Principal worship services are listed under the “Spire Calendar.”  The clergy of Grace Church are

The Reverend David Mark Rider is Priest-in-charge.

Currently living on Long Island with his wife and two children, Father Rider was born into the Episcopal Church in South Bend, Indiana.

He received his BA from Carlton College in Minnesota in 1977, Masters of Divinity in 1980 from Union Theological Seminary and STM from General Theological Seminary in 1989 (both seminaries are in New York City).  He served churches in Maryland and as a pastoral counselor before becoming a Senior Vice-President of the Church Pension Group in 1992.

The Reverend Janet Broderick Kraft is Vicar.

A graduate of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, she received her M.Div. from General Theological Seminary and ordained by Bishop Richard Grein.  Thus began a decade here in New York City, first as curate of the Church of the Epiphany and then rector of All Saints Church in Briarcliff Manor.

A native daughter of the city, Mrs. Kraft has lived in Ireland, Michigan and Westchester County.  Her husband Joe is an attorney and she has two children, James and Hannah.

Speak with a member of the clergy regarding Funerals, Memorial Services and the following:

Healing Services are held on the first Sunday of each month at the 6 PM service.  There is a liturgy for healing with special music and prayers.  Healing teams are available for laying on of hands and prayer with individuals.  Appointments with prayer teams can also be made.

Baptisms are generally performed at the main service on Sunday mornings.  There are four holidays each year particularly commended by the Church for baptism: All Saints (early November), the Baptism of Jesus (early January), Easter (March or April) and Pentecost (May).

Confirmation is held once a year at the Bishop’s visitation; it is preceded by a series of Sunday morning classes.  There is also a confirmation class for youth, held on weekday afternoons.

Weddings: Getting Married at Grace is a brochure detailing requirements and procedures, available by calling the parish office.

Children have a keen sense of worship and of being in God’s presence, but they don’t worship the same way that adults do.  Every Sunday morning a special Children’s Worship Service takes place during the 11 AM service in the chapel.  It is a joyous and Spirit-filled time.

The children, ages 4–10, sing, pray, hear the Gospel lesson for the day and a brief homily geared to their level of understanding.  Parents pick their children up in the Chantry after the service.  On the first Sunday of the month, children return to the main service in time to receive communion with their families.

There are three occasions during the church year with Saturday events for children, to help make important church holidays real for them:

All Saints Saturday takes place in October.  The children hear the story of salvation and participate in events dealing with All Saints Day, a principal feast of the Christian Church.

Christmas Eve is a special family service, at which the children perform a pageant with carols, to bring the story home to them.

The day before Easter each year is the Easter Eve Walk, at which the children walk through the events of Holy Week.  Using the entire church complex, they re-enact Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, the Last Supper with foot-washing, his betrayal and arrest, trial, crucifixion and burial in the tomb.  Then they burst forth as on Easter morn, running into the garden shouting, “He is Risen! Alleluia!”  It is both a powerful and playful experience, bringing the meaning of Easter into sharper focus.

Wednesday, October 18, Grace Church will celebrate the Feast of St. Luke. (Note: these links take one to a page with the collect and readings for that day.)  Service time is 6 PM for Holy Eucharist, Rite II.

Sunday, October 22 is the Nineteenth Sunday of Pentecost (Proper 24).   Worship is at 9 AM (Holy Eucharist, Rite I), 11 AM (Morning Prayer, Rite I with Children's Service in the Chantry for ages 4-10) and 6 PM (Holy Eucharist with contemporary music). (Note that all generic services would be listed on the index page.)

Canon Andrew will be preaching at the 11 AM Morning Prayer service.  Grace Church is one of the few churches still utilizing Morning Prayer as its main Sunday service. (explain why here or in separate section)

Monday, October 23 is the Feast of St. James of Jerusalem.  He is referred to as the brother of our Lord; click here to find out more.  Morning Prayer is at 7:30 AM and Evening Prayer at 6 PM on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

Wednesday, October 25; the life of Geoffrey Chaucer, author of The Canterbury Tales, is celebrated today.  Holy Eucharist is at 6 PM at the High Altar.

Thursday, October 26 is the Feast of Alfred the Great, King of the West Saxons.  Find out more about this Ninth Century English king by clicking here.

Friday, October 27; find out why William Temple (Archbishop of Canterbury, 1942-44) was called one of the Four Great Doctors of the Anglican Communion and why George Bernard Shaw called him "a realized impossibility."

Saturday, October 28 is the Feast of St. Simon & St. Jude, Apostles.  These two apostles take up the tenth and eleventh places in the list of twelve; click here to find out more about them.  Morning Prayer is at 9 AM.

Sunday, October 29 is the Twentieth Sunday of Pentecost (Proper 25).   Worship is at 9 AM (Holy Eucharist, Rite I), 11 AM (Morning Prayer, Rite I with Children's Service in the Chantry for ages 4-10) and 6 PM (Holy Eucharist with contemporary music).  Canon Andrew will be preaching at the 11 AM Morning Prayer service.

Here's our liturgical question for October.  During a service of Holy Eucharist, why does the Gospel appear before the Liturgy of the Eucharist?  Some suggest that perhaps it should be the last item so that we leave “on the word of God.”  Is it historical?  There has certainly been a sea change in the emphasis from the Word to the Eucharist.

One person wrote that,

In the early church the Liturgy of the Catechumens, which came first in the Service, contained instructions for the unbaptized, taken from letters, etc.  They could not remain for the Holy Mysteries, which, it was felt, they could not fully understood or appreciate without extensive instruction first.  (The catacumens were probably copied from the practice in the Mystery sects, like the Elusinian Mysteries, where the first grade was called acousticoi or listeners).  For a while in the West the catecumens were dismissed before the Gospel.

The practice of reading scripture was probably taken from the Jewish worship service.  As I understand it, matching the OT and NT message also came from the Jews when in Christian countries they were forbidden to read from the Torah in their worship.  So they substituted text from the prophets and other books of sacred scripture, which illustrated the message of the Torah that would have been read.