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Summer sparkles with activities and events
... join the fun at St. Christopher's Church!
Summer's here, and so is a full slate of
programs, activities, music, and, of course, our big Summer Auction. Even though
construction continues on our exciting renovations, we've filled the coming
weeks with all sorts of fun. Here's a roundup of what you can find at St.
Christophers:
The Fourth of July is pie time!
As folks gather for Chatham's annual Fourth of July
parade down Main Street, St. Christopher's youths will be selling pies with red, white
or blue fillings to raise money for their many programs. Please help by bringing
pies to the Parish Hall kitchen on July 3 or early July 4.
Our biggest fundraiser -- the annual Summer
Auction
 "Let's
Really Raise the Roof" at St. Christopher's annual Summer Auction. This year,
due to construction, the event has been moved to the VFW Post on George Ryder
Road in Chatham on Saturday, July 11, beginning with a Silent Auction at 5;30
p.m., followed by a live auction at 7 p.m. Tickets are $30 to enjoy hors
d'oeuvres, desserts, spirits and, of course, great auction items, including
trips, parties, art, and other goodies. Call (508) 945-2832 for details.
To see a draft of the Summer
Auction program (and complete listing of what will be offered),
download a PDF version here.
(Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)
Friday Night Grill is sizzling!
Our always popular Friday Night Grill will begin again on
Friday, July 3, from 5-7 p.m. on the front lawn of the church at 625 Main St.,
Chatham. Enjoy grilled hamburgers, hot dogs, sausage, chowder, chips, bownies
and soda just
before the Chatham Band's concerts in Kate Gould Park.
This year's Vacation Bible School is "Camp E.D.G.E"
(Experience and Discover God Everywhere)
Join the adventure at Camp E.D.G.E., where St. Christopher's
joins forces with the First Congregational Church at 650 Main Street in Chatham,
Monday through Friday, July 27 - 31, from 9 a.m. to noon. Children from Pre-K
through 5th grade are welcome to join in the fun.
For details and a downloadable brochure with a registration form,
click here or contact Amy Middleton at 945-0800 or
945-7022.
Join us for a special Evensong worship service
St. Christopher's Choir will perform Cantata 118
by Bach, with other works by Bach and Mendelssohn at the Evensong worship
service on Sunday evening, July 12, beginning at 5 p.m. A reception will follow.
Renowned harpist performs for stained glass
window fundraiser
 Merynda
Adams, a renowned harpist and 1994 winner of the Artists International
Competition, will perform at a special benefit concert to raise money for the
new stained glass window in our new sanctuary on Saturday evening, Aug.1,
beginning at 8 p.m. in the Parish Hall.
Ms. Adams has performed with New York Grand Opera, New
Philharmonic, Plainfield Symphony, Metro Lyric Opera, Lyrica Chamber Music,
Opera at Florham, Northeastern Philharmonic, Colonial Symphony, Westfield
Symphony, Lake Placid Sinfonietta and New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. A winner of
the South Orange Symphony Artists’ Competition and the Goldblatt Award she has
performed at Avery Fisher Hall, Carnegie Hall and off Broadway in the “The
Fantasticks”.
In addition to an active teaching studio, she is an Affiliate
Artist Teacher at Drew University in Madison, N.J., and has been an instructor
of harp at Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J. Ms. Adams was a founding
member and vice-president of the North Jersey chapter of the American Harp
Society. She is featured in the book, “Plaza Weddings,” playing at the weddings
of Donald Trump and Eddie Murphy. Her other solo engagements include events
honoring Colin Powell, Beverly Sills and Andrea Bocelli. Currently, she is
collaborating with Colonial Symphony and Morristown Memorial Hospital to take
music to the patients in the hospital setting. Her solo recording is available
at www.Merynda.com.
Tickets for the event are $15, and may be purchased by
contacting the church office at (508) 945-2832.
Soundings
See the June issue of our
newsletter Soundings for additional stories on our construction work,
and pictures from Christmas celebrations and worship services on our Soundings page.
CONSTRUCTION UPDATE
June 12, 2009
'Ribs' of reception area take shape
Assitant Rector Gail Smith delighted in the similarity to a boat's ribs as the
roof over the new church reception area, so she snapped this picture. With every
passing day, construction gives more and more of a sense of what the church will
look like when completed.
For more pictures, see our
Construction page.
Want email
for St. Christopher's construction updates? Please email
StChristophers@comcast.net.
moving day for worship space
“If it
were easy,” Olympian Bill Toomey once said, “it would have no value.”
St. Christopher’s celebrated its first service in a bright,
freshly painted and redecorated Parish Hall on Sunday, Jan. 4 – our temporary pla ce
of worship for the next eight or so months.
But it wasn’t easy.
In fact, a few wondered if it would happen at all. Of
course, they didn’t reckon with Dick Kraycir, Ali Crockett, Bruce Wood and a
group of dedicated, hard-working volunteers. Dick and Ali, along with Bruce, put
together a precise, densely detailed plan that would gradually transform the
Parish Hall into a house of worship. For months, day after
day, week after week, they rolled up their sleeves, pushed, cajoled, prodded and
nudged. They got things done.
What to do on that special day?
Meanwhile, Rector Brian W. McGurk was trying to figure out how to mark the day.
“How do we make it special?” he repeatedly asked the staff. “How do we make it
meaningful?”
Organist Julie Winchell came up with a possibility.
“What if we start the service in the Sanctuary and then have the entire
congregation process through the cloister into the Parish Hall?” she wondered.
“And then when the Sanctuary is finished, we’ll process back.”
Perfect! Brian went to work. He planned a service that
would begin in the Sanctuary with the Liturgy of the Word before the
congregation rose and walked en masse across to the Parish Hall to celebrate the
Great Thanksgiving.
Even the best-laid plans…
But events
always seem to have their own way.
During the fall, when workers found contaminated soil
and water under the courtyard, Bruce had to drop just about everything to work
with town, state and federal officials on a plan to clean things up – even
though the source of the contamination wasn’t the church.
Dick fretted about the timetable – in part, made more
difficult by First Night performances. Typically, St. Christopher’s opens its
doors to the community on Dec. 31 for concerts and r ecitals.
But this year would be tough – how do you try and close down a building while
at the same time hosting a big party? What about electricity? What about heat?
Should
we be doing this so close to Jan. 4?
And then Dec. 29, a portion of the foundation under the
Sanctuary collapsed.
That may have been
a blessing -- the Sanctuary would be off-limits to First Night performances.
What about plans for the Jan. 4 procession? Could we
process from the Chapel into the Parish Hall?
Brian decided no, let’s do it all in the Parish Hall.
The final push
Voluntee rs
attended to last-minute details. On the days leading up to Jan. 4 Linus Decker
painted the Parish Hall. Sexton Lou Augustine and Ali repeatedly tweaked the
180-chair seating layout.
Early on the morning of Friday, Jan. 2 -- “Moving Day”
– a group gathered in the Parish Hall armed with tool boxes, drills and other
gear. Dick Kraycir, John Rude, Parker Chick, Hank Holden, and Blair Wormer went
to work. Brian arrived. Gail and David Smith stopped in.
How do we do the coffee hour? Has the communal rug
arrived? Should we paint the speakers? What about the cross?
On Saturday morning, Brian sat in his office finishing
his sermon as people walked in and out. The rug arrived. Moving the cross would
take a little more time.
We come together
On Sunday, the congregation gathered in the Parish Hall for worship.
The walls shone with the new paint; candle light
glowed; and the choir processed through the center aisle and back to their seats
beside the organ. From the ceiling on either side of the altar hung green
banners made of ribbons -- the idea of Ilene Bendas. With just a few mis-steps
and hastily moved chairs, communion was given "in the round," as it will be in
the new Sanctuary.
Afterwards, tables came up and coffee and
snacks were quickly laid out for Fellowship. Many people lingered, commenting
that the service went very well in its new location -- that indeed it felt like
sacred space. But it wasn't easy getting there.
(Photos-- Top, Brian shares
communion "in the round" in temporary sacred space in the Parish Hall. Middle,
volunteers work on Friday to prepare the Sanctuary in the Parish Hall. Bottom,
Linus Decker paints the walls of the Parish Hall.)
Listen
to Evensong
Digital audio
available
Hear the beautiful Requium by Handel, recorded at
our last Evensong service, featuring Barbara Buffa as soloist and a string
section accompaniment by clicking here.
welcome
 Welcome
to St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church! We are delighted that you are
visiting our parish website. Whether you are a member of our community or simply
“passing through,” we cordially invite you to avail yourselves of our various
programs and ministries.
In this website you will find a
schedule of our worship services and programs. We would be pleased to have you
join our parish family. For we strive to be just that — a family, working
together, sharing our various skills and talents to serve the true head of our
household – our Lord, Jesus Christ!
The Rev.
Brian W. McGurk,
Rector, St. Christopher's Episcopal Church
St.
Christopher's Mission
We welcome all persons to the warmth
and beauty of the Anglican tradition.
We spread the love and grace of God in Christ.
We reach out to serve our communities as a compassionate neighbor.
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