In short, we thank you, our dear congregation, from the bottom of our hearts for this moving celebration of our 10th anniversary here at First Reformed Church. Your signs of love and appreciation mean the world to us. We are especially grateful to Walter Johnson for filming some of the contributions so that we can enjoy them again and share with family.

It is also clear that the beauty of our congregational life is the result of God’s grace. Much could have stood in the way. And by the same token you could ask: what are the odds anyway, for four Reformed churches in New Brunswick, and several more right beyond the city borders? Yet, here we are, struggling perhaps, but all of us also serving, praying, and celebrating worship every Sunday. And among these churches, First Reformed in particular is preserving a historic identity without which New Brunswick would be so much poorer. No matter how you look at it; it is the grace of God that all of this is happening.

Choir Director Ben Berman began the program by leading the choir in a beautiful a capella rendering of Take My Life and Let It Be, the first hymn sung on the first Sunday of the pastors’ ministry at First Reformed Church. Then, David Wanders expressed the appreciation of the congregation for the pastors’ faithfulness in preparation of the worship ministry, for their pastoral care, and for their attention to the administrative work of the church.

Several members of the congregation also spoke of their own personal experiences and their esteem for Hartmut’s and Susan’s dedication to their spiritual needs. Lauren Bernhofer presented the pastors with a large congratulatory poster created by the children at the Pine Grove Cooperative Nursery School, followed by several gifts from the congregation. These included a Macy’s gift card, a check for $500, Dutch cookies, and a special photo taken by Jill Smith of the former mosaic Stations-of-the-Cross dove anointing Jesus. This mosaic was in Corpus Christi Church, South River. The celebration concluded with all participating in singing the round, Donna Nobis Pacem, again joyfully led by Ben Berman.

It may have still been gray outside, but Fellowship Hall positively radiated with love and joy and laughter.

Oh, this map can yield funny results! How often in the past have we encountered the need to justify ourselves against the charge that we do not really represent the community in which our church is built. This is a serious charge, and we should not dismiss it. The more the surrounding community is reflected in the faces of our worshipping congregation, the more complete our worship will be. For this reason, our ministry values diversity and inclusiveness.

However, the distinction between inner city and suburb itself may have to be updated. It originated from a time when the inner city was ugly and the suburbs safe. This has changed considerably. Consequently, our inner map can be redrawn.

Today, New Brunswick is in many ways the cultural and administrative center of all the surrounding suburbs. In the past, people used to come here for mainly three reasons: the hospitals, work, or social services. But this has changed dramatically. Today, there is a plethora of restaurants, concerts, theaters and open air events. New neighborhoods have emerged with an entirely new scene of art and music. I would venture to say that the city’ consumption of electricity is much higher during the weekends than during normal work days.

What does this mean for us as a church? Foremost it means that we have to draw a wider radius in what we call “our community”. It may not be very helpful any more to emphasize too much the border that separates the city from the suburbs. Instead, the city has become the central place where much of the suburbs’ cultural life takes place. We still have the obligation of serving our immediate neighborhoods to the best of our capabilities. And we do so with much of our social outreach.

However, this does not mean that we should not also direct some of our outreach into the suburb communities from where many of our members come. The field to plow is bigger than we sometimes think.

To give you an example, the last Friday through Sunday of March our buildings were almost never empty. It started with the Eric B. Chandler Health Center of UMDNJ holding a luncheon in Fellowship Hall. Also, Lisanne Finston dropped off dishes, bowls, and cups for the House of Manna. Of course, the Youth Empowerment Services were in the Music Office during the day. On Friday night, two congregations celebrated worship here.

Saturday morning, while a group of 20+ women and girl scouts cleaned the downstairs, a music doctoral student practiced on our organ, and the Young Life group moved into the Music Office, too. Yes, we have three groups using the Music Office: Ben Berman and Erie Beemsterboer for our music program,
Youth Empowerment Services, and Young Life (which is a campus ministry organization). Phew! Can you imagine that they are all able to work at different times in that space?

Also on Saturday, the Stoney Mae Productions held a concert, which was visited by over 200 people. Robert finished cleaning up at 2:00 a.m. And then Sunday we were all here again: First Reformed Church, Calvary Chapel, Word of Life, and Triumphant Covenant House of God, as well as the Dutch Dancers.

That’s right, the buildings were hardly ever empty. Can you believe it? In fact, on a regular basis we have diverse groups using our buildings: local theatre and arts group, weddings, concerts, songwriters, karate classes, choral ensembles, and so forth.

Our greatest difficulty at present is figuring out where to put things; hence, the ‘no room in the inn’ dilemma. Some of you have seen the beautiful chairs which were donated to us from Vien, a Vietnamese refugee whom our church sponsored many, many years ago. There are 70 chairs, which are too fine to use for regular use and are now stacked in the Randolph Room.

And then we have other ‘space’ issues. The House of Manna wants to hand out clothing, which is now hanging in Fellowship Hall, next to the wonderfully cleaned up choir robes. What can we do with these items? How can we accommodate the needs? Yikes! We are running out of space. Is that possible in this
huge place?

As your building usage coordinator (some of you might not have known this), I have often enough reported to the consistory that I receive about two building requests per week; however, recently requests have increased. I think it can best be explained that folks have heard about our church, since so many people are using it, and people know that we try to make accommodations; thus, we have become a community church, because our in space there is room for all.

Blessings,

Pastor Susan

About a month ago, a visitor came in to speak with Pastor Hartmut. “You’re doing all the right things,” he said encouragingly, “but you’ve forgotten a few places to knock on doors and to meet folks.” So he pointed those places out, suggesting how our church with a few folks could penetrate the oftentimes closed doors of particular apartment buildings. This visitor’s special interest was quite remarkable since he belongs to a local synagogue, but his words brought up a reoccurring concern of our congregation: how do we respond to our community directly? Where do we meet folks, find out their needs, concerns, and offer support while at the same time expressing our faith?

Now you might think: we’ve done so much to welcome people in. And that is true. If we look at all that is reported in our newsletters, they certainly are a chronicle of our activities and our outreach. Truly, we’ve begun to be a special place for some people through the Lunchtime Recital Series, the House of Manna, besides all the other small groups which use our facilities: Princeton Songwriters, Martial Arts, Amachi Program, Yue Yue Ensemble, to just name a few. But these don’t generally offer an opportunity for cross-pollination. In other words, where we meet them and they us; when we get a chance to talk about what moves us to be here.

On the other hand, let’s take stock in our communal lives: it seems the more unusual our worship services, or our dinners, or even our trips are, the more participation and excitement folks express. Moreover, people bring their friends and invite their extended family. So what’s that telling us? And even though, some of us are looking into our buildings and wondering how they could be changed structurally; while others of us are looking into how we can become a place of learning ‘spiritually’ by providing special lectures, and still others consider how to get more community groups in to use the building.

All of these things are helpful, yet it seems that we are missing the point: How we are expressing God’s calling as a Christian people? The Apostle Paul writes in Romans: “…thus I make it my ambition to proclaim the good news, not where Christ has already been named, so that I do not build on someone else’s foundation, but as it is written, ‘Those who have never been told of him shall see, and those who have never heard of him shall understand.’” [15:20-21].

If we took this passage as a challenge, I wonder what we would discover? Have we really been reaching folks who haven’t yet experienced the good news who are in search of a loving and supportive community but just don’t know where to find such in this developing city?

Adding this to our summer reading list, perhaps while sitting by a pool or even at the beach, please take a few moments to reflect on how we proclaim the good news. How do we interact with others and have simple conversations about our faith? When do we offer a few words, even a prayer, that indicate to our friends and family why we spend so much time at FRC? I think that this statement, said by a friend who visited our worship for the first time, recently, expresses it all: “Well it was simple, really. It’s just that Pastor Hartmut asked me to come.”

How can we be ambitious like the Apostle Paul, inviting, proclaiming, praying and speaking about the One who moves and inspires us?

Enjoy your summer!

Oftentimes I wondered, ‘Why mercury? Where does all this mercury come from?’ Until I learned that fluorescent light tubes of all sizes contain it. Have you ever counted how many of these we have on our church ceilings alone? The same holds true for our basements and garages at home.

But it is worse. The Federal government plans to phase out the traditional incandescent light bulb that has made Edison so famous. Instead, the new energy saving light bulbs are being promoted everywhere. This is a good thing, because it will save a lot of energy and can be seen as a contribution in our fight against global warming. Also, many of the new bulbs last for about seven years.

But here is the problem: The new energy saving light bulbs contain mercury! And there is only one single drop-off site in Middlesex County, accessible twice every month to the general public. This needs to change; otherwise, too many of these poisonous light bulbs will land in the trash.

We have therefore reached out to the Middlesex County Division of Solid Waste Management and received permission to support the Consumer Electronics Drop-Off Program by collecting fluorescent tubes and energy saving light bulbs here at church. So, if you have any mercury containing light bulbs you would like to dispose off, bring them with you on Sundays to church.

For us as good stewards of God’s creation, this is a small thing to do! And, who knows, if our collection becomes a success, other churches might follow, and our fish may taste a whole lot better some day.

One of the greatest dilemmas of our society today is that we don’t spend real time with folks. We are usually doing something, like running off to a meeting or driving a child to a lesson or athletic practice. We miss out on family dinners, are too over-scheduled to visit friends or even family that might just live an hour away. Our lives are filled with obligations, which don’t necessarily build community.

However, we need to catch a breath and spend some real time together, being like the first converts to the faith as is described in the book of Acts of the Apostles, chapter 2: “46Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, 47praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.” They shared much time together—time that was important, when they spoke of their concerns, part took in each other’s lives.

With the thought of building–or better yet–deepening our community, the Invitation and Outreach Committee set up a special coffee hour with the initiative of Getting to Know You. Some folks who went on the retreat to Boston several years ago may remember how the church which we visited did something similar. Their program was sitting people in one-to-one conversations. After a few minutes two groups would gather together. And then again after a few minutes two groups would be combined again.

The Invitation and Outreach Committee did our Getting to Know You initiative a bit more loosely. Folks were invited to gather around the six tables wherever they wished and several questions were provided as a starting off point. They were: Where you grew up is there a special smell, location, or view that you like to recall? What is/was the favorite part of you job, your working at home, or your retirement? Do you enjoy a hobby? What place do you want to visit; and what attracts you to it? What do you appreciate most about this congregation? The Committee did not organize the groups in any particular way, however the conversations went on a long time; it seemed that we all had much to share with one another. In general, all who participated did feel that we learned more about the folks we spoke with.

It is so imperative, especially being as small as we are, that we really know one another, share in each others burdens and joys, in order to be as one body. That’s when we can really be a transformational living community.

Peace ~
Pastor Susan

Not that I would want to transfer us back to the 17th century, but our March Saturdays here at First Reformed were somewhat reminiscent of the founding of a colony. We had every craft and profession under the sun represented in our fellowship hall, including the two dogs “Ariel” and “Jack”.

Volunteer craftsmen from the Colts Neck Reformed Church under the leadership of forewoman Alicia Dimtsios laid tiles and put up sheet rock; other church volunteers removed sanctuary pews, installed the new sound system and cleaned up the cemetery. Another crew helped strip the outside white annex to the Randolph Room. And an army of chefs and waiters helped provide several luncheons that, by themselves, combined every culinary specialty you can imagine.

While we have recognized most helpers in recent weeks here in the newsletter and also during Sunday worship, I thought you might enjoy the attached pictures, as they reveal a surprising new alliance – something creative that can only happen when things are not fully differentiated yet, when creative crossing over is still a possibility, as it was when Plymouth was founded.

“Who are we?”  This seems to be a very appropriate question during a time like Lent, when our church litergy points us in the direction of self-scrutiny and self-reflection.  Today, nowever, I have more than an individual piety in mind when I bring up this question.

 Who are we?  If an entire church seeks an answer to this question, it becomes rather complex.  And if we do this as a denomination, the challenge may prove insurmountable.  Who are we?

Here at First Reformed Church we have spent the last few years developing our ministry in an unusual variety of ways – or so it seems.  Our activities include providing temporary shelter for homeless men, warm meals to poor families, an Autism confirmation class, friendship with Jewish and Muslim neighbors, an annual lunchtime concert series for school children and elderly, a long range preservation projgram, and fundraising, fundraising, fundraising.

All this while we have searched together for authentic answers to some of the questions of our time: peace and war, life and death, the distribution of wealth, and the authority of Scripture were some of the themes.  We have prayed, worshipped and discussed together, and we have used many, many committee meetings to chart a good course and keep our goals steady.

But here is the question:  Does this great range of activites mean that we have invented ourselves under the glance of God?  The question sounds almost blasphemous, doesn’t it?  As if a church could ever invent itself!

Yet, the question is understandable at the same time.  The way we understand “church” today is so very different from the great institution whose offspring we are.  Gone are the days of predictable ministry, where a pastor’s daily life was marked by preaching, Bible Study and hospital calling.  Gone are also the days of the unquestioned answers the established church could once disburse.

Instead, much of our daily ministry is built on unusual alliances, support from non-members, and the unpredictable gifts of those we commonly call the “godsends”.  Is there any surprise when “church” today sometimes feels like a piece of art that thrives against the odds thanks to the ingenuity of a particular church family?  You see, when portrayed this way, the question “who are we?” takes on new connotation.

To discover that we are not alone in this kind of circumstance can be very salutary.  There are basically, two ways by which this discovery may be made.  The first one is to look beyond the margin of our own plate and to ask what other houses of worship are doing.  Our Lenten adult education series “Christianity for the Rest of Us” serves this purpose.  Following a course of a book under this title by Diana Butler-Bass, we have set out to find our church’s marks of renewal in other mainline churches as well.  In turn, we hope to qcquire a good deal of affirmation and certitude.

The other way is the path of history, as the past always provides a treasure trove of related experiences.  Our newsletter is designed with this in mind:  it is a chronicle of our life together during these years.  But beyond this, a broader look at history can hardly be taken from the vantage point of one church alone.

This is where the denomination comes in .  For this purpose, our General Synod created back in 1966 a Commission on History (see the accompanying picture).  It meets twice a year and reports annually back to the Synod.  It provides the Synod with needed background information on many hot topics, and it administers our denomination’s Historical Series – sequence of now 54 boods on various historical subjects.  If you are curious, check out our church library, as we own several of these.  Since 2006 I have had the privilege of serving on this commission.

Who are we?  I’m certain our answers to this question will become ever more interesting as time passes on.  We share this prospect with many other great institutions of our time:  Wheter your’s is the world of the U.S. Postal Service, ore whether your are employed by a hospital or New Jersey Transit, everybody has to cope with change and novelty, as our world grows increasingly smaller and, at the same time, more free.

It’s only that, sometimes, I feel as though these processes were accelerated here at church.  In some regards, we are not behind our time, but quite a bit ahead of it.  Or do you see many other places in this world where such a diverse array of people comes together voluntarily and in peace, mindful of the fact that reality is more than we can see?  Yet this is true for us.  So, apparently, this is who we are:  forerunners of the new world.

 

 

Your pastor,
Hartmut

 

 

 

Several of you have been following intently the exciting development of our combined project of feeding families with Elijah’s Promise Soup Kitchen. It has been three years of planning and, it is hard to believe it, but we are about to open our doors for the first time on Feb 19th! In fact, the intensity of the last few months has been a bit surprising, since it all started out so slowly. We have been meeting and emailing excitedly with Lisanne Finston – Director of Elijah’s Promise, Yvette Molina – Director of Community Health Services for Elijah’s Promise, and even Robert Wood Johnson’s University Hospital’s Community Health Promotion Program through the good support of Mariam Merced, who are new on the scene with our project; however, through their support various health education opportunities will be made available to the families while they come for dinner.

Ethel Salamone came up with a name, which we all felt spoke of what our mission is for this feeding initiative: HOUSE OF MANNA. For some of us, it reminds us of the meal provided in the desert by God. When the Israelites and Moses were wandering through the desert after their supplies had been exhausted, God provided them with that strange substance called manna. They collected it every morning just at dawn.

Furthermore, we did not want to call the project a ‘soup kitchen’, since we did not want folks to interpret this as an institution. Moreover, the meals, which will be provided, mean more than sustenance. Our mission is to provide healthy, well-rounded meals to feed families in a safe environment where they are able to gather at one table.  We hope that families will feel as if they were at home.

We plan to use the china, metal utensils, and re-usable plastic cups so that families have a table set before them as if this were a special meal. A team of volunteers from the Women’s Guild (Erie Beemsterboer, Joan Fekete, and Janet Waanders) cleaned and organized a special section in the church house kitchen, where the supplies and table settings for the House of Manna can be found.

Of course, there will be some adjustment coming upon us as the House of Manna gets underway. However, we are walking forward with many hopes and excitement that this is the real work of the church of Jesus Christ. As the volunteers are being solicited to set the family tables and then clean them, we pray that you will choose a night or even a Saturday to come and serve.

Fondly, Susan

 

Marlin is a missionary of our denomination, the Reformed Church in America. He and his wife, Sally, live in Jerusalem where they work side by side with Palestinian Christians. In Jerusalem, Marlin and Sally embody the care and concern of North American Christians for their brothers and sisters in Israel and Palestine.

Marlin’s presentation was most interesting and was much talked about in the days that followed. As we had heard from our Lebanese friend Rev. George Bitar earlier this year, the number of Christians in this troubled part of the world is declining rapidly. In Palestine/Israel, there were between 18% and 20% in 1949.Today that number is between 1.5% and 1.8% of the total population.

Consequently, Marlin spoke to us of people forced to do everything in their power to provide an overseas future for their children because there is so little future in the land. He spoke of a middle class seeing their homes taken by others because they are now located in the wrong neighborhood of town. He told the story of family fathers facing the ugly crossroads of either saying “I forgive them” or “I will kill them”. And he talked of a people whose potential for hope has been exhausted because they have learned that they will be hurt again.

Yet Marlin did not end with these very difficult experiences. He moved on to convey to us a warning he had received from the Melkite Bishop Elias Chacour when first arriving in Jerusalem: “If you have come to take sides, don’t come. We have already too many of those here. But you are welcome if you want to serve as a bridge. We need people like you.”

Marlin then went on and shared with us that the Palestinian Christian’s contribution to society is enormous: in the West Bank, for example, they are 1.5% of the total population. Yet they educate 25% of all children in the West Bank in their schools. These Christian schools are very special, because they are relatively free from political bias. Their textbooks tell Palestinian children of the Holocaust that brought many of the ancestors of their Jewish classmates to Israel. Likewise they tell the Jewish children that their Palestinian classmates are not just “Arabs” but belong to a people with its own identity and its own need for a home land.

What could be more important than to be a bridge when cultures, political agendas, and religious biases clash the way they do in Israel and Palestine? We learned so much through Marlin’s words that day, and our interest and care for this particular region of our planet has certainly increased.
But we also learned something about ourselves. Bridges need to be built in our communities as well. The Sunday morning de-facto segregation of our worshippers remains largely unchallenged; the interfaith movement is still in its infancy; special needs people live separate and oftentimes shunned lives; and year after year our rotating Homeless Men’s Shelter gives us glimpses into a very different world. Bridges are needed here as well. As we now proceed into this New Year of 2008, I invite you to pray with me for God’s Holy Spirit. May God continue to use us as a good and sturdy bridge here in the city of New Brunswick!

In closing, I would like to thank the two committees of our church that were most involved in preparing for the events on Dec 9th, Christian Education under the leadership of Lauren Bernhofer and Invitation & Outreach chaired by Joan Fekete. Thank you to all of you who supplied wonderful meals and served our guests.

 

Walter is an autistic child on the low functioning side of the spectrum. He is almost non-verbal and has a number of mannerisms. He also has a warm smile, a deep sense of belonging to our church, great parents, and quite a network of supporters within our church family. Now he has reached confirmation age.

But what does one teach a young person in Walter’s condition? There are no special needs confirmation class curriculums for Walter’s level. Walter’s mother, Sandy, and I knew only one thing: We would not want to pursue Walter’s confirmation just for the sake of the ritual.

The Elders of the church supported us in this. Early on, they expressed concern that the curriculum for Walter would not just establish requirements for Walter to pass. This would contradict our understanding of God’s grace. Instead, the Board of Elders wished for a curriculum that focused on Walter’s potential for learning and growth in the faith.

Back in 2005, this sounded well intended but also very ambitious. However, before we knew it, we received help from two great sources.

The library of the Boggs Center at the University of Medicine and Dentistry in New Jersey provided sample curriculums for higher functioning children. Rev. Bill Gaventa, the leader of the Boggs Center, helped us compile a list of learning goals and objectives. This was then reviewed by a member of our church, Heather Epstein, and her husband, Dan. Both are special education teachers and fluent in a teaching approach called Discrete Trial. Finally, Heather and Dan translated the curriculum into the language of Discrete Trial.

Thanks to their work, we soon had four lessons divided in numerous sessions, all compiled in a thick three-ring binder with spreadsheets. Each session contains learning tasks broken down into sequences of ten trials each. The outcome of each trial is recorded on  a spreadsheet. This makes success measurable.          

Walter has made tremendous progress in these sessions. Since May, 2007, he has learned the following:

1. To go alone from Fellowship Hall to the sanctuary when prompted.

2. To recognize the cross as a special object.

3. To distinguish our pew Bibles from other books.

4. To recognize us pastors.

5. To sing the Gloria Patri together with others.

One of the most exciting features of Walter’s confirmation class is the involvement of other church members. Some have served as distracters to help Walter distinguish between a pastor and a layperson. Our seminary professors, John Coakley and David Waanders, have served in addition to Susan and me as robed pastors during our sessions. This has helped Walter realize that there are many pastors. Other church members have helped teaching a particular trial session or filling in the spreadsheets.

We teach twice a week, Friday evenings at our home in Jamesburg, and Sunday mornings before church. Come spring, we will celebrate Walter’s confirmation. By that time, it will be a feast for our entire church family because so many of us have taken part in these classes. What a powerful manifestation of God’s love this is.

Thank you, First Church!

I was struck by the comments of a fellow pastor who said to me this past week, “I am really impressed by the exciting programming that you all are doing at First Reformed Church.” For a moment I only looked at him thinking: What’s he talking about? Exciting programming??? And then I realized, you know, he is right in a way. Sure, I would really jump for joy to see twenty more people in worship.

However, our ministry just doesn’t end on Sunday afternoons. So I thought more about this comment. Could he have meant the denominational dialogue on homosexuality that we supported by providing space as well as prodding for a date for the Listening Team to come? (Did you know that we were the first church in the entire denomination to hold such a listening event!?) Or could my colleague have meant the wonderful inter-faith connections that we have developed over the years; one of which is culminating in a trip to Turkey for some of us? These could be some of what this pastor was referring to.

Nevertheless, it is difficult to get excited about programming when the amount of money that we need to raise for our preservation project is looming at us. As we look to the future of our church, we realize that our buildings are historic treasures and yet great big burdens which threaten to drag us down, or rather, could hold us back from “real” ministry. The important word here, I believe, is “could”.
 
Yes, the preservation of these buildings COULD prevent us from being involved in ministry and “exciting” programming, however, I don’t see this happening. In fact –  and you may be surprised –  but I see us increasing our interest in both things – the ministry and what the buildings look like. Perhaps this is in response to the fact that through the preservation project we have been required to look more closely at our buildings. When one does this, you see the little projects and problems that need attention. Because of this we have been very responsive to what needs to be done. Just this past month, some of our members have addressed the need for a tree removal, the trimming of low lying branches, the weeding of the front flower beds, and more will be done on the work day/clean up day beginning at 9:00 a.m. on Nov 10th.

In the area of ministry, though, we have realized some things: if we have such a large facility then we ought to use it to the fullest extent. Do you know how many groups and activities meet here, actually? Well, there is the Yue Yue Ensemble that practices on Saturdays once per month, the Songwriters who meet here monthly, the Martial Arts group that comes weekly, the three other congregations that use our space more than once per week, as well as a slew of other groups which ask to use our space once per year. As I reported to consistory, I receive a request per week.

Besides the other groups which use our buildings, we ourselves provide a much needed ministry to the homeless men for two weeks in winter, the eight Lunchtime Recitals (which are now visited regularly by about 40 – 60 people), and we are moving in the direction of providing space for a special Elijah’s Promise project which provides meals to kids and families. Our hope is to finally have this program in place by September 2008.

We are doing some exciting programming, all of which this large space allows us to provide. I don’t think that we have maxed-out of the possibilities that we could be offering to the community. But, as with any structure, these types of programs and ministries take time to build. We do realize, though, that we have to walk with both feet: one which maintains the facilities and the other which provides future vision for what we do within these wonderfully old structures.

May God bless us as we walk forward,
Pastor Susan

Look at the pictures from Kick-off Sunday Sep 9th below. How much hope there is and how much joy! You see young and old coming together for singing and for worship, and for a lavish international pancake breakfast. We had so many contributors to this event that Lauren Bernhofer, who chaired the committee in charge, asked me a few days prior to cut the contingent of my German pancakes in half!

The pictures of this event are in many ways characteristic for our church family. We are a link to many worlds. Most importantly, we link our church’s past with the future to come. Once, our halls were filled with the establishment of another time. Until the 1950s, for example, membership at our church was natural for anybody with social ambition. Naturally, parents brought their children, and a seat on Consistory was widely regarded as a seat of honor within the community.

Today, much of this has shifted, and we find ourselves as part of a counterculture. Not many of our visitors are driven any more by the ambition of becoming part of an establishment. They have different reasons for their visits. Some look for an intellectually satisfying environment for their children. Others have spiritual questions or pursue issues of social justice. Many look for a caring circle of friends with good and safe values. Others are brought by their wives.

We are also a link in the present time, as we connect with many groups of faith, inside and outside of Christianity. Three other congregations worship with us in partnership, and they could not differ more from one another. Add the interfaith dialogues with our Jewish and Muslim brothers and sisters to the mix, as well as the great variety of community groups that meets on our premises – from “Martial Arts” to “Princeton Songwriters” and the “Hiram Square Homeowners’ Association”, and more in between. 

We are a link to many, reflecting the diversity of life and its many cultures. Somehow, it all circles around the Holy Table, the symbol for the presence of the Lord in our lives. May God continue to bless us in this way, as we move into a new season of life here at First Reformed Church!  Amen. 

 

Throughout the weekend we pondered various Bible texts on the subject of water: Noah’s ark, Israel crying by the rivers of Babylon, Jesus walking on water, and Jesus stilling the storm. We asked ourselves where our situation at First Reformed Church would be in all of this. And we listed the storms of our life together: the challenges of the Preservation Plan and the upcoming fund-raising campaign, but also the challenges of working with minorities: our Autism-focused confirmation class, our church’s role as a regional dialog center in the homosexuality debate, and our outreach to Latino school children with the lunchtime recitals, to name but a few.

Unforgettable will be the play that Sandy Boyles wrote and that we performed during worship on Sunday morning in response to all these challenges. Charlie Devich played a very convincing if hard-of-hearing Noah who was being summoned by God, alias Bruce Bothwell, to build an ark like in boat. It was wonderful to see how the two of them brought out all the comical elements in this story. This, in turn, enabled us to laugh about ourselves and to gain some healthy distance from all the duties and demands of daily life at church. We hope that you will enjoy the second performance of the play during worship at our church on September 9th, Rally Sunday.

Don’t forget that service will resume the winter schedule on Rally Sunday and will start at 10:30 a.m.

Dates to Remember

Oct 5 — 7:00-9:00 p.m. Homosexuality Dialogue
Oct 6 — 9-11:30 a.m. Homosexuality Dialogue; RCA Listening Team, Rev Dr. John Stapert
Oct 13 — 6:00 p.m. Community Potluck & Game Night
Oct 12 — Commitment Sunday with Potluck Lunch

Fortunately, casting a vision comes without the lead sinkers required when casting a line. From this standpoint, the retreat of our Vision Team on June 9th was perfectly safe in our new church library: when we left, there were no scales or saltwater spots on the carpet, and neither were there sinker-caused holes in the Sheetrock of the walls.

And yet it was a profound retreat, because we, who participated, gained a much stronger understanding of the interface between vision and reality. The more we have progressed in vision casting, the more real our visions and dreams have become.

Part of this reality was to accept that combining our ministries with the Suydam Street Reformed Church will not work at this time. After all, the retreat had been planned as a bilateral endeavor, but turned out unilateral although it had been rescheduled already once.

The reasons for this are manifold. In addition, the building project at Suydam Street progresses at a much slower pace than anticipated. So we retreat participants spent some time in counting our blessings. What did we learn from the project, and how has it helped us defining our future more appropriately?

We also pondered some of the theological thought at the base of our experience. If we wanted this cooperation with our sister church, why did God not grant it? For the purpose of finding an answer, we watched one of the modern video clips of Rob Bell. Here he shows that being a parent cannot mean to grant each and every wish of our children. His infant may yell, “But I waaaant it!” and even finish by saying, “I thought you love me.” But even this does not put a dent in the truth that parents know better what is good for their child and what isn’t.

Who knows why the opportunity with Suydam Street did not work out? Did it address the most important needs in our town? We thought. But God may think otherwise. Perhaps this whole endeavor was just preparation for something else?

As we discussed the possibilities, we also grew aware of some of the consequences of the visit of Rev. Bitar from Lebanon with us this past winter. Rev. Bitar has opened our eyes to the high number of Protestant Arabic-speaking Christians in our area, and he reiterated the need for ministry for them. Consequently, our Vision Team discussed these opportunities as well. How would an intentional ministry to Arabic-speaking Protestants from First Reformed Church look like?

Exploring possibilities like these naturally raises the question whether such exploration is a good use of our time and energy. Our discussion during the retreat only touched the issue. My opinion is this: as long as our church is not fully self-sufficient in terms of membership and resources, we cannot but explore alternatives to the current status quo. To say it a bit bluntly: the drain is not with future possibilities, but in the current situation. Something will have to change, and I am rather proactive than sitting back and letting it happen. From this perspective, Susan and I are grateful for each new opportunity that God seems to bring our way. With each one we grow and learn a little more about what it means to serve our great old church in the crossroads of Central New Jersey.

 

 

While checking the web page of Marlin and Sally Vis, two missionaries in Jerusalem who are working for improving the understanding between Palestinians and Jews, I was moved by a web page entry in which Marlin’s described a special experience of a worship service he attended. It was a three-hour installation service! Can you imagine?

In spite of the length of the worship, he reports about an unexpected outbreak of song begun by a Palestinian girl during the distribution of the Lord’s Supper. She suddenly began to sing “We Shall Overcome”. Marlin found this outbreak of singing and the song itself a deeply moving experience. For him, it became the moment of actual worship; in other words, the moment where the holy and the mundane united making it a transformative experience.
 
He writes: “I’m not one of those folks who views worship as something you feel or don’t feel. Worship is not some fickle state of mind that you can get into whenever you feel the urge to connect with the mighty God of the Universe. No, worship is a state of being in which you enter the moment you put yourself in the right place and time. Worship can happen anywhere, that’s true enough, but worship best breaks out in a crowd or at least in the company of two or three like you who have gathered with the hope that the great God of Creation will show up as well. And God often does, I think …whether or not we think it or feel it or even know it. The magic of worship is not in the coming of God, because God shows up at worship and often no one seems remotely aware that God is with us. When I heard the song, I was walking toward these two clergymen robed in jeweled splendor, and I just stopped, causing a series of rear-end collisions. I jerked my head around to the front of the huge church, and everyone around me followed suit. It was pure joy that I felt, joy and wonder and hope, too. I felt this wave of hope wash over me, and then over all of us together.”

Marlin’s words bring near to us the difficulties experienced in a region so on the edge, daily, with violence and shortage of patience and means for peaceful encounters. And yet, even in the midst of such complicated problems, there is still time for joy, worship, hope and transformative experiences.

A worship outbreak—it almost sounds Pentecostal? But isn’t that what took place with Jesus’ disciples? They were moved and carried by the Spirit to give witness to their faith even though it was dangerous for them. And isn’t that the Church of Jesus Christ after the Spirit has been poured out upon them?

A worship outbreak—we all seek those moments; our world needs these moments that the voice of hope, love, comfort….and peace would transform – break out – into the harsh realities the many people all over our world live with. That we all might lift our voices singing “We Shall Overcome” tyranny, war, abuse, poverty, and all that ills us.

I hope for this worship outbreak, not that it would simply happen in our regularly scheduled worship hour, rather that it would happen in each and every group, committee, and activity that we do.

Peace ~

Rev. Susan

Remember the story according to Genesis, of how all peoples of the world came together to create a monument for themselves, to build a tower that would touch the heavens. So determined and unified were the people in their human pride that God had no choice but to confuse their verbal communication, which began the diversity of languages and cultural groups. Well, let us consider how at Pentecost God reversed what happened at Babel: miraculously people understood the words that came out of the mouths of the disciples, who each spoke in their own native language.

Interestingly, both stories describe two similar and yet such different congregations: the one is a large gathering out in the open at Babel, while the disciples meet as a small secluded group in an upper room in Jerusalem. Both of these congregations had gathered in harmony with a common purpose and lofty goals. Yet the gathering at Babel resulted in the raising of barriers, while the one at Jerusalem resulted in the overcoming of barriers.

Both congregations were reaching for the heavens. The people at Babel wanted to do so in order to make a monument for themselves, while the disciples humbly stretched out their hands to heaven in prayer. The first group of people was relying on their own power, while the second group was waiting for power from on high—God’s power. The first group ended up with tremendous communications barriers, the second group found that through the power of God, language barriers can break down.

In a sense, these two stories tell the tale of the fact that humanity needs God to be in control. We all need to look beyond ourselves—to God—for help, especially when we are ever to overcome the devastating ethnic, racial, political, social, religious, and economic barriers in the world. These barriers divide us, keep us apart, can cause strife, bitterness, hatred, and even wars. One only needs to open a newspaper to realize that fact.

At the original Christian Pentecost the Spirit of God caused the miracle of language, whether it was a miracle of speaking or hearing what is important is that people heard and understood the good news of God without a communication barrier.
Perhaps the deeper Pentecostal message is that the miracle of overcoming the language barrier can result in the overcoming of all barriers. As we continue our ministry to overcome such barriers, whether it be with people of different faiths or by welcoming folks of different orientations, may God fill us once again with this Spirit that we may be instruments of peace and proclamation of God’s love for all.

Fondly,
Pastor Susan

The first week of March is worthy remembering in our congregational life because we were fortunate to host Rev. George Bitar from the Evangelical Synod of Presbyterian Churches of Lebanon and Syria. We were one of five hosting collegiate churches, and the experience has even fostered our ties to our sister churches.

Here is a run down of events that happened during our week:
On Monday, Rev. Bitar had dinner with Stef and Erie Beemsterboer and their children Daphne and Theo.

On Tuesday, neighboring pastor Seth Kaper-Dale and Susan and I took George to our national office at 475 Riverside Drive in Manhattan and had lunch with Duncan Hanson, Supervisor of RCA Mission in Europe and the Middle East. There we sat around a table filled with maps, reminiscing on past middle-eastern travel, discussing ecumenical relationships, etc. In the end, the office gave each of us a gift of various books for our church libraries. That night, George accepted a dinner invitation from Ellen and Bruce Hamilton.

On Wednesday night, we had a great potluck with many folks from the collegiate churches joining. George gave a presentation on the humanitarian situation in Lebanon, showed transparencies of the destructions of 2006 and talked about his church, how it was burned down and rebuilt in seven months. Wednesday night, he spent at our house and gave us a great introduction to his calligraphy and explained it as a spiritual praxis.

Thursday, the three of us went to Princeton, visited the Seminary, the Theological Book Agency and the university campus.

Friday, George had dinner at the home of Janet and David Waanders, joined by John and Margaret Coakley and Susanne Clark. Saturday, Liz and Jim Hance took him out to a restaurant in Newark.

On Sunday, he preached at our church a Lenten sermon. This was followed by fellowship, a lunch and a round of Arabic hymn singing. Those present admired our organist, Viktoriya Raufova, and how quickly she learned to accompany hymns from the Arabic Presbyterian hymnal where text and music are written from right to left, and the verses are written in Arabic only. Good thing that George had provided us singers with hand-written English transcriptions!

The following Monday, George participated in Session III of our Muslim-Christian Dialog with the members of the Raritan Turkish-American Foundation in Piscataway. The theme was “Jesus and Mary in Islam”.

We have so many to thank for the success of this week, and especially our great kitchen crew who organized the two meals in Fellowship Hall that week. I hope that the accompanying pictures portray their message well.

Why was the visit of Rev. Bitar so important to us? Because we Christians are sensitive to voices from the troubled areas of this world, especially if it is a voice from a sister church. But we were also grateful for Rev. Bitar’s visit, because it pulled usout of our struggle for self-preservation and opened us up to the world of the church universal. Through George we were reminded that being Reformed has a global dimension, too. We wish him God’s rich blessing as he returns home.