MADISON AVENUE
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
921 Madison Ave.
(At E. 73rd St.)
NY, NY 10021
T: (212) 288 8920
F: (212) 249 1466
(At E. 73rd St.)
NY, NY 10021
T: (212) 288 8920
F: (212) 249 1466
Emily Dupree, a former Day School parent and member of the school’s board of directors, has been selected to direct the church’s forthcoming capital campaign. As was previously reported, expensive maintenance issues and ongoing concerns about the use of church space prompted Session to move forward with a plan to initiate a formal capital campaign. In addition to funding necessary improvements to the church’s structures, the capital campaign will also provide an important opportunity to expand the outreach and fellowship programs of the church.
Emily brings specific talents to her role as Director of the Capital Campaign. Her fund raising and public relations experience includes the performing arts, namely at the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra in Roanoke, Virginia and the Virginia Symphony in Norfolk, and health care, at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida. Most recently, Emily co-chaired the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Day School Spring Benefit, the school’s major fund raiser, and prior to that served two years as co-chair of the school’s Parents Committee. In those capacities she was responsible for long-term projects that raised necessary funds for the school’s operations. Her comments about her role were, “I am honored to be a part of the effort to renew and restore the church properties. As a Day School parent, I spent a lot of time in the church buildings and appreciated their importance. I have faith that we can accomplish the task set out before us and that our investment will serve this church and its community for years to come.”
Emily is a graduate of the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia. Beyond her development experience Emily has also worked in the financial industry, first with Wheat First Butcher Singer, and then as an Account Executive with Morgen-Walke here in New York City. She and her husband, Charles, have three children and are members of St. James’ Church in New York City. Emily has been working part time through October and November, settling into the office and getting to know staff. She begins full time December 1.
Sunday, November 20, 2005 at 3 pm Katherine Wessinger and Sarah Pillow, sopranos Andrew Henderson, conductor
Handel Dettingen Te Deum Gloria in B-flat This first Saint Andrew Chorale concert of the season will feature two Te Deums—hymns of thanksgiving—by two beloved composers. Haydn’s Te Deum was written for the Empress Maria Therese of Austria, a great patron of music in 18th Century Europe. Though written near the end of Haydn's career, it is full of youthful energy and sparkle. Suggested donation: $20 ($15 for students and seniors) |
As the holiday season approaches, it brings with it a wonderful Presbyterian tradition that is now three-quarters of a century old. It is the Christmas Joy Offering, one of four special offerings taken each year at MAPC.
The progenitor of PC(USA), the Presbyterian Church in the United States, began the Joy Gift Offering, as it was then called, in the 1930s to supplement inadequate retirement income and provide supplemental medical insurance for former ministers, missionaries and church workers and their families. Today, the Christmas Joy Offering addresses this continuing need and has additionally evolved over the years to address the support of Presbyterian-related racial ethnic schools and colleges through the National Ministries Division of the General Assembly Council. Fifty percent of the Christmas Joy Offering now goes to the Board of Pensions for religious worker assistance programs, and the other fifty percent supports several worthy schools.
The Board of Pensions’ Financial Assistance Programs benefit current and retired church workers by providing funds to assist them during difficult times. These funds come in the form of Income Supplements, Housing Supplements, Emergency Assistance Grants and grants from the Shared Grant Program, which is co-sponsored by partnering organizations. These grants may be for routine purposes, such as additional medical or dental expenses, or they may be for unexpected financial needs such as disaster recovery.
The schools and colleges that benefit from the Christmas Joy Offering receive funds that help with basic operating costs and provide scholarships to deserving students—and all PC(USA)-related schools and colleges are open to any qualified student, regardless of race.
Although this time of year seems so much about giving, in a very real way, the Christmas Joy Offering is all about choices in life: part of the Offering goes to aid religious workers and their families who have already made a choice—to put others first and not make financial compensation the primary focus of their lives. As they made the choice to put us first, let us make the choice to put them first. The second part of the Offering goes to those who deserve the opportunity to make a choice in how to use their lives and who might not have that choice without us. Whatever they choose, everyone benefits. This season, make a choice to make a difference, and make a choice to say “thank you!” There will be special offering envelopes at the Narthex on that Sunday.
The Angel Tree Christmas Program enables congregants to provide Christmas gifts to children who have an incarcerated parent. During October, MAPC volunteers have contacted participating families and prepared angels that contain a child's name, clothing size, and gift wishes if known.
Now, MAPC members are invited to select a child and be that child's Angel. Angels purchase one modest article of clothing and one book, toy, or game for the selected child. Then they wrap the gifts and return them to MAPC by December 4. Other MAPC volunteers will deliver the gifts to the children on Saturday, December 10. You can partner with another church member in choosing a child. Many of the children are teenagers who will recognize and appreciate the support we are showing them through this program. Please stop by the Angel Tree table in the Church House Lobby from 10 to 11:15 am, or in the Parish Hall from 12:30 to 1:15 pm, on Sundays in November. Be an Angel and help our neighbors in need!
The following is a Word in Action delivered by Elder Katherine Gebhardt on Sunday, October 16, 2005 as part of the 2006 Annual Stewardship Campaign.
Abundant Living, Abundant Giving – When I was asked to speak to you today as part of this year’s Stewardship Campaign, I began to consider what exactly “abundant living” means. Does it mean great monetary wealth? Does it mean living grandly in this city in which everything can be done so grandly? And what am I to glean from the phrase “abundant giving”?
I looked up the definition of abundant: according to the Oxford American Dictionary, it means “more than enough, plentiful.”
Do you live abundantly? I know I do. I have more than enough. I am richly blessed… with good friends and family, the opportunity to go back to school or make a good living in this awesome city, a warm, safe place to live, and this home of faith and fellowship here at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church.
I’ve been part of the MAPC community for almost eight years now and have been involved in a number of its programs – Overnight Shelter, Senior Lunch, 20s/30s. If you were here in September for the Ministry Fair, you are well aware of the many outreach, educational, fellowship and worship activities that take place every day within these walls and outside in the wider community.
Do these programs touch people’s lives? Do I really make a difference? The answer is Yes! Yet I may never know how or why or to whom. And it’s not you or I making that difference. It’s the Holy Spirit working through us in ways we may never fully recognize or understand. Just as my life has been touched by many here who will never know the difference they’ve made – it’s the Holy Spirit that knows what’s needed and then provides – a kind word when I am down, a needed phone call when I am lonely, a touching volunteer opportunity when I am too tired and have other things to do. This is the Lord’s unending abundance for my living!
Our mission at MAPC is to bring people into the transforming presence of Jesus Christ. The many activities here give us opportunity every day to do that – whether it’s through Families with Young Children, Softball, Seniors Unlimited, or worship on Sunday morning.
How is God calling you to serve? In the book When God Interrupts, Craig Barnes states: “The most important thing we do in responding to the call of God is to show up. We don’t have to be certain. We don’t have to be the best. We don’t even have to want to be there. All of that would matter if we were responsible for making the difference. But we aren’t… we are just responsible for showing up with a vision of what God is doing in the world.”
So show up! MAPC is full of opportunities to share and experience God’s grace in our life together. As you prepare to make your pledge, consider how abundantly you live! And know that it’s the Holy Spirit guiding us as stewards of the Lord’s goodness, nudging us to give of our time and talents abundantly.
Families with Young Children will have a Christmas party in the Parish Hall at our December 10 gathering. As in previous years, we will have special treats, a Christmas craft project, Christmas stories, and a secret Santa gift swap. In addition, please bring a toy or item of baby clothing for the residents of Inwood House. Please be sure and let us know you are coming, so we can assign secret Santas! RSVP to Margaret Williamson at the church, 212-288-8920 x271 or mew@mapc.com.
The 20s/30s will meet for Bible Study at 1 pm on Sunday, December 4. 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.
On Sunday December 11, 20s/30s will meet for lunch and ice skating at Wolman Rink in Central Park. Meet in the church house lobby at 12:45. We’ll go to John’s Pizzeria (408 East 64th Street) for lunch. After lunch anyone wanting to ice skate will head to the park. Don’t forget a change of clothes for skating! (Or, just wear your skating clothes to church!) The skating fees are: Adults $11, Skate Rental $4.75, Locker Rental $3.75 + $6.25 deposit.
Please join in the annual Seniors Unlimited Christmas Luncheon on Monday, December 12. MAPC member Margaret Dawson will tell a Christmas story, and Andrew Henderson, MAPC Music Director and Organist, will lead us in a carol sing. The cost for lunch is $5. RSVP by Monday, December 5 to Margaret Williamson at 212-288-8920 x271, or e-mail her at mew@mapc.com.
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.
The MAPC knitters will meet December 20 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. The knitting group meets every third Tuesday of the month. For more information, call Margaret Williamson at the church, and she will put you in touch with the group’s facilitator.
Several new books recently added to the Hood Library collection offer a veritable feast of intriguing real life stories and imaginative adventure.
Bruce Feiler’s Where God Was Born combines the adventure of a wartime chronicle, the excitement of an archaeological detective story, and the insight of personal spiritual exploration. Taking readers to biblical sites not seen by Westerners for decades. Feiler discovers all faiths drew from one another at the birth of Western religion.
In Rise to Rebellion, best selling author Jeff Shaara brilliantly captures the despair and triumph of America’s first great army. His story is told from the points of view of some of the most memorable characters in American history.
What do you know about Zipporah? A remarkable novel, Zippora, Wife of Moses, by Marek Halter, tells of Zipporah, a black-skinned woman, who one day while drawing water from a well, meets a handsome young stranger. Life her, he is an outsider, a foreigner. His names is Moses; he become the love of her life. Zipporah is viewed as a woman ahead of her time, bold, independent, and captivating in her world of deserts, temples and ancient wonder.
Andrea Mitchell, according to USA Today, is tenacious, like a pit bull with a bone. So what is her memoir, Talking Back like? With certainty she gives unvarnished insights into every president from Jimmy Carter to George W. Bush–and the men and women who surround them. What sets this book apart is not only the unique front-row seat Mitchell has in the political world, but also the role she plays in Washington’s social scene as the wife of Alan Greenspan.
A Circle of Sisters by Judith Flanders discloses the ups and downs of the four Macdonal sisters in Victorian England. Of little fortune, Alice, Georgiana, Agnes and Louisa started life precariously in the ranks of the lower middle class. Yet as wives and mothers they made a single family of a famous painter, a president of the Royal Academy, a prime minister, and a poet. In fact, it was Alice who became the mother of the poet England’s poet laureate, Rudyard Kipling.
If you have never read Howard Thurman, here is your chance in his book Disciples of the Spirit. A poet, mystic, philosopher and theologian, Thurman, at the time of his death in 1981, was Dean Emeritus of Marsh Chapel, Boston University. In Disciples of the Spirit, he explores five major dimensions of the spiritual life. In every page of Disciples of the Spirit, the quiet radiance and certainty that illuminated Howard Thurman’s faith shine like a beacon.
Something unusual, A Perfect Red ,by A.B. Greenfield. The story recounts the colorful history of cochineal, a legendary red dye that was once one of the world’s most precious commodities. Treasured by the ancient Mexicans, the die when shipped to Europe created a sensation, producing the brightest, strongest red the world had ever seen. Pirates, explorers, alchemists, scientists and spies joined the chase of cochineal over three centuries. Perfect Red is a book of true-life tales of mystery, empire, and adventure.
Primary Speech, a psychology of prayer, authored by Ann and Barry Ulanov, is highly acclaimed by several reviewers. Here is just one. “It is simply the finest, most superb thing on prayer that I have ever read, I intend to tell just about everyone I know about it.”
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If you wish to contribute to the Christmas decorations, please make your check payable to Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church and send it, with the memorial, to Margaret Williamson, c/o MAPC, 921 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10021, or telephone her at 212-288-8920 x 271. The deadline is December 11.