heating season. Close proximity to the dry heat is very bad for pianos, and should be avoided!

4. Please avoid placing food, drinks, candles and other inappropriate objects on the pianos. Melted wax and spilled food and drink mar the finish of the piano. Any liquid spilled inside the piano can cause extensive damage that would be very expensive to repair.

Lenten Music: There will be special organ and choir music drawn from the great religious musical traditions during the season of Lent. If you sing and would like to participate in our choir, please call Laura Russell at the church.

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