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Last Sunday was an amazing celebration of our continuing Fifty Days of Easter. Mother Mo, just recovering from her week-long summer cold, was a forceful and touching preacher. The Junior Youth Choir sang a beautiful and musically-challenging Gradual; the Senior Youth and Adult Choirs sang the Epistle (a reading from the Revelation to John the Divine). Christian Clough and Christopher Worthley returned to St. Thomas’s for the weekend to celebrate the tenth anniversary of their committed relationship. The participation of children and youth made for a very special Children’s Liturgy. Our entire worship, in song, word, prayer, action and sacrament, was so spiritually alive.   
 
This Saturday, May 8 at 7:00 pm, come and bring friends to hear Benjamin Britten’s "The Canticles." The final concert on this year’s Abendmusik series, this performance will be given by three singers from the Cathedral of St. John the Divine as well as their assistant organist, James Wetzel. An optional donation of $5 is suggested.
 
This Sunday, May 9, the church marks the annual Rogation Day celebration.  Long before Arbor Day or Earth Day, the church set aside days of prayer for the Stewardship of the Earth, of its ministry to people within the parish bounds, of human labor and talent, and of the wise use of our leisure. At ten o’clock there will be a supply of begonia plants for children (and “kids” of all ages as long as the supply lasts) to give to their mothers. Any left over can be planted in the church gardens.
 
Sunday afternoon will allow all the apartment dwellers, those with small yards, and all “frustrated” gardeners to come and labor in the Garden of the Lord -- our tribute to Mother Earth and Mother Church. After lunch, come back to St. Thomas’s with your shovels and weeding tools and Sandy Anagnostakis will direct you in a mighty work. Many hands will easily improve the beauty of the front of the church and the columbarium garden.
 
Please remember, if you are a parent of children up to three or four years old, you may want to stop by the nursery (the playroom connecting to the Coffee Hour Lounge/Common Room) and meet Marcela Vece.  She is a Day School mom, preparing for professional certification in early child care.  Marcella is available to care for children, ages birth to three or four, for parents who find this service helpful. Your children will hear Bible stories, sing along with Marcela’s guitar, and have safe and supervised free time for play. All children will join their parents for communion at the Offertory. In addition to this professional child care there are three other alternatives:
 
Children from Birth to ages 3 or 4 years are always welcome, as well,
·        In the pew with parents
·        In the quiet and passive play space beneath the crane mobile
·        In Sunday School’s GODLY PLAY for mature 3’s and 4’s.
 
One week from Sunday (on May 16) our own Mary-Jane Rubenstein will lead the Adult Forum in the Rector’s office during the latter part of Coffee Hour. Her article, "Notes from the Tangled Anglican Web: What the schism over sexuality has to do with the colonial legacy in Africa,” will be the basis for our discussion. You can read it here; printed copies will be available this Sunday (May 9th). This article will open spirited conversation on such points as 1) the current stresses in the Anglican Communion, 2) the consequences of how we “do” Evangelism, 3) the place of the feminine in the Divine, and many more. Do take time to read this article and join us on May 16 at the Adult Forum.
 
The Great Fifty Days of Easter continue to proclaim the presence and power of the Risen Christ among us.
Faithfully,
Fr. Ray+