Ecclesia II

Sunday, March 8th, our confirmands, youth leaders, and a few parents and siblings participated in this weekly communion service for the homeless living in Madison Square Park.

2009-03-08 Ecclesia

Jill planned and organized the packing of lunches to give away.  Katy made brownies!  All were short-order cooks and worship leaders.  Eddie read the gospel.  Liz and Rebecca led participatory prayers of the people.  Connor led the closing hymn.  Jill led all the music--the best they'd had all year!  Alec and the rest circled the park giving out extra lunches and making them feel welcome to join this "outdoor congregation."

While all 30 lunches were taken by the end of the communion service and 2nd meal, the congregation has dwindled due to the increased presence of NYPD in the parks of Manhattan.  To learn more of this ministry, see www.ecclesiany.org.

Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper

Tuesday February 24th was Mardi Gras this year.  That means it was time to pull out the beads and cook up the pancakes!

2009-02-24 Shrove Tuesday

There were at least two shifts of cooks, and a LOT of pancackes later (4 boxes of Trader Joe's Buttermilk Pancake mix!), plain or with blueberries or chocolate chips inside, and strawberry, ready whip, mixed fruit, pancake syrup, candy sprinkles, and M&Ms on top.  All washed down with apple juice, milk, water, or cranberry/apple juice.

As you can see from the pictures, there was a good turnout (at least 40 people) and most everyone was smiling with a mouthful of sweet syrupy goodness - when they weren't chasing balloons around.  Thank you Lukus for taking the great pictures of the group!

All together we raised at least $226 for Touching Tiny Lives in Lesotho!!

If you want to follow links with a better description of the traditions of Shrove Tuesday, etc. check out the link from this blog in 2007.

84th Precinct Appreciation

Sunday February 22 was the 15th (or 16th, depending on the source you believe) appreciation Sunday for the local Brooklyn Heights 84th Precinct of the NYPD.  We had a great turnout of uniformed officers, and a few local politicians even participated in the worship service.

Lily sang, Connor greeted/ushered, and many others helped with setup, cooking, cleanup, or in worship.

I (Mark) was helping greet and usher for most of the service, so I didn't get too many pictures, but here are the few I did.

2009-02-22 Police Appreciation

You'll notice all the various arrangements of mini M&M candies.  That was Lily's work after worship and during the luncheon.  From the right angle, you can see that they were a bouquet of little flowers with (mostly) yellow candies in the center.

A good time was had, and plentiful amounts of food were consumed.  Many beaming officers said a sincere "Thank You" on their way out - it was nice.

More Retreat Photos

Did I mention before that there was sledding and a toboggan?  The field in front of the Phoenix house made for a good place for snowy fun!

Winter Retreat 2009

Click the photo to see the full album...

(Thanks to Eddie and Elizabeth's Dad for all these great photos!)

Interested in Public Policy?

From the Presbytery of New York City's Youth Coordinator:

Please send to students you know who may want to participate in this enlightening educational opportunity.

For young people w/interest in Public Policy... "Pages are needed to serve in President's Obama's Administration." [ed. which I don't get, because the Pages are in Congress not the White House - but close enough for government work, right?]

Pages must be 16 years old with 3.0 GPA

http://pageprogram.house.gov