CROP Hunger Walks are community-wide events sponsored by Church World Service and organized by local congregations or groups to raise funds to end hunger at home and around the world.  With its inception in 1969, CROP Hunger Walks are “viewed by many as the granddaddy of charity walks,” notes the Los Angeles Times. Continue reading →

Christmas Eve, Saturday December 24th:

7pm Family Service, 10:45pm Candlelight Service.

Christmas Day, Sunday, December 25th:

11am Worship

“The Word of God became like us and pitched a tent in the middle of us.” John 1:14

At last month’s Fall Retreat, we spent a lot of time exploring this one little verse of scripture.  What does it mean that God’s word took human form and lived with us? How could it be that the creator of the universe literally pitched a tent in our lives, as the Gospel of John puts it?

At its heart, Christmas is about the incarnation, the coming of God as a human being.  It is about God’s strange decision to occupy the human situation, to know firsthand the human predicament.    It is about God’s determination to know us by becoming our Emmanuel:      ‘God with us.’

During Advent, though, we are pre-occupied. Advent is a time of stillness, of emptiness.  A time to experience God’s absence, rather than celebrate God’s presence.

We could jump from Thanksgiving into Christmas, like the rest of the culture.  But we would miss the awesome emptiness of preoccupation.

~K Karpen

Saturday, December 24   CHRISTMAS EVE

7:00 Family Service

8:00 Open House at the Parsonage

10:45 Candlelight Service

Sunday, December 25  CHRISTMAS DAY

11:00 Christmas Service for all ages

Siobhan Sargent preaching

SP&SA is a progressive, welcoming congregation with several hundred active members.  We value our children and youth ministry programs as well as our outreach to students, young adults, singles and gays & lesbians.

This year was a wonderful Vacation Bible School, a week long fun day camp for kids exploring the word of God and having a blast while doing it. Our theme  ‘Food and Faith’. Continue reading →

“A CHRISTMAS FOR EVERYONE,” broadcast Dec. 24, 2010 on CBS TV

A holiday special, A CHRISTMAS FOR EVERYONE, a service of lessons and carols from New York City’s United Methodist Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew, broadcast Friday, Dec. 24, 2010 ( 11:35 PM -12:35 AM  ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

This 175-year-old historic church, known for its openness to the entire community of faiths whenever they have a service or when others need their help.  The church houses and provides vital social programs, including an emergency food program, a shelter for homeless women and a tutoring program for neighborhood children.

The special broadcast opened with the church’s pastor, Rev. K. Karpen, briefly describing how the church reaches out to the homeless, the poor and the marginalized, as well as to the Jewish and Muslim communities.  Rev. Karpen along with Rabbi Rolando Matalon (Congregation B’nai Jeshurun) and Imam Talib-Rashid (Mosque of the Islamic Brotherhood) spoke about opportunities for people of different faiths to come together in peace and love during the holiday season.

A CHRISTMAS FOR EVERYONE also explores the Christmas story and how it can have meaning for everyone during these trying times.

The heart of the program will be filled with scripture readings and carols. Bishop Jeremiah Park, the bishop for the United Methodist-New York Area, will do a reading.  Other readers will include members from the church’s diverse congregation.  Carols   sung by children and the congregation, as well as by the St. Paul and St. Andrew’s choir and accompanied by harp and strings.  Music Director Dr. Frank Glass  conducted the choir.  Tony Award winner Victoria Clark, an active member of the church,   offered a solo version of “O Holy Night.”

John P. Blessington,  Executive Producer for CBS.

United Methodist Women is now taking orders for This and That: More Than a Cookbook. Filled with tasty recipes, creative craft ideas, mission stories and more, This and That makes the perfect gift for family, friends and yourself! The 140-page book written by SPSA members and friends is being sold Sundays at coffee hour after service.