Crossings Pentecost 2024

C rossings

Pentecost 2024

He `ōlelo i ku’u mau hoaloha (a word to my friends) Fr. Drew

All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’ (Acts 2:12)

Dear Friends,

Over the years we’ve probably all heard it said that “Pentecost is the birthday of the Church.” And we can easily understand why: on Pentecost something so radically profound – a community infused with the very Spirit of God and drawn together from every family, language, people, and nation – was revealed with such clarity that everyone not only could see and hear its expression, but could feel the very fire of God’s holy presence among them.

And yet, this edition’s cover image, taken from the story of the Great Flood, reminds us that God’s holy presence has long been among us, guiding us into peace and new life.

Similarly, the story of our Patronal Feast, the Ascension of Christ, reminds us of the eternal reatity of the Christ and, therefore, Christ’s Body, the Church.

And yet, the eternal nature of the Church -- in all times and all places -- has a profoundly temporal expression. That is to say, it seem ever new. Every year, new members are revealed to her. Every year, new practices emerge and new traditions are born. Every year, new needs arise and new gifts are shared.

So, what does all of this heady theology have to do with Christ Church, this simple and loving community of Christ tucked in the heart of Grosse Pointe?

A great deal, I suggest.

Rich as our tradition and heritage is, steeped in the millenia old ways of the English Christian tradition as we are, we are also always emerging into something new and God-filled.

Just this past Pentecost, we celebrated the revelation of new members among us

Charlotte Lee Watkins

Judith Burkhardt

Cheryl Johns

Allison, Karla, Bernadette and Josephine Keelean

Jo Malacek

while a dozen young adults

Carolyn Eloise Adams

Jay Ash

Vivienne Brown

Isaac Maurice Hall

John Maxwell Leonard

Brady Magee

William L. Gordon Mansfield

Liam Matthew Mashburn

Troy Lowell Mashburn

Addison Teachey

Samuel Meyers Kunuiakea Van Culin

Elizabeth Clune Walsh

affirmed at their Confirmation their personal commitment not only to our heritage but also to God’s ongoing mission in the world and our unique ministry within it.

All this is to say that something new is emerging among us even now! I have no idea just what that will mean, but I celebrate all that has brought us to this joyful place and all that we shall become together!

With gratitude and joy,

Get the Church Life App Stay Current!

By Diane Ward, Associate for Finance and Administration

We all know how quickly information changes today. New jobs with new phone numbers, new email addresses, how do we keep it all current? First, we encourage our members to let us know when changes happen so we can change it in our church database system. Second, you as a member can make sure you have the same information we have by accessing that database through ACS Church Life™, With ACS Church Life™, you have instant access to fellow members current contact information.

You can click through to call someone, email them or map a direction to their home.

Identify time and place of events listed in Access ACS™, make contributions to your pledge, or other published funds – with just one click.

To use ACS Church Life, you will need to have a username and password through Access ACS™. Most CCGP members have already set up their Access login and password. So, if you have your Access ACS login and password all you need to do is download the app!

If you do not have your Access ACS login, you can get your username or reset your password on this page.

Simply choose “forgot username” or password and follow the prompts.

If you have never set up an account, choose “Need a login.” If you are in the database you’ll be able to set up your account using your email address and name you provided to us.

If you are not in the system or forgot the email address you provided, follow the prompts to gain assistance from the site administrator.

You can also find the directory through the Christchurchgp.org website.

We hope you find the app helpful and valuable!

Scan for the iTunes Store

There are two ways to download the app. The easiest way is simply going ot the app store onyour phone and search for “Church Life.”

IPhone and Ipad users can find the app on the itunes store, while Android users can find it on Google Play.

Using your browser on your phone, visit christchurchgp.org. Choose “Connect” then from the dropdown menu choose “Member Login”. Click the prompt to go to the ACS/Church Life Online. This will take you to the Access login page where you’ll click the “Go Mobile” button.

Scan for the Google Play Store

Congratulations to our Graduating Seniors!

Attending Michigan State University

Attending University of Wisconsin - Madison

Jane Waller

Attending University of Missouri

Attending Michigan State University

Attending Husson University College of Business

A Prayer for our Seniors

Gracious God, we ask for your Spirit to be with a ll those who graduate at this time of year. Bless their lives from this day on with goodness and love. Help them to stay true to their dreams, to use their gifts wisely, and to walk into the future with faith, hope, and great love. Amen.

Addison

Sasha Katerina Deimel

Jackson Preston Mills

Brian Walter Peabody Jr.

Maeve Keegan Hix

Why is the Religious Formation of Our Children Vital?

By Lisa Brown

We all have an inside life. A still, quiet spot within where Christ calls us by name and tells us we are God’s beloved. Guiding our children on how best to hear this inner voice over all the other voices that vie for their attention in our tidal wave force culture, is what we strive for as parents and where the collective wisdom of a strong religious tradition can assist.

Though we all recognize that parents are the primary sharers of the faith with their children, I sincerely hope you find our Children, Youth and Family team to be an effective and supportive partner in this important work – your “support staff” if you will - because by all indications we have some heavy lifting ahead of us.

In a piece entitled “Religious Education is Broken. It's Time to Fix Our Sunday School Culture” from America Magazine we read: “A public school with a dropout rate of 50% percent and two-thirds of area parents opting out of it would be considered failing. If the school were unable to turn those numbers around in a few years, it would likely be shut down.”

Yet for decades, mainline Christian parishes in the United States have invested in religious education programs that have proven no more effective. Today, more than half of millennials report attending Eucharist only a few times a year or less and, according to a pre-Covid poll, over 68% percent of Christian parents decide not to enroll their child in any religious education.

Yet scientific observations, often the only language considered credible these days, tell us this early nurturing of our children’s faith is essential.

Dr. Lisa Miller, a Yale Graduate, and the director of the Clinical Psychology program at Columbia University wrote a book entitled The Spiritual Child that studies the scientific link between spirituality and health, particularly in children and teens. The central assertion of the book is this: a child’s spirituality – defined as their inner sense of relationship and dialogue with a higher power that is loving and guiding - is THE most

influential factor currently known to science to stimulate flourishing and healthy human development. Her research shows that children who have a positive, relational spirituality have higher levels of academic success, are far less likely to use and abuse substances, to be depressed as teenagers or to participate in dangerous behavior. These children also have a pronounced increase in their sense of meaning and purpose

which translates into much higher levels of satisfaction in work and relationships - even into adulthood.

In my few short months here at CCGP, I can already tell that our Sunday liturgies are truly a place for everyone, especially our little ones, and that this community values and has a deep desire to grow the formation programming for our young people. I am grateful for the dedication and thoughtful care that Jessica Van Culin has put into our programming this past year – it is a tremendous blessing to have such a welcoming, rich, and solid foundation on which to build upon.

How do we proceed? Well, I have some ideas, but you know your children best. So, please know I’m here, my door is open, and I’m listening.

Thank you all so very much for your exceptionally kind and generous welcome! I hope to serve you well as we move forward in faith together.

Having Trouble Processing Your Grief?

Try Showing Up and Helping Others

By Liz Hauck

As we emerge from a thawing country, together and separately, fully vaccinated and carefully negotiating what it means to stand close to one another again, unmasked, many of us feel relieved and even joyful. Most of us are also grieving. As I write this, there have been 34,494,677 recorded cases of Covid-19 in the United States, and 619,424 reported deaths related to the virus in our country alone. We have all been touched by it, some of us in crushing ways. We have lost people and time and ways of life. Some people say that everything happens for a reason. I am not one of those people.

As I try to make sense of what has happened and what has changed and what is left of the world and the ways of life I remember, I find myself struggling to reconcile what I am seeing and feeling with what I know or thought I knew in normal time—or The Before Time that I thought was normal time. Now I recognize that liminal space between a lost past and uncertain future as grief. The only way beyond grief is through it, but there are many ways through it. I know this sounds like a riddle or a simply translated proverb. I also know it’s true.

One way through grief is service. And as many of us know, from the tips of our fingers through the depths of our hearts to the bottom of our wallets, there are many ways to serve. Theologically, the practice I am talking about is accompaniment—a practice of being in community with another person or people. Practically, it is just showing up. One thing we can do right now, as we grapple and rebuild a world deformed by the dual pandemics of a virus and entrenched racial inequality and violence, is show up for our neighbors.

One of my most vivid lessons in accompaniment happened when I was 19, as I was waiting to be admitted into an elevator on the protective custody unit of a prison. A Jesuit brother asked me if I would be willing to visit a woman in the hole, another name for an isolation cell to which some inmates were ordered. I did not think I was qualified to be anybody’s chaplain. I was a sophomore at Boston College at the time, a member of a volunteer program through which undergraduates volunteered at the same placement in the city for four hours per week. When the same Jesuit had asked me weeks before to organize a prayer group in Spanish on the women’s unit as part of my service responsibilities, I had told him I was not sure I had enough training to lead other people in prayer. He handed me a Bible and pyx holding Communion and told me he was sure I would figure it out.

This time, I agreed to visit the woman in the hole and asked the brother if he had a prayer in mind. He told me that the guard would walk me to the right place, and that once I was there I should just sit with the woman and listen to her, that the most important thing was listening. He did not warn me that the uncomfortable part would be the sitting. I did not realize that I would have to learn how to sit there, on the floor, folding my tall body in a way that allowed me to listen to the woman through the small opening in the bottom of the door, only large enough for a plate to pass through it. “I don’t really want to pray,” she told me, as we sat, awkwardly scrunched against the wall, our dignity and our chins nearly touching the floor. “I just wanted some company,” she apologized, as if that was cheating.

When my father died at 57, a few years after I graduated from college, of a tsunami of a cancer we did not see coming, it took all I had to keep showing up, not just for service, but for everything. I was thrust, along with my mom and siblings, into that liminal space between a lost past and an uncertain future. I could not imagine a world without my father in it, but it happened anyway. A thing about grief is that it is hard to understand unless you have experienced it, and once you have experienced it you never quite leave it, or it never quite leaves you—alone, or otherwise. Grief is the ultimate marinade. You become more of whatever you were already: the lonely, lonelier; the angry, angrier; the restless, more restless. Sometimes the faithful manage to emerge more faithful. It is hard to describe the infinite loop of loss. The closest sensation might be hunger, if eyes and ears and fingertips could be hungry. I decided to feed that hunger, or tend to it, with a cooking program in a group home for teenage boys in state care. Cooking seemed more practical than grieving; at the time I believed they were distinct processes.

My dad and I had had this idea to start a cooking program in one of the group homes run by the agency he co-directed as a social worker and chief financial officer. In its original iteration, I was going to volunteer to help him do this; when he died, I asked his business partner if I could try it on my own. At first, his business partner thanked me but declined. But when one of the kids cut his hand open in an angry effort to thaw a hamburger, he left me a voicemail that it “appeared some sort of cooking program was in order” and that if I

was still interested, I could give my cooking program a try. So I did.

I showed up the next week with a tray of brownies and no idea how it would all turn out. I planned to show up for our first dinner with the food I said I would bring and also a keen awareness that it might be the only dinner. But I thought there might be more, because that is the fundamental nature of cooking: that individual ingredients combined together add up to something more. It is a brand of science that sometimes feels more like faith. Amazingly, what I thought would be one meal together turned into 100 never gourmet, sometimes messy, always complete dinners with a rotating cast of kids in care. I will tell you now that nobody was saved. But if you know this kind of work, you know this already. All that happened was one small thing—over and over again.

These moments were excruciatingly small, but not inconsequential. Everything good is good.

As we continue to move forward, masked and unmasked, my prayer for us is that we show up for each other in the small and consistent ways we can. This accompaniment can take a thousand different shapes: It is crouching in places we do not feel like we belong and where nobody really belongs; it is making a simple dinner for someone who needs it; it is that small thing you do that needs to be done that maybe nobody sees. There is much more to say here about scale and impact, but let’s leave it at this: Every time we show up for someone else, it makes some kind of difference. The nature of power is such that our relationships with each other are imbalanced, but the nature of grace is that feeling that shared humanity is

mutual. Now more than ever, I refuse to believe that terrible things happen for particular reasons. My faith is attached to reason at a different juncture: I believe that there are reasonable ways through everything that happens. One way is service, and the first step in serving each other is showing up.

Reprinted

Birthdays & Anniversaries!

Peter

Bruce

Carol Geyer

Jennifer Fozo

Sarah Pile

Sam & Elizabeth Felix

Matthew Schuetze

Vanessa Young

John & Biffy Fowler

Tim & Milissa Crowley

Daphne Irby

John Buell

R. Michael Flores

John & Ebony Gillooly

Paul Rentenbach

Pierson Fowler

Raegan Niscoromni Patrick & Polly Ryan

Lynn Alandt

Kimberly Starr

Mildred Hurley

Kip & Lisa Brown

Ron & Kimberly Porter

Geoffrey Everham

Reznor Prieur

Rose Stevenson

Mike & Stephanie Stallings

Lauren Brown

Amy Clark

Tim & Sally Whims

Collin Peabody

Patrick Mansfield

Sara Waller

Jim & Stephanie Flom, Jr

William Utley

Christine Alcantara

Sandra Platt

Betsy Creedon

Laila Hakim

Madeline Whims

Thom & Laura Nealssohn

Dominic Bennett

Lori Varas

Amy Hermon

Cathryn Skedel

Luca Young

Ed & Colleen Fitzgerald

Geoffrey & Amber Everham

Karyn Weir

Adam & Rema Waugh

Jeff Smith & Lisa Vallee Smith

Gregory Grosfield

John Freudenthal

Jane Knaus

Blair & Nancy Osborn

Jonathan Ostrowski

Joseph Stevenson

Reynolds Graves

Mtr. Maureen Martin

Judith Thoma

Betsy Azzaro

Al & Margaret Torp

Samuel & Martha Stott

25 Pixie White

Jim & Ann Spica

Ted

Richie

George

Frank & Lisa Niscoromni 21 Maxwell Hakim

Richard Best

Ursula Persidskis

Katherine & Frank Moran 22 Frank Stellingwerf

Judith Gaffrey

Martha Henkel

Nancy Nicholson

David & Lynne Cameron

Lisa Armentrout

Stephen & May Jean Chan

24 Brendan & Nancy Ross

25 Madeline Wrubel

Brendan & Kelly Walsh 26 Kathryn Johnson

Ainsley Allard

Gregory Heald

Eric & Catherine Ash 28 Alison Dirkse

Kathryn Reck

Martha Stott

Ronald Solterisch

Richard & Judy Thoma

Jerry & Heather Tokman

29 Abygail Nealssohn

Katherine Fridholm

Margaret Garbarino

Patrick & Theresa Spain

Henry & Monica Hubbard

30 Laura Green

31 Lillian Irby

Roy Ritchie

In Memorium

Pam Greening

Lee Greening

Tim Greening

Robert Vallee, Sr.

III

61 Grosse Pointe Boulevard Grosse Pointe Farms, MI 48236

Church Office (Hours: 9 am–5 pm) Phone: 313-885-4841 | Fax: 313-885-7019 www.christchurchgp.org

Pastoral Emergencies: 313-885-4841, ext. 4

The Rev’d Andrew Van Culin, Rector dvanculin@christchurchgp.org 313-885-4842

Lisa Brown, Associate for Children, Youth and Family Ministries lbrown@christchurchgp.org 313-885-4841 ext. 104

Scott Hanoian, Associate for Worship and Liturgy, Director of Music and Organist shanoian@christchurchgp.org 313-885-4841 ext. 102

The Rev’d Maureen L. Martin, Associate for Parish Life & Community Engagement mmartin@christchurchgp.org 313-885-4841 ext. 116

Diane Ward, Associate for Finance and Administration dward@christchurchgp.org 313-885-4841 ext. 111

Jackson Merrill, Assistant Director of Music and Organist jmerrill@christchurchgp.org 313-885-4841 ext. 103

Doris Walker, Executive Assistant to the Rector rectorsoffice@christchurchgp.org 313-884-4842

Colleen Fitzgerald, Member Engagement Coordinator cfitzgerald@christchurchgp.org 313-885-4841 ext. 115

Miles Steinert, Rector’s Verger verger@christchurchgp.org 313-884-4841

Living with Grief

by Mtr. Maureen Martin

Beginning with a grief training workshop last October, a team of parish members including myself, Marisa Bennett, Sue Chaklos, and Sarah Clark, have been on a mission to develop a grief support program that fits the unique needs of the CCGP community. We began by looking at a Episcopal Church based program, Walking the Mourners Path, and through an intensive training weekend, deep conversation, and a pilot program offered this spring to members of our parish, we are pleased to announce that we have created a new program, Living with Grief, that will become a cornerstone of Pastoral Care for our parish.

There is a deep disconnect between the latest research on how we grieve and what the wider Church offers her members. We began with the question, “Where is God in my pain?” and created a series of workshops that are Christ-centered, scripture-based, and also aligned with psychological research on the impact of loss and bereavement. We are focused on helping participants realize they are not alone in their grief. Through prayer, exercises, reflections, and homework, the workshop helps participants discover that we cannot outrun grief, but together we can learn to integrate grief into our lives and adapt to our new reality without needing to sever our relationships with the ones we have lost. Life is changed, not ended.

This four-week program is open to anyone mourning a loved one. Grief is a natural consequence of relationships, and sharing our unique experiences in a loving, supportive community is profoundly healing.

Sue Chaklos reflected, “What affected me the most was the sharing of the participants and the similarities of our grief experiences. I realized that grieving is a lifetime experience and that grief is experienced differently by everyone, even within the same family.

There is a need to build this type of ‘Hug Ministry’ in our community to support and normalize grief.”

The program includes questions for discussion, recollection, and journaling, helping participants understand the many facets of grief, the patterns it follows, the barriers we face, and the surprising ways it manifests. By sharing our stories, we gain insight into our relationships with those who have passed.

Sarah Clark found that “Grieving is such a basic life emotion. I had not grieved in community before, and it helped me realize the value of the

Church community. The program offers us the freedom to grieve, no matter who the person was, how long ago they passed, how they left, where you are in your life, and where you want to be.”

Throughout each session, psalms and prayers demonstrate God’s love and healing presence.

Marisa Bennett discovered that finding a safe and loving place to work through grief is harder than one might realize until you are seeking it yourself. She shared, “The most profound realization I’ve had through this work is that we all have a story we believe, especially regarding death, dying, and grief. Sometimes it’s a true tale, and we’ve worked through the dynamics of the lost relationship. However, most of us are isolated and stuck in our understanding of loss, creating a narrative like a history lesson. Through support and guidance, we’ve realized people need earnest permission to explore their experience of death, dying, and grief. More importantly, we need permission to explore our own stories. It has been incredible to witness people discover their truth, experience validation, love, acceptance, and grieve with grace and dignity through respectful expectations, simple prompts, and thoughtful conversation.”

Living with Grief offers a safe, supportive environment for men and women navigating the complex journey of grief, fostering healing through shared experiences and the love of Christ. I am deeply grateful to the women who have helped in the creation of this program and look forward to seeing how we as a community grow more resilient in the face of hardship, and grow closer to God by growing closer to one another.

Do You Know a Child Who Loves to Sing?

By Jackson Merrill

The term “chorister” is applied generally in the choral world to refer to any member of a choir. Here at Christ Church however, we use the word in its more traditional sense: the young singers of our choir. The same is true for churches and music programs in the Anglican tradition around the world. Our choristers occupy a central role in the life of our church. This life is rooted in our worship, and our choristers are as essential to our unique expression of worship as the beautifully carved wood, stained glass, and exquisite floral arrangements which adorn our space.

This program year, our choristers sang nearly 200 choral works. These are Choral Masses, canticle settings for Evensong, anthems, motets, and psalmody. This is a radically different program year than virtually any other school or youth music ensemble anywhere in Grosse Pointe. Most school or community groups sing a few concerts per program year with months of preparation time. Here at Christ Church, the sheer volume of music quickly but thoroughly learned and sung to such a very high standard is astonishing. The result is that each chorister gains a profound musicianship for life. They gain the ability to connect notes and text on the page to individual artistry; yet they also learn to listen to one another, musically and personally. From listening grows a respect and appreciation of one another, a quality which is needed in our world today.

Here at Christ Church, our extraordinary music program enjoys the full and unwavering support of our parish community. While the Episcopal Church is broadly known

by the wider culture for excellent church music, the fundamental importance and centrality of music to our community life here is unusual. Founded in 1930, our choir has a long and distinguished history in the Grosse Pointe community and the Detroit metropolitan area.

This church is known throughout our region as a place where the very best of the Anglican choral tradition is rendered with beauty, skill, and reverence. In addtition to the traditional greats of Tallis, Britten, and Byrd, our choral repertoire includes Undine Smith Moore, Melissa Dunphy, and Brittney Elizabeth Boykin, composers from backgrounds

which have been historically overlooked due to race or gender. Our work as a music program is not only essential for our spiritual life together, but also for our distinctive cultural contributions to our wider Detroit community.

We have had some cause for celebration this year. In September, we began the year with 12 novice choristers who were totally new to our program. We are happy to say that many of them have been installed as choristers this year, with more from this class to be installed next year. We are now recruiting for the 2024 and 2025 choir season, and we hope to have another large and vibrant class this year.

Our choir represents a range of age and experience, with older choristers actively mentoring younger, beginning choristers. Our outstanding adult professional singers set an example of choral professionalism which is fundamental in shaping the skills and passions of our young people. Each year, older choristers graduate high school and new choristers must take their place in our novice class. Our novice class is the first step in a child’s musical journey at Christ Church. Novice singers learn the basics of singing, reading music, and fundamental musical structure. This program provides children and families with a first taste of our world-class music ministry in a fun group environment while providing an opportunity to explore the choir’s role in the life of our community. If you know of any young people with an enthusiasm for music, please contact me by email at jmerrill@ christchurchgp.org

Eat the Cake Mother’s Day

By: The Rev’d Maureen Martin

Good morning and Happy Mother’s Day.

It couldn’t be more beautiful. I think the sun got up at like four today and after a couple nights of amazing displays in the sky, what a beautiful thing it is to be alive.

This past week we came together to celebrate the Feast of the Ascension. So here’s some kind of insider baseball stuff about the church. For us here at Christ Church this is our paternal feast as Christ is the patron of this church. If we were attending a church named after say, St. Mark, we would then celebrate our paternal feast on April 25th, the Feast of St. Mark.

So it’s a normal practice to transfer a feast day onto a Sunday if it happens to be your paternal feast day. But generally speaking, Sundays are reserved as feasts of the Lord. If you’re glazing over, don’t worry, I’m going to stop soon. Ascension itself is never transferred because the Bible is very specific about the number of the days from the Resurrection to Ascension. And again, from Ascension to Pentecost, the great season of Easter is 50 days and ends with the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.

an aside, if you were not here this last Thursday, I recommend that you come and celebrate with us next year on Ascension. It’s such a great chance to celebrate the good things that God is doing among us here at Christ Church. Also, the food is pretty good and it’s fun and that’s allowed in church and there’s cupcakes and champagne. So it’s all in all a worthwhile thing to join. Now, some might argue the case that Ascension not to just be transferred so that more people could participate

for creation, radical statement. That is because we don’t normally associate murder with love. The repetition of names in the gospels is super inconvenient. I don’t think there’s any consensus yet on just how many Mary’s there are. This is most inconvenient. And what other story recycles the heroine’s name for half of the female characters? It’s not like all of Juliette’s friends are also named Juliette. That would be extremely inconvenient.

in the celebration of Christ’s return to the right hand of God. It should just move to Sunday as a matter of convenience.

This last 10 days of Easter are like an in-between time, this period of expectancy as the church waits for the sending of the spirit after the Ascension, some church math. As

But I have to argue against that by saying that faith is normally not a matter of convenience. Christmas comes when it comes, which means some years, like this past year, we ended up with the fourth Sunday of Advent landing on Christmas Eve, and that was not convenient at all, to say the least. Getting crucified is the ultimate inconvenient thing, right? And not actually necessary as a demonstration of God’s love

The fact of the matter is faith is inconvenient. We aren’t faithful because it is going to pay out in some practical way. We aren’t faithful because the nature of faith is going to solve our problems for us. Faith is not. Some get out of jail free card. Faith makes life sweeter, but not more convenient.

We have faith because we want to. We have made a decision to become faithful people. It’s just that pure and simple. So why, why are you here? Well, because we have experienced God’s love for the world. And love, which is faith, is the natural response to love. And we want that for ourselves and we want that for others. And you know what? Simply having faith because you want to, actually works. It’s a good enough reason to be faithful. It will last you a lifetime. It’s not a reason that fades. You can just simply want to love Jesus.

So today is Mother’s Day. I have a question for you moms out there that relates to love, want, need. Raise your hand and hold it high if you became a

mom because it was convenient. Keep your hands up if it is just been one convenience after another. Hold them high. It’s going to take me a while to count the responses to this question. Everyone’s hand is up, right? This is so convenient now for me. Our firstborn is with us today. She’ll be here at the 11:15. And our other kids have been with us over the course of this month, and I have news for her and all my kids that I’m guessing you moms share. I did not become your mother because it was convenient. I became their mother because I wanted to.

Every late night trip to the ER or any other inconvenience along the way that a mother encounters is because she wants to, not because she has to. That is love. It does seem like you have to when the kid hits their head and they’re bleeding and you have to go to the hospital, of course it’s like you have to, but it’s not like an obligation or now I have to take you to the doctor and get stitches put in your head. That wouldn’t be love. That’s desire, that’s want. And sometimes love feels dutiful.

Similarly, but on an infinitely larger scale, God’s incarnation was not because God had to, it’s because God wanted to. So we’ve been told to think of needs as more important than wants. We’ve been taught that there was something almost shameful about getting something simply because you want it, you should need it. Well, I never need cake, but I want it. And I’ve decided that this thinking is backwards. I didn’t need kids. I wanted them pure and simple. God didn’t need us either. God wanted us, and therefore God created. As it stands, God is into us. And there is no confusion in the Bible about this. It is easier and more beautiful and

“When you allow yourself to want the cake, listen to what happens inside of you.”

a duty, not an obligation. God is like motherhood. Or you could say mothers are like God, except that God is just that much more infinitely complete than we are. And so I’ve decided to start thinking of want and desire and love as a higher order altogether. Like I said, I don’t need the cake ever, but I want it. And you know what? That’s okay. It’s not a deficiency in me to want to eat cake. How much more okay is it then to say that I want my kids, or I want my friends, or for God to just want us? Because when we begin to kind of oversimplify our thinking and we get really black and white want bad, need good, and we begin to participate in an unhallowing of desire. Desire is holy and good. And so when we get kind of confused and we start to see desire as just a bad thing, it’s not a great way for us to participate in the world.

Let’s face it, becoming a mother feels like going on duty 24/7 forever. But I assure you that is not the case even when it feels that way. And here is how we know. If on that hardest day of being a mom, someone showed up and said they were there to relieve you of your duty, you could go back to your pre-motherhood life forever. No more sleepless nights, no more headaches or expense. You would not hand it over and you would not walk away. And that’s especially true on the hardest of days, isn’t it? Think back to your lowest point as a mom, would you have walked away?

more loving to just want one another than to need one another. We’ve all had that needy friend. After a while, we quit answering the phone. It starts to just feel like an obligation. It quits feeling like love. That’s not our relationship with God. There is a desire and a want that goes in all directions. And so needing to become a mother would indicate that there was some sort of lack in you. Sort of like how you need oxygen to survive. But there’s no lack in you, right? You’d still be the same person. You wouldn’t be less than if you weren’t a mother. You were fine, whether you become a mother or not.

And God’s desire to create was also this want and not a need, not

So as a thought experiment this week, try this on for size rather than thinking, I should have gone to church for Ascension. I need to go to church, or I need to read my Bible, or I need to pray, or I need Jesus. Begin telling yourself that you want these things and see what happens in your heart. See, if allowing yourself to want isn’t a lighter and more joyful way of being alive, of being in love with God, your family and the world, just try it on.

So happy Mother’s day. Please want the cake. And when you allow yourself to want the cake, listen to what happens inside of you. And if you feel uncomfortable with wanting the cake, have more. It’s radical. And most of all, remember God’s love for you and your family. Amen.

The Feast of the Ascension

By The Rev’d Maureen Martin

The Feast of the Ascension was a double feast and a delight to our taste buds. A number of people have asked for our recipes and I am happy to share them, in normal proportions, of course! That said, if you would like to make 2 gallons of pineapple salsa along with 40 pounds of tenderloin, just ask. Not only will I assist you in the process I would enjoy the holy friendship of cooking together as well.

I am pleased to say that our meal was completely gluten and dairy free, (except for the key lime pie) as well as completely made from scratch, and from the heart, from start to finish.

Pineapple Salsa

1 ripe pineapple. Peeled, cored and chopped small

1/2 - 1 red bell pepper, finely diced

1 jalapeño or serrano pepper, minced (Add more or less, depending on your own taste)

1/4 cup minced red onion

1 bunch minced cilantro, or to taste

1/4 cup of fresh lime juice

Salt to taste

Mix all ingredients together and serve fresh. Here is a helpful hint. If you arrive at the store and all the pineapples are green replace the pineapple with a mix of 2/3 mango and 1/3 cucumber. My mango of preference in terms of flavor is the smaller yellow mango known as ataúlfo mango. They are less fibrous, making them easier to deal with and somewhat wrinkly when ripe. If the mangoes are all hard, frozen mango

can be used in their place. If you strike out with both the pineapple and the mango use all cucumber and tell everyone it is Thai cucumber salad and that you have taken up fusion cooking!

Island Pork Tenderloin

Variations of this recipe can be found online, we used this basic recipe: https://www.cookingclassy.com/ island-pork-tenderloin/ We made a

few modifications for our purposes, which meant that one change led to another, which led to another.

To begin with, I jazzed up the rub by adding 1 tsp of curry powder and used ancho chili powder in place of generic chili powder. As an aside, I never know in recipes what is meant by the term chili powder. Do they really mean super stale chili powder from the grocery aisle? I hope not! When recipes call for chili powder my default is ancho. It is deep red and has a rich and chocolatey taste without much heat. It blends well with lots of other flavors and smooths out any harshness from other spices. It is a go-to in our spice cupboard.

Another helpful tip for adding flavor to foods is to grind as many of the spices yourself as you can. As an example, I always start with cumin seed rather than pre-ground cumin, and I have a cheap coffee grinder that is set aside just for the purpose of grinding spices. Another modification of this recipe the use of the sous vide rather than browning and roasting. I added the olive oil to the rub, which we applied to the meat the day before to maximize the absorption of flavor into the meat.

“I’ll take Coconut Rice for 200, please”

The next time you need rice for 200 try baking it in the oven. If you would like to make coconut rice for a handful, substitute canned full fat coconut milk for half the water and follow your usual recipe. I like to use jasmine rice, but any sticky rice will do. To pump up the coconut flavor toast unsweetened coconut in the oven and sprinkle on top before cooking. I made the rice a day in advance and reheated it in the oven, which seemed to only improve the texture.

The Night of the Round Table

As you may have noticed, our rectangular tables have seen better days. After researching our options, we settled on the purchase of 12 6-foot round tables for use in the Undercroft. I hope that you enjoyed an increased ease of conversation around our new tables, as well as the ease of passing dishes. The best part of our new tables for me was seeing them all filled with happy people celebrating the good work of the many volunteers who make Christ Church what it is: a place for all people to Excel in Love!

Staff Appointments: Changes to Better Serve our Members and Mission

By The Rev’d Drew Van Culin

While much of our recent conversation regarding To Excel in Love has centered on the important work of sustaining our ministry for the next generation, we haven’t forgotten the critically important work of expanding our leadership team today!

In fact, we must always remember that To Excel in Love is fundamentally about the ministry we share as apostles of God’s love and stewards of God’s resources for ministry. Therefore, it is with great joy that I write to share two recent appointments to the leadership and support of Christ Church!

Rector’s Verger

I am delighted to share that Mr. Miles Kennedy has joined our community as my Rector’s Verger.

Miles brings with him a wealth of experience and knowledge, having

graduated from St. Johns College in Maryland with a B.A. in Liberal Arts. His expertise in maintenance and repairs further enhances his suitability for this vital role.

It’s been a pleasure to have Miles and his wife, Paulina, as part of the Christ Church family since 2022. They were married at CCGP on May 18.

Executive Assistant to the Rector

I am equally delighted to share the appointment of Ms. Doris Walker as my Executive Assistant. Born in the Black Forest area of Germany, Doris moved to Huntington, Indiana at the age of 20. In Indiana, she attended Huntington University where she received a BS in Business Management and Entrepeneurship. Doris has extensive experience in the non-profit sector, most recently

as the Executive Adminstrator for Youthworks Detroit.

She moved to Detroit with her husband Chad about 10 years ago. Doris and Chad have three children, Tobi, Eli and Josie.

To Excel in Love

Christ Centered, Community Focused, Future Driven

Friends, both of these positions, and the investments required to make them possible, are the tangible result of our Vestry’s commitment To Excel in Love. I am pleased to welcome Miles and Doris into our common work.

Together, may we Excel in Love for this generation and for those to come!

To Excel in Love

By: Diane Ward

To Excel in Love is our fiveyear strategic plan and investment in the future of Christ Church. To fund the current and future mission and vision of Christ Church, the Vestry established an ambitious goal of raising $6 million to grow our endowments. Not only will these funds help support the expansion of our ministry in the near-term and they will provide vital stability of our programs for future generations.

Following the lead of the generations before us who established the Christ Church endowments, it is our time to lend our support in a meaningful way.

Thank You

Mr. & Mrs. Henry Ackerman

Mr. & Mrs. Dave Anderson

Mr. Joel Anyim

Mrs. Barbara Arrigo

Dr. & Dr. Eric Ash

Mr. & Mrs. Len Azzaro

Ms. Martha Bangs

Mr. & Mrs. Sandy Baruah

Dr. Richard Baumgarten & Dr. Cheryl Wesen

Ms. Rebecca Beard

Mr. & Mrs. Dominic Bennett

Mr. & Mrs. Richard Best

Mr. Bruce Birgbauer

Mr. & Mrs. Michael Bowe

Dr. Jerry Brackett

& Ms. Karen Kienbaum

Ms. Libby Candler

Mr. & Mrs. David Chaklos

Mr. & Ms. William Champion, III

Ms. Lauren Clune

The Rev’d Edward Cobden, Jr.

Mr. & Mrs. Jonathan Colman

Mrs. Lois Constant

Mrs. Betsy Creedon

Mr. William Cudlip

Mr. Joseph Daniel

Mr. Henry Darlington

Ms. Diane De Santis

Mr. & Dr. Herman Edwards

Mr. & Mrs. Ed Fitzgerald

Mr. David Gaskin

Mr. John Gillooly & Mrs. Ebony Duff

Mr. & Mrs. Scott Hanoian

The Rev’d Gwendolyn Hetler

Mr. & Mrs. Michael Hix

Mr. & Mrs. Henry Hubbard

Mr. & Mrs. Matthew Hurley

Ms. Lynnette Iannace

Mr. & Mrs. Edward Johnson, Jr

Mr. & Mrs. Ian Jones

Mr. & Ms. James Kastner

Mr. Robert Kingscott

& Mrs. Susan Mara

Mr. & Ms. Garland Knight, III

Mr. & The Rev’d Dr. Ross Kogel

Mr. & Mrs. Michael Labadie

Mr. & Mrs. Mark Lorenger

Ms. Gwen Mann

Dr. Harold Marsh

Mr. & The Rev’d David Martin

Mrs. Margaret Maycock

Mr. Jackson Merrill

Mr. & Mrs. Thomas Nealssohn

Mr. & Mrs. George Nicholson, III

Dr. & Mrs. Peter Nickles

Mr. & Mrs. Frank Niscoromni

Northern Trust

Mr. & Mrs. Blair Osborn

Mr. & Mrs. Brian Peabody

The Rt. Rev’d Bonnie Perry

Mr. & Mrs. David Redfield

Mr. & Mrs. Brendan Ross

Mr. & Mrs. Gregg Russell

Mrs. & Dr. Lynn Schneider

Ms. Carol Smith

Mr. Christian Smith

Mr. Jeffrey Smith & Mrs. Lisa Vallee Smith

Smith Family Foundation

Mr. & Mrs. Leonard Smith

Mr. John Snyder

Mr. & Mrs. Frank Stellingwerf

Mr. & Mrs. George Sutton

Ms. Amie Sweeney

Ms. Sarah Teachey

Mr. & Mrs. David Tobbe

Mr. & Mrs. Richard Trost

Mr. Edward Turner

Mr. & Mrs. Jud Utley

The Rev’d & Mrs. Andrew Van Culin

The Rev’d Samuel Van Culin

Mr. & Mrs. John Van Osdol

Mr. & Mrs. Alexander Varas

Mr. Jeffrey von Schwarz

The Estate of Bob and Virginia Vallee

Mrs. Beverly Walsh

Brendan and Kelly Walsh

Mrs. Diane Ward

Mr. & Mrs. Adam Waugh

Ms. Karyn Weir

Ms. Kathy Williams

Mrs. Margaret Woodford

Bold type indicates new commitment

A Special Thanks to

our

Campaign Leadership!

Our campaign would not have been possible without ...

The vision of our Vestry who helped solidify the vision and approved the investment not only in our campaign but in our vision and mission!

The commitment of our Campaign Ambassadors, Richard Best, Betsy Creedon, Amie Sweeney, and Brendan Walsh, who have advocated for our ministry and invited so many to join the campaign!

The generosity of George and Nancy Nicholson, “Our First Family,” who encouraged us to build the plan and have led the way with generosity and faith!

And, of course, the steadfast leadership of our Campaign Chair, Lisa Vallee-Smith, whose friendship and attentiveness has kept us on task with humor, generosity, and efficiency!

To Excel In

Campaign Status

Christ Church is Hiring To Excel in Love . . . Next Steps

By The Rev’d Drew Van Culin

Amajor component of the To Excel in Love campaign is an investment to provide greater support to our common life and ministry together.

Position:

Associate for Finance and Administration**

Supported by the staff accountant and maintenance supervisor, the Associate for Finance and Administration provides strategic leadership and management for Christ Church Grosse Pointe’s business and administrative functions. Key responsibilities include finance, human resources, property stewardship, financial leadership, and IT/office administration.

Ideal Candidate will have executivelevel experience in business or nonprofit sectors; proven leadership and management skills; strong financial and administrative capabilities and impeccable integrity, strategic vision, and leadership ability.

This position reports to the Rector, collaborates with Associate Staff, supervises the staff accountant and maintenance supervisor and works closely with the Treasurer, Wardens, professional staff, and church volunteers.

Primary Duties include administering parish operations and budgets, developing and monitoring financial policies and internal controls, directing and

reviewing staff accountant’s work, ensuring timely financial reporting and audit compliance, managing banking relationships and treasury operations, serving as HR officer, overseeing practices, procedures, and records, handling legal matters, directing risk prevention and policy implementation, overseeing property maintenance and improvement projects, collaborating on stewardship initiatives and reporting and managing office equipment and IT systems.

The ideal candidate will seek opportunities to expand responsibilities, complete necessary training courses, maintain involvement in professional association and foster a positive, high-quality program and service delivery environment.

It is essential that the candidate be an active member of a Christian church, have executive experience in business or non-profit administration with proven leadership and management skills. They should also have strong financial management and communication skills, proficiency in MS Office Suite and banking technologies, strategic thinking and implementation abilities plus organizational and multi-project management skills, MBA or CPA is preferred, but a BA in accounting will be considered.

Applicants should be assertive, flexible, and self-motivated with high standards of performance, spiritual engagement, and ethical behavior.

Excellent time management and analytical skills are essential, as is being team-oriented and capable of inspiring others.

This position is full-time exempt with a starting salary of $85,000. - We offer a defined Benefit Pension Plan with full vesting after 5 years, Full medical, dental, and vision coverage for individual and family as well ans an option for 403b contribution in lieu of health care coverage, plus four weeks paid vacation and 12 days paid sick leave.

This position works Monday to Friday with weekends as needed, at our location in Grosse Pointe Farms.

Full Charge Bookkeeper/ Accountant

Ideal candidate will possess a minimum of 3 years’ experience in a fullcharge bookkeeping role or as a staff accountant. The position provides critical support to the broad ministry of Christ Church. Responsible for managing the dayto-day bookkeeping entries, the position provides essential support for the accurate maintenance of all financial records of the Parish (and ancillary ministries) in conjunction with the Associate for Finance and Administration and Treasurer.

We seek a detail-oriented individual who is highly organized, excels with spreadsheet creation and database entry, is knowledgeable of generally accepted accounting principles, and demonstrates integrity and confidentiality.

Strong personal character is a must, with humility, humor, and discretion being essential characteristics.

This important role will suit someone who possesses exceptional “10key skills,” is well organized and administratively minded, and thrives in support of a team.

A mutually agreed-upon schedule shall be set to accommodate Christ Church’s needs while providing flexibility. Ordinarily, the position shall be scheduled during office hours Monday through Friday, with a limited amount of work to be conducted remotely.

Duties and Responsibilitie include accounts payable and receivable

plus payroll, receives and records all receipts and contributions, receives, processes, coordinates, and records all invoices and payments, monitors and maintains cash flow, prepares monthly credit card reports for departmental authorization processes and records bi-weekly payroll, entering new employees as needed, reconciles payroll taxes (quarterly).

The position is also responsible for general accounting and reporting including recording member pledges and contributions, performing all monthly reconciliations, identifying budget variances to Associate staff, assisting in budget planning and audit preparation, overseeing and coordinateing volunteer tellers,

making banking deposits, performing closing of all financial modules to ensure timely preparation of financial reports, preparing and distributing quarterly charitable contribution statements to contributors, preparing monthly and year-end reports for Associate, Rector, and Treasurer.

We are looking for a highly organized individual with a strong background in bookkeeping/accounting and a passion for accuracy.

This is a part-time position with 20 hours per week at $22.00 per hour, working in-person at our Grosse Pointe Farms location. Benefits include paid time off and a retirement plan.

Know someone who would fit one of these roles?

Interested in joining the ministry team yourself? Visit christchurchgp.org/hiring for more information.

Journey of Generosity

Pledging is an act of worship – thanking God for all God has done for us.

Pledging is an act of love – sharing our abundance to help others experience the joy and love of Christ.

Pledging is an act of faith – reminding ourselves that our greatest joy is found not in our wealth, but in God’s love for us and for all.

Thank you to all who have made a pledge to support God’s ministry at Christ Church. Thank you for joining us in our worship, love, and faith!

Mr. & Mrs. Dave Anderson

Ms. Lynn Anslow

Mr. Joel Anyim

Mrs. Barbara Arrigo

Mr. & Mrs. Rodney Arroyo

Dr. & Dr. Eric Ash

Mr. & Mrs. Len Azzaro

Mr. & Mrs. Michael Bamford

Ms. Martha Bangs

Mr. & Mrs. Sandy Baruah

Dr. Richard Baumgarten & Dr. Cheryl Wesen

Mr. & Mrs. Dominic Bennett

Mr. & Mrs. John Benson

Mr. & Mrs. Richard Best

Mr. & Mrs. Brad Blaine

Mrs. Stephanie Blatt

Ms. Antoinette Book

Miss Terry Book

Mr. & Mrs. Michael Bowe

Dr. Jerry Brackett & Ms. Karen Kienbaum

Ms. Libby Candler

Mr. & Mrs. David Chaklos

Mr. & Ms. William Champion, III

Mr. & Mrs. Patrick Chesterton

Ms. Sarah Clark

Ms. Lauren Clune

Mr. & Mrs. William Collison

Mrs. Betsy Creedon

Mr. William Cudlip

Mr. Henry Darlington

Mr. Michael DeFillipi & Mr. David Gerdis

Mr. & Mrs. Peter Durand

Mr. & Mrs. Edward Evans, III

Mr. Steven Fehniger

Mr. & Mrs. Peter Ferrara

Mr. & Mrs. Ed Fitzgerald

Mrs. Shirley Fortune

Mrs. Hadley French

Mr. David Gaskin

Mr. John Gillooly & Mrs. Ebony Duff

Mrs. Carol Gove

Mrs. Christine Gretchko

Mr. Anton & Dr. Betsy Hall

Mr. & Mrs. Scott Hanoian

Mrs. Elizabeth Hardwick

Mr. Mark Higbie & Mrs. Gretchen Knoell

Mr. & Mrs. Henry Hubbard

Mr. & Mrs. Peter Huebner

Mr. & Mrs. Matthew Hurley

Ms. Terri Lyn Huston

Ms. Lynnette Iannace

Mrs. Cheryl Johns

Mr. & Mrs. Edward Johnson, Jr

Mr. & Mrs. Robert Johnson

Mr. & Mrs. Ian Jones

Mr. & Ms. James Kastner

Ms. Barbara Kennedy

Mr. Robert Kingscott & Mrs. Susan Mara

Mr. & Ms. Garland Knight, III

Mr. & Mrs. Michael Labadie

Ms. Lynda Loch

Mr. & Mrs. Mark Lorenger

Mr. & Mrs. Terrance Lynch

Mr. & Mrs. Edwin MacKethan, III

Mr. & Mrs. Kevin Magee

Mrs. Josephine Malecek

Dr. Michael Marsh

Mr. David & The Rev’d Maureen Martin

Mr. & Mrs. Roger Mason

Mr. & Mrs. Charles Mathews

Ms. Nadine Mathis

Mrs. Margaret Maycock

Mr. & Mrs. John McCormick

Mr. & Mrs. Kenneth McIntyre

Mrs. Helen McKnight

Mrs. Lucinda McMahon

Mr. & Mrs. James McMillan, II

Mr. & Mrs. George Nicholson, III

Dr. & Mrs. Peter Nickles

Mr. & Mrs. Frank Niscoromni

Mr. & Mrs. Blair Osborn

Mr. & Mrs. Dennis Partridge

Mr. & Mrs. Brian Peabody

Mr. & Mrs. Tedmund Pryor

Mr. & Mrs. David Redfield

Mr. & Mrs. Michael Reich

Mrs. Nancy Renick

Mr. & Mrs. Alfred Reuther, Jr.

Mr. & Mrs. Brendan Ross

Mr. Charles Ruifrok

Mr. & Mrs. Gregg Russell

Ms. Helen Santiz

Mr. & Mrs. Lloyd Semple

Ms. Penelope Slough

Ms. Carol Smith

Mr. Jeffrey Smith & Mrs. Lisa Vallee Smith

Mr. John Snyder

Mr. & Mrs. Conrad Squitieri

Mr. & Mrs. Jan Starr

Mr. & Mrs. Frank Stellingwerf

Mr. & Mrs. George Sutton

Ms. Amie Sweeney

Mr & Mrs Donald N. Sweeny III

David Tarrant

Ms. Sarah Teachey

Mrs. Emily Tennyson

Mr. & Mrs. David Tobbe

Mr. & Mrs. Allan Torp

Mr. & Mrs. Richard Trost

The Rev’d & Mrs. Andrew Van Culin

Mrs. Charlene Vickers

Mrs. Barbara Wachter

Mrs. Beverly Walsh

Dr. & Mrs. Kenneth Walters

Mrs. Salome Walton

Mr. & Mrs. John Warren, Jr

Adam and Rema Waugh

Mrs. Lynda Webster

Ms. Karyn Weir

Mr. & Mrs. Timothy Whims

Ms. Kathy Williams

Mrs. Margaret Woodford

Mr. John Woodhouse & Ms. Susan Vercruysse

Mr. & Mrs. Luther Zinn Bold type indicates new commitment

New Members

Judith

Cheryl

Jo

Charlotte

BON

VOYAGE

BON VOYAGE CONCERT | FRIDAY, JULY 12, 2024, 7 PM | CHRIST CHURCH CHOIRS

SPEND A SUMMER EVENING WITH THE CHRIST CHURCH CHOIRS AS THEY SING MUSIC FROM THEIR UPCOMING PILGRIMAGE TO ENGLAND. AS THEY PREPARE TO OFFER SERVICES IN WELLS AND SALISBURY CATHEDRALS, HEAR THE CHOIR SING SOME OF THEIR FAVORITE MUSIC SPANNING SEVERAL CENTURIES. FREEWILL OFFERING