Beloved longtime parishioners Ray and George Pouder celebrated their 63rd wedding anniversary last Sunday!
Many parishioners gathered around to watch them cut their cake. Congratulations, George and Ray!
Father Nils' Fifth Anniversary at St. Stephen's
On January 19 we celebrated the Fifth Anniversary of Father Nils and Kelly joining us at St. Stephen's. Our Warden John Benson offered words of appreciation for all Nils and Kelly have brought to our church, and they received an ovation from the parish.
The celebration included a delicious gluten-free cake from By the Way Bakery in Greenwich.
Happy 5th Anniversary, Nils and Kelly!
The Blessing of the Animals
In October, on the Sunday closest to the Feast of St. Francis, we hold the Blessing of the Animals.
Dogs outnumbered other pets.
And they were amazingly well behaved.
It was an opportunity to wear themed attire!
This cockatiel was an eye catching presence.
Cats were shy in the company of all the dogs.
Father Nils’ dog Paddy stood by to conclude the blessing.
The Blessing of the Backpacks and Annual Picnic
Each September, as school begins anew, St. Stephen's holds The Blessing of the Backpacks.
We ask students and teachers to come forward...
...and they are blessed and prayed for.
The annual parish picnic follows the service.
There were activities for the children.
And there are cozy spots to recline, for anyone who needed a moment alone!
St. Stephen's hosts a Prayer Booth at the Fol de Rol
St. Stephen's set up a Prayer Booth at the Fol de Rol.
People submitted their prayers on sticky notes which they pinned to the board. Then they poured colored sand into a vase, to represent their prayer.
We brought the vase and the sticky notes to church the following Sunday, and the congregation chose notes to pray.
Youth Group Leader Trina Fontaine makes case for Youth Minister
Youth Leader Trina Fontaine made the case for St. Stephen's getting a Youth Minister.
Youth Group raises funds for Cystic Fibrosis
Members of the Youth Group from St. Stephens', and want-to-be youth, took on the challenge to climb over 2,800 steps to raise funds and awareness for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Cystic fibrosis is a progressive, genetic disease that causes persistent lung infections and over time it limits the ability to breathe.
The rain held off, we completed the climb successfully and after a yummy BBQ were able to venture onto the football field and into the Giants and Jet's locker rooms which was a cool experience. (In case you are wondering, the Jets' was more impressive). At press time, we raised $1,647. Thank you to everyone who supported us!
Easter at St. Stephen's
St. Stephen's Hosts the Emergency Shelter Partnership
As part of the Emergency Shelter Partnership, St. Stephen's hosted 10-14 men overnight from March 25-31.
Our Youth Group organized and served one night.
St. Stephen's volunteers (pictured) thank our friends at DeCicco's for generously providing hot dinners.
Participating with us were St. Nersess Armenian Seminary...
the Hillside Church...
and Congregation B'nai Yisrael.
Thank you to all participants for their support of ESP, and many thanks to John Bernson for a stellar job organizing the effort!
Music from a handmade violin
On Sunday Ella Skaggs, Kelly and Nils' niece, played a piece on a violin made by Nils' Swedish grandfather. He took up violin making as a hobby after he retired, and each of his grandchildren received one of his handmade instruments.
Thank you, Ella, for a lovely musical interlude!
Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper!
St. Stephen’s and Scout Troop 94 held our Annual Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper, open to the community. It was a delicious pancake feast, and a wonderful gathering!
It takes six griddles to make all the pancakes — blueberry, chocolate chip, and classic plain.
The supply was plentiful…
…and our scout chefs were in the spirit of the day!
Pancakes and sausages were popular with all ages. Thank you, scouts, for making the event such a success.
St. Stephen's holds our Annual Meeting
We held our Annual Meeting after an abbreviated Sunday morning service on January 27.
Father Nils thanked Harrison Fontaine and Meagan Eickelbeck for their service providing child care last year.
We also thanked Claire Turner for all her work on the vestry. Claire had finished her term and stepped down. We welcome new vestry members MaryBeth Weisner, Cathy Gates and Trina Fontaine. Our new Warden is John Bernson.
Ice Storm delays our Annual Meeting
With snow and ice on Sunday morning, St. Stephen's postponed our Annual Meeting for a week. Our Music Director and Organist James Turner chose the prudent course and stayed home. So Father Nils served dual roles at that service: officiant and organist!
Our Third Annual Cemetery Tour
Our third annual Cemetery Tour told the history of ten people interred in St. Stephen’s cemetery. Their stories illustrate the history of our town. Here we see Ed Woodyard portraying James Stivers, the blacksmith whose shop is now located behind Smith Tavern.
Father Nils portrayed Rev. Samuel Bushnel. Kudos to Dakota Martin for her direction, and thank you to all the performers!
First Good Neighbor Award presented to DeCicco's
St. Stephen's presented the first Good Neighbor Award to our wonderful local food market, DeCicco's.
Lena Cavanna, of St. Stephen's Mission & Outreach Committee, introduced this first award, and told of the many good works DeCicco's has performed in our community.
The DeCicco family posed with members of our Mission & Outreach Committee. The plaque presented was made from 300 year old maple that once bordered our cemetery and the DeCicco property.
Armistice Day Centenary commemoration
Sunday, November 11, was the 100th anniversary of the Armistice of World War I. Our very moving Sunday service commemorated this event. The flowers by Kelly Skaggs made an immediate visual reference to World War I, with "poppies," the flower that's come to be an emblem of the day.
We hosted a representative of the Hudson Valley Honor Flight, Bill Sestrom, who presented a review of the program, which flies veterans (free of charge) from the area to Washington, D.C. to visit the memorials and be honored and thanked for their service.
A highlight of the service was the reading of a letter written by a parishioner's father who was present in Paris when the Armistice was signed on November 11, 1918. Cole Kaiser did a wonderful job reading the touching letter describing the jubilation in the French capital, as Ralph Bradley of the U.S. Army 14th Engineers Battalion "saw the soul of France that day."
Nancy Woodyard brought a German helmet found by her grandfather in the trenches during his service in World War I. It sat on the altar during the service, a symbol of all who fought in that terrible war.
Here are more pictures of the service.
We collected the histories of parishioners’ relatives who served, and made a booklet of their stories and photos. Download the booklet here, or contact the church office if you’d like a hard copy!
Our Youth help feed Westchester
St. Stephen’s Youth Group is supporting Feeding Westchester by contributing to their "Breakfast in a Bag" program.
The group assembled bags containing cereal, Nutri-Grain bars and juice or milk along with a special handwritten note to brighten the recipient's day. These breakfast bags will be distributed to Westchester children and seniors in need.
Report on the 242nd New York Diocesan Convention
St. Stephen’s Delegate to Diocesan Convention, Doug Campbell, and Alternate, John Bernson report:
Doug Campbell
The annual convention for the Diocese of New York was held in White Plains November 9-10. St. Stephen's was represented by lay delegates Doug Campbell and John Bernson, and Clergy was represented by our Pastor, Father Nils Chittenden. Overall, 300 clergy and lay delegates were in attendance. The attendees were a diverse group -- Hispanic, African-American, South Asian, North Asian, and of course, male and female, gay and straight -- fully representative of the New York metro region.
The convention focused on a common theme of "The Beloved Community" and highlighted activities of the Diocese that promoted health, love and caring within our communities and on a global basis.
John Bernson
The convention was both positive in tone and efficient, with a balanced budget presented of $11.2 million. Bishops Dietsche, Shin and Glasspool all addressed the assembly, and their messages are well worth reading on the Diocesan website.
The Convention's first day concentrated on two themes: community and historical reflection. In the morning we participated in a workshop about how to build trusting relationships with people who are different from ourselves. We learned that we need try to listen better (more empathetically), to think more before speaking, to examine our own assumptions more carefully, to trust ambiguity and uncertainty, and to avoid hasty judgments.
In the afternoon, we watched a moving play about slavery and the Episcopal church - a mixed history. Among the few Episcopal heroes of the anti-slavery movement were William Jay (of Katonah) and his son, John Jay II, both of whom withstood fierce criticism from the Church and from local residents for their anti-slavery activities.
Bishop of New York, Andrew ML Dietsche at the Diocesan Convention
We were pleasantly surprised to learn that St. Stephen's is one of a small minority of congregations fully compliant with all of the Church's guidelines - another indication that St. Stephen's punches above its weight class.
On the second day, a common workshop was led by Dr. Eric Law, founder of the Kaleidoscope Partnership, that specializes in conflict resolution. All attendees actively participated in techniques for creating a "Beloved Community". His one final takeaway was "listen to the silent ones to learn the truth".
Job Opening with Episcopal Church Center in NYC
The Episcopal Church is accepting applications for the position of Deputy to Executive Officer, a member of the Executive Office of the General Convention.
The Deputy to the Executive Officer organizes and oversees the canonical research work of the General Convention (Parochial and Diocesan Reports and related data), working with professional consultants, Church Pension Group (CPG), and other partners doing demographic and statistical analysis. The Deputy also organizes and oversees the responsibilities of the General Convention Office (GCO) related to face-to-face meetings and events planning/execution, and coordinates staff and consultants in the logistics of the meetings of General Convention, Executive Council, Interim Bodies, and other such meetings as they are planned and accomplished. At the request of the Executive Officer, the Deputy represents the Executive Officer at meetings and as Deputy Registrar, and does other duties as assigned.
This Deputy will also be required to cross-train with the Deputy for Legislation, acquiring knowledge of the legislative functions of the GCO and providing back-up as necessary.
Information about the position and details for applying are available here. In addition to completing the profile and submitting your résumé, please submit a cover letter that includes at least three professional references. Deadline for applications is December 21, 2018.
For more information contact Episcopal Church Human Resources at HRM@episcopalchurch.org.
The Episcopal Church Center is the office of The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society (DFMS), the corporate body of the Episcopal Church. The DFMS is an equal opportunity employer and encourages applications from qualified members of groups protected against discrimination in employment under applicable federal, state, and municipal laws as well as the Canons of the Church and resolutions of General Convention.
Standing with our Jewish friends in love.
We have all heard yesterday's terrible news from Pittsburgh, where a gunman, fueled by hate and rage, murdered eleven people in the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh.
All of the faith communities in Armonk are brothers and sisters together - we are all children of God. I and my fellow clergy have been in close contact throughout yesterday and today to offer our love and prayerful support to each other and especially to Congregation B'Nai Yisrael (CBY) here in Armonk.
In my sermon yesterday morning, I spoke of the measures that CBY has had to take over the past few months to ensure the safety of their congregants. Yesterday's attack in Pittsburgh has, of course, intensified that sense of apprehension and concern.
These are dark days for our country, where we are seeing - yet again - a fracturing of our society, as a fault line opens up. Whenever our society fractures, as it has done many times before, our instinctive reaction is to rush to one side of that divide, or to the other. In my sermon this morning, I offered a vision of an alternative place to that, which is actually the place that God calls us to be: bridging the chasm so that the fault-line can be healed and people can be brought back into reconciliation with each other.
One way we can support each other at this time - by being those bridges of hope - is offered to us by our Jewish friends in this neighborhood. I invite you to join me, and members of Hillside Church, St Patrick's Church, St. Nersess' Seminary and Congregation B'Nai Yisrael in a Memorial Service on Monday, October 29 at 7:00pm at Temple Shaaray Tefila, 89 Baldwin Rd, Bedford Corners, NY 10549.
These are troubling and uncertain times in our world, but please know that God always keeps us under the shadow of his wing.
Rev. Nils Chittenden, Rector