The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!

It is the season of Easter!  Gather for prayers, meals, and send offs as the end of the semester nears!

Sundays: 6:00 p.m. Holy Eucharist and dinner at Grace Church (10th Street and Broadway)

Wednesdays: 5-9 p.m. Chaplain Chat drop in at the Center for Spiritual Life, 4th Floor (238 Thompson Street)

Wednesdays: 9:00 p.m. Night Prayers at the Catholic Center Chapel (238 Thompson Street)

We are in the midst of the great 50 days of Easter Day, when we celebrate Christ’s victory over the grave and share in the stories of his resurrection appearances.

Spring is in the air, but don’t forget to join us at Canterbury Downtown on Sunday evenings at 6:00 p.m. for Holy Eucharist and home-cooked meal, as we share in stories of Christ’s shocking appearances to his disciples and check in with one  where God is showing up in our lives!  Happy Easter!

The journey through Lent can be a long 40 days.  Many have personal devotions, practices, and disciplines that they take on for themselves   Others seek companionship.  This Lenten blog is an invitation and an offering – 40 days of insight and invitation into a companionship in Lent. What are others doing?  What are others offering? How is it going?

During the season of Lent the Chaplain, and other members of Canterbury Downtown will post a daily reflection, offering or invitation to a way to remain engaged throughout the season.    Click here daily, visit our facebook page, or allow wordpress to email you when the daily offering has been posted.

I invite you to a Holy Lent, engaging in your own practices and/or in this community journey, walking together toward the day of resurrection.

http://canterburynyc.wordpress.com/

Holy Walk, Holy Week

Holy Week brings us to the culmination of not only the season of Lent, but our Christian story as a people drawn together as followers of Christ, broken, repentant, reconciled to God in Christ and renewed by remembering his death, proclaiming his resurrection and awaiting his coming again in glory — join with Christians around the world who walk with Christ through the story of this HOLY WEEK.  Enter the story, walk with Christ, and celebrate the discovery of the empty tomb when we arrive on the other side, celebrating EASTER together.

- Chaplain Mary Cat

 Holy Week begins with Palm “Passion” Sunday, March 24

 8 & 11 a.m. Canterbury Downtown Chaplain Mary Cat Young will be preaching at St. John’s in the Village (11th Street and Waverly – 1 block West of 7th Avenue)

2 p.m. Procession of Palms, and Holy Eucharist with Ecclesia outdoor ministry (Madison Square Park, SW corner)

6 p.m. Passion Narrative and Holy Eucharst at Grace Church (10th Street and Broadway)

Tuesday, March 26, Church of the Ascension (10th St.&5 Ave)

6:00 p.m. Holy Eucharist, Church of the Ascension, the Rev. Mary Cat Young presiding

Wednesday, March 27, NYU campus: 238 Thompson Street 

5:00 – 9:00 p.m.  Holy Week questions and conversation with Chaplain Mary Cat during office hours at the Center for Spiritual Life

9:00 p.m. Night Prayers with Canterbury Downtown, Catholic Center Chapel

Maundy Thursday, March 28, St. John’s in the Village

6:30 p.m. Solemn Eucharist, foot washing, Agape supper, stripping of the altar, all night vigil.

Good Friday, March 29, Grace Church/St. John’s in the Village

12- 3:00 p.m. “The Seven Last Words of Christ”, 7 sermons, Mary Cat Young  and others preaching

6:30 p.m. Evensong at St. John’s in the Village

The Great Easter Vigil, Saturday, March 30

8:00 p.m. Holy Eucharist with Baptism at St. John’s in the Village

Easter Day, Sunday, March 31, Church of the Ascension/Grace

11:00 a.m. Church of the Ascension

6:00 p.m. Canterbury Downtown, Holy Eucharist with festive dinner to follow, Grace Church

Additional Holy Week services daily  at parishes in The Village

St. Luke in the Fields

St. John’s in the Village

The Church of the Ascension

Grace Church

St. Mark’s in the Bowery

A movement is building  - a movement of students across denominations and world faith lines – a movement to put an end to human trafficking.  Will you be a part of the movement?  Will you take a stand against the fact that there are more humans enslaved in this day and age than at any other point in history?

The Price of Life is a multi-faceted campaign that is growing leaders and companions in the fight against human trafficking.  If you’d like to know more about this movement, how to get involved, or just want to know more about how this relates to you as a person of faith, as a citizen of humanity, connect here: http://priceoflifenyc.org/

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Looking to get engaged here and now?  Consider attending one of these NYC offerings on Monday, February 18.

More info here: http://priceoflifenyc.org/events/upcoming/ RSVP here.

The Season of Lent begins

Wednesday, February 13: Ash Wednesday

Lent is a six week long season of preparation for the coming of our highest celebration and feast of the year: Easter.

Historically this was a time when the unbaptized learned the teachings of the Christian faith and practice and worship in preparation of being received into the Church on the eve of Easter day.  Christians today are invited to use the season of Lent as a special time for increased prayer, Bible study, self denial and fasting, in order to cleanse, prepare and focus on the coming of Holy Week leading up to Easter Day when fasts are broken, sweets are once again tasted and Alleluias ring out the fulfillment of Christ’s love for us through his resurrection return.

To mark the start of this season, Christians attend services and receive the mark of ashes (made from burned palm fronds) on their foreheads to reflect that their Lenten practice has begun.

Services will be offered at Episcopal Churches around the Village morning noon and evening.

 Mary Cat Young will participate in the noon service at Church of the Ascension. (10th Street and 5th Avenue)

Short on Time?

 Ashes-to-go will be available from Chaplain Mary Cat at the Center for Spiritual Life 5 – 9 p.m. and will be administered as part of the Night Prayer service at 9 p.m.

 Mark your calendar, and mark the beginning of the season of Lent.

The Young Adult Network for the Diocese of New York is embarking on a unique and exciting challenge for the first part of the season of Epiphany.

The Plan: Make January 6 – 31 a season of service, a month of mission by offering invitation to engage in outreach and servant ministry around Manhattan and Brooklyn, working side by side.

Launch: The month of Mission was launched on Sunday, January 6, The Epiphany, with a commissioning service at St. James Episcopal Church.

Below are the prayers and the sermon that set this community in motion.  Read, mark, pray with the Young Adult Network, and if you are able, join in with one or several of the opportunities posted at

edny20s30s.wordpress.com

Look down, O Lord, from your heavenly throne, and shine forth your light in our darkness, that your presence may be revealed to us, and that by night and day your people may glorify your holy Name; for the love of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Almighty God, look with favor upon these persons who have now reaffirmed their commitment to follow Christ and to serve in his name.  Give them courage, patience, and vision; and strengthen us all in our Christian vocation of witness to the world, and of service to others; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Epiphany sermon preached, January 6, 2013

St. James’ Church, New York, NY, The Rev. Mary Cat Young

A favorite quote:
Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or I find it not. –Ralph Waldo Emerson.

They were looking for something.  They had been on this journey for a long time, not just a few weeks or a few months, or a few years – these were magi, astrologers, wise-ones.  Their journey was a life-long pilgrimage with stops along the way, nights spent around campfires telling stories, and listening to those of their companions on the road – men passing down oral histories and songs of their communities, women and children listening at their feet, eyes twinkling with reflections of the embers before them.  They were star-gazers, who had watched the skies long enough to recognize seasonal changes that appeared year in and year out, allowing them to recognize something out of the ordinary – something apparent that did not belong that was suddenly placed before them.  Something they could not ignore…

Their journey was a pilgrimage, a pathway of seeking, something… Something sacred?  Something that would mark their journey’s end?  Something that would provide them rest, an end to the restlessness.  They were seeking something that would confirm the urge, the impulse that they could not ignore, to seek the holy.
Our scripture passage doesn’t tell us how far these wise ones came before they were noted and noticed in Israel.  But they were noticed.  Their questions about a king born of Jewish descent had made its way to the ear of Herod, who had his own informants seek out these strangers and bring them to his presence.  I doubt these men were fools – they made their command performance before the governor, and accepted his bid to complete their journey, to find the child at the end of their path, and then they moved on, disappearing into the desert, into history.  They had found their way to the place this astral phenomenon had led them, to the feet of an infant, before whom they bowed their heads and offered gifts. Their pilgrimage had led them to discover the holy.  But their journey was not yet over – it had only just begun.  The world was changed forever, and so were they, and so are we.

We are pilgrim people.  We are on that journey – captivated by the passions that are fulfilled in our vocational calling, friendship circles, identification with a church community, denomination, world faith… The revelation of the Christ-child to the wise-men – the gentiles, is symbolic of the attraction toward God at the center of our lives, our journey, our pilgrimage of discovering that, and our continuation of that journey to take what we have seen, what has been revealed to us, into the world, and give it away.

What has been revealed to us?  Three things.

First, God entered into this world in the same form that we did – fragile, humble, human – Christ shares in our humanity.

Second, perceiving God’s presence is transformative.  Men, women, children, rich, poor, prostitute, tax collector, magi, you me: Those who encountered Jesus then and in this time and place cannot help but be impacted, changed, transformed, upon perceiving and understanding that God is in Christ.

Third, The journey does not end upon discovering God. Much like the path of the labyrinth, with twists and turns, one is always working their way toward the center, bringing questions, hopes, confessions, petitions to the heart of God. The center of the labyrinth, is only the halfway mark. The journey continues with the change that is carried back into the world on the pathway out.

Christ shares in our humanity.
Perceiving God’s presence is transformative.
The journey does not end upon discovering God.

Each of us that is present here tonight has perceived, or received or been offered the gift of gathering in prayer and praise and worship of the living God.  We lay these things at the feet of the infant who will become a king and wear a crown of thorns, human, fragile, vulnerable. Christ reached into our human life. How do we reach forth to seek God?

The Young Adult Network of the Diocese of New York tonight embarks upon a pilgrimage, an invitation to seek to the Holy, to seek God in the places where the most fragile, vulnerable, human need exists.  This pilgrimage, this Month of Mission, is a challenge to step forward, into the world, to go to those places of fragility. Being in the presence of vulnerability is hard – it has the power to one feel helpless – but going there is the antidote to hopelessness and despair that attempts to paralyze Gods people into apathy..  Building a relationship, building community, being a companion, giving a part of yourself away – this is what being at the feet of the savior draws forth from us, this is what the invitation to serve awakens in us – the part of ourselves that creates hope, that reflects the light of love alive, afire, warming the world.  On this day of Epiphany, we join with the wise ones who discovered the Lord, and were sent with a new message to share – a message not only of fulfillment of the promises God made in covenant with God’s people, but of our ability be bearers of the Christ light, bearers of the story, bearers of hope and change in this world.

When God entered the world as one of us, embarked on a journey of reconciling Gods lost and broken people unto Godself, God was looking for something… Seeking something… Seeking you and me.  We are in this journey together. Let us then arise to the occasion, let us go forth into the world rejoicing, let us go forth into the world, born, transformed, and engaged in the journey of bringing the light of Christ to the places that need it most, and let us be changed yet again by what we find there – the very Christ that we bring with us, whom we are likely to discover was there all along.   For, “Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not.”  Amen.

Sunday services with Canterbury Downtown will gather for worship and dinner in a new place this spring!

Starting Sunday, January 27, 2013 Canterbury Downtown will companion with Grace Church on 10th Street and Broadway for their 6 p.m. Holy Eucharist, followed by our regular dinner and fellowship time.

This arrangement will mean opportunities for our community to grow in new ways.  Chaplain Mary Cat Young will be a regular presence at the worship and included in the preaching and celebrating cycle along with 3 excellent clergy colleagues who minister at Grace Church.  Our dinner will continue to serve students immediately following the service.

See you this Sunday at Grace!

This change comes as a result of the work we have been doing to add an additional liturgy and offering to the campus community:

 Night Prayers with Canterbury Downtown Wednesday Nights at 9 p.m

]]> http://canterburynyc.org/539/feed/ 0 http://canterburynyc.org/night-prayers-2013/ http://canterburynyc.org/night-prayers-2013/#comments Tue, 22 Jan 2013 19:45:29 +0000 Chaplain Young http://canterburynyc.org/?p=508

Canterbury Downtown is offering a weekly late night prayer service for students in need of a place to rest, a place to breathe and just be, a place to sit quietly, to listen, sing, and pray.  

Join us for this candle-lit prayer service of spoken word and simple song, offered by students for students of any Christian background, or no religious background at all.  Come. Pray. Listen. Be heard.  

Students gathered for a service of Advent Lessons and Carols on Sunday, December 2, to start off the new liturgical calendar year.  Following is the reflection offered by Chaplain Young.  For daily reflections and meditations throughout the season of Advent visit the Episcopal Commons a resource for Young Adult and Campus Ministry in the Episcopal Church.

As students, you should have a pretty good understanding of what Advent is all about.  After all – you are constantly in a state of preparation.  Researching for a paper that will have to be written and turned in at some point.  Preparing for a jury or performance, studying for a test that is on the calendar, anticipating the coming of a fall break, or the end of the semester, when all the work taking place will culminate in some finality – and yet again, a new semester will be on the horizon, or with the coming of graduation – waiting to see what the world has in store for you.  What will your first job be? What will you do over the summer before the next program year starts?  Where will you end up, who will you live with, what will you wear to face this new day…  A constant season of preparation – but to what end?

But the kind of preparation we, as people of faith are drawn into, in this time, is one that is about starting something new – a new church year begins today, on the first Sunday of Advent.  It is an opportunity to hit the refresh button.  To listen to the happenings around you with new ears, to see the world with new eyes, new hope, new possibility.

God entered into the world, into the life of a young girl, into the lives of fishermen, and blind and leprous men and women, and hit the refresh button.  Mary, Elizabeth, John, Joseph, the shepherds, the wise ones, Peter, the many saints, our grandparents, parents, ourselves, those of us who have heard the story and believe ourselves to be a part of it – the refresh button is set for us, the opportunity for us to look with hope into our own lives, and in the lives and relationships around us – it is renewed.

Don’t let the anxiousness of the end point keep you from taking a breath and living today.  Don’t miss out in the opportunity to be changed, moved through the journey of getting there.  I cannot tell you when the end will be here – neither can the Mayans – nor can the weathermen and women.  How you prepare for the end, that is the task of the Christian, and that is the task of Advent.  Prepare with prayer.  Prepare by hitting the refresh button. Open your eyes to new things.  Open your hearts to new possibilities.  Live today in love, and if you do that you will know that love will greet you in the end.

Chaplain Mary Cat Young

Canterbury Downtown

Advent 1, 2012