Welcome to the CHS Master Calendar
 
The CHS Master Calendar was created to consolidate the multiple calendars that were being used previously.  Not all those calendars were up to date; many did not have the same events listed.  The ability to see details on the many events happening at CHS was not available on all the calendars.
Google calendar became the obvious choice:  it allows us to access one site for all events, to manage those events in one place, including details as needed; embed the calendar on the CHS website; and allow for dynamic changes.  A change made on the master immediately becomes visible on all linked versions.  If a change is made to the master, it appears immediately on the web version and it will appear on your version as well. 

You can access the CHS calendar from your computer, laptop, smart phone or tablet.  To see the calendar on the website, go to www.churchholyspirit.org and scroll to the bottom of the page.  Use the arrows below the header to see future or past months.  Move to the far right and select if you wish to see a week or month at a time or click Agenda for a listing of events.  Details are available for many events.

To have the calendar on your computer or other device, copy and paste or type this URL into your browser: 
https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=chs.calendar%40churchholyspirit.net&ctz=America%2FNew_York

A limited number of people have administrative permission: Marge Keller, the Office Admin, Webmaster and CHS News editor.  If you wish to have an event added to the calendar, contact one of them.  To check facility availability, please contact the Office Admin.

 The Deacon calls the People to prayer saying
 
A sign has been given to us.  A child shall be born for us and wrapped in bands of cloth and laid in a manger.  Let us gather in one spirit as we pray to you, O Lord,
People             Help us put it all down and pick up the baby.
 
Intercessor:    
Caring for another person means kindness in touch, and tenderness in words, to surrender our own needs and wants as we attend to the other.  And when we’re holding and caring for another, we can’t do much else.  And when you tend to a little child, you have to put it all down in order to pick up the baby.
 
Gracious God,  we’re busy, we tired, we’re full of pressure, and worries, and yet you call us, like Mary and Joseph, to kneel down and pick up the baby, and so,
we pray you, O lord,
People             Help us put it all down and pick up the baby.
           
Intercessor:
Even if you’re a toddler yourself; even if you’re a preteen; even if you’re 95;
even if you’ve never remembered ever holding a baby;  even if you know nothing about birthin’ babies; you’ll still have some idea as your gaze on something so helpless, that first things are first, and when something is fighting for its life, you’ve got to stop what you are doing and so,  we pray you, O lord,
People             Help us put it all down and pick up the baby.
 
Intercessor:
Even if we can’t, or won’t or will never want to have a baby, we sometimes need to know that
Jesus is the only thing we need to hold on to. Even when we don’t know what else to do, we pray you, O lord,
People             Help us put it all down and pick up the baby.
 
Even when there is nothing else we can do, we pray to you O Lord,
People             Help us put it all down and pick up the baby.
 
It’s just true. When you’re holding a baby, there’s not much else you can do . . . 
except just hold it,  and love it, and pray. And honestly, the baby can’t do all that much either,  we pray you, O Lord,
People             Help us put it all down and pick up the baby.
 
The two of you  just sort of . . .  melt into one another. 
You just sort of . . . exist . . . together.
we pray you, O Lord,
People             Help us put it all down and pick up the baby.
 
I don’t know what it is you came to church for here today,
Why you’re here or how easy or hard it was to come here, we pray you, O Lord,
People             Help us put it all down and pick up the baby.
 
Whether you know it or not,  you have come here for one thing, 
and one thing only. You have come here to hold the Baby.
we pray you, O Lord,
People             Help us put it all down and pick up the baby.
 
Whether you know it or not he is the One who has brought you here and really, 
there is nothing else you can do.  You just hold him. And love him, And pray. We pray you, O Lord,
People             Help us put it all down and pick up the baby.
 
But be forewarned, for this comes at great cost. To hold this Baby— this Jesus whom we proclaim - means you are going to have to put some things  down.
We pray you, O Lord,
People             Help us put it all down and pick up the baby.
 
 
When you hold this Baby, nothing else matters. Everything else  falls away.
We pray you, O Lord,
People             Help us put it all down and pick up the baby.
 
When you hold this Baby, the war makers must put down their weapons
and all their garments rolled in blood.
The oppressors must put down their rods.
The emperors must put down their censuses.
The shepherds must put down their staffs.
We pray you, O Lord,
People             Help us put it all down and pick up the baby.
 
The judges must put down their gavels.
The bankers their pencils.
The farmers their plows.
The nurses their stethoscopes
The journalists their laptops.
The teachers their books.
The janitors their brooms.
The interns their clipboards.
The internet trolls their keyboards.
The leaders their egos.
Priests and Bishops their collars
We pray you, O Lord,
People             Help us put it all down and pick up the baby.
 
When you and I hold this Baby— 
when we hold this Jesus— 
everything else must fall away: 
our cell phones, 
our distractions, 
our ambitions, 
our rights, 
our wrongs, 
our hurts, 
our grievances . . .
our power.
We pray you, O Lord,
People             Help us put it all down and pick up the baby.
 
 
“Whatever that is you’re doin,’ you gotta put it down and come hold this baby.”
 
But here’s the final twist. 
Here’s the insane grace of it all.
For all that you and I have to lay aside— 
for all the power that we have to let go 
in order to hold this Baby— 
the thing is  he has already gone first.
Yeah, you have to give up a lot 
in order to hold a baby, 
but think of how much more 
you have to give up
in order to BE the baby.
We pray you, O Lord,
People             Help us put it all down and pick up the baby.
 
 
He could have come any way he wanted.
As a mighty warrior. 
As a fearsome beast. 
As a rich king 
with swagger,
and prestige,
and power.
But instead, 
this Baby— 
this Jesus— 
came like this.
We pray you, O Lord,
People             Help us put it all down and pick up the baby.
 
 
Whatever it was he was doing,  he put it down all those years ago 
so he could come and rest  right there next to your beating heart.
We pray you, O Lord,
People             Help us put it all down and pick up the baby.
 
 
So, my friends, what is it? 
What is it that you get to lay aside, 
even if just for this one moment?
The Creator of your soul has put down everything he had, 
because all he ever really wanted . . . was just to be with you.
We pray you, O Lord,
People             Help us put it all down and pick up the baby.
 
 
So whatever that is you’re doing, 
put it down.
Come on.
Hold the baby.
There’s nothing else 
you can do.
You just hold him. 
And love him. 
And pray. 
We pray you, O Lord,
People             Help us put it all down and pick up the baby.
 
And when you do, when put everything down, and hold and love and pray and melt together,
You get to become the Christ to others. 
 
Let us find the Christ Child in all God’s children who have no one to hold them,
Let us hand over the wounds of loneliness and desperation within our own hearts we hide from others and even ourselves,
Let us allow ourselves to be held who have the memory of wrong etched on our bodies and in our minds.
Let us find the Christ Child in this planet in crisis and reach out,
and hold,
love,
and pray.
 
We pray you, O Lord,
People             Help us put it all down and pick up the baby.
 
Adapted from a sermon of Lonnie Lacy+ by Philip Car-Jones+
 

Father Phil mentioned in church on Sunday that the prayer shawl knitters are taking a break to knit and crochet soap sacks for the folks in detention camps.  When there is more specific information about the project, it will get posted, but meanwhile, you can do this!  Even Father Phil can crochet these because they are small and quick.  Download the pattern of your choice, knit or crochet, below and get started with cotton yarn. Here's the pattern they are using >