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
My mother taught me that it was never too late to say “Thank
You!” On Pentecost Sunday we ordained and installed a new class of
Elders and Deacons, who are already hard at work, using their gifts in helping
MAPC continue to pursue our mission and particular ministries. I want to
express my personal gratitude to our new officers: Elders Sharon Davison,
Barbara Iverson, Andrew Forbis, Chuck Wall, Bill Welsh, and Doug Yasso,
as well as our Deacons: Vera Gordon, Phil Kraus, Gale Templeton, Kathleen
Ricketts (who are serving a second three year term, and to those newly ordained
and installed to their first three-year term, Erna Barseghian, John Clark,
Sr., Danielle “Danny” Lopez, Marianne Shaw, and Milagro Guardiola.
We are blessed with these people’s leadership and willingness to serve.
At the same time, we bid farewell of a number of Deacons who have served
us so well, caring for our home-bound members, delivering flowers, making
phone calls, and ensuring that these members do not feel forgotten. Deacons
Mignon Hawkins, Laura Iverson Berg, and Bill Swenson. We also want to say
a special word of gratitude to Nancy Ost who retires this year as Moderator
of the Board of Deacons. Nancy has become an invaluable “pastoral
assistant” to the three pastors, whether during a funeral or memorial
service, or other special events and commemorations. It was Nancy who helped
spearhead the Deacons’ leadership in keeping the sanctuary open following
9/11. She has also been diligent in caring for parishioners who have come
to find in her a good friend and support. Congratulations to Deacon Sharon
Swenson who has again taken up the moderatorial task with the Deacons.
And, while I’m at it, let’s also remember the Trustees, who
quietly slipped into office, upon their election this last February: Dick
Iverson and Nancy Rabstejnek Nichols, who are serving second three-year
terms, and John Copeland, Teresa Delany, Caroline Turner who are already
making their presence felt in such positive ways. Thank you to each of you,
as well as to Reed Simmons and Clift Whiteman who completed their terms
of service this January.
The Session, at its May meeting, recognized the work of those of their number
whose terms of service have come to completion: Elders John Clarke, Jane
Little, Linda Perkin, and Ruth Schroeder. Each of these people have made
significant contributions to our life and ministry. John served on and chaired
the Personnel Committee as well as the Long Range Financial Planning Committee.
Jane first served on Evangelism, later chaired it, then Congregational Nurture,
then Evangelism again, and finally on the new Media and Publications Committee
(not to mention producing the Sunday morning radio program week after week).
Linda, first on the Worship Committee, and then on Mission, which later
became Outreach; and Ruth, who served on Christian Education, Mission, then
Outreach, was on the Search Committee that brought us Dawn Ravella, and
finally on the Congregational Nominating Committee. (I’m sure, as
I write this, I have left out something, including those special committees,
commissions and budget meetings that came along with their work!) My mind
is a bit boggled as I think of the untold hours these folks have spent developing
and supporting programs, deliberating, and making hard decisions. So, once
again, when you see them, say a word of thanks, as I have tried to do here.
As we have come through the first year of celebrating the
Lord’s Supper on a weekly basis, we have been listening and evaluating,
and trying to respond to concerns that some of you have raised. One concern
had to do with the Lord’s Prayer. Several have been concerned that
because we have been singing it in its modern translation as a part of the
communion service, we were not getting a chance to pray the older traditional
version from the King James. One or two parents also expressed concern that
their children might grow up not knowing the traditional version. This latter
concern is addressed in our Kids’ Club program, where, as a part of
the course that I teach the children, we not only memorize the prayer, but
try to better understand it phrase by phrase. (What does “Hallowed
be Thy name ” mean, and why “debts” rather than “trespasses,”
and so on.) Nonetheless, we agreed there should be opportunities to speak
the prayer periodically. One of the solutions to this was a decision that
on those occasions when John Weaver is away, we might try to speak all of
the responses in the Eucharistic prayer, and on those occasions use the
traditional version.
Another concern was that we seemed to be using only the Nicene Creed for
a while. Indeed we were using it, following the norm that as the only ecumenical
creed of the church, it should be used when celebrating communion, with
the Apostles’ Creed being used for baptisms. Unfortunately, we had
a few months there without a baptism. On the other hand, we have had baptisms
or new member receptions for the last four weeks in a row! At any rate,
we will try to be careful to see that both creeds get used on a regular
basis.
Several of you have asked when we were going to go back to using John’s
service music that is published in the hymnal. When we began weekly communion,
I asked John to write a second service, which he did last summer, which
we began introducing to you, response by response, last Advent. The goal
was to have you know it by Easter day, when we briefly returned to the music
in the hymnal. Then during Eastertide, and beyond, we have used John’s
newer music. Now that you know it, we will begin to alternate the music,
and to use some older musical settings as well. We want to be careful, however,
not to leave you confused or scrambling for a hymnal. We are investigating
the possibility of having John’s new service printed on an adhesive-backed
paper so that the responses could be placed on some of the blank pages in
the back of the hymnal.
The Worship Committee is currently looking for people who would like to
assist with the preparation of communion on a periodic basis. The preparation
process is not complex, and can be accomplished in about thirty to forty-five
minutes on a Sunday morning. If this is something you would be interested
in helping with (you do not need to become a member of the Worship Committee
to do this), please let Elder Curtis Field, Chair of the committee know.
He will be happy to set up a time to do some training, and even assist on
your first or second Sunday of service.
— FRA
Thanks to the strong response of the congregation to the One Great Hour of Sharing offering received on Palm Sunday, we have exceeded our goal of $5,000, netting $5,700! This special offering, a tradition of more than 50 years in our Church, supports ministries of disaster response, refugee assistance and resettlement, and community development. The disaster relief aspect alone has been powerfully illustrated in the recent tornadoes that have ravaged the South and Midwest. This generous spirit of giving offers vital comfort and aid to those in need.
Thank you to those who participated in the informal survey
regarding the advertising of MAPC worship services in the Religion section
of the New York Times each Saturday. As you may know, the Media & Publications
Committee has been evaluating the stewardship and value of those ads, as
they are an expensive commitment, and thought it might be helpful to share
the ad costs with you as we continue to deliberate.
Each display ad, which includes our logo and text, costs $1,476/week; each
classified ad, which is only text, is approximately $540/week. In 2002,
we ran display ads throughout the year, except during the summer months
when we went to a classified ad, for a total cost of $67,209. The committee
decided earlier this year to run only classified ads except during the summer
months when we will run nothing. This strategy equates to an estimated cost
of $23,000.
In addition, the Committee thought you might also enjoy knowing the cumulative
results of the survey, which was conducted over a five-week period earlier
this year.
Responses to “How did you find us?” were:
| Live/Work in the Neighborhood | 79 |
| Friend/Colleague | 47 |
| Internet | 34 |
| New York Times | 27 |
| Sunday Morning Radio | 24* |
| Yellow Pages | 10 |
* One individual had learned about MAPC through our 60-second radio spots; two others found the church as a result of David Read’s radio ministry.
When asked if you missed the ad in the paper’s Religion
section, 24 people responded that they did, 27 did not miss it, and in reviewing
the results of the survey at a Session meeting last spring, the Elders and
Staff were polled with very similar results. This overall split was much
closer than we had anticipated.
Another statistic the committee found interesting is the number of Newcomers
and Visitors who worshiped with us over the five-week survey period—23
Newcomers and 44 Visitors. Additionally, 48 people identified themselves
as Friends and 202 as Members.
These numbers illustrate just how important it is for each of us to make
the effort to greet both familiar and unfamiliar faces on Sunday mornings
… and it doesn’t hurt to invite a friend or colleague …
it could change EVERYTHING!
Media & Publications wants to share some exciting news
about MAPC’s Sunday morning radio program on 96.3FM, WQXR. The station
has provided us with the Arbitron numbers, which are the equivalent of Nielsen
ratings for television, for Winter 2003 and they are very encouraging.
There are approximately 47,200 people listening each Sunday morning to the
edited versions of our worship services. This is a 124% increase over the
last survey period (Fall 2002) and a gain of 29% from a year ago.
In addition, our Rating (percentage of listeners based on tri-state population)
for the time period is up 200% over Fall 2002 and +50% compared to a year
ago. The Share (based on population listening to radio) is up 130% from
Fall 2002 and +28% from a year ago.
The program will be on hiatus beginning July 6 and will return for its third
year on October 5 at 8 am.
Also, see: