Please join us on Sunday, September 15th, from 2-5 pm, come to Pilgrim Lodge, in West Gardiner, Maine, to celebrate the history, ministry, and future of Pilgrim Lodge!

This is an open house event. Registration for this event is not required. Come walk the new boardwalk and the labyrinth and learn about planned improvements to maintain and develop the site.

Refreshments will be provided. Cider, snacks, and desserts!

A brief worship is scheduled for 3:00 pm.

Special Guest Christopher Grundy!

We will be joined by singer/songwriter Christopher Grundy.

Christopher has become one of the leaders in a movement forging a new musical genre: progressive Christian worship music. For emergent and progressive Christians, it’s a breath of fresh air – and about time. New, evocative images, emerging theologies, inclusive and expansive language, and musical styles that draw upon folk, alt rock, R&B, and a cappella chant.

For the last two decades Christopher has been writing and playing for national, regional, and local church events, as well as at colleges, coffee houses, and benefit concerts. In that time he has developed a particular kind of thoughtful, spiritual folk, adding a few other styles along the way.

“I always refer to Christopher as one of the finest composers of new music in the Church today. He has a wonderful gift for writing beautiful choruses that are wonderful musically, yet very easy to learn and sing, and his gifts with language and theological insight are also exceptional.” – Bryan Sirchio

The tunes are open and accessible — sturdy, straightforward tunes that you could stand on if you needed to get something off the top shelf. With that music comes an ongoing exploration of both the details of life and the deeper possibilities below the surface.

Christopher was born in Naperville, Illinois. He grew up singing in church choirs and began performing his own songs in junior high. Eventually he found his way to coffee houses and local church basements.

In the late 80′s he recorded a fledgling LP called “Simple Songs” while at Carleton College in Minnesota, “so I would have done it once.” After a year of volunteer work in Japan (including several benefit concerts and a stint on the streets of Tokyo), he headed to New York City. While studying at Union Seminary in New York, Christopher played at local coffee houses, but also began leading music for regional youth events of the United Church of Christ. In 1991-92 he recorded “Lifted Into Dancing,” mostly in his parents’ family room. After moving to Iowa to serve as a local pastor, he recorded “In This Life” in 1995. “Here in Providence” was recorded in 1999 while he was serving a church in Lawrence, KS. By this time, Christopher had gained some notoriety at national church events, and in 2002 released “Come to the Feast,” a CD of songs composed over the course of ten years of church events.

He currently lives in St. Louis, where he serves as Associate Professor of Preaching and Worship and Director of the Chapel at Eden Theological Seminary. He continues to write and perform for churches throughout the country.