A Newsletter by and for the people of Christ Church Bronxville

TheSpire

April 2012 VOL. LXIV No. 6

Contact us:914.337.3544

Monday-Thursday

9:00 AM to 3:00 PM

Fridays9:00 AM to 12:00 PM

www.ccbny.org

Outreach Sunday 1

Adult Christian Formation 3

Music at CCB 4

Clergy News 5

Photos 6

April Highlights 8

At a Glance

This past Sunday was no ordinary day of worship at Christ Church. It was, for many, their favorite Sunday of the year. Outreach Sunday was all about wearing old work clothes to church, celebrating a shortened service, and getting out into the community to do some good. At Christ Church, Outreach Sunday occurs during the season of Lent to remind the congregation that the work of self-examination and repentance should manifest itself in turning outward and serving others. As Father Bird said in his homily, “On this Sunday we move from preparation to partnership – partnership with God, with our neighbor and with all of creation. Relationship and caring for others is a primary way in which we encounter God’s love, share God’s love and grow in God’s love.”Teams were dispersed to several areas in our greater community. Teenagers and families filed down to the Bronx River, to clear vines and pick up garbage. “I love a project like this, where my whole family can get involved,” said Ruth Wood. “We cleared a defined area, where you can see the impact made today. I use these pathways for my daily walks, and I’m so happy spending time with the Bronx River Conservancy to keep things in great shape.”Other people showed up at Fessenden House in Yonkers, with shovels and rakes. They laid out planting beds for the men who live in the house, who

Outreach Sunday - Rolling up those sleeves!

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Sunday, April 1stPalm/Passion SundaySunday, April 8thEaster DaySunday, April 15thNo Church SchoolSunday, April 22ndResurrectionSunday, April 29thResurrection

Church School Calendar

The Spire

Nursery Care is always available for babies and children too

young for Church School.

There will be an Easter Egg Hunt for all Church School and Nursery children following the 9:00 service on Easter Sunday. Gather in the undercroft after the 9:00 AM service and please bring a basket for each child!!

Easter Egg Hunt

-photo by Ken Richardson

Children’s Formation

Weekly Children’sChristian Formation

Schedule9:55 AM Children arrive in Taylor Hall for a brief music rehearsal10:00 AM Worship for Children Begins10:20 AM Students move to their classrooms or remain in Taylor Hall for art

10:45 AM Students enter church for Holy Communion

are recovering from the challenges of addiction. The garden will be planted with vegetables as soon as the weather permits. “Our hope is that the men who live here will be able to benefit from fresh fruit and vegetables, which are hard to get in this part of Yonkers,” said volunteer Michael Pollack, in between hauling the lumber for the raised bed. Those parishioners armed with electric screwdrivers got to work at the new Andrus Learning Center in Tuckahoe. Kevin Cook, Executive Director of Andrus, said the group assembled chairs, baby changing tables, and cubbies. “The workers made great headway in helping us to meet our opening date of April 16th. “For some the day started before the church service, with a trip to New York City to feed the homeless a nice hot breakfast. 6th grader Claire Kraemer was part of the group of middle school students participating the in the Breakfast Run. “I was really glad that I went, but it made me sad. A lot of people asked for more food than we could share with them.” The hope is that the activities of Outreach Sunday will inspire people to do even more during the rest of the year.The more than 250 participants of all ages worked together with:The Interfaith Food BankThe Bronx River Parkway ConservancyThorpe HouseFessenden HouseCommunity Service Associates – Sacred Heart Soup KitchenYoung at ArtsAndrus Pre-School

Outreach Sunday - continued

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Adult Christian FormationMary Taylor Behrens to Be Honored at Gramatan Village ‘May Magic’ Benefit Sunday, May 6th

Written by Staff of Myhomtownbronxville.comMar. 7, 2012: On Sunday, May 6, from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm, Bronxville native Mary Taylor Behrens will be honored at the Gramatan Village “May Magic” wine reception for her dedicated service to the Bronxville community . The “magical” reception will be held at Siwanoy Country Club. All proceeds from the benefit will go to support Gramatan Village programs and services.A remarkable number of organizations and institutions have benefited from Mary’s involvement in the community over the years. Currently, Mary is on the board of Lawrence Hospital Center, and she was recently chairman of The Bronxville School Foundation. In addition, she served

as senior warden of Christ Church Bronxville. Outside the community, Mary was president of the Winthrop H. Smith Foundation, a philanthropic organization supported by Merrill Lynch &

Co. She also served on the board of directors of the YMCA of Greater New York and was a member of the Women’s Forum and the Financial Women’s Association.She is currently a member of Georgetown University’s board of directors’ ad hoc committee on athletics. She was also on the board of regents at Georgetown for seven years ending July 2009 and head of its athletics committee for five years. In 2011, Mary was the recipient of the John Carroll Award, the highest honor given to Georgetown alumni. In addition to her volunteer activities, Mary is the president of Newfane Advisors, Inc., a private consulting firm. She formed Newfane Advisors after 20 years on Wall Street, including 13 years as a senior executive with Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. Mary earned a bachelor of arts degree in government at Georgetown University in 1983. She is married to Chris Behrens, a senior partner at CCMP Capital Advisors (formerly JPMorgan Partners), a New York-based private equity firm. They have two sons, Christopher (age 17) and Matthew (age 15), and reside in Bronxville.At the benefit, Mary will receive the Judge J. Rockhill Gray Award for her “dedicated commitment to sustaining the quality of life in Bronxville.” The award was established by Warren Ilchman, a board director of Gramatan Village, to honor the late judge, a founding vice president of Gramatan Village.“I can think of few people in the community who are more deserving of this award than Mary,” said co-chair Ruth Shearer, “and we are delighted that she will be the recipient.” Benefit attendees will also enjoy the tricks of two performers from New York City’s Magical Entertainment. “With this combination of magical fun and the chance to honor one of Bronxville’s leading residents, May Magic is certainly the place to be on May 6,” said Suzanne Bloomer, the other co-chair of the benefit.Gramatan Village is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to offer support and information to Bronxville-area seniors so that they can continue to live safely and comfortably in their homes as they age and, in some cases, need specialized services, including health care. During its four years of operation, its members have enjoyed social events and cultural outings, discounts from local businesses, assistance from a dedicated corps of volunteers, and referrals to screened local service providers.Admission to May Magic is $100 per person, all but $25 of which is tax deductible. The community is invited to attend. Contributions by both attendees and non-attendees are welcome.

For additional information or to make a reservation, call the Gramatan Village office at 914-337-1338.

Pictured here: Mary Taylor Behrens, honoree at the May Magic Gramatan Village benefit on May 6.

Picture courtesy of Gramatan Village

4 The Spire

Music

Palm Sunday April 1st – Sunday of the Passion Orlando Gibbons – Hosanna to the son of DavidProcession of the Palms with Handbells The Passion Reading (Mark) – solemn Passion tone with choral responses by Tomás Luis de Victoria Ride on! – Grayston IvesWednesday April 4th – TenebraeSung by the Christ Church Camerata. A core of singers from the Christ Church Choir are joined by local musicians who simply cannot get enough of the amazing repertoire for Holy Week. This liturgy marks time in Holy Week with music, readings, and psalms. Music this year will include compositions by Richard Sheppard, Bob Chilcott, John Blow and others.Thursday April 5th – Maundy Thursday Paul Mealor – Ubi caritas (used for the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton)William Byrd – Mass for 4 voices Songs from Taizé: Stay with me, O Christe Jesus, God is forgiveness

Friday April 6th – Good Friday The Passion Reading (John) – Solemn Passion tone with choral responses by Tomás Luis de Victoria Phillip Moore – It is a thing most wonderful , Anthems in praise of the crossBob Chilcott – Were you there?Saturday April 7th – The Easter Vigil The Exultet Charles Villiers Stanford – B-flat Major Communion SettingWilliam Byrd – Haec diesSunday April 8th – Easter Day Music for Organ, Choirs, Brass, and Timpani Charles Villiers Stanford – Te Deum LaudamusSamuel Scheidt – Surrexit Christus hodieG.F. Handel – I know that my redeemer livethCharles-Marie Widor – Toccata

Music for Holy Week and Easter

Easter Flowers and MusicHelp bring the gift of flowers and music to Christ Church Bronxville this Easter. Donations are accepted in memory of loved ones or in thanksgiving for blessings received. We are diligently keeping costs to a minimum during this difficult economic time, but Easter expenses for symbols of the Resurrection (flowers and music) are significant!

Christ Church “in chaos” on display During the organ installation, photographer Thomas Bangsted spent several months with his camera quietly in the rear of the nave taking pictures of the entire process. His completed project, a single

photograph which is actually aggregated from hundreds of exposures is now complete – over two years later. The work titled “Christ Church” is on display as an enormous 6’x7’ print is the centerpiece of a display at Marc Straus Exhibit at 299 Grand Street. For more information see: www.marcstraus.com

 

Taizé Recording ProjectThe choristers from The Christ Church Choir, Schola Cantorum, and The Treble Choir have begun work on a new recording featuring music from the monastery at Taizé. After Holy Week and Easter, these choirs will resume work on this recording which will be available for purchase in May.  

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Clergy NewsThe Rev. Cody Unterseher, Official Ph.D. CandidateAfter two years of sitting through lectures, giving seminar presentations and writing papers, I was given a year on my own to pursue research on topics of my own devising. This research led up to a week of intensive written examinations based on several of the topics I proposed, and an hour-long (though it took an hour and a half because of technical difficulties) oral examination to clarify points from the written exams and to pursue the topics not covered in writing. This “comps year,” as in “comprehensive exams,” is usually described as “dreaded” for the amount of work involved: for me, it was over 15,000 pages of preparatory reading—not to mention the hours of library-time digging those readings up, and the cost of books, digital downloads and photocopies.And now it’s over: I’m “ABD”—all but done or “all but dissertation,” officially a candidate for the Ph.D. degree. This means, obviously, that I passed the exams—and, I think parishioners will be pleased to know that I passed with honors.Topic selection for the exam process is different for the various sub-disciplines of theology; each student declares a major area, in which there are seven topics; and a minor area of three topics. In the case of my major, liturgical studies, I was constrained by a grid of historical periods that had to be represented (early church, medieval, reformation and modern, to which is added “Eastern Christian”), along with the various areas of liturgical study (Christian initiation, Eucharist, Daily Office, Liturgical Year, Sacramental Theology and Ritual Anthropology). One or more of the questions must touch upon the proposed dissertation topic. It’s a tall order, and finding interesting topics that criss-crossed and covered the grid was more challenging a task than I first imagined. Here’s what I came up with and how the grid worked out:Changes in the Anglican Confirmation Rite between the 1549 and 1662 Books of Common Prayer (Initiation, Reformation);Patristic and Early Medieval Byzantine Commentaries on the Eucharistic Liturgy (Eucharist, Eastern);Development of the Feast of Corpus Christi in the Thirteenth Century (Liturgical Year, Medieval);Distinguishing “Cathedral” and “Monastic” styles of prayer in the Early Daily Office (Daily Office, Early Church);Theologies of Worship in the American Episcopal Ritualism Controversy (Sacramental Theology, Modern);

Sources and Types of Ritual Authority and “Emergent” Church Worship (Ritual Anthropology, Modern);The British Ritualist Controversy: An Historical Survey (Dissertation, Modern).

You’ll notice that two of the topics touch on “Ritualism,” an area that I first covered in a chapter of American Sarum. The British Ritualism story has been studied in detail by several scholars; my proposed (an accepted!) dissertation topic will tell the American-side of those nineteenth-century Anglo-Catholic developments.My minor area of study was “Systematic” or Doctrinal theology. I tailor fitted each of the topics in this area to touch both on liturgy and on ecumenical relations between Episcopal, Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant churches. The topics were:The Immaculate Conception of Mary in Modern Catholic Thought and Ecumenical Dialogue;Ecclesiological Issues in the Question of Intercommunion;Theological Anthropology and the Irrepeatability of Baptism, Confirmation and Ordination.Lots of theological jargon in the titles, but all of them had to do with what it means “to be Church,” what it means to receive and believe revealed truths, and how we relate together as Christians of different churches when our ideas of Church and truth differ.The comprehensive exam process is designed to yield useful material for future writing, as well as putting students on the spot and testing their intellectual mettle. From my year of research, I can see several journal articles on the horizon, at least two chapters for my dissertation, and bits and pieces for several other projects. But that’s all down the road: for now, a hurdle has been cleared, a milestone has been passed, and it’s good to be all-but-done!

*****Sometime in the coming months, we’ll set aside a Sunday seminar time and I’ll share with parishioners the fruits of my researches and field questions on my examination topics. This Summer, we’ll also be reviving the weeknight “Light Theology with Heavy Cream” study group, looking especially at faith and doubt and the meaning of Holy Communion.

-The Rev. Cody Unterseher

6 The Spire

April Birthdays1: Mary Leferovich, Robert Rabsey, Gibbs Tighe; 3: Brian Seirup, Nancy Shaefer; 4: Steven Ahmuty, Tacey Carroll; 6: Shane O’Neil; 7: Peter Licursi; 9: Isabelle Beit, Alexandra Sorensen, Richard Thaler, George Cooney, Peter Licursi Jr.; 10: Willem Bender, Bailey Gilliam; 12: Andrew DelBene, William Folberth; 13: Anna Thomas, Bailey Wood; 16: Ara Atayan, Elliot Bates, Anna Foley, Lauren Harrington; 17: Winslow Griffen, Phyllis Sharp, Lia Meloni; 18: Andrea Bates, Matthew Behrens, Mary Anne Ecklond; 19: Frederic Hawkins, Phyllis Schneider; 20: Adam Srebnik; 23: Alaya Martin; 24: Christopher Atayan, Peter Bruton; 25: Elaine Neild, Patrick Noone, Margaret Desmond; 26: Richard Ball; 27: Neely Ewy, Stephen Jones, Hanna Potgieter, Cody Watson; 28: Ashley Morse; 29: Evan Barr, Giselle Licursi; 30: Kenny Chavez

Outreach PhotosBreakfast Run

Bronx River Parkway Conservancy

Fessenden House

Andrus Pre-School

Front: Debbie Cook, Barbara McKinnon, Jim Redpath, Dylan Ecklond, Steve Ecklond, Wink McKinnon; back: Jim Carroll and Jim Shanahan

Sacred Heart Soup Kitchen Giving Tree

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EYC

Bronx River ConservancyBefore After

Adult Christian FormationSunday Short Series - C.S. Lewis’s Mere ChristianityAfter 10 o’clock services, there will be a discussion of C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity in the Crispell Lounge. Considered by Christianity Today in a poll of scholars and theologians to be the third most influential book on Christianity since 1945, Lewis’s work was originally three conversations on BBC during World War II. Led by Warren Ilchman, the first session (April 22nd) is on Books 1 and 2; the next session (April 29th) will be on Book 3, and the last session (May 6th) on Book 4. Author of the Chronicles of Narnia and the Space Trilogy and a professor at both Oxford and Cambridge, Lewis uses the word “mere” to mean what is applicable to all Christians, regardless of denomination. Books can be obtained at Womraths. - Warren Ilchman

EYC Maundy Thursday Dinner and Vigil7-11PM$5 dinner

On Maundy Thursday the EYC will have a special dinner and time of prayer together immediately following the 7PM service. It has become the tradition of the EYC to spend all night Maundy Thursday at the church painting the paschal candle and praying with the reserved sacrament. Because Youth Director Krista Dias is due to have a baby in April, the group will have an abbreviated Maundy Thursday evening this year. The EYC will have dinner immediately following the service, spend about an hour working on the candle, then sit in the church for an hour of prayer with the Reserved Sacrament. The EYC’s “shift” in the chapel is over at 11PM. We will end our special EYC evening at that time. If the teens would like to come back for later prayer shifts, they are welcome to work that out with parents. Teens should bring $5 to cover the cost of dinner. Please RSVP to Krista by Wednesday the 7th if your teen plans to attend.

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

Palm Sunday, April 1st Palm distribution at all services8:00 AM Holy Eucharist (Traditional Language)9:45 AM Palm Procession (Taylor Hall)10:00 AM Holy Eucharist5:00 PM Contemplative Eucharist

Monday, April 2nd 7:00 AM Holy Eucharist

Tuesday, April 3rd7:00 AM Holy Eucharist

Wednesday, April 4th 7:00 AM Holy Eucharist w/ Breakfast7:00 PM Tenebraemusic and meditations for Holy Week

Maundy Thursday, April 5th 7:00 PM Choral Eucharist with Stripping of the Altar8:30 PM All Night Vigil over the Blessed Sacrament

Good Friday, April 6th 12:00 PM The Passion according to John and Good Friday Liturgy Children’s Service with age-appropriate Stations of the Cross

Holy Saturday, April 7th 7:00 PM The ancient chant “Exsultet” The Great Vigil of EasterThe First Eucharist of Easter

Easter Sunday, April 8th 9:00 AM Festive Holy Eucharist with Children’s Choirs, Brass & Tympani

10:30 AM Easter Egg Hunt

11:15 AM Festive Holy Eucharist with Choirs, Brass & Tympani

Holy Week