The gifts of the Church among all God's people.
The Madison Square Park Congregation was founded on the Day of Pentecost, 2007. Thirty eight souls attended the first Eucharist celebrated in this park on a sunny and pleasantly warm Sunday afternoon. Pastor Clyde welcomed everyone and made/introductory remarks. The Rev. David Lewicki officiated and preached. A second (earthly meal) was provided by members of the Marble Collegiate Church (one of our participating housed congregations) and enjoyed in a real spirit of fellowship among all those who attended.
The Madison Square Ecclesia Congregation generally meets near the south west corner of the park at 23rd Street and Fifth Avenue as we did that day. Our attendance ranges from a low of five in the most difficult of weather to one hundred and twenty-five. The average has gone from 35 in our early days to 15 currently. Occasionally we must move our service by necessity to the center of the north end of the park along 25th Street between Fifth and Madison Avenues or even to the garden at the Church of the Transfiguration on 29th and Fifth. Events like the yearly National BBQ which places its major beer tent on our usual site, the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament which offers serving instruction and other tennis tips on our usual site, or the installation of periodic public art projects in the park.
Madison Square is located in the Flat Iron district of Manhattan and is formed by the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Broadway at 23rd Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The square was named for James Madison, fourth President of the United States and the principal author of the United States Constitution. The focus of the square is Madison Square Park, a 6.2 acre public park, which is bounded on the east by Madison Avenue (which starts at the park's southeast corner at 23rd Street); on the south by 23rd Street; on the north by 26th Street; and on the west by Fifth Avenue and Broadway as they cross.
The Ecclesia Congregation at Madison Square Park is supported by several housed churches and lay members of their respective congregations who volunteer in the life of MSP: St. Paul and St. Andrew Methodist Church, the Episcopal Church of the Holy Apostles, Marble Collegiate Church (Reformed), Church of the Transfiguration (Episcopal), Madison Avenue Baptist Church, and Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church.
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