The Spire-December 2009

A Newsletter by and for the people of Christ Church Bronxville

TheSpire

Dec. 2009 VOL. LXIV, No. 4

Contact us:914.337.3544

Monday-Thursday

9:00 AM to 3:00 PM

Fridays9:00 AM to 12:00 PM

www.ccbny.org

Children’s Formation 2 Adult Formation 3

Youth & Confirmation 4

Music at CCB 5

Parish Life 6

Arts & Spirituality 7

December Highlights 8

At a Glance

The Questions of Advent“ . . . Where is God born?” asks theologian Catherine Keller. “From what?” (The Face of the Deep, Routledge, p. 224)These are some of the questions we encounter in the holy season of Advent. The birth of God happens, in part, within the space of human interiority: soul and spirit and psyche. But, as Keller puts it, God’s birth cannot be confined to such space. Indeed, the birth of God exceeds that space.Keller proceeds to grapple with the question of the space for the God’s birth by invoking a poem by the Jewish theologian and philosopher, Franz Rosenzweig, entitled “from out of the dark depths”:

As you take your place at the point of transition of mystery into miracle, plan to join us for our special Advent study series on the three successive Sundays of December 6, 13, and 20, each immediately following the 10AM Eucharist in the Crispell Lounge. Together, we will consider the space where God was born; the “from what” that God comes to us.Using the ancient notion of chora (from the Greek, meaning space, receptacle, womb, region), we will consider the image of Mary, Mother of God, as the “container of the uncontainable.” And we will explore some of the implications of this image for our lives, both individually and in community (wholeness, justice, making peace, etc.) Together, we will live more fully into this season of holy expectation as we prepare—along with Mary—to contain, anew, the uncontainable coming of Christ into our lives.

Peace, Amy+

A secret: for it is not yet manifest to us, and cannot be manifest, that this ever- lasting birth out of the depth is— creation. This becoming mani- fest of the everlasting mys- tery of creation is that ever renewed miracle of revelation. We are standing at the transition—the transition from the mystery into the miracle.

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Children’s Christian Formation

Godly Play (Pre-K-1st Grade)Dec. 6th Youth Sunday/No Church SchoolDec. 13th The Mystery of AdventDec. 20th The Holy Family/Christmas Party 11 AMDec. 27th No Church School/Nursery Care Available

Second GradeDec. 6th Youth Sunday Dec. 13th Christmas Story-Part 1Dec. 20th Christmas Story- Part 2/Christmas Party 11 AMDec. 24th 4 PM Christmas Eve Crèche ServiceDec. 27th No Church School

Third GradeDec. 6th Youth SundayDec. 13th The Israelites in the De-sertDec. 20th From Sinai to Canaan//Christmas Party 11 AM24th 4 PM Christmas Eve Crèche ServiceDec. 27th No Church School

Fourth GradeDec. 6th Youth SundayDec. 13th The TransfigurationDec. 20th The Samaritans/Christmas Eve Crèche ServiceDec. 24th 4 PM Christmas Eve Crèche ServiceDec. 27th No Church School

Fifth & Sixth GradeDec. 6th Youth SundayDec. 13th Compare Judaism and ChristianityDec. 20th Look at World Maps/Christ-mas Party 11 AMDec. 24th 4 PM Christmas Eve Crèche ServiceDec. 27th No Church SchoolFor more information please contact:Barbara Potgieter [email protected]

School Calendar Christmas Eve Crèche Service

All children aged 3 through 6th grade are warmly invited to be a part of our Crèche service at 4:00 PM on Christmas Eve. All children are invited to be angels and shepherds. Children in grades 4 through 6 who would like to have a speaking part should contact Barbara Potgieter at [email protected] as soon as possible.We are looking for parent volunteers to help us. Please contact Barbara Potgieter if you are willing to help. We need help with the costume fitting, and also on Christmas eve with watching children and helping them with their cues. We need parents of angels and parents of shepherds to help with the cues. If you are helping with cues, you will enter the church with the children, so you will still get to see your child participate.

The Spire

Important Dates and TimesDecember 13th -All children with speaking parts must attend a short rehearsal in the church at 11:30 AMDecember 19th-ALL children participating must attend the 9:30 AM costume fitting and rehearsal in the undercroft. We should be done before 11:00 AM.December 20th-Rehearsal in the church at 11:30 AM for all children with speaking roles.December 24th-ALL children to be in the undercroft at 3:15 PM to put on costumes. Parents are requested to help put on their child’s costume. Children in Sing ‘n Ring and VFL choirs please come 15 minutes before choir rehearsal time to put on your costume so that you can attend choir rehearsal on time.

Christmas PartyAll church school families are invited to our annual Christmas Party!

Sunday, December 20th, after the 10:00 AM service in Taylor Hall

We will have crafts, a Christmas book table, cupcakes to decorate, a light lunch, and of course a visit from a VERY SPECIAL PERSON (shhhh!).

Nursery Care is available for babies and children too young

for Church School.

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Adult Christian FormationDecemberBirthdays

1: Edward Barr, Sandra Britt, Floyd McKinnon; 2: George Palmer, Hannah Hely 3: James Kirby; 4: Marilyn Bates, Brendan Elkerton, Charles “Worth” Goodell, Libby Goodell; 6: Katherine Brasco, Francesca Normille, Brian Sica; 7: Gregory Gilliam, Laura Griffith, Katherine Rooney; 8: Page Marshall; 9: Caroline Sorensen; 11: Nora Normile; 16: Melissa Wisner;17: Eliza Elder, Ruth Singleton; 18: Tracey Minich; 19: Michael Barrett, Warren Kraemer, Letizia Seirup; 20: Vance Wood; 21: Carol Costa; 22: Kim Olson, Noel Carroll, Max Hamlin, Owen Jones; 24: James Redpath; 25: Sarah Heintz, William Simpson; 26: Avery Jones, Erica Kenney; 27: Ralph Alexander; 28: Blake O’Guin, Andrew Walker; 30: Fiona Barr, Mallory Bates, Regan Cherna, Vincent Pazienza; 31: P.G. Costa, Christopher Watson

Progressive Dinner

Arts and SpiritualityGeorgia O’ Keefe Abstraction

On Wednesday, December 9th we will take a trip to the Whitney Museum of Art 10:00 -3:00 AM (Meet at Christ Church in the lobby.) We will depart at 10:15 AM and take the van to the Whitney, have lunch in the museum and return by train around 3:00 PM. Space is limited so make your reservations now.Contact the parish office 337-3544 or Hondi Brasco 771- 8870 ([email protected]) by Dec. 7th if you are interested.Cost: $12 for seniors/ $18 for adults plus cost for lunch

Join a group of parishioners and see Abstraction, an exhibit of Georgia O Keefe’s lesser known abstract pieces which trace her development as an artist, and reveal ongoing patterns in her work. Her early charcoal drawings explore non representational subjects laying the groundwork for this expressive approach to art. The search for organic forms and colors that could convey emotion and spiritual insight is evident throughout her life. She wrote “I feel that a real living form is the natural result of the individual’s effort to create the living thing out of the adventure of his spirit into the unknown…” This is a rare and beautiful exhibit. Come and contemplate O Keefe’s visionary works.- Hondi Brasco

SAVE THE DATE-Back by popular demand, the Progressive Dinner will be held Saturday, March 6, 2010!! Mark your calendars now for this fun night of food and fellowship!While more information will follow after the holidays, we are currently looking for host houses. No dining room is too small – dinners can be for 4 or 40 – and the menus do not have to be fancy -- whatever is comfortable for you. If you would like to participate as a host, or to help organize the event, please contact Andrea Bates at 337-0001 or [email protected].

Plan to join us for our special Advent study series on the three successive Sundays of December 6, 13, and 20, each immediately following the 10 AM Eucharist in the Crispell Lounge. December 6: Chora, Then and NowDecember 13: Chora: Biblical and Theological PerspectivesDecember 20: Chora: Mary as “Container of the Uncontainable”

Advent Sunday Shorts Series

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EYC New Young Adult Group at Christ ChurchOver the past few months, several young adults have started attending Christ Church. They are an eager group of Sarah Lawrence students, and “twenty-somethings”. In order to provide this group with time for fel-lowship, outreach and worship with peers, Krista Dias has started a new Young Adult Group. The group met for the first time in November over dinner and hopes to do so every month or so. They also hope to go on a retreat and participate in service proj-ects in the spring. If you or a young adult you know is interested in the Young Adult Group, contact Director of Youth Ministry Krista Dias at [email protected].

Episcopal Youth CommunityTaizé Fundraiser: Buy A Reusable Bag!

During the February vacation, 23 of Christ Church’s teenagers will travel to the Taizé Monastery in France for a week. There they will meet hundreds of other teens from around the world, deepen their relationship with God, and learn about themselves. To help offset the cost of the trip and to encourage them to take ownership of the experience, the teens are selling reusable bags from Mixedbag Designs. The bags are beau-tifully designed and come in many sizes. They

are perfect for visits to the grocery store and also work beautifully as Christmas gift bags.The teens will be selling bags after church in December during coffee hour. You can also order bags through any of the “traveling” teens. For more information contact Krista Dias at [email protected].

EYC at Outreach Sunday

EYC December & January

Friday, Dec. 18th 7:45 PM Midnight RunMonday, Jan. 11th 7:30 PM EYCMonday, Jan. 18th 3:00 PM EYC-MLK Day in the snowFriday, Jan. 29th 8: 45 PM-Midnight Run

JanuaryBirthdays

2 : Callie St. Philip; 3: Sophia Allan, Claire Hayes, John Kirby, Jane Sears, Sara Thaler; 4: Nicholas Hibbler, Tyler Morse, Richard Moor; 5: Andrew Cherna; 6: John Engelhardt, Bette MacGregory, Theodore Rooney; 7: Lily Crystal; 9: Sarah Sullivan; 12: Peter Hoover, James Lee; 16: Bailey Johnson; 17: Heidi Wolfgang, Ann Krieger, Edelawit Bird; 21: Trudi Bottari-Hornick; 22: Juliet Ragland, Fred Heintz, Caroline Walker; 23: Tyler Carroll; 24: Robert O’Connor, Ellen Tighe; 25: Kathleen O’Guin, Ian Palfrey; 27: James Collins, Virginia Newcombe; 28: Gus Vaughan, E. William Bates, Bradford Marvin, Michele Richardson, Treva Thoms, Christopher Wells; 29: Hadley Barr, Erin Foley, Elliot Walker, Nathaniel Walker; 30: Omar Abboud, Andrew Hibbler, Wilyem Thoms

To submit birthdays please send to Amy Capeci at [email protected] or Elisabeth Campbell at [email protected].

Breakfast RunCongrats and thank

You!Congrats to all who attended the Run on Sunday, November 15th (and there were a lot of you!). Once again we had a nice crowd of guests in the 50 range who ran a very efficient and smooth run. We finished early as the kids all worked very well together. Thanks to all.

The next run is February 28th.

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Debut of the new pipe organ at Christmas Eve service

December 6th Advent Lessons and Carols – 5:00 PM Brass prelude begins at 4:45 PMWe gather together at the beginning of Advent to combine brief readings from scripture, extraordinary choral anthems, and hymns of the season to allow our hearts, minds and spirits to prepare for the coming of the Lord. This traditional English service is offered in our beautiful Goodhue building and demonstrates our musical heritage at its finest.

Advent Lessons and Carols

To celebrate the birth of Jesus, AND the debut of the new organ, Christmas Eve will be full of festive music for organ and choirs.

The 4:00 PM Crèche Service will be proceeded by a full half-hour of organ variations on French Noels, including works by Jean-François Dandrieu, Louis-Claude Daquin, and Claude Balbastre. Come early to the Crèche service and listen to the new sounds of the organ.

At 10:30 PM, The Christ Church Choir and Schola Cantorum will present a half-hour prelude including the traditional Once in Royal David’s City, organ and choir alternating verses of Quem pastores and Joseph est Bein Marie, and John Rutter’s Jesus Child. The Christmas Prelude will conclude with an organ solo, Louis-Claude Daquin’s Noel X.

Midnight Mass will include the traditional Christmas Hymns with favorite descants by David Willcocks. New this year, the mass setting (Gloria, Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei) will be the charming Missa ad Praesepe (Mass at the Crib) by George Malcolm with an accompaniment that will demonstrate the new organ’s full range of sound. The choir will sing William Mathias’ A Babe is Born at the offertory.

Music

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Parish Life

Outreach Sunday ReportsThank you to everyone who organized and participated in all of our Outreach Sunday Projects. It was a joy-filled day and many great things were accomplished, including bringing our community together. Father Bird said that we are an outreach congregation. Let’s prove him right and continue to work together all year round. - Dorothy Thomas, Outreach Chair

United Interfaith Food Bank A huge thank you to everyone who helped with the sorting & packing of food for the United Interfaith Food Bank on Mission Sunday.And a special “Thank You” to Jerri Anderson & Emily Simpson for delivering 70 bags of food combined to St. Brendan’s & Thorpe House.Christ Church also donated the new and gently used books to the Thorpe House pre-K school. The children will appreciate reading new books over their Christmas Holiday. A “Thank you” to all who donated.- Erin Ryan-Pazienza

Cooking dinner for Fessenden House on Outreach SundayNo one ever said that you can’t have fun helping thy neighbor, and indeed the crowd that assembled in the CCB kitchen enjoyed the morning of November 22nd, Outreach Sunday.For a day, Tom Ruhm with Ruth Singleton traded pancakes for Brussel sprouts and Letizia Seirup art lecturing for apple pies. Hondi Brasco instead of spiritual growth dealt with pots and pans, and all along Elisabeth Campbell directed traffic. Sue Rooney learned the difference between cheese and Bolognese lasagnas (and that is a must! ) while Virginia O’Brien almost sprained her wrist in whisking the béchamel to consistency. Many more were there to help in preparing dinner for the men of Fessenden House (I apologize if I can’t mention all the participants - the list is too long) and all cooperated with a spirit of camaraderie and humility that exemplifies the national motto “e pluribus unum”, or to repeat a trite cliché “there was no I in team”.At the end of the work, before delivering the meal to Fessenden, the “laborers” were treated with a tray of the same recipe they prepared and a delicious red libation courtesy of Michael Pollack. A fine accent to a good morning. If you missed the fun, don’t despair you’ll have more opportunity to cook or do other work in the future.

Photo Safari to Africa - a Christ Church GatheringOkay, so it’s in Taylor Hall, but there will be lots of pictures. Join us at 6:00 PM on Tuesday December 15 for a CCG (Christ Church Gathering). Learn how to eat Ethopian food (Italian food will also be served for the less adventurous) and hear and see about Christ Church’s involvement in ongoing relief efforts in Malawi. Presenters include parishioner His Excellency Robert Jalang’o (former Ambassador to Malawi for the Republic of Kenya), Dr. Etta Eskridge of GAIA, and head of Global Mission Ken Richardson. Africa-related entertainment for children will be provided, and we promise the evening will conclude by 7:30 PM. Zikomo Kwambiri!Remember - December 15th at 6pm in Taylor Hall!

Thank you for your support-your energy is a wonder to behold.The 10 volunteers (Anne, Karen, Art, Peter, Jim, Cammie,, Bob, Art, Kerry and son) from Christ Church managed to make the edge of Bronxville Lake pristine by removing a large number of plastic bottles from the banks of the Lake as well as sodden wood and branches that were stopping debris. Those walking by said they could see the difference.

In addition, we cleaned out vines, dead tree trunks, dead branches and other debris from the stone outcroppings on the west side of the Lake creating 3 huge mounds of wood for the County to remove. There is now the opportunity for a bench above the stone outcropping for a great view of the Lake as suggested by Art.

The best part of the effort was telling those on the path who voiced support of our efforts that we were with Christ Church Broxville’s outreach program. A great day for the environe-ment and a great day for Christ Church Bronxville.- Jim Sutton

The Eighth Grade and Other Volunteers at Outreach Sunday

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Outreach Sunday

8 The SpireThe SpireChrist Church Bronxville17 Sagamore RoadBronxville, NY 10708-1599

Sunday Dec. 6th 5:00 PM Advent Lessons and Carols 4:45 PM Brass Prelude Begins

Tuesday Dec.15th 6:00 PM Christ Church Gathering wth Africa theme (Taylor Hall)

Wednesday Dec. 16th 9:30 AM Altar Guild Meeting (Crispell)

Saturday Dec. 19th 9:30 AM Crèche Rehearsal

Sunday Dec. 20th 11:15 AM Christmas Party

Tuesday Dec. 22nd 7:30 PM Vestry Meeting (Crispell)

Thursday Dec. 24th 4:00 PM Crèche Service 10:30 PM Christmas Prelude and Midnight Mass

Friday Dec. 25th 9:00 AM Holy Eucharist Christmas Day

Highlights Save the Dates!Save the Dates!December 6th, 2009

Advent Lessons and Carols with the Kensington Brass

December HighlightsSaturday Dec. 19th 9:30 AM Crèche Rehearsal

Sunday Dec. 20th 11:15 AM Christmas Party 12:00 PM Crèche Reh. Thursday Dec. 24th 4:00 PM Crèche Service 10:30 PM Brass Prelude 11:00 PM Midnight Mass

Friday Dec. 25th 9:00 AM Holy Eucharist Church Office Closed