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
In our faith tradition the imagery for water is powerful and diverse. To the ancients, water was a source of chaos. In times of distress the Psalmist speaks of coming into deep waters (Ps. 69). Yet water also gives and sustains life–streams in the desert make the parched ground fruitful (Isaiah 35), and our souls long for God as a deer longs for flowing streams (Ps. 42). When hurricanes and floods strike, we are reminded of this dual nature of water. It both destroys and sustains life. Brings death and gives life. In times of disaster such as hurricane Katrina, Christians affirm our faith in God as the One whose love is stronger than death, who brings order out of chaos, the One who can transform raging waters into life-giving showers and streams, and who calls upon all people to participate in God’s life-giving work.
One way we can participate is by giving generously to Hurricane Katrina Relief through Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, in order to help those whose lives have been changed forever. Since PDA has met its responsibilities for administrative costs for 2005, 100% of any gift given for hurricane relief during the remainder of this calendar year will be used for relief and recovery. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has set a goal of $10 million for its member congregations, to bring both short and long-term relief to the survivors through:
• Supporting Presbyteries in organizing their own response and planning for long-term recovery.
• Training and supporting churches serving as shelters for evacuees, as well as developing a protocol for matching evacuees with offers of housing.
• Providing long-term pastoral and spiritual care for pastors and church leaders in the devastated areas, so that they may continue to effectively serve their parishioners through this stressful time.
To date, PDA’s response efforts have included:
• Coordinating volunteer recruitment and assignments
• Establishing up to 15 staging camps in the Gulf region to support relief teams. The camps will be self-sufficient in order to avoid draining local resources and will include dormitories, shower facilities, and mess tents for up to 150 volunteers.
• Helping to pay crew salaries on three Carnival cruise ships docked in Galveston and coordinating the services of health care professionals who will care for the needs of 7000 elderly and special needs evacuees expected to be housed on the ships.
• Working with Norwegian Church Aid to utilize their technology in setting up the staging sites and their expertise in advanced water purification.
• Establishing a disaster relief equipment and supply warehouse in Little Rock, Arkansas.
• Coordinating and supporting debris-cleaning teams throughout the storm damage area.
As of September 14, MAPC members and friends have given $12,700 to help with this work. Please continue to give generously to help others rebuild their lives, and pray for God’s strength, guidance and healing for all who are directly affected by this storm. Make your check out to the church, and on the memo line designate it for “Hurricane Katrina Response.” To keep abreast of PDA response efforts, visit their Hurricane Katrina Relief website: http://www.pcusa.org/katrina
– The Rev. Beverly Bartlett
Andrew Henderson, one of the rising stars in the organ world in the U.S. today, offers his first organ recital as Director of Music at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church on Sunday, October 2, 2005 at 3 pm. Andrew has played recitals throughout the United States and Canada, as well as in the United Kingdom. MAPC offers a rare opportunity in New York City for the audience members to not only hear a recital on a fine instrument, but actually see the performer in action as well! His recital will include works by Bach, Franck and Vierne, as well as rarely heard pieces by Scarlatti, Bonnet and Howells. All members of the MAPC community are invited and encouraged to bring a friend to this event, which will introduce one of New York’s leading organists to the wider community as well as serving as an important fundraiser for the Saint Andrew Music Society concert series.
Other Artists featured in October
October 9: Steven Masi, piano
October 16: Margaret Mills, piano
October 23: Peter Vinograde, piano
October 30: New York Virtuoso Singers,
Harold Rosenbaum, conductor
Parish RegisterBaptism |
Don’t forget! KIDS’ CLUB begins on Wednesday, October 5 at 4pm. Kids’ Club is open to all children age 3 to grade 8. (Children in the preschool group must have turned 3 by September 1, 2005.) From 4 to 6:30 we spend time together in fellowship, Bible study, choir, recreation and dinner. Children are broken down into at least four age groups – Preschool, grades K-2, grades 3-5 and grades 6-8. If you did not get the brochure and registration form in the mail, please contact Margaret Williamson at mew@mapc.com or 212-288-8920.
Children’s Worship has resumed. After the children’s message, kids in grades K-2 may go to the Phillips’ Lounge behind the sanctuary for Older Children’s Worship, which includes a Bible lesson, music, prayer and snack. These children return to their parents during the Doxology, which follows the offering. Children age 3-5 go to Younger Children’s Worship in the Youth Library, adjacent to the Church House Lobby. They are out the remainder of the service for a Bible lesson, craft, music, prayer and snack. You may pick up your child after the service. The nursery is available on the 4th floor for those children under three. Please Note: In order for your child to participate in the Younger Children’s Worship class, he or she must have turned age 3 by September 1, 2005. If your child turns three in December, for example, please kindly wait until the next fall to start him or her in the program.
CE Programs for Adults are underway. Click here for details.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God,” said Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace (Matthew 5:9). Peace is the wholeness and well-being that God wills for all creation. To show our concordance with God's will, and to do our part, MAPC will be accepting the yearly Peacemaking Offering on World Communion Sunday, October 2, along with most other PC(USA) congregations.
The Peacemaking Offering is one of four special offerings designated by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The Offering is part of the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program, which was created in 1980 by action of the General Assembly of the former United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. An idea inherent in the Offering is that it should promote peace on several different levels. It is recommended that 25% of the offering received by each congregation be put to use in fostering the creation of harmony and peace in their own neighborhood. Another 25% of the Offering is used by synods and presbyteries, thus supporting programs over a larger area. And finally, the remaining 50% of the Offering will be used by the General Assembly ministries through the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program internationally. Thus, by making this one contribution, we support and pursue a fundamental tenet of our faith on many levels.
Session has not yet decided the local use to which our Peacemaking Offering will be put, so if you have an idea, this month would be an excellent time to make your views known. The international use for the Offering will encompass several fronts: fostering peaceful relations between Israel and the Palestinians, fighting nuclear proliferation, fighting the possible restarting of landmine production in the U.S., and feeding starving children in Niger, Cameroon, Mali, Senegal and Mauritania.
As this article is being written, MAPC members and Presbyterians across the United States can be proud that they are “putting their money where their heart is” for the Hurricane Katrina disaster, just as they did for the tsunami disaster of late 2004. Few would say it has been an easy year. Surely all of us are hoping for a little “peace and quiet” in the near future. If nature provides the quiet, will we provide the peace? We can, but it takes doing God’s work. And we've learned that God's work is done in many places at once, and on many levels. The Peacemaking Offering seems tailor-made! As we recover from the past, please help build a bright, new future by giving generously. Thank you!
For more information, please consult the PC(USA) website, to which we are indebted for material in this article. http://www.pcusa.org
Families with Young Children will meet on Saturday morning, October 15, beginning at 10 am on the Roof Garden. Families with children ages 5 and under are invited to join in this time of play, crafts, stories, and conversation. A light breakfast of bagels, fruit, snacks, coffee, tea, and juice will be available. This is a wonderful way to get to know other families in the church. RSVP to Margaret Williamson at the church, 212-288-8920 x271 or mew@mapc.com
The 20s30s group will meet for Bible Study on Sundays, October 2 and 16. Lunch will be available. Please meet downstairs in the Parish Hall during the Congregational Brunch/Coffee Hour after the 11:15 am worship service to get your lunch. The group will then move to the fifth floor for their meeting.
The weekly Congregational Brunch/Coffee Hour is continuing through the fall, in the Parish Hall after the 11:15 am worship service. Whether you would like to enjoy a meal or simply have a cup of coffee and a cookie, please plan to come downstairs to the Parish Hall and join in a time of fellowship after the 11:15 am worship service. Brunch is available for $10 per person, $8 for seniors, and children under 12 eat free. The traditional coffee hour fare of coffee, tea, juice and cookies will be free.
Fred Anderson will be preaching at the October Healing and Wholeness Service. The Healing and Wholeness services are held on the first Wednesday of the month. The service includes prayers for healing, anointing and laying on of hands for those who would like to come forward to receive prayers for themselves or on behalf of others.
The MAPC knitters will continue to meet on the third Tuesday morning of the month, 10:30 - noon, in the Hood Library. All knitters and crocheters are welcome, from novices to experts. Come work on a project of your own, scarves and hats for the Neighborhood Coalition for Shelter, or baby items for the residents of Inwood House. If you need help gathering supplies, call Margaret Williamson at the church, and she will put you in touch with the group facilitator.
Small groups consist of 8-10 church members who gather on a weekly basis to grow together in faith. Small groups differ from our regular adult education classes in that they focus on faith growth, spiritual development, and community building. They are a wonderful way to get to know other MAPC members and engage in a process of deepening your faith together. There are two small groups planned for the fall:
The Way To Love
Time: Tuesdays, 7 – 9:30 pm
Time Period: Three sessions of 8 weeks each: October 4 - November 22; January 10 - February 28; April 25 - June 13
Members of this group may choose to participate in one, two, or all three sessions. Location: TBA Facilitator: Questa Anderson
This group will offer a time of reflective discussion and silence. The discussion will be based on the book The Way to Love written by Anthony de Mello, a Jesuit priest and the former director of the Sadhana Institute of Pastoral Counseling in Poona, India. Here, he grapples with the ultimate question of love. In thirty-one meditations, each several pages long and each preceded by a Gospel quotation, he implores his readers to break through illusion, the great obstacle to love.
“Love springs from awareness,” de Mello insists, saying that it is only when we see the other as he or she really is that we begin to love. The second act of love, he says, is seeing ourselves without illusion—without the coercive nature of our needs, desires, memories, prejudices, and projections. If these steps are taken, then love will steal upon a person or into a relationship. The task is not easy. “The most painful act the human can perform,” de Mello says, “is the act of seeing. It is in that act of seeing that love is born.”
Following the discussion, the group will engage in a period of silence using the Affinity Process, which Questa learned from its creator, Paul Ferrini. This process will give us the opportunity to “see” as a first step on The Way to Love.
Gathering in the Word
Sundays, 6 to 7:30 pm
Time Period: October 9 through early December
Location: Home of Maggie Mills Facilitator: Maggie Mills
This group will engage in the centuries-old devotional practice of Lectio Divina, using as a guide the book Gathering in the Word: Praying the Scriptures in Small Groups by Norvene Vest. Lectio Divina means “sacred” or “holy reading.” Though people of faith have engaged in the spiritual or devotional reading of scripture since Old Testament times, the practice of Lectio Divina was formulated by Saint Benedict in the 6th century and has come down to us from the Benedictine tradition. There is also a strong Protestant tradition of Lectio Divina–many of the Protestant Reformers derived their practices of scriptural meditation from the Benedictine tradition.
The practice of Lectio Divina begins with slow, repeated readings of a scripture passage and continues through a process of reflection on the passage, dialogue with God, and contemplation–being still. The purpose of spiritual reading is not to learn about the text, but to incorporate the word so that it nourishes our lives. Lectio Divina is “a way of life rooted in daily listening to the Word of God.”[ E. Glenn Hinson, Companions in Christ (Nashville: Upper Room Books, 2001) 92]
If you would like to participate in one of these groups, please contact Margaret Williamson at the church office, 212-288-8920 x271 or mew@mapc.com. If you have questions about the small groups, contact Beverly Bartlett 212-288-8920 x247 or bab@mapc.com.
Upstairs-Downstairs
You won’t forget, will you? Downstairs you will go for coffee, fellowship and lunch, if you choose, after the 11:15 am worship service. A Hood Librarian will be there as well with a selection of books available for borrowing–look for the little red cart! When you come back upstairs, you will find the Hood library has its welcome mat out and the library will be available for browsing and borrowing. Stop by! You can count on the Hood librarians to help you, both upstairs and downstairs .
Something New- Come and See!
Brand new! It stands tall on the window sill in the Hood Library. It is a “rack” designed to hold journals like Presbyterian Today, The Living Pulpit and Weavings.
When you read Presbyterian Today, you will be amazed and surprised to learn about what churches are making happen across the country and throughout the world. The September issue carries a story of what African churches are doing about AIDS entitled “A Matter of Faith.” A special piece called “Start Them Early” recommends ten ways to activate a child’s spiritual life. Each issue carries thoughts on Spiritual Fitness, Church and Society, and Newswatch plus a cartoon.
Both Weavings and The Living Pulpit feature one theme per issue. Weavings, A Journal of the Christian Spiritual Life, is published six times a year. Caring is the September-October theme. Other recent topics are loneliness, belonging and perseverance. Ecumenical in nature, the writings make you think and even wonder. Authors, six to eight each issue, belong to different denominations.
The Living Pulpit, initiated by Dr. David H.C. Read after his retirement from MAPC, publishes articles by Presbyterian clergy and others. You’ll find it thought-provoking. The theme for the spring edition was The Resurrection, with sermons entitled Love Strong Enough to Defeat Death and Humble Before the Power of God.
Question: How can I check out a Journal? Answer: Simply sign your name on a special Journal sign-out sheet. No set return date. It is the honor system, and please return them so others can read them too.
Also, see: