Church School will welcome grades 6 - 8 into the Sunday morning program this fall.  Katherine Bickerton and staff have ordered new curriculum materials for the older grades, including Confirmation for 8th graders.  You can register anytime; just pick up a form today in church, or download it from our website and get it to Katherine at the Church.  Katherine's planning something new for parents, too: a discussion group that will meet from 10:30 to 11:00 a.m. in the Undercroft beginning on October 3.  The group will start out talking about Episcopal priest and author Fr. Tim Schenck's book of short ("really short!", Katherine says) essays, What Size Are God's Shoes?  Kids, Chaos, and the Spiritual Life.  It's all about finding grace in the ordinary moments of life. 

Katherine Madpak will pick up the baton here, too—and these 6th-8th-graders will meet once or twice a month for socializing and fun: movies, dinners, bowling, etc.  It’s going to be a great year!  Tell your friends about it.

Sunday service times - and our educational program times - have changed for Fall 2010 (beginning September 19). 

• Holy Communion Rite One will begin at 7:45 a.m.;
• Holy Communion for children and children-at-heart will begin at 9 (with our new youth orchestra headed by David Scott); and
• Holy Communion Rite Two for adults will full choir will continue at 11:15 a.m.

Adult Education and Church School will begin at 10 o'clock, to allow us to devote more time to Christian education for every age group.  Rector Janet Broderick writes:

Tremendous Adult Education scenarios will be offered from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. in the Parish Hall - coffee and goodies available in the Friendly Guild Room while teaching is offered for adults in the Parish Hall and for Children in the Undercroft.  Here is the point:  we must know more about our faith to make it alive and real in our lives.  Learning/questioning/being exposed to new and old ideas...debating and laughing and even being enraged by challenges is part of staying youthful and alive.  We all need it!

I will be co-teaching the first class with Danielle Baker.  We are doing a five-week class on the "Our Father" - it's astounding what that prayer holds for us.  We will have visual aids, some music, laughter, and hopefully the fruit of the spirit available to all.

Be sure to mark down the new times - and the new classes! - on your calendars.  It promises to be a very exciting year ahead....

As part of the new format of the 9 a.m. service, we're putting together an instrumental ensemble to play for selected parts of the service this fall. The group will begin by learning a couple of pieces of service music, and go from there.

All instruments are welcome!  We'll find a place for you and create a part you'll be comfortable playing. St. Peter's member and retired music teacher David Scott will direct the group. Please e-mail or call Brian Harlow (bharlow@stpetersmorristown.org) to express interest and we will organize a time for our first meeting.

(At right:  Renoir's Porträt der Töchter von Catulle-Mendès am Klavier.)

Sunday, September 26^th at 4pm

Come hear our beautiful carillon in concert on Sunday, September 26^th at 4pm. Bring a chair or blanket to sit on the lawn, or come early for a seat on one of the benches in the garden! Refreshments will be available, and a free-will offering will be collected for the Music at St. Peter's concert series.

Lisa Lonie has been carillonneur at St. Thomas Church, Whitemarsh, PA since 1999 and played concerts at St. Peter's previously in 2000 and 2001. Ms. Lonie is a frequent carillon recitalist throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe and has performed for acclaimed carillon festivals, including the 1996 World Carillon Congress in Aschaffenburg, Germany.

High above the busy streets of Morristown in the tower of St Peter's Episcopal Church is a wonderful treasure. St. Peter's carillon of 49 bells is one of only four traditional carillons in New Jersey (many bell sounds that you hear from church towers are not from real bells!) and was the largest carillon in the USA when dedicated on Palm Sunday April 13, 1924. It is one of only 119 concert class carillons in the entire USA and altogether it weighs over 35,000 pounds. The largest bell weighs 4,495 pounds.

Below, listen on YouTube to a recording of Lisa playing at Princeton University's 17th annual Summer Carillon Series in 2008.

Starting this Fall, we are re-christening our children's choir program "St. Peter's Choir School." Other choir programs similar to ours have found this an effective way to communicate that we are not just running another ‘children's choir.' We at St. Peter's are not changing the emphasis of our program, or the commitment required, but rather emphasizing the many skills that the full choir experience can impart.

Through their years in the choir program, children develop skills in concentration, multitasking, leadership, self-discipline and foreign languages, in addition to developing their singing voice and knowledge of music theory. If a child becomes involved with music early on - for example, in our Training Choi - it is even easier to teach them, and they are very likely to keep music in their lives.

Yes, choir is a commitment of time and energy, but one well worth it. I hope that you will encourage a child to take advantage of this wonderful experience right here in Morristown. Colorful flyers are available at the entrances to the church.

Time to register for Church School!  Help us complete our planning by filling out and returning the form.