At Brookville Church: Exploring Christianity, the Reformed Church and Personal Faith
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REV. VICKY L. EASTLAND, PASTOR [email protected] 2 BROOKVILLE ROAD BROOKVILLE, NY 11545 516-626-0414 [email protected] www.BrookvilleChurch.org Facebook: Brookville-Church- Multifaith-Campus Where our doors are always open! May 2017 Our Mission Statement: Brookville Church is a welcoming, friendly and heartfelt community who follows the teachings of Jesus; a message of love, acceptance, healing and hope. We affirm that all people are beloved children of God and therefore embrace any age, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, economic status, marital status, family configuration, physical or mental ability or education, and invite the full inclusion of all people into the life and ministries of Brookville Church. We believe diversity enriches our journey together in faith and propels us to an ever expanding understanding and experience of God. Happy Easte! You may think I missed it or have day out of the year, a day where we got dressed up in our lost my mind. Easter was last month. Sunday best, had ham dinner together and hunted for eggs. I The date changes every year, but realized that the celebration of the Resurrection of Easter come on! We all know Easter already lasted longer in the church. Seven weeks to be exact. Easter happened. YES, you are partly right. Sunday begins a season in the church that lasts 50 days and Resurrection Sunday was on April ends with Pentecost, where we celebrate the birth of the 16th this year, BUT that doesn’t church and the coming of the Holy Spirit. mean Easter is over in the life of the church. We are now in what is Eastertide is a time set apart in the church calendar year to considered Eastertide, a 50 day focus on the resurrection of Christ. Now I’m not suggesting period following Easter Sunday. So, that you hide eggs every day for 50 days, or buy 50 new maybe it is more appropriate for me to say, “Happy suits or dresses to mark each day in the season, that’s silly. Eastertide!” “Tide” is an old English word that means, Instead, this is a time to marvel in the resurrection and the time or season. implications it has for our lives. If Jesus conquered death and the grave, so we will; If Jesus was brought back to life, When I was little, I loved Easter Sunday. I would wake up we can be reborn in our lives too. Think of this period in the excited that the Easter Bunny had hidden eggs all over the church as a time to be reborn. What needs to be resurrected house for me to find. We were not allowed to look for that is lying dormant in you? How ‘bout the fruits of the those eggs filled with goodies until after church. I loved Spirit as talked about in Galatians 5:22,23? “…the fruit of getting dressed up and feeling spring in the air, but I was the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, rarely able to concentrate on the Easter service; my mind faithfulness, gentleness and self-control….” Who doesn’t was too preoccupied in whether the Easter Bunny hid the need these things in their life? Why not take one of these eggs in the same place as last year. If not, where might fruits and work on resurrecting it this Eastertide? If you they be? Where should I look first when we got home? It seem to be losing your patience easily these days, start used to always be a race and competition to find more intentionally practicing it and see if this transforms you. eggs than my older brother of 3 and 1/2 years. One of us How about kindness? Is this attribute slipping? Do you find would invariably find more eggs than the other with cries yourself grumpy and lacking kindness, especially with that it was unfair. So, my parents, umm, I mean the Easter drivers that annoy you or slow people in a cashier line at the Bunny, started putting our names on the eggs so that if we store? Try practicing random acts of kindness, like paying found our sibling’s eggs, we had to leave them hidden and for the person’s coffee behind you in the Starbucks drive look for more of our own. It was much more fun that way. thru. These are things we can work on any time during the When we thought we’d found all of our eggs, we would year, but Eastertide is a good season to do so. Every time give each other clues where more of the other’s eggs were you practice using one of the fruits of the Spirit you can hidden. Do you remember the hot and cold game…you are reflect on Jesus’ resurrection and how what needs to be so cold you are frozen to death! You are so hot you are reborn in you is finding its own resurrection! going to melt! Just talking about it brings back fun memories. Happy Eastertide, everyone. It wasn’t until I was older and actually paying attention in church that I started to understand Easter wasn’t just one ~Rev. Vicky Brookville Church News 2B A Letter from Our Partner in Ministry Rev. Joshua Vis Women for Healing Church Engagement Facilitator for Israel/Palestine & Networking Dinner Dear Brookville Church, Friday May 19, 2017 The RCA will begin to discern how we, as from 6-9:30 pm citizens of the U.S.A. can begin to advocate for Join a community of women committed to healing. peace and reconciliation Come enjoy a delicious meal. Share in networking in Israel/Palestine on the opportunities, and join the conversation as we global stage and in U.S. address the divisiveness in our world and identify how politics. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to we can help inspire change. This program is open to continue and expand on this wonderful ministry. all communities, races, ethnicities and religions to Thank you for joining me in this effort, both come together and help one another as we share our through your financial support and your prayers. concerns and find solutions. Cost for dinner and Sincerely, program is $25. Moderators/Speakers (partial list): Dr. Rev. Joshua Vis Isma Chaudhry, President, Islamic Center of Long [email protected] Island, Rev. Paulette Thompson Clinton, Founder, Still on the Journey Living Well Ministry. If you would like to give financial support The Congregational Church of Manhasset to our Partner in Ministry, please 1845 Northern Blvd., Manhasset, NY 11030 contact Rev. Vicky: RSVP To: Lesley Mazzotta [email protected] [email protected] * 917-623-4554 Did you know the big amazon.com has a charitable heart? Yes, it does. Thank you Choir Amazon will donate 0.5% of your eligible I'm so thankful to the choir for performing an purchases to Brookville Church. awesome, somber concert on Good Friday. Here’s how it works: To shop at amazon.com, go to smile.Amazon.com. You can simply log in as you It was very moving and memorable. Easter normally would. In the search box on the lower right was wonderful. For the first time, we asked corner of the screen, type Brookville Church. From the congregation to sing the hallelujah the list that appears, pick our Brookville, NY location. At the top of the Amazon page you will see: chorus with us and it was so great! A new Supporting: Brookville Church. Shop as normal, and tradition is born! 0.5% of your eligible purchases will be sent to Brookville Church at the end of every quarter. It’s Because of your talents, we had an amazing that simple! Holy Week and Easter. Do a good deed and support our church. Thank you! ~Carol Goglia, Minister of Music Brookville Church News 3B Mother’s Day Tea Party & Musical Stroll Down Memory Lane Saturday, May 13, 2017 1:00pm - 3:00pm o Great Lip Synching Competition ~ Prizes Awarded! Exotic Teas, Tea Sandwiches, Desserts Donation: $15.00 Men and Women Wear Exotic Hats ~ Award Given for Outstanding Hat! Queens Reformed Church, Rev. Anna M. Jackson 94-79 Springfield Blvd Queens Village, NY 11428 1-718-465-4309 Save the Date! Sunday, May 14 Monday, August 14, 2017 The Reformed Church of Locust Valley Seventh Annual Golf Tournament at Glen Cove Golf Course at Brookville Church: Exploring Christianity, the Reformed Church and Personal Faith Young adults need to be able to summarize their personal faith journey. They have their own walk with God and experience it in community with others. They should be able to articulate their faith, along with their desire to become a member of the Christian church. At the time of Confirmation there is an acknowledgement that the confirmand is now becoming an adult, claiming their own faith. This is a time for the young adult to acknowledge and thank both their parents and the faith community for helping raise them in the ways of God. If the young adult has not been previously baptized they will be baptized at the time of their Confirmation. The Confirmation classes with the Reverend are intended to ground the students in the Reformed faith of Brookville Church and to give them an understanding of how the church operates. They will be studying the theological documents of the Reformed Church in America such as our various creeds and confessions which are all directly linked to the Bible. They will spend time learning about the structure of the church’s constitution and the roles of the Elder, Deacon and Minister.