Ministries Brick Church is your home away from home, offering a range of ministries dedicated to nurturing your spirit, feeding your soul, edifying your mind, creating a sense of community, and meeting the emotional and practical needs of our city. We invite you to reach out, learn more about us, and plug into these meaningful ministries so that our home may become your home too. We can't wait to meet you! Our Ministries Ministry of M usic Youth Mission Outr each Fellowship Children Education Our Ministers Reverend Dr. Thomas Evans Senior Minister tevans@brickchurch.org Reverend Caroline Unzaga Parish Associate cunzaga@brickchurch.org Dr. Raymond Nagem Minister of Music rnagem@brickchurch.org Learn More

Education Education is a foundational and multi-generational priority at Brick Church. Our educational efforts span from the Twos Program at the Brick Church School to 2nd and 3rd grade sacraments classes, to 8th grade confirmation class, to weekly Adult Christian Education events. Sunday Church School starts in the nursery and continues through 7th grade. Lectionary Bible Study for Men & Women (Weekly) Mon, Jan 05 Zoom More info Learn more Men's Bible Study (Weekly) Thu, Jan 15 The Session Room More info Learn more Women's Bible Study (Weekly) Thu, Jan 15 The Session Room More info Learn more Load More 1/7 Brick Church School Since 1940 children have been learning and growing in a loving environment at the Brick Church School. Learning takes place within a program that fosters all areas of children’s development, physical, social, emotional, spiritual, language, cognitive. Thus, every aspect of the program, including the daily schedule, the classroom itself, the materials, and all activities and routines, promotes children’s growth and learning. Our nursery school classes begin with our Twos Program and continue through 4s and 5s. Learn More Sunday Church School The Brick Church Children's Ministry offers engaging Sunday programming designed for children from ages 3 through 7th grade. Our dedicated and enthusiastic volunteer staff will guide your children through inspiring Bible stories, nurturing their spiritual curiosity along the way. Our inclusive programs feature a variety of activities, including family dinners and worship, Sacraments Class, Advent Crafts, the joyous Christmas Pageant, as well as special services on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day for families to celebrate together. Register Youth Choir Brick Church offers children exceptional opportunities to lead worship through music. Led by Liz Richter , the Youth Choirs learn a wide variety of music, grow in faith, and develop vocal skills for a lifetime of joyful music making. The choirs rehearse on Wednesday afternoons, and sing regularly on Sundays, as well as at signature events such as the Park Avenue Tree Lighting. Register 8th Grade Confirmation Confirmation is a year-long opportunity for 8th graders to spend time with their peers, discuss the Christian faith, and get more involved in the Brick Church community. At the end of the year, students may choose to join The Brick Church as an active member. Confirmation Class meets Sundays at 9:00 AM beginning in September. Learn More Adult Christian Education Adult Christian Education consists of Lecture Series arranged by the Adult Education Committee of Session. Presbyterians in centuries past worked for the right to have the Bible in our hands and in our own language. They believed that by reading Scripture and talking about what we read, we would grow in faith and knowledge, as guided by the Holy Spirit. We believe the Bible is meant to be read and studied in community so that the Holy Spirit can speak to us and reveal new insights. Learn More Co-Ed Bible Study Brick Church offers a Co-Ed Bible Study at various times throughout the year for all to attend. Congregants, friends, and visitors are all invited to join the study which is presented by one of the Brick Church pastors. Learn More Men's Bible Study All men are invited to join the Men's Bible Study in exploring and discussing Biblical texts and their meaning for our lives. The Men's Bible Study meets Thursday mornings for thought-provoking discussion and fellowship. If you are interested in learning more about Brick Church and want to attend as a visitor, you are also welcome. Learn More Women's Bible Study All women are invited to join the Thursday Bible study in exploring and discussing Biblical texts and their meaning for our lives. The Women’s Bible Study meets Thursday mornings for thought-provoking discussion and fellowship. If you are interested in learning more about Brick Church and want to attend as a visitor, you are also welcome. Learn More Women’s Devotional Lunch Join the Women’s Devotional Lunch to share a meal together and reflections on living as women of faith while juggling many different roles in our lives. All women are welcome to attend, as the group is led and maintained by participants and meets throughout the year at various locations around New York City. Learn More Summer Bible Study Each summer, in lieu of Adult Christian Education lectures, we hold a minister and member-led Bible study prior to Sunday worship. This co-ed, intergenerational Bible study is open to all members and guests. We believe the Bible is meant to be read and studied in community so that the Holy Spirit can speak to us and reveal new insights. Learn More Breakfast Discussions The Men's Association at Brick Church sponsors monthly Breakfast Discussions for the entire Brick Church community. Men and women come together once a month for breakfast featuring a guest speaker who moderates a lively and interactive discussion. Topics have ranged from Ukraine to Afghanistan, from the Pentagon Papers to Prisons and Policing, from Comedy to Cybersecurity. Learn More

About Us Our Mission Statement The fundamental mission of The Brick Church is to respond to the word of God as found in the Old and New Testaments. The B rick Church must continue its historic mission to lead, inspire and enable the public worship of God in the Presbyterian tradition in the city of New York. Our response can be witnessed in the transformed lives of our members as we celebrate the Good News proclaimed by Jesus Christ. We are committed to supporting spiritual development, Christian education and witness to our community, which will be evidenced on a daily basis not only among church members but also in our outreach to the broader world. Adopted by Session November 15, 2003 Pillars of Our Community In 2019, Brick Church engaged in a Mission Review which identified the following as the Pillars of Our Community: Worship , Serve , Learn , Connect . In light of the Mission Review, the Strategic Implementation Committee identified the following goals for long term planning in 2021: Spir itu a l Vitali ty Strengthen spiritual vitality to be better ser vants of Christ Steward sh ip Protect the longev ity of the church through improved s tewardship Outreach Extend our r each into our community to expand the church's footprint and gr ow its membership Nurture Show forth the love of Christ through compassionate nurture for the community at every stage of life Education Reinforce our commitment to education from the Day School through Adult Education 1/8

Isaiah 6:1-8 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor.  Psalm 8:3-5 “ If we really understood the Mass, we would die of joy. ” — St. John Vianney (the Curé of Ars)   “ And though all that remains of the Temple is one wall, still to stand and pray in that spot is to feel the presence of three thousand years of Jewish prayers. ”— The Rabbi Sacks Legacy   “ As he gazed at the icon of Mother Mary, he felt the Holy Mother’s arms opening wide and welcoming him .” — Professor Bruce Beck, Hellenic College of the Holy Cross   As we continue this sermon series on the wonders of life, last week we discovered how, through a deeper appreciation of nature, we could be more connected to God and more connected to ourselves. This morning, we find that some of the most traditional ways are still amongst the most powerful—finding God through sacred ritual. For me, one such moment took place at the Benedictine Abbey of Montserrat near Barcelona. It is a short train ride from the city to the foot of the mountain. You then find yourself in an absolutely spectacular setting, followed by a fairly rigorous hike of about an hour to the abbey. The physical exertion adds to the awe of the location. We arrived just in time to enter the abbey as a service was about to begin. It was packed—standing room only. As these children began to sing, a hush—a holy hush—enveloped the space. Their voices reverberated off the ancient stone, and the sound was of such crystal-clear purity that you imagined you were being entertained by angels. These diverse religious experiences all point to a similar thread, known in Hebrew as  Shekinah . Most religions and denominations have special pathways to cultivate an experience of the divine through space and place, or through deep listening made possible by the arrangement of prayers, candles, and incense. Shekinah  means “dwelling” and refers to God’s immanent, sometimes numinous, presence—a spine-tingling, hair-raising, ecstatic and surreal moment, Precisely Isaiah’s experience. He described a uniquely powerful moment of encountering God in the temple—one unlikely to be replicated for you or me. So where does that leave us? The temple has been destroyed, and God is not traveling in a pillar of fire as in the wilderness. But of course, the Temple’s destruction did not lead to the disappearance of the experience of God, but rather to its expansion across the world: “ After the destruction of the Temple, the synagogue became a miniature Temple… Jews discovered that holiness does not depend on buildings of stone but on acts of faith, study, and prayer… The Temple was never about a building. It was about creating a society of justice and compassion that would bear witness to God in the world… When the building was destroyed, the mission remained. In place of the physical Mikdash, the Rabbis taught, every home can be a sanctuary and every heart a fragment of the Temple. ” — Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, teaching on Tisha B’Av There is a thread not only throughout Scripture, but across the planet, of transcendent moments in which people of many faiths describe similar encounters with the surreal, the sublime, and the sacred. I will share with you several stories from a variety of traditions that I pray will help you find the practice that attunes you to these  Shekinah  moments. Art is an underappreciated vessel for the sacred in our Presbyterian world. As Pope Francis said: “ A work of art can open the eyes of the mind and heart… something bigger, something that speaks, capable of touching the heart, of communicating a message, elevating the soul. ” And the Orthodox Church has a powerful theology that connects people to God through art known as icons, described by Dr. Bruce Beck as “ windows into heaven. ” Until about fifteen years ago, I had absolutely no knowledge of this. On a journey I took with several clergy—a Baptist preacher, a Catholic priest, a Presbyterian minister, a Lutheran, and a rabbi—we found ourselves at the Orthodox Cathedral in Boston. There we were introduced to Dr. Beck, who shared the story of how he became an Orthodox Christian. He began as a Southern Baptist in Athens, Georgia, came to Boston to pursue a PhD, and met his wife there, an ancient Greece scholar. Through her studies, she was drawn to Orthodoxy and eventually converted. When their first child was born, he agreed to raise the child Orthodox. When his wife was too tired to take the baby to church, he would carry the child in a sling and walk quietly in the back of the sanctuary. He first noticed something changing when he found himself tearing up as the Gospel texts were read. He had studied those same texts academically, yet they had never moved him emotionally. Then one day, as he gazed at an icon of the Holy Mother, he felt her arms opening wide and welcoming him. He described this as a non-verbal experience of what he called  material holiness —the belief that the material world can be used by God to help the faithful in their journey toward God. He went on to describe the process of iconography: “ Iconography as a sacrament results from the icon’s and the iconographer’s communion with the Divine. The iconographer must engage in a spiritual discipline of fasting, abstinence, prayer, and Eucharist to prepare for a project. To execute an icon requires something of an ascetic lifestyle, which is why many iconographers are Orthodox monks and nuns. ” We Presbyterians are deeply concerned with things making sense, with a rational approach to theology and religious practice. I believe this is laudable and essential. I come from a family of academics, and I was a math major. For much of my life, I had a utilitarian approach to feeling- and experience-based religious practices. I was skeptical of them. But as I grow older, I find myself less concerned with explanations and more interested in exploration. I first heard this articulated by Dr. Peter Gomes when he was chaplain at Memorial Church at Harvard. He knew people like me well. In one conversation, he said something that has stayed with me: faith should be outlandish. He said, “ I want it not to make sense. When people come to my church, we do not do explanations. My goal is to keep the flame lit, not to explain the nature of fire. ” As people continue to hunger for more  Shekinah , old traditions are being repurposed and reinvigorated. A colleague of mine, the Rev. Bob Hurst in Alabama, told me about his encounter with Anita Diamant, author of  The Red Tent . They met at Mayyim Hayyim, a  mikvah —a place used by Jews for ritual immersion. Traditionally, women used the  mikvah  following their monthly cycle, and it is also used in conversion and other life-cycle events. But this  mikvah  has been re-envisioned as a place to encounter God. Diamant helped renew interest in this ritual, especially among Reform Jews in the Boston area. Many who have used it report powerful experiences of God. What is fascinating is that this most physical of Jewish rituals—one that literally places people in contact with their bodies—has facilitated profound encounters with the transcendent. Diamant said, “ A ritual that forces people to get out of their heads has facilitated the most powerful spiritual experiences .” For Muslims, it is the sacred Black Stone, believed to have fallen from Paradise and given to Abraham by the Angel Gabriel, touched or revered in imitation of the Prophet Muhammad. How can we learn from these traditions that are outside of our historic Christian practices as Presbyterians? Rabbi Jonathan Sacks wrote in  The Dignity of Difference : “ The test of faith is whether I can make space for difference. Can I recognize God’s image in someone who is not in my image…? If I cannot, then I have made God in my image instead of allowing Him to remake me in His. ” That is, if we affirm that everyone is made in the image of God and they have a seed of the Spirit planted within them, and even if they don’t have the same doctrine or faith that I do, they have something to teach me, something to share with me that I need to learn from. And it is not all about head knowledge. [[Time Out!]] [Occasionally in football the quarterback will call an audible and change the play. I’m calling an audible in the sermon and shifting texts! After all, tomorrow is Martin Luther King Jr. Day] I recently reread what is, for today’s geopolitical context, a world-altering text. It made me think about today’s world and how sad I am about the state of war and politics across the planet. The problems in the Middle East and Europe and Asia and Africa and in our country are not new; they have been with humanity always, but God offers a promise, a radical promise. In the nineteenth chapter of Isaiah, we are told a recounting of the idolatrous sins of Egypt and Assyria, both enslavers and conquerors of Israel. God promises wrath and judgment upon Egypt for its idolatry and past enslavement of the Israelites. But then the passage takes a radical turn. God promises not only to save Egypt and Assyria, but to bless them alongside Israel: “ Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my heritage. ” God’s power will make peace between nations, cultures, and religions long at odds with one another. These moments of reconciliation are among the most powerful ways of knowing the  Shekinah  of God. Which reminds me of our Christian understanding of God’s  Shekinah . And it came in the form of an infant who was laid in a manger. And he powerfully manifested the presence of God through bringing justice and dignity and hope to those who are despised by the world. He showed us that God’s justice and God’s holy presence are inextricably linked. And that when people experience the justice of God, they also experience the holiness of God. Jesus promised that wherever two or three are gathered in his name, he is in their midst. I would argue that whenever people gather—whether they know it or not—in the pursuit of harmony, forgiveness, and understanding across divides, they are gathering in the name of Jesus, the Prince of Peace. I am convinced that the path to healing this world is the path of respect, of listening, of understanding people who are not like us. It is the bridge that will be the forerunner to Isaiah’s vision of the healing of the nations. I am deeply grateful for the faith God has given me, for the family who instilled it in me, and for the privilege of serving the Presbyterian Church. It is my greatest honor. Yet I also know that my experience of God is incomplete. I do not know everything about God, nor does the Presbyterian Church. Every encounter I have had with people of deep and respectful faith—Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, Buddhists, Hindus—has enriched me immeasurably. Their willingness to share their own sacred ways of encountering God has expanded my heart and my understanding of the Shekinah, and given me hope for a new world. Amen.

When New York City became the first capital of the United States in 1789 the newly elected president needed a house for his family while residing here. A stalwart of the Brick Presbyterian Church happened to be living in a very stately mansion at 1-3 Cherry Street, and he offered it to President Washington. The church member (later Clerk of Session, President of the Board of Trustees and Elder) Samuel Osgood (1747-1813), was originally from Massachusetts, had previously studied theology at Harvard, been a colonel in the American Revolution, and was active politically. President Washington appointed Osgood to be the first Postmaster General for the new Federal government. Osgood’s second wife, Maria Bowne Franklin, whom he married in 1786 and by whom he had five children, was a member of the important Quaker Bowne family, and she was the widow of Walter Franklin, the previous owner of 1-3 Cherry Street. Her first cousin happened to be the established Quaker cabinet maker Thomas Burling. He was chosen to make furnishings in the Federal neo-classical style for the mansion, thanks to a grant from the congress, which detailed every item owned by the public in an Articles Furnished list. The furnishings later went to Philadelphia to the next presidential mansion. Burling’s shop was a few doors down from the Brick Church, then called the New Church, on Beekman Street. It was convenient for Washington, Jefferson and Knox to drop by, and one of their visits there was recorded in a newspaper at the time. Burling privately made furniture for these men as well as for the Clinton family and for Robert R. Livingston, who administered the oath of office to Washington. Additionally Burling’s partner made furniture in the prevailing style, replete with Federal motifs of eagle, stars, laurel leaves and classical columns for the recently refurbished Federal Hall on Wall Street. Going back to 1776, also known to General Washington was the minister, Dr. John Rodgers, of the New Church, which had become a jail and then a hospital in the hands of the British during the American Revolution. With the exception of a few loyalists, its members rushed from the city and did not return until the British departed on Evacuation Day in the fall of 1783. A pillar for the Brooklyn Bridge now replaces 1-3 Cherry Street. Fortunately the Bowne stationers building can be visited in the South Street Seaport restoration, so a bit of history of the neighborhood remains. Sadly, the Brick Church and Burling’s shop on Beekman Street have long vanished. So too has the resting place for Samuel Osgood, who published on religious subjects, and was buried on hallowed ground in a vault in the yard of his church on Beekman Street.

The Church Mouse Program will be starting up at Brick again this year to support Brick members at boarding school and college. If you have a child who is at boarding school or college and would like them to receive a care package from the Brick community, please fill out  this survey  by February 10. Our goal is to send one round of packages before spring break, and another during exam period. We will be gathering in the Carnegie Room after church on Sunday, February 22 to assemble care packages. If you would like to volunteer to help, please reach out to  Margaret Pennoyer  or  Sarah Johnson .