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April 2008
FROM THE RECTOR Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ – A blessed and joyous Easter to all! What a glorious Holy Week and Easter morning celebration we shared in here at Christ Church. My thanks to everyone who supported the beautiful liturgies of this special season. I want to focus this month on the need for assistance in a vital area of outreach ministry: our Meals on Wheels team needs your help. Every Monday, year around, a group of Christ Church volunteers help deliver meals to local shut-ins as part of the ecumenical ministry of the Meals on Wheels program. Five or six drivers deliver about nine meals each over the lunch hour each week. At the moment, about ten Christ Church folks are part of the rotation of volunteers which supports this ministry. By all accounts, this ministry is a very meaningful for all those involved. The shut-ins who receive meals stay well nourished and enjoy at least some brief daily contact with the outside world when their meals are delivered, and the volunteers who support this outreach say there is extraordinary satisfaction in touching people's lives in a fashion that directly responds to Jesus' charge to, "feed the hungry." In addition to prospecting for new drivers, we are looking for some administrative assistance. Don and Mary Neal McFarland – who have coordinated this ministry for years by interfacing with the Meals on Wheels director, as well as setting up driver schedules – have asked to be relieved of this supervisory work. Our *profound* thanks to the McFarlands for sharing in this responsibility over the years. If you have an interest in volunteering some time to support the Meals on Wheels ministry, please call me at the church office (986-3440) or speak to me in church. The McFarlands would also be delighted to answer your questions or to tell you more at 986-4825. Faithfully Yours – Father Scott +
IMPORTANT UPDATE After many hours of prayerful contemplation and discussion over the past three years, the Vestry has decided it is time to move ahead with the hiring of an assisting priest for Christ Church. We want to take a moment to remind everyone of the reasons for this, and to address some of the most often heard concerns, in order to prevent the circulation of inaccurate information around the church. Father Scott has been increasingly in demand as the parish has grown and changed, and more and more of his church duties are conflicting with each other and with his needs for personal time. We can’t expect him to be on the go for us at every moment - he does have a family, and needs to eat once in a while too! We have discussed many options to attempt to relieve this pressure, including the hiring of a second administrative person, but have come to the conclusion that at this time our need is for pastoral assistance primarily, with administrative work being of secondary concern. We believe that by getting Father Scott the help he needs, both the pastoral and administrative areas will gain. Pastorally, of course, because by hiring an assistant priest we gain the options of having that person provide sacramental services that we can’t do now; and administratively in one of two ways - as an alternate contact to a priest, or, by relieving Father Scott’s time pressures, he can give more time to these matters. Financially, the Vestry believes this is an appropriate use of the funds allocated in our 2008 budget. There are several factors we hope will increase the appeal of Christ Church to someone seeking a position in this area; not least is the housing we can offer on the second floor of the rectory. Providing this "Assistant's Apartment" will be a substantial help in managing the financial cost of hiring an assisting priest. Lastly, we want to make this very clear: We are not losing Father Scott. When you call for the Rector of Christ Church, you will still be speaking to him. He will still be preaching, celebrating the Eucharist, guiding our parish and working with us all as we proceed along the path before us. This is a supplement to his time, so that he can more efficiently meet the changing and growing needs of our parish family, and continue to provide the leadership that we called him here to provide. If you have concerns or questions about this, please don’t hesitate to contact any member of the Vestry. We will be happy to answer your questions, and provide any further information that we can. NOTES FROM THE CHURCH HISTORIAN Dear All! Hope your holiday was a special one! When Father Harbort was here a few weeks back, he pulled out of a drawer for me an original Christ Church Priest’s stole. It is maroon with hand done embroidery and in excellent shape thanks to generations of devoted Altar Guild volunteers. It along with another black and gold piece from old style funeral services are both on display in the glass case in the Parish Hall hallway. Also note the bible on which they are displayed, it is the bible given to us by Bishop H. Potter after the church was refurbished in 1905. This week, while going through our old Vestry records to make lists of all previous Vestry members for our book, I discovered the answer to a question I had about why our church might have closed for three years in the 1880’s. There in the minutes for March 21, 1881, I found the mention of the Rector taking us to court for back salary, the need to pay a lawyer, and keeping up with the mortgage payments and the insurance premiums caused us to have to sell the Rectory quickly to a Vestry member, Mr. John D. Miller. The Rector in question was Mr. Alfred Goldsborough. It seems he accused our then Treasurer, Mr. John Cowdrey, of “cooking the books” and preached it from the altar and went around town with the story. I have no proof that John didn’t, but I know John pretty well from my research and I think that as well off as he was and as devoted as he was, having been a member from 1854 on, I would doubt that he did anything wrong. The congregation refused to come to church where they found such hostility. John refused to touch any money but stayed on the Vestry and was trusted by the Vestry. The Rector claimed he was still working from May 1879 to May 1880 and had taken over the Treasurer’s work, and our guys claimed that they dismissed the Rector in May of 1879 for his immorality. There are no Vestry recordings about a Vestry meeting after May 9. 1879 and none in the book from 1882 to 1884. We lost two appeals to the court in Newburgh, because we had no contracts at the time and the mediator believed the Rector. I think this was an unfortunate misunderstanding followed by regrettable behavior. (New York Times, January 28, 1881.) By God’s good grace we did reopen with a new Rector in 1883 and were able to build a new Rectory in 1894. You will see the full newspaper article in our book. Mr. Eugene and Mrs. Anne White are presently sharing copies of their extensive postcard collection of Warwick with me and patiently going through a series of interviews with me, so that I may learn as much as possible about our church in past years. They are being very helpful. They know things that just aren’t explained in the Vestry minutes. My thanks go out to them and an invitation goes out to all of you to stop by or give me a call so we can arrange time together to talk. You might hold a piece to the puzzle! Peace to all! Ivy Tulin
THE ALTAR GUILD NEEDS YOUR HELP In the fall we tried cleaning the Sanctuary Lamp. It looked a little better but we saw how really bad it was. There were areas of bare metal and dents. We had it brought to Sikora’s for refurbishing. The cost is $1,100.00. We are asking for donations to help defray the cost. It is truly a beautiful piece (which is 103 years old!) and I can’t wait to get it back in our Sanctuary. It looks bare without it. You can speak to me or Father Scott. Thank you in advance for your generosity in what ever you can do. On Wednesday, April 16th at Christ Church, Ray McGinnis, author of Writing the Sacred: A Psalm Inspired Path (Pilgrim Press, 2005) will visit to conduct his workshop on the ancient psalms and psalm writing for today. The workshop promises a fresh encounter with our psalms and sacred poets, new bursts of personal creativity and empowerment to write prayers (and lead them) for worship use. The evening will begin with supper at 5:45 PM, followed by the workshop from 6:30 until 9:00 PM. DOING CHURCH On Saturday, April 12th the Diocese of New York is hosting "Doing Church" – a day long event at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine with classes and workshops covering many areas of church life and ministry. This year's theme of "New Style, New Substance" emphasizes church growth. Speakers and facilitators will include some of the leading church growth experts in our Episcopal Church. Father Scott will be the conference preacher at the concluding service of worship. Registration materials are available in our church office, and a ride share is already being organized. Come one, come all! ALL AGES MINI-MISSION! A three-day, all ages, "mini-mission" trip will is being planned for April 23-25. Our Christ Church team will be traveling to Camp Incarnation, the Episcopal camp in Ivoryton, Connecticut. We can take up to 25 people on the trip, which will include doing physical labor around the camp as an outreach offering, interspersed with fun activities both indoors and outdoors on the camp grounds. In past years on the work side, we have shoveled, raked, demolished small buildings and planted for the summer. On the fun side we've canoed, played with barn yard animals, listened to stories and nature presentations and worked a high ropes course! We plan to depart from Christ Church for Connecticut in a caravan of cars at 9 AM on Wednesday the 23rd, and to return to church at about 2 PM on the 25th. Lodging will be provided in a lodge at the camp and all meals are provided. The trip is FREE, though we will take a collection to help defray the cost of fuel and supplies. If you or your family are interested, call Father Scott immediately at the church office (986-3440) for more details about the trip, or fill out one of the registration forms provided on the "Sign Up Now" board in the Parish House. CHORAL EVENSONG Sunday, April 27th here at Christ Church - save the evening - stay tuned for further details. APRIL STEWARDSHIP REPORT (Reprinted from a previous Chi-Rho) I'd like to start out this letter with a true story. Around 1977, I was a member of an Episcopal parish in eastern Connecticut. We were having our annual parish meeting, which by the way was very similar to the ones held at Christ Church. During the meeting, the topic of, "How can we increase parishioner volunteer participation" came up for discussion. Many ideas were brought forward. After listening to and discussing several of them, one of our more active parishioners rose and in a rather stern and agitated tone stated. “My wife and I raised our pledge this year more than we originally planned so that we would not have to be bothered with a lot of fund raising activities". Looking back, I guess that this may have been when I started to become aware of the meaning of Stewardship. Needless to say, I was taken aback by his blunt but honest statement. I wonder how many of us have at one time or another said to ourselves, "If everyone gave more, I wouldn't have to be bothered with all these other activities". Activities such as fairs, dinners, Applefest and maybe even the Thrift Shop. I can't help but think that even though pledging a meaningful portion of our financial blessings is vital to our spiritual growth in Christ, giving of ourselves can be even more rewarding. Volunteering our time and talents brings each of us into personal communion with our fellow parish family members. It's the giving of ourselves that create the fellowship and atmosphere that makes our church so much more than just a place to go on Sunday morning for worship. The church becomes a warm and special place in our lives where we can do things with people that we care about. Family members that are there when they are needed, as we are willing to be there for them when others need us. Whether this need is our physical presence to lead or help with an activity or, our spiritual support during a period of crisis. This is what makes a parish flourish and grow. Being there to help at the Thrift Shop, at fund raisers, dinners, church cleanup days, or to help on a committee. Giving of ourselves, often a gift more precious than money. Not only is giving of our time for the church rewarding but, at least with this parish, it's often a lot of fun. What else could you want? Let’s all use our individual blessings as God intended. Thank you and God bless! Fred Widman, Stewardship Chairman FROM THE FINANCE COMMITTEE . . . . Pledge income through the month of February was as follows: Pledged income: $30,500.00 Actual income: $27,105.00 Shop Rite / A&P Gift Card sales though February: Dollar amount sold: $20,000.00 Profit to church: $1,000.00 Pledges account for over 65% of our projected income, and by far represent the largest source of revenue for our church budget. What happens when we're falling short of our projections? Well, we can hope our expenses fall similarly short, or we can hope our "smaller" revenue sources greatly surpass expectations. These are not always reliable hopes, and if neither happens, our only resort is to tap our limited investments. We have a solid investment strategy to implement this year; one that we hope will go far towards preserving the future of Christ Church. Keeping current with our pledges is the best way to protect our investments from budget poaching! know we can do it!!! NEW PHOTO DIRECTORIES! The brand new Christ Church family photo directories are now available for purchase from the church office. The cost is $5 per dirctory, and an additional dollar or two from those who can afford it would help further defray the cost of the project. (The actual cost of the directories to the church was about $9 each.) A huge "thank you" to Sarah Hock, Megan Sorensen, Lisa Turner, Julie Mumford, Mary Hebel and countless others who worked together to bring this project to fuition. LAY WORSHIP-RELATED MINISTRIES Workshops will include: Lay Eucharistic Visitors – one for an advanced group and one for beginners Reading Scripture in Congregational Scripture Leading Worship (a.k.a. Lay Readers) Eucharist Ministers (Chalice Bearers)
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