Some of us here today will remember the shocking news of all the Romanian orphans when Romania was liberated from communist rule under Nicolai Ceausescu. Remember that this was the dictator who imposed the social policies that resulted in so many unwanted children, so many children who were raised in poorly run orphanages.
Back in 1990 we saw what happens when children are raised from infancy with little or no human contact—little or no human relationships. Some were raised “with no human touch at all.” [Feasting on the Word, Year B, Volume 3, page 192, hereinafter referred to as Feasting].
The results were tragic. The world watched aghast as children grew into “adults” who had no speech, or abilities to interact with other people, or abilities to give or receive human affection. [Ibid.]
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Welcome to Christ Church! If you are a newcomer or visitor, we want you to know that we are honored by your presence. This is the Lord’s Supper, God’s feast for God’s people. There is always abundance here and there is a place for you. All Christians including young children are welcome to receive Communion at this altar. If for reasons of conscience or practice you do not wish to receive Communion, please nevertheless come forward and simply cross your arms over your chest to receive a blessing.
Please join us for summer refreshments after the 9 am service. The Andersons are our hosts this morning, thanks Barry and Marilyn.
The parish administrator will be in the church office on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the summer months. (Karen is on vacation from July 1-July 10.)
New floors! Be sure to check out our new look.
Wine, Cheese, and Spirituality for Summer following the 7 pm Wednesday evening Eucharist. Come, join us as we discuss these recent works of popular spirituality. What rings true? What sounds fishy? Come, let’s have fun while we learn. First-timers are most welcome to join in.
•Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert – This Wed., July 1, 7:50-9 pm
•The Shack by William Paul Young – Wed., July 29, 7:50-9 pm
We will not be asking for food donations for Dorothy Day Hospitality House for July. Thank you for your continued generosity to this ministry and look for the sign up for August.
Please notify the office or rector if a loved one is in the hospital. Due to privacy issues the hospitals don’t notify us as they did in the past. Thank you.
SUMMER SERVICES
Through September 6
Saturdays at 5
Sundays at 9
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Welcome to Christ Church! If you are a newcomer or visitor, we want you to know that we are honored by your presence. This is the Lord’s Supper, God’s feast for God’s people. There is always abundance here and there is a place for you. All Christians including young children are welcome to receive Communion at this altar. If for reasons of conscience or practice you do not wish to receive Communion, please nevertheless come forward and simply cross your arms over your chest to receive a blessing.
If you are celebrating a Birthday or Anniversary in the month of June please come forward at the Peace for a special blessing.
Today we rejoice that May Witte Baldwin becomes an inheritor of the promise of eternal life through Holy Baptism.
Please join us for coffee hour in the parish hall following the 10 am service. Becky Holden is hosting this morning, thanks Becky!
Meadow Ridge Eucharist is today at 2 pm.
Vestry meets tomorrow evening at 7 pm. Vestry dinner with Bishop Ahrens is Friday, June 12.
Ladies Night Out: Join us for a taste of the Far East at Thali, this Tuesday, June 9, at 7 PM. Thali is located at 296 Route 7 in the Days’ Inn. Please call or e-mail her for a reservation. Remember you can always just show up, there is always room at the table.
You are all invited to the Deanery Confirmation Service at St.John’s in New Milford next Saturday, June 13 at 4 p.m. Come and celebrate with our candidates for confirmation and reception from Christ Church. Rehearsal for candidates today at 4 pm at St. John’s.
Christ Church Annual Picnic next Sunday!!! Please check out the sign up posted in the parish hall to tell us how many of you will be coming and what you can bring to share. The picnic will follow the 10 am service. We’ll also celebrate our confirmands then. Sign up today in the Parish Hall for the dish you’ll be sharing at the picnic.
Calling all Golfers--why not make a party of it and participate in the Hastings Open Golf Tournament on Thursday, June 18? This tournament benefits Camp Washington--it specifically raises funds so that underprivileged kids can attend camp. For more info please go to www.campwashington.org and register. Thanks so much for your support of this wonderful asset in the Diocese of Connecticut.
Mark your calendars! The summer service schedule begins on Saturday, June 27 at 5pm and Sunday, June 28 at 9 am. From then through September 6 we’ll celebrate the Eucharist on Saturdays at 5 pm and Sundays at 9 am. Come worship God and watch our makeover happen.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Welcome to Christ Church! If you are a newcomer or visitor, we want you to know that we are honored by your presence. This is the Lord’s Supper, God’s feast for God’s people. There is always abundance here and there is a place for you. All Christians including young children are welcome to receive Communion at this altar. If for reasons of conscience or practice you do not wish to receive Communion, please nevertheless come forward and simply cross your arms over your chest to receive a blessing.
Please join us for coffee hour in the parish hall following the 10 am service. The _____ are hosting this morning, thanks _______________!
We rejoice with Cavan Perrott, Jack Drake, and Russell Davey who were confirmed in their faith yesterday by Bishop Smith. We rejoice as well with Fran Kimball who was received into the Anglican Communion. Congratulations to you all, and now, go, continue to be the light of Christ for others.
Thanks to our Youth Choir and to the parents who brought them to rehearsals! These choristers, ages 6 to 14, contributed to services this church year: Celine Agnes, Gabrielle Agnes, Ella Cox, Gloria Davey, Emma Gallagher, Kyle Guffey, Christina Johnson, Pierce McCreary, Madeleine Ruder, Roddy Stones. Their youthful voices always gladden our hearts. Special thanks to Chloe and Emily Anderson whose glorious voices helped at Christmas!
A round of applause to the following people who have helped in many different areas of our church school program this year:
• Art Program: Becky Holden, Deborah Stevens, Eileen Honey, Lucia Fleming
• 5th-8th Grade: Holly McCreary, Gretchen von Dwingelo
• K-4th Grade: Sue Klipfel, Mark Darlington, Urs Furrer, Renee Ruder, Leona Lindner,
Janice Frank, Joe Frank, Orris Litz, Pam Drake, Linda Stones
We give another big thank-you to our Middle School Youth Leader Carol Keil and our High School Youth Leaders Penn Johnson and Urs Furrer. Well done, Carol, Penn, and Urs. And thanks for all your dedication over the years.
Congrats to our high school grads, Drew Crannell, Kate Estabrook, Cody Hickok, John Holden and Nell Ryder and to our college grads, Harrison Hickok, Johanthan Klipfel, and Angus Mudge.
Join us for our Annual Christ Church Picnic this morning following the 10 am service. Thanks to the hale and hearty who will help us move things out of the parish hall today after the 10:00.
Calling all Golfers--why not make a party of it and participate in the Hastings Open Golf Tournament is this Thursday, June 18? This tournament benefits Camp Washington--it specifically raises funds so that underprivileged kids can attend camp. For more info please go to www.campwashington.org and register. Thanks so much for your support of this wonderful asset in the Diocese of Connecticut.
Please notify the office or rector if a loved one is in the hospital. Due to privacy issues the hospitals don’t notify us as they did in the past. Thank you.
Mark your calendars! The summer service schedule begins on Saturday, June 27 at 5pm and Sunday, June 28 at 9 am. From then through September 6 we’ll celebrate the Eucharist on Saturdays at 5 pm and Sundays at 9 am. Come worship God and watch our makeover happen.
Join us for Wine, Cheese, and Spirituality for Summer following the 7 pm Wednesday evening Eucharist.
• Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert – Wed., July 1, 7:50-9 pm
• The Shack by William Paul Young – Wed., July 29, 7:50-9 pm
In the name of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
In my years as a priest and a Christian educator I’ve heard a lot of people’s struggles with faith. So much so that it seems to me very odd when I meet someone who doesn’t struggle in some respect.
And over the years one of the doctrines that people seem to struggle with the most is the doctrine of the Trinity--the counter-intuitive teaching that our God is one, and our God is three. Huh?
One God in three persons, three aspects, three job descriptions, three modes. The early church came up with this doctrine, we know, in response to what’s in Scripture, and in response to what they knew to be true in their lives.
Open our hearts and our minds, O Holy Spirit, to hear your holy Word, and enkindle in us the fire of your love. Amen.
I remember that day as clearly
as I remember anything else in my long life.
I, Julia, wife of the merchant and trader in fine silks,
Marcus, citizen of Rome.
I remember our wedding trip,
How Marcus proposed we travel to the East, to Jerusalem,
to celebrate our wedding and to see the Orientals and their odd ways.
And, perhaps, to stumble upon some fine
blue and gold silks with a fine hand,
just come in from Oriental caravan
that we could bring home for sale.
In the name of the One who loves us so much that he died for us. Amen.
Again we’ve come round to the biggest paradox of the Christian life—the crucified God. (title of Jurgen Moltmann’s theological treatise) God was broken and mangled on a cross, enduring torture and shame, for our sake. God died. God died a death that no one should have to die.
And in Jesus’ broken body and broken spirit we can find healing and shelter. In his wounded heart we find relief and sanctuary. In the cross of Christ is our hope and our comfort. Our healing.
The cross has been associated with healing for a very long time. So much so that over the door of Holy Cross monastery just north of Poughkeepsie is an inscription—Crux mundi medicina est. In the Latin, the cross is the medicine—the healing—of the world.
Marilyn and her husband Barry love living in the woods in Redding. Their daughters are officially out of the nest now. Emily is fearlessly hacking her way through the jungle of corporate market analysis... draining the swamp of high-budget advertising... reintroducing long extinct species of clear thought to the islands of poor product planning based on the DNA of rationality found in prehistoric mosquitoes trapped for millenia in the amber of design-by-committee..., and Chloe is a student at NYU, concentrating in philosophy (logic), sociology, and life in the Village. (That great description of Emily's occupation comes from her friend John.)
Marilyn graduated from the College of William and Mary in Virginia in the 1970’s. She also holds a master’s degree in geological studies from the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she studied the chemistry of ocean island lavas from the Azores. She graduated in 1998 magna-cum-laude from Yale Divinity School with a Master of Divinity degree and from General Seminary in New York City in 2000 with a Master of Sacred Theology degree in spiritual direction.
Marilyn loves ministry at Christ Church and is excited to see new families and lots of little children. Her favorite activity in ministry is visiting people who are confined to their homes temporarily or permanently and sharing Holy Communion with them. At home in the rectory she loves to sit by the fire, to garden, and to romp with her two cats.
Martha Meyer began her work with us as Music Minister at the end of October, 2007. She was for fifteen years the Music Director at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Greater Bridgeport located in Stratford. Martha enjoys providing music in the Classical tradition on the organ, and she is looking forward to expanding our repertoire with our new digital piano. In her other life Martha is also a jazz pianist and teacher of piano students. She has four grown children and lives down the hill in Redding. Welcome, Martha!
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.”
Another week, another prediction from Jesus about his death, another meditation on the cross.
Why do we dwell on it so much? It’s because the cross is central to the life of a Christian. It’s at the center of God’s work for the world. And the dying it affords us is what brings new life. That’s where we’re going today in this sermon.
In the gospel today we see some Greeks—some religious outsiders—coming to see Jesus. And by virtue of the outside seeking to be connected to the inside, Jesus knows that the revelation of God is now to be extended out to the whole world. Previously in the gospel we heard from Jesus time and again that his time had not yet come.
Marilyn and her husband Barry love living in the woods in Redding. Their daughters are officially out of the nest now. Emily is fearlessly hacking her way through the jungle of corporate market analysis... draining the swamp of high-budget advertising... reintroducing long extinct species of clear thought to the islands of poor product planning based on the DNA of rationality found in prehistoric mosquitoes trapped for millenia in the amber of design-by-committee..., and Chloe is a student at NYU, concentrating in philosophy (logic), sociology, and life in the Village. (That great description of Emily's occupation comes from her friend John.)
Martha Meyer began her work with us as Music Minister at the end of October, 2007. She was for fifteen years the Music Director at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Greater Bridgeport located in Stratford. Martha enjoys providing music in the Classical tradition on the organ, and she is looking forward to expanding our repertoire with our new digital piano. In her other life Martha is also a jazz pianist and teacher of piano students. She has four grown children and lives down the hill in Redding. Welcome, Martha!