Immanuel Messenger Immanuel Lutheran Church 122 East 88 th Street, New York, NY 10128 Eighty-eighth Street and Lexington Avenue, Manhattan www.immanuelnyc.org Rev. Gregory P. Fryer, Pastor Email: gpfryer@gmail.com (212) 289-8128, church phone (212) 828-3665, church fax December 2015 A Word from the Pastor Advent and Christmas Thou hast made summer and winter. Psalm 74:17, KJV Winter too comes from the good hands of our Lord. For many of us here at Immanuel, we especially like winter because of the church seasons now before us: Advent and Christmas. Was it not moving on the First Sunday of Advent when the Stöhrer family Haifan and Hans, Caroline and Maximilian led us in the lighting of the first of our Advent candles? The annual prayer for that candle lighting speaks of sleep: rouse us from sleep. We praise you, O God, with this evergreen crown that marks our days of preparation for Christ s advent. As we light the first candle on this wreath, rouse us from sleep that we may be ready to greet our Lord when he comes with all the saints and angels. Enlighten us with your grace and prepare our hearts to welcome him with joy. Grant this through Christ our Lord whose coming is certain and whose day draws near. Amen. It is not just sleep that tempts us but also preoccupation with many matters, including many noble matters. Yet Advent is here and Christmas soon will be. Let us dive into these holy seasons! Let us enjoy them thoroughly this year. Let us hasten off to church and sing our praises to Immanuel, God with us. In Christ, Pastor Gregory P. Fryer
Our Roof and Steeple Project It is finished. Victory! A note from Pastor Fryer Dear Members and Friends of Immanuel, Our Roof and Steeple Project is finished. The scaffolding has all been removed. Maybe I am imagining things, but it seems to me that our church steeple is even more outstanding as if it is higher than before and beckons the world even more warmly to Immanuel Lutheran Church. We have had a pleasant surprise concerning our church windows: When we have an evening liturgy, our church windows now glow out into the evening. Our new light system is so much brighter that the light penetrates the thick glass of our windows so that now the people of our neighborhood can see some of the fun colors in our windows. We had not realized this until recently, when the scaffold was removed. We need to repair the window frames for those church windows, and we mean to do it. But that is a project for next spring. For now, let us enjoy our church building. If you live far away, but could visit Immanuel this Advent or Christmas, I think you will be very pleased. Let me share a paragraph or two from my Thanksgiving Eve sermon a kind of echo from the pulpit: Most recently we stand on the shoulders of our Roof Committee, architects, construction company, and all the workers who braved the heights and did their skillful work putting a new slate roof on our church, putting a new metal roof on our steeple, repairing stonework, re-pointing brick and stone, replacing our lightning rod, replacing our gutters and snow guards and downspouts, and did it all safely! I am grateful to God for their safety! And finally, we stand on the shoulders of this generation of people here at Immanuel, for you kept our church alive during the uncertainties of construction. You contributed to the Roof Fund in addition to your regular tithes and offerings. You worshiped in the undercroft when the nave was off limits because of the work overhead. You worshiped when it was bitter cold and our boiler had died. You worshiped and hung in there during this past year of deliberations about the ELCA and the NALC. In my opinion, we have been through a lot during the past few years, and by God s grace, we are still standing, and, I hope, eager for going forward. I am! I am grateful for our past and eager to go forward. In Christ, Pastor Fryer 2
Dear Immanuel Friends: A Great Big Thank You! (A note from Parish Secretary Karen Rombey) What an extraordinary day for me! -- I m still floating on air! The calendar pages are turning and although Thanksgiving now is past, my thanks goes out to each and every one of you for making Sunday, November 15, so special for me. Twenty-five years -- a quarter of a century -- has come and gone in what to me seems like the blink of an eye! How could it seem to go so fast you might wonder. Well, when you love what you do and the people who surround you, time certainly does have its way of flying! Thank you all for my wonderful twenty-five year celebration. First, for Pastor Fryer s kind words and prayer when he called me up to the chancel during the morning liturgy, and then for our visiting Pastor, Rev. Dr. J. Elise Brown s kind words for me down in the undercroft. For those of you that couldn t be with us that Sunday, our undercroft was turned into a winter wonderland! Everything was themed around three of my favorite things - snow, Olaf (the snowman who loves summer and warm hugs from the Disney movie, Frozen ) and all things Disney! And what an amazing gift you all gave me - a future Disney cruise on The Big Red Boat! I m still on Cloud Nine! For me it was truly an extraordinary day. And, dear friends, before we know it, yet another extraordinary day will be upon us -- the birth of our Lord Jesus. May each and every one of you have a Blessed Advent and Christmas and a Joyous New Year. Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Ophelia Concert Thursday, December 10, at 7 p.m. here at Immanuel Ophelia Transformed: in Song and Speech, a concert of art song, readings from Shakespeare s Hamlet, and opera (including the infamous Ophelia Mad Scene) as we follow Ophelia s story from start to finish. Free to members of Immanuel Lutheran Church. $15 suggested Love, Karen donation. A reception follows. Come for the music, stay to meet the performers. Featuring singers of Cantanti Project, a non-profit organization committed to the development of singers and building community through music. 3
Caroling at Lenox Hill Hospital Friday, December 11, 2015 7:00 p.m. On Friday, December 11 th, let s meet in the lobby of Lenox Hill Hospital (100 East 77 th Street) at 7 p.m. for our annual Christmas caroling and fellowship gathering. After caroling there, we are invited to the church parsonage (108 East 82 nd Street, Apt. 7C) for some refreshments, fellowship, and sitting around the fireplace. Alas, we are not supposed to bring children into the hospital, but otherwise, everyone is welcome! Fraternité Notre Dame Toy Collection Once again this year the Sisters of the Fraternité Notre Dame will be hosting a Christmas party for needy children. They are asking for donations of new toys. If you can give a toy, please wrap it and mark it as to the age of the child and whether it is for a boy or girl. (Please no guns or violent toys.) The Sisters will also accept toiletries or clothing as they distribute gifts to the The Sunday School will have a mitten tree once again this year. Please give the mittens you bring to one of our Sunday School teachers. The mittens will be given to the Fraternité Notre Dame who will hospitalized and homeless as well. No need to wrap these. You may leave your gifts in the narthex on Sunday mornings, or bring them to the church office during the week. The last day for bringing gifts is Sunday, December 13 th, as the Sisters will pick them up from the church office on Monday morning, December 14 th. Sunday School Mitten Tree distribute them to needy children. The mitten tree will be put up during the Hanging of the Greens on Saturday, December 19th. Hanging of the Greens Saturday afternoon, December 19, 2015 -- 2 to 5 p.m. First, we ll have Hanging of the Greens from 2 to 5 p.m. We have no set work crew for this important and gratifying work session we call Hanging of the Greens. We wait with eagerness for you to appear, if you can. Many hands make light work. Plus, it is fun to clean and decorate the church, to listen to the Christmas music as we work, to enjoy the sights and smells of the Christmas trees, and to see things come together for the great festival. Welcome, everyone. After decorating the church, we enjoy our popular St. Nicholas Party. 4
St. Nicholas Party Saturday evening, December 19, 2015 -- 5 to 9 p.m. Our annual St. Nicholas Party is becoming a very popular event for us here at Immanuel. Swing with David Buddin and the Crew at this year s party featuring David on piano, Gaku Takanashi on bass and Kevin Shea on the drums, Al Quirong on tenor sax, and vocalist Vi Quirong. The Lessons and Carols Advent 4 -- Sunday, December 20, 2015 band will play from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. followed by a Christmas carol sing-a-long, and supper with hams and pot-luck side dishes and desserts. We are going to need some work crews, including setup, kitchen, and cleanup afterwards. On December 20th, our three Children s Choirs will again be featured in Lessons and Carols during our service for the Fourth Sunday of Advent. The TLC Choir ( The Littlest Ones led by Shelley Washington; The Immanuel Children s Choir, led by Natalia Salemmo; and the Chime Boyz & Chime Girlz, led by Michael Celentano, will present music for the Christmas Season. Our children s service is always a highlight of the Immanuel holidays - don t miss it! Looking Ahead: Our Second Vote Transfiguration Sunday, February 7, 2016 A Note from Pastor Fryer We have not chosen a snow date for our important second vote on the ELCA/NALC. We are counting on Transfiguration Sunday, February 7. So let it be with us as it is with the mailpersons: Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. If possible let nothing stay us from worshiping and voting on Transfiguration Sunday. To review, at a Special Voters Assembly on November 8, 2015, by near unanimous show of hands, the Voters Assembly approved the following motion: 1- RESOLVED that there will be a special meeting of the voter s assembly in no less than 90 days and no more than 120 days to vote upon joining the NALC and disaffiliating from the ELCA. (Continued, next page) 5
2- FURTHER RESOLVED that the vote of the voter s assembly will [be] decided by a simple majority vote, and will specifically direct the church council to promptly take all actions necessary to carry out the vote. Congregation President Thomas Wicks has encouraged us to use these intervening ninety days for prayer and deliberation. End. 6