Now we are deep in the throes of The Holidays, as our secular and highly materialistic culture refers to this time of year. Almost before the pumpkins of Halloween disappeared from porches throughout the Village, the Christmas Train seemed to start barreling down the tracks with its annual frenzy, glitter and inevitability. In New York various commercial customs have become enshrined as beloved traditions
Highlights of the Vestry Meetings since our last report: At its March meeting the Vestry learned that Meredith Ward accepted the position as Chair of the Fine Arts Committee; Sirkka Kyle accepted the position as Chair of the Garden Committee; Ethan Mandel accepted the position as Chair of the Spiritual Development Committee. At its June meeting, the Vestry elected Stanley Weinberg and Sarah Standing
You’re invited to gather for story, song, and candle light at a service of Advent Lessons and Carols, Sunday, December 4 at 6 p.m. Members of the NYU campus ministry community and our very own Canterbury Downtown will host this event. See the joy that is coming to you… as we enter into the season of Advent together.
The Church of the Ascension Book Group presents an evening with the New York Times best-selling author Peter Balakian. We will be reading “Black Dog of Fate,” the 2009 Anniversary Edition. “Black Dog of Fate” is an award-winning, deftly-woven memoir of an American suburban childhood in the 1950s and 60s that leads the author as an adult to an eventual search for the hidden
Reminder: Set your clocks back 1 hour Saturday night, November 5th! Daylight Saving Time ends and Standard Time begins at 2 a.m. on Sunday, November 6th. Remember to move your clocks back one hour for the resumption of Standard Time.
Put simply: this Carpenter’s Kids pilgrimage is life-changing. It is transformational. It will make you cry. It will make you smile. It will exhaust you. It will open your eyes wider than you ever thought possible. No amount of preparation and prayer could have prepared me for what awaited in Tanzania. And at the same time, I would not give up the experience for anything.
Between summer romance and mystery novels…try slipping in Richard Rohr’s The Naked Now for an inviting look at how we can find God in all things, people and different religions. Also, if you are looking for a more centering way of exploring your faith through the spiritual life without leaving the beach or city, try Joan Chittister’s The Monastery of the Heart. Both books
Among the ancient Greek philosophers, Plato, the devoted student of Socrates, held that there were three pre-eminent values that could lead human beings to an encounter with the Ultimate Reality. We believe that the God who is the object of worship in the Judaeo-Christian and Islamic traditions is that reality who is the sole fountainhead those Platonic values of Truth, Beauty and Goodness —
Holy Saturday for me is a day for very mixed emotions. It falls between the most sorrowful day and the most joyful day on our church calendar. That’s a powerful position! The readings today speak about evil, weakness, sin and suffering. They speak about crying out to the Lord in our misery, praying for his protection and begging him to show us the right
Good Friday! The darkest and grimmest day of the year! The world stops, and time stops. We are overwhelmed. Christ dies for our sins. Sin. What is it? Some people used to think that eating meat on Friday was the worst thing a person could do, and others claimed that the greatest (and perhaps unpardonable?) sin was to ingest any alcoholic beverage. In addition