Category Archives: Property Committee

A Gem on Our Street

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Rev. Dr. Hartmut Kramer-Mills

It may be true or not that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton responded to an email, “Who rules the world?” with a lapidary word: “Girls!” The fact speaks for itself. On April 14, five young women, all students at RUTGERS UNIVERSITY, spent an afternoon here at church painting the Sexton’s House. Parts of it had been primed in the fall already, but there had not been enough people power to finish those parts. So the house had looked white. Continue reading →

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Creativity and Community

Posted on April 2, 2012 by Rev. Dr. Hartmut Kramer-Mills

As Easter comes upon us, we have a remarkable coincidence with the dawn of a new period of ministry here at First Reformed Church. The reason is that our historic preservation project comes to an end. This means less reporting, less building issues, and less work for the Finance Committee and the Consistory. The Fundraising Committee even had its last meeting.

So, we are resurrecting from construction and paper files and bank statements. Now is the time to become creative again and to continue to nurture the exciting community that has formed around us during the years of brick-and-mortar. It is also important that we invest more efforts, prayer and thoughts in growing our church. What would our meaning be, if we did not try to reach as many of our neighbors near and far in order to offer them participation in God’s peculiar way of relating with us? Continue reading →

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Spiders in the Sanctuary!

Posted on March 3, 2012 by Rev. Dr. Hartmut Kramer-Mills

When, on February 4th, I snuck into the sanctuary in the morning in order to water one of the plants in the chancel area, I could not trust my eyes! Every pew, all the chancel furniture and even the three microphones had been covered with what looked like white, fibrous spider webs. The entire sacred hall, it seems, had been turned into the vicious trap of some mean arachnid predator!

But where was the alien beast? Of course, there was none, only Rob “Smiley” Callahan and his wife, who had busied themselves painting the segments in the ceiling that had suffered mild water damage during the roof replacement of the previous weeks. The cobwebs were soon exposed as mere drop cloths, protecting whatever they covered. Continue reading →

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Rutgers Students Returned to First Reformed!

Posted on March 3, 2012 by Rev. Dr. Hartmut Kramer-Mills

Thanks to the generosity of Rutgers University and its Student Volunteer Council, we had another great work day on our premises, the Martin Luther King Day of Service on February 18, 2012.

Twenty-three Rutgers students and their two student supervisors followed the call and spent several hours with janitorial and other chores in our buildings. Their cheerful work included: Continue reading →

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Yue Yue Ensemble Presents Beautiful Christmas Concert – Historic Preservation Project at FRC Benefits

Posted on December 31, 2011 by Janet Waanders

On December 10, YueYue Ensemble presented a beautiful program in the sanctuary, filling the space with glorious sound that celebrated the Christmas season with music from the 18th century to the present, from West and East, from original compositions to arrangements of old carols and folk tunes.

Under the direction of Dr. Sheng-Hwa Yu, the chorus sang beautifully and with such joy that the audience clearly caught the spirit, appreciating both the
skill of the singers and their emotion. We at First Reformed Church have been privileged to know the YueYue group for a long time and on this
occasion were privileged to receive its gift of music. All of the donations made by audience members are designated for the church’s Historic Preservation Fund and will be used to help complete the replacement of the slate roof. Continue reading →

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Town Clock Community Development Corp., Inc.

Posted on December 31, 2011 by Rev. Susan Kramer-Mills

by Pastor Susan
Here is an update of what occurred over the last month.
• A Grant with Anderson Windows in the amount of
$15,000 was applied for.
•A matching grant with Johnson & Johnson was applied for
through their employee’s contribution program. Thanks to
Lauren Bernhofer. Continue reading →

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Status of Construction

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Rev. Dr. Hartmut Kramer-Mills

The construction is moving forward very well. The dumpster and several contractor cars in the driveway have been a persistent problem, though. We arranged with the parking authority that three specific cars of volunteer staff can park free in the Wolfson Deck. In addition, Architect Margaret Westfield has banned all contractor cars from the driveway. However, the information does not reach everybody. On one morning, there were five different cars of workers and contractors successively parked in front of the dumpster. I approached only two and was quickly tired of the game. Continue reading →

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