For a number of years now, the men of the church take over the kitchen on the morning of Mother’s Day. They come in and prepare all different kinds of delicious food for everyone. One year, we had pancakes of all different ethnic backgrounds; last year, the eggs were cooked to order.

This year, Gary Bernhofer is organizing this event again. Breakfast will be served from 9:30 a.m. If you want to help or supply any kind of food, please let Gary know or email him at JRTPals@aol.com.

There will be a basket for donations; this year the donation will go to the Worship and Music committee to help offset the programs and activities they organize.

As we are writing this, we are in the middle of our Lenten time. The Adult Education class, Living Your Faith in a Messed Up World, has had its challenges, as we all do at one time or the other. Once it had to be cancelled due to the snow, another week it was very wet and windy, once it had to be postponed because of Ted’s funeral service. But most classes have been very well attended, and even though we have not been able to make it to one of the classes, we have heard nice reports about it.

Nature has been rough on us the last couple of weeks, and so getting to church was not always so easy. But the weather did not deter people from coming to hear the Bell Choir play a beautiful piece on Mar 14th. Since so many could not hear, we are planning on playing it again some time.

By the time you receive this, the Easter plans are all complete. Like last year, the Bell Choir will play a piece during the service and the choir will sing beautiful songs to mark this important holiday.

If you have any questions or suggestions for the Worship and Music committee, our next meeting with the Christian Education and SNAP committee is planned for Apr 11th, and another meeting for ‘just’ the Worship committee is on the agenda for May 23rd. Please feel free to approach Margaret or Erie and your concern will be put on the agenda.

This month in worship we have several Lenten series and services taking place. We started the Lent season with a collegiate service. This year it was our turn to host Second Reformed Church, Suydam Street Reformed Church and Highland Park Reformed Church. The service was very moving with the imposition of ashes, hand washing and the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Following it was a delicious Feast of Sausages which people enjoyed.

An Adult Education class series is being offered on all Fridays of Lent. The series will be led by Pastor Hartmut and held on Friday nights at 8:00 p.m. at various church members’ homes. The theme is Living Our Faith in a Messed-Up World. On Feb 19th, the series started at house of the Pastors. On the following dates, the families mentioned will host the next session. All are welcome to attend any of these.

Feb 26th – the Feketes
Mar 5th, the Waanders
Mar 12th, the Vande Buntes
Mar 19th, the Novacks
Mar 26th, the Hances

We thank all of these generous people to open their houses for these classes.

Like last year on Maundy Thursday, there will be a Seder meal followed by a Tenebrae Worship service. This service was very well received last year, and I know people are looking forward to having this service again. See the article about this elsewhere in the newsletter. And the first Sunday of April we will celebrate Easter. Again special elements for the service are planned.

Looking further ahead on the calender: For our annual Rally Sunday in September, we are working on something really special. It will be a full weekend of special events. The dates to put on your calendar are Sep 11th and 12th. We will host Lorraine Nelson-Wolf in a Song Gift Weekend. More details will be announced later.

Please mark your calendar for Apr 1st, 7:00 p.m. The Seder meal menu will include lamb, rice pilaf, greens, various Seder foods, dessert and beverages. A vegetarian dish will also be available. Since Ethel Salamone is “The Chef”, we know that the meal will be delicious. The cost of the meal is $10 per person and $30 for a family.

Reservations will be required since we have to set up tables in the sanctuary and need to plan out the number of seats. There will be a sign up sheet in Fellowship Hall, with a cut off date of Mar 21st. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask Ethel Salamone or Joan Fekete for more information.

With so much physical work, it is necessary that we take care of our spiritual balance. The time of Lent offers itself for this, as it provides us with some great opportunity to find center in our worship life. As every year, we will begin Lent on Ash Wednesday, Feb 17th, at 7:30 p.m. with a collegiate worship service here at First Reformed Church. Folks from the Highland Park Reformed Church, Second Reformed Church, and the Suydam Street Reformed Church will join us for the occasion. Our organist and choir director, Ben Berman, has found great music for the combined choir.

Following the Ash Wednesday service, we will offer a special confessional liturgy during the beginning part of our Lenten Sunday worship services. This liturgy centers on the baptismal font and is based on words from Psalm 51. Each time, we will pour water into the font, reminding ourselves of the beginning of our faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In doing so, we will adapt a format that comes to us from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

In addition to this special worship liturgy, we offer a Lenten Adult Education Class. It has the title, Living Your Faith in a Messed-up World, and comes to us from our sister denomination, the Christian Reformed Church. Each session will focus on a short film or interview that provides an exemplary insight into the relevance of the Reformed faith today. The sessions will be held on Friday nights at 8:00 p.m., beginning on Mar 19th. We are trying to hold these sessions in various homes rather than at church. If you would like to host a session, please call our church office (732-545-1005).

A Presbyterian Lenten liturgy and a Christian-Reformed adult education class — this also reflects where we are as the people of First Reformed Church: firmly embedded in our Reformed tradition and, yet, always eager to broaden our horizon and outlook.

May this year’s Lenten journey be meaningful to you!
Pastor Hartmut

A deeply moving Seder meal, like the one we held last year, is once again planned for Maundy Thursday. We will begin to collect reservations soon. This meal is then followed by a Tenebrae Worship during which we remember our Lord Jesus’ death on the cross. More information about this meal will follow in March.

As flu season is still around us, we have to be careful to not spread germs. In order to help this along, there are wipes and hand sanitizers available in the back of the church for you to use.

At our last meeting, we also talked about the Lunchtime Recitals. The spring season is coming soon, and we are preparing for it, even though the State of New Jersey has announced that it will be freezing all grants for arts events. So keep an eye out for the announcements of the dates and performers, and any call to help us celebrate this ministry for the New Brunswick Livingston School music classes and the elderly who are served through this outreach program.

The Boy Jesus in the Temple

Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. After three days, they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished; and his mother said to him, ‘Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.’ He said to them, ‘Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?’ But they did not understand what he said to them. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.

Pastor: This is the Word of the Lord!
People: Thanks be to God.

Sermon for First Reformed Church, December 27, 2009
Title: A Calling that Caused Worry
Text: Luke 2:41-52

If you look at this text from the standpoint of a parent, you see immediately that it portrays a mixed bag of behaviors. Some of them are good and noteworthy and they would fill any parent with pride. Others are outright questionable. Yet, somewhere in between, there is a message for us on this morning.

Undoubtedly good is the fact that the boy Jesus was apparently able to hold his own in the question-and-answer session with the temple teachers. Remarkable was also his certainty regarding his identity and calling: ‘Do you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?’

But think about his worried parents! For three days, they had searched for him in vain. When they, finally, made it back onto the temple grounds, it was like returning to a crowded mall or football stadium. This is, at least, how scholars describe the situation. Much of the temple property was open courtyard, surrounded by colonnaded areas where teachers held their classes. The boy Jesus had joined one of them.

Ancient world literature has, of course, more amazing-child stories than this one. Yet, they usually sound different, as they do not include a critical dimension: The childhood stories of Achilles, Heracles, Alexander the Great, and others portray them as exceptional from an early age on, but not as children who cause their parents grief.

In his new commentary, Richard Vinson claims that our story is different, because it employs an appropriate understanding of developmental psychology. According to Vinson, our story describes a ‘pure teenager’, that wonderful and maddening mixture of quick perceptiveness and utter self-absorption.

To drive his point home, Vinson builds a bridge to today’s parents of adolescent children when he remarks that the way [the boy Jesus] talks to Mary, under normal circumstances, would probably only increase the length of his grounding.’ Vinson further elaborates on this. When Jesus defends himself, ‘Did you not know that I must be in my Fathe’rs house?’ Vinson has Mary respond:

‘Didn’t we know? Worry us sick, and then he says we should have known? I’ll tell you what you’re going to know, young man! You’re going to know the inside of your father’s workshop like the back of your hand, and you’re not going to know much else until Elijah comes back or you grow up, whichever comes first!’

Other scholars, however, shy away from applying developmental psychology to the scene. They emphasize the fundamental belief of Antiquity that personality never changes throughout life, and that children are, therefore, something like miniature adults.

From this vantage point, Jesus’ portrayed treatment of his parents requires sociological, not psychological interpretation. Sociologically, our story marks not only the beginning of Jesus’ adulthood, but also his concomitant leaving of the private world of women and entering the public world of men. Interpreted in this way, the upsetting response Jesus gave to his mother originally may have been intended to show early Christians that Jesus had successfully mastered the transition into manhood.

Be this as it may. Either way, Jesus’ behavior caused his parents grief. When called on it, he responded by talking down to his mother. Each time, the text does not try to hide this. We can explain it psychologically or sociologically. Yet, in the end, we stand back puzzled. We know it is real. At the same time, we wonder whether it was intended to be this way. It may be an accurate description of reality. Nevertheless, we would like to know, whether there is a deeper meaning to the juxtaposition of good and not so good in the very same story.

Richard Vinson, the commentator I quoted earlier, suggests relating these contrasts theologically ‘to the intersection of humanity and divinity in Jesus.’ This enables him to provide meaning to the story’s coexistence of the good and not so good. Yes, his divine nature needs Jesus to be in his Father’s house, but human reality has a few strings attached. Ultimately, however, Vinson condenses the interplay between these two contrasts in a single question:

Would God really encourage a young adolescent to stay behind in the big city and worry his parents to death?

The implied answer is, of course, ‘No!’ We may startle at the bluntness of this recognition. Yet, it gives us, at least, an appreciation of the difficulties the revelations of God encounter in this world.

I would like to transfer some of these insights now into our daily lives. When confronted with the opaque behavior of her son, Mary received a glance into the future. At one point or another, we, too, have experienced the mystery of God’s will. At times, the path ahead of us could not be clearer. Prosperity and success seem to affirm the general benevolence of God.

At other times, we are stunned. Why me? we ask, or Why this innocent one? Then we resort to prayer. Again, at times the onset of healing seems to affirm the general benevolence of God and unmasks the time of trial as a test.

What happens, however, if the onset of healing never comes and the paradigm of testing reveals itself as absurd? What happens when prayer remains seemingly unanswered? Will the mystery also render God’s presence invalid?

Back in the Temple, Mary received a foretaste of how strangely opaque her son’s life would become. We cannot even venture to assume what she must have felt under the cross, when it had become apparent that this cup had not been removed from him.

Having recognized this, we are well within our bounds in applying it to the very future of our church as well. In stating this, I do not want to deny that we have a great vision, and a good plan. Before we get to the mysterious part, let me therefore state what we have:

We know that growth in numbers will not necessarily eliminate the deficit in our annual budget. Consequently, we have emphasized income through building usage. In addition, we have linked our church to a number of institutions that provide meaning and income. These range from the soup kitchen Elijah’s Promise to City Hall, to the New Brunswick public school system, all the way to our colleagues at the New Jersey Historic Trust, from whom we receive half of the funding for our preservation project.

However, we are not finished, and our budget deficit is still there. Consequently, our Consistory has approved this month a contract with a special interior architect from Philadelphia. We have asked him to provide us with a feasibility study of what might be possible in our church building itself: How could we divide its space anew and in ways that would enable us to respond to some of the needs of our community and save utility costs at the same time? What possibilities might this offer regarding other institutional partners with whom we could walk into the future together?

Once the study is complete, Consistory will present it to you as the congregation and open the floor for discussion. It will not be a very fast process, as group work always takes time. Nobody can currently predict the outcome. Only one thing is clear today: As good stewards of this property, we must venture the exploration.

Today, however, on the Eve to a New Year, we have received a foretaste from our Lord’s own childhood on how complicated and complex it may be when we pursue a call in earnest. The boy Jesus’ appearance in the temple has shown us: We cannot ratify a call the way we would ratify a strategic paper. When we experience this spiritual truth in our own future, I hope we will remember that the holy family itself was not exempt from these dynamics and that this was not at all easy for them. Yet, this, too, is part of the story that we continue to write.

So, will our future be unambiguous and easy? As I said earlier, certainly not! Will it give cause to some worry and increased need to understand? If we follow the paradigm of the 12-year-old Jesus in the Temple, undoubtedly, we will have to answer, “yes.” Serious struggle for a better future is no easy business! Yet, in all of this, it will be important that we do not interpret the uncertainties of the path ahead of us as void of God’s presence.

Rather, the text itself makes us an offer, when it sets before us Mary. Instead of getting upset, she pondered all these things in her heart. I suppose this is what kept her balanced and, ultimately, self-differentiated enough not to succumb to blind anxiety. The text invites us to follow her into the New Year. Amen.

The Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright, 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The quotations from Richard Vinson are taken from Richard B. Vinson, Luke, (Smyth & Helwys Bible commentary, 21), Macon, GA, 2008.

The sociological approach referenced here is taken from Bruce J. Malina / Richard L. Rohrbaugh, Social-Science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels, 2nd edition, Minneapolis, MN, 2003.

What a truly anticipatory time! Traditionally, we wait for the coming of Christ. I will tell you something else you can expect: a very eclectic Christmas Eve music program on December 24 . The adult choir th and the bell choir have been working tirelessly to provide a meaningful set of music to the congregation.

On Christmas Eve, you will see and hear the space in the sanctuary being used to its fullest potential. There will be virtuosic displays by soloists, intensely devotional hymns by the choir, and joyous music heralding the coming of the Son of God.

Everyone is welcome to sing in the adult choir. Our practices are Wednesday evenings at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday mornings at 9:00 a.m. Christmas is the perfect season to join, and we are more than glad to include you. The more the merrier! And the merrier the choir, the merrier the Christmas! So let’s have a very merry Christmas.

The Worship Committee reacted with an ad-hoc session and brainstormed what to do. Due to increased building usage, the Holy Table and the communion set are moved around several times each week. We needed a sturdier set, therefore, and we discussed several options.

Finally, Heather Epstein brought us a sample cup from Trio, a shop for Judaica in Highland Park, where she knew the owner. She presented this to the choir and a wider audience prior to one of our summer worship services and gathered comments. After some further consideration, it was decided to purchase the cup. At the same time, an anonymous donor gave us a fitting silver plate. The cup features a relief of the holy city Jerusalem, a motif that connects Jews and Christians simultaneously and adds an interfaith dimension to our worship services. Please see the accompanying pictures. We will dedicate the new communion set during Rally Sunday on September 13th.

We’re delighted to report that the church has $40,000 of the $50,000 grant awarded us by the NJ State Historic Trust over a year ago. In the intervening months, Pastor Hartmut completed many forms and assembled many documents to fulfill the requirements of the state. This money is to be devoted to the development of specific plans by Westfield Associates, our architectural firm, for the restoration work.

I joked with the congregation that day, that it was not a day to worship if you do not enjoy singing, because we sang a lot. And the songs were more difficult, if not more up-lifting, than they have been in previous years. At times, parts of the choir sang like cantors leading the congregation through song. At other times. we all sat in the pews singing while others came forward to offer prayers and to light tea candles on the temporary Holy Table where Maria Owen’s Pentecost painting, Tongues of Fire, was displayed on an easel.

The worship was moving and very much un-like our traditional service. However, the moments of chanting, praying, silence and singing were powerful reminders that worship is a deep transformative and completely different sort of‘state of mind; one which we often avoid or are unable to reach. And yet, the church of Jesus Christ was founded on this powerful practice of waiting and praying. The very day of Pentecost was the waiting for the Holy Spirit to be poured out. So we practice that event once a year. We sing, and pray, and wait for those to come forward, those to offer prayers, those to light candles. And we sing for the Jesus who was and is our blessing.

Naturally, this included a lot of singing for us: as Pastor Susan pointed out in her introduction (see accompanying article), if you had not been in church in a while and didn’t like singing, this was the wrong Sunday to pick! Thanks to organist Viktoriya’s enthusiasm, we were able to turn much of the liturgy into a responsory between the choir, the congregation, and us pastors.

Other elements of our service included the use of an altar, votive candles, and a Pentecost painting by Maria Owens that she had kindly lend us for the occasion. Following the customs of Taizé, we used it as an icon during the “Prayer Around the Cross”. This was a special prayer time during which we were invited, in small groups or alone, to come to the altar table and to offer a special prayer for someone else.

All in all, our worship offered a different way of being in the presence of God. It provided a good supplement to what we normally do, and it helped us appreciate the diversity of ways in which people praise God.

Please come on June 15th and celebrate Father’s Day and the end of the church school year by worshiping in front of the church. Be prepared that we will still do “things differently” by including a special time with the children leading worship, which will be followed by a Special Grilled Luncheon (hot dogs and hamburgers and much more!) provided by the Worship & Education Committee. We will be asking for a donation for the luncheon, which will defer the costs of sending Erie to a summer Bell ringing camp at Westminster Choir College.

Games and other activities are planned for the kids and the young at heart. So wear your sneakers and sun screen, as well as hope for good weather!

Sandy has invited many friends and folks who work at the Eden Institute. In fact, she has asked that in lieu of gifts, folks make a donation to our church or to the Eden Institute Foundation. Come and welcome Walter as a confirmed member of our congregation!!!

The Mar 20th Maundy Thursday Tenebrae Worship this year was quite different because “instead of the usual classical music” my two friends, Bryan Harring on the saxophone, and Enrico Cabriero on piano, played jazz music. Bryan and Rico improvised the beginning of the hymns between the scripture readings. They also performed a jazz song called Lush Life, which made the atmosphere melancholy. Rico then played a lovely piece during communion, which helped the congregation to relax and meditate a bit more. The music added a great touch to the service.

Ethel Salamone also made a specific type of bread with ingredients from the Bible; it is called Ezekiel bread. This made the evening even more special. It tasted quite good and seemed more natural, just as if it was Christ’s real body. The service was moving and ended with the bells being rung thirty-three times (the number of years of Jesus’ life in the world) by Viktoriya. As usual, we left the sanctuary with the lights turned down low and without a blessing.

 This year will be a bit different, though, in that a Jazz band, which will include Dan Epstein (Heather’s husband), will provide musical jazz variations of Good Friday hymns. They will play in between the readings set for remembering the events which led up to Christ’s crucifixion.

Our usual Maundy Thursday dinner will also be held a bit differently since our House of Manna is in Fellowship Hall. We have arranged through Elijah’s Promise to have food prepared for us as well, so we can begin eating along with our families at 6:00 p.m., and then from there we can go to worship.

Please inform Pastor Susan or Joan Fekete about attending the dinner. We would like to give a head count to the cooks at Elijah’s Promise. Also, we ask for a $5.00 donation per person for the meal. The proceeds will go to the benefit of the soup kitchen.

You might be wondering: why 40 days? Because Jesus fasted and was tempted in the wilderness for 40 days. Lent, then, is our time of fasting, prayer, temptation and repentance. Lent is not required anywhere in scriptures, but it has been a custom, which Christians have practiced for most of the last two thousand years. There are other customs such as stripping the sanctuary of all flowers, candles, and colors during Lent. We generally do this on Maundy Thursday when we cover everything with black cloths. In any case, any of these customs help us to turn inward and examine ourselves, even as it reminds us of the dark and colorless Sabbath day when Jesus lay dead in the tomb.

We do want to celebrate Lent with all of these customs and introspection, but we also want to provide some interesting stimulus in worship which would unite these six Sundays thematically. Therefore, the Christian Ed. Committee has prepared a short skit with the kids, which will be played in installments. Every Sunday during the Lenten Season, another scene will be presented of the play Virgil’s First Easter, by Eddie McPherson – a comedy for the Lenten season. Of course, for those of you who don’t make it to church every Sunday, there will be a very short summary of the previous weeks. We think that this play offers some thought provoking and yet, humorous way of reflecting Jesus’ sacrifice for us and why we follow him. Don’t miss the opening scene on February 10th.