MADISON AVENUE
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
921 Madison Avenue
(at East 73rd Street)
New York, NY 10021
Tel: 212- 288-8920
Fax: 212-249-1466
(at East 73rd Street)
New York, NY 10021
Tel: 212- 288-8920
Fax: 212-249-1466
Sarah Lien Finnerty, Director of Christian Education and Youth Ministries
comes to MAPC from Texas by way of Augusta, Georgia. As a preacher’s
kid, she has lived in many places around the United States, including New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Virginia, Tennessee and Texas. Having spent
most of her youth in Texas, she considers it home. Sarah earned her bachelor’s
degree in theatre from Austin College in Sherman, Texas. She received her
Masters in Christian Education from Union Theological Seminary and Presbyterian
School of Christian Education in Richmond, Virginia. While in seminary,
she was awarded a Friends Fellowship for her academic achievements and contributions
to the church, receiving the highest monetary award available. Sarah also
served as President of the Christian Education student body.
Her first call out of seminary was at Ridglea Presbyterian Church in Fort Worth, Texas where she served as Director of Christian Education. There she designed and implemented their new workshop rotation Sunday school model, including an extensive room remodeling project. She has also served churches in Dallas and Memphis.
One of Sarah’s gifts is creating opportunities for theatre in the church. She has directed many children and youth productions throughout the years and enjoys any opportunity to flex her theatrical muscles.
Sarah and her husband, Craig, a graphic designer, live on the tenth floor with their four cats, Madeleine, Emily, Penelope and Mo. She is an avid photographer, cook and pop culture whiz. You may even see her knitting, her newfound hobby. Sarah and Craig enjoy spending their time at the movies, seeing theatre, traveling and enjoying the outdoors.
We are pleased to announce that MAPC will make a mission trip to Malawi. Malawi is a beautiful country in southeast Africa, which currently has 3 million Presbyterians. This is more than all the United States Presbyterians in the Presbyterian Church (USA). As part of the Fund for Renewal, MAPC pledged $100,000 for Community-Based Orphan Care (CBOC) in Malawi, which will help fund CBOC work in each of the three synods of Malawi: Blantyre in the South, Nkhoma in the Central area, and Livingstonia in the North.
AIDS is the leading cause of death in Malawi for persons
between 15 and 49 years. About 18% of children under 15 years have lost
one or both parents to AIDS. A vast number of orphaned children are left
behind, to be cared for by a grandparent or other relatives, who have inadequate
resources to care for them. CBOC links vulnerable children to village congregations
and engages the entire village in the care of these children—to everyone’s
benefit. The idea is to provide a very basic community center (pavilion)
where needy children can be cared for during the day while their relatives
or guardians are at work. The center is staffed by volunteers from the village
and provides education, nourishing food, skills training, health screening
and spiritual nurture. MAPC also previously funded, through PC (USA), the
building of a school in a Livingstonia village.
During the trip, the group will visit several CBOC projects in the three
synods, as well as see how the Presbyterian Church in Malawi is responding
to a myriad of challenges (AIDS, poverty, health, education, etc.). This
trip primarily will be an introduction and study trip, with the intent of
reporting back to the congregation about how the MAPC funds are being used
and identifying appropriate CBOC projects for a future mission work trip
for a larger MAPC delegation.
As part of its outreach, MAPC representatives will take small gifts, such
as pocket Bibles, soccer and tennis balls, pens and pencils, matchbox cars,
tiny dolls, baby supplies for the Crisis Nursery, and small scholastic books
used at the elementary level. The Easter offering this year was used to
help fund the Malawi trip expenses, as well as gifts and supplies for the
Malawi orphans. Additional donations would be gratefully accepted for this
worthy effort.
Members of the delegation include:
Sherrell Andrews
Jeff Dailey
Ronald Fields
Darrell Harris
Joyce Kadzakumanja
Dawn Ravella
This Word in Action was given during worship services on Sunday, May 23, 2004, by Linda E. Field.
If you have ever entered the church house between 8:30
and 9 on a school day, you may have asked yourself, “What are all
these children doing here?” They are headed to the 8th and 9th floors,
where the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Day School works its magic in the
lives of 3-to-5 year-olds and their families. My family was fortunate to
experience that magic for five years, and I am going to try to share some
of it with you this morning.
The Day School, or MAPDS, was founded in 1947 and has always served both
church families and families from the wider community. There are some current
members of the church who attended the school as children, and more whose
children are at the school now or attended when they were younger. The program
is a rich combination of language, music, math, art, science, and movement,
all offered in ways that are child-centered and that help the children learn
to develop and nurture relationships with others – adults and other
children – and with God. Our two daughters started their school life
at MAPDS, and both learned to love learning, to care for others, and to
experience the world as a wonderful gift from God.
Why should a church have a nursery school? In my view, a church shouldn’t
have just any nursery school. There are plenty of places where children
can happily learn early math skills, reading readiness, and the rest of
the things that prepare them to enter elementary school. A church nursery
school makes sense to me only if it helps the church to fulfill its mission.
Day School families “try out” our church at worship, adult education
classes, the 3-and-4-year-old Church School class, and the Angel Tree project.
They feel at home in our buildings and so find it easier to take that tentative
first step into our church community.
Some of the ways in which MAPDS helps the church fulfill its mission, however,
may not become clear for many years. The children at MAPDS celebrate Christmas
and Easter here in this sanctuary. Fred Anderson, who is the school’s
chaplain, joins the school’s director Pat Pell in leading these services,
telling the stories of those sacred holidays and helping the children talk
to God. Throughout the year, through stories and music, the children at
MAPDS consider the gifts God has given us and how God cares for his children.
No one knows if these seeds of faith will flourish, but they have been planted
and nurtured while the children are here.
The Day School helps the church to fulfill its mission by introducing young
children and their families, who may have no church home, to the life of
MAPC and by showing them the ways in which all of our lives have been transformed
through our relationship with God and God’s Son. And for children
of church members, like mine, MAPDS reinforces the lessons that we hope
they are learning at home and on Sundays, while also making school an extension
of their church family.
Whether you have young children or not, the school welcomes your interest
and support. Please feel free to speak to me or other MAPDS families about
the school, or pick up a flyer in the narthex. I am grateful that MAPC has
seen fit to include and maintain the Day School as part of its outreach
to families. It has enriched my life of faith and that of my children, and
I believe that it has and will continue to do so for countless others.
The next Inquirers Seminar will meet on Saturday, June 26. The seminar is designed for anyone who is interested in learning more about membership at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church, the nature of the Presbyterian Church, or the basics of the Christian faith. A continental breakfast is available from 8:30 - 9 am; the seminar begins promptly at 9 am and ends by 4 pm. Dress is casual, and lunch will be provided. If you are interested in attending, please contact Bill Philip at 212-288-8920 x241, or e-mail him at wbp@mapc.com. Professional childcare is available, but needs to be arranged in advance when you contact Bill. Hope to see you there!
Written in the Dr. Seuss School of Poetry but reverent nevertheless!
The latest thing is reality shows,
on every channel wherever one goes
They eat big bugs and get real skinny,
They vie for the Bachelor in Teeny minis
But what’s the reality of the show we’ve got?
What’s the Ultimate Reality toward which we trot?
What’s the object of the game we play?
How does one win at the end of the day?
This is about a way to be with God.
This is about a way to be with God
A way to talk about God, work with God, cry with God.
It doesn’t matter that we’re clay pots...
It’s not about that - It’s about God
Coming upon the Holy Spirit - even just once
Will change your understanding to wiseman from dunce!
We abide in God’s Love then, not just our own life.
For the tiny effort we make, we are paid such a price.
Welcome to the best work in Town, To be His “Apprentice”
Will remove your frown.
So, there’s a whole lot of rotation going on,
some going off the board, some coming on.
May all this rotation bring glory to God.
May we rotate from hardness to the great “I AM”
Rotate from small mindedness and broaden our scope.
Turn in our disbelief and be overwhelmed by hope.
We are all the better for the deacons about to depart.
The people you visited count you dear to their heart
You demonstrated commitment and inspired our own
Because of your actions - in Love We have grown.
You’ve made being human look awfully good.
You’ve taught us so much ‘cause in Christ you stood
May God bless the deacons of MAPC.
This is my daily and heartfelt plea!
– Diane Robbins
Many thanks to Diane Robbins for once again blessing us
with her creativity in honor of the deacons who are going off the board
and in celebration of those coming on. After six years of service on the
MAPC board of deacons, we say goodbye with much appreciation, and some sadness,
to Nancy Ost, Sharon Swenson, and Jane and Kenneth Thompson; and to Keith
Yagnik who served a three-year term and was ordained and installed as an
elder earlier this spring. While we are sad to lose deacons who have been
pillars of the board, we warmly welcome Lynn Quayle, who was ordained and
installed earlier in the spring to fill an unexpired term in the class of
2006; and Laura Iverson Burg, Todd Cook, Anne Farley, Nancy Hobson, Nancy
Kim and Anne Thomas, class of 2007. We are also grateful to Susan Anderson
and Joan Dietrich for saying “yes” to a second three-year term,
also in the class of 2007.
The deacons hope to be broadening the scope of their ministry in the coming
year–reaching out to more church members and families, and forging
closer ties with committees of session that share similar mandates of service,
outreach and compassion–especially the Outreach Committee and the
Congregational Nurture Committee. Please extend your own appreciation to
the outgoing deacons for their ministry and welcome those who are joining
the board.
– Beverly Bartlett
Baptism
Charles MacBain Dye son of *William North Dye and *Tana Elizabeth Wright
Dye
Adult Baptism and New Member
Charles Frederick Seybold
Deaths
*Evelyn M. Lang
*John Frederick Thompson
Weddings
Sasaki and *Nancy Kim
Nicholas Hahn Kim and Shannon Dawn Kaylor
(*MAPC Member)
The New Amsterdam Boys Choir, under the direction of James Backmon, had
a marvelous joint concert with the Ensemble TOKI and the MAPC Youth Choir
on Sunday, April 25. Some songs were performed by all three groups, some
by two, and each group did a few individual pieces, making for a lovely
musical afternoon. The accompanist for the choir, Tomoko Kawamukai, is also
the pianist in the Ensemble TOKI and she did much of the arranging of the
NABC’s music. The program included songs from American folk music
and spirituals as well as classical and contemporary music. Koaki Shinkai,
flute, and Jennifer DeVore, cello, complete Ensemble TOKI.
MAPC Outreach Grants have supported the New Amsterdam Boys Choir for a number
of years. This is an organization where we can make a wonderful difference.
Not only does the grant provide for musical needs, it also helps the boys
get additional support with school work and counseling. It was so interesting
talking to some of the young men after the concert. A number of them have
been with the choir for five or more years. They are attending good schools
such as the Manhattan Center for Math and Science, Rice Academy and Boy’s
Harbor. It was very clear that the choir is a very important part of their
lives! A member of MAPC, Bettey Schack, has become involved in helping the
NABC publish their newsletter, donating her time to edit it.
Mark your calendars now for Friday evening, September 17! We will have an all-church lasagna dinner at the home of Bob and Suzie Case. Watch the pastors' announcements later in the summer for more details.
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SERVICES Sundays at 10:30 am Lectionary Bible Study at 9:15 am Professional Child Care is provided 9:00 am - noon 96.3 FM, WQXR, Sundays at 8 am (through June 27) |
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