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.

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.

 

  

Slideshow of this year’s White Gift skit performed by the church children. 

The Invitation & Outreach Committee, with the good results from the discussions of the Vision Team which met over the past two-and-a-half years, put together a new statement. A draft was presented to Consistory in November, revised again, and approved by Consistory in December as follows:

“A community of people united in Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit to worship and follow God‘s call by:

Expressing God’s love as an open and affirming Christian community,
Nurturing spiritual growth, including those with special needs,
 Offering service and assistance to the needy, and
 Engaging in inter-religious dialogue for peace and understanding.”

You will notice that some of the statement comes from the old one, but, most importantly, it becomes specific with the areas that our ministry together has developed into. May it guide our witness, our ministry, and be an inspiration for those who have similar interests for expressing their faith.

We live in an era when not just our church laments stagnant membership growth – or even decline – but many other mainline churches with us in the Western hemisphere. Sometimes it appears even miraculous how long some of our smaller congregations can, indeed, survive under these conditions.

However, not everything in this regard is just miraculous. Some of it is also very intentional and the result of many helping hands. Church partnership is one of our logical responses to the fact of dwindling membership. We here at First Reformed are blessed through the friendship of another and quite similar church, the First Reformed Church of Astoria, Queens, and its pastor, Rev. Dwayne Jackson.

Last spring, members of our church spent a weekend in Astoria visiting with FRCA during our annual pilgrimage. The Astoria church is an urban church that faces many of the same problems we face. During our visit, we toured their neighborhood, shared meals and worship, discussed our common challenges and built relationships. Our church extended an invitation for a reciprocal visit on the Sunday when Marlin and Sally Vis would be speaking about their mission work in Palestine.

Our two congregations may have different ethnic backgrounds, different customs and different foods – but we both have an extremely committed membership, beautiful historic buildings (and all the problems that come with it), as well as a heart for the diversity and the challenges an East Coast inner city church can offer.

Yes,  “extremely committed”: just consider the early hour at which about a dozen of the Astoria members had to get up on Sunday, Dec 9th, in order to have breakfast with us here at First Reformed. Or talk about the courage of Astoria’s Children’s Choir. Its delegation to us consisted of Briana,
 Penelope and Julia, supported by tiny Jada who suddenly was Spirit-led in joining the three. To be so young and to face two congregations, two pastors, and a missionary from Jerusalem! Extremely committed, indeed! And we do not want to leave unmentioned Kenyata who helped Briana and Allison in lighting our Advent candles that day. If you look at all these children, you will share in the sense of hope that is still very much prevalent among our churches.
The Christian Ed Committee organized a continental breakfast for the visitors and the Hospitality Committee prepared a hot lunch luncheon (thank you, Joan, Ethel, Margaret, Janet, Erie, and everybody else who was so diligently involved behind the scenes).

We were also blessed that day by a very engaging sermon from Pastor Dwayne on the subject of peace and how it can be promoted. While preaching in his lively and engaging manner, Dwayne created quite a dialog within our combined assembly. It built something new, a momentary church greater than our two particular congregations, a vision to linger among us. Several of the children from FRCA sang two contemporary songs from their upcoming Christmas Pageant. The Astoria children had a fun time in Sunday school acting out the story of the birth of Christ with our children. After the lesson, Allison and Ahjani led a Christmas ornament craft project.

After worship, members from both congregations listened to Rev. Marlin Vis from Jerusalem (see the Pastor’s Corner on page 1). The luncheon offered ample opportunity to make plans for the year to come. The relationship between our congregations is growing stronger. Some members of each congregation were heard to be discussing opportunities to come together in the future and work on projects to serve our communities, especially the members of the Property Committees of both churches who took a liking to each other. Exchanging volunteers and experience in preservation matters may be one way of fostering our partnership. Thank God that we are not alone!

On Dec 2nd, we light the first Advent candle and celebrate the Lord’s Supper. The children will sing as well and begin to practice for the Christmas pageant.

On Dec 9th, the Reformed Church of Astoria, Queens, NY, is coming to visit. We will also welcome our missionaries in Jerusalem, Marlin and Sally Vis. The Angel Gifts for the needy children of our region will be picked up and a warm luncheon will be served. Please plan to stay for a presentation from our missionaries.

On Dec 16th, the children will continue to practice the pageant play.

On Saturday Dec. 22nd, there will be practice for the play at 4:30 p.m., followed by a Congregational Christmas Party at 6:00 p.m. Please bring a $5.00 gift item for a White Elephant Gift Exchange!

On Sunday, Dec 23rd, the children will perform the play during the Intergenerational Worship Service. Our White Envelope Offering will be collected that day and is designated to My Daughter’s Keeper program.

Monday, Dec 24th, is Christmas Eve. At 6:30 p.m., those who wish may gather for caroling in front of the church. At 7:30 p.m., our Candlelight Service with Lessons in Carols will begin.

Bring your family and friends. Please note the special coffee hour following the service.

Sing! A New Creation — you know the book, the green one. Have you checked out any of the hymns inside? The words are certainly different, not the “Old-Rugged-Cross” type, are they?

This hymn book was created to appeal to the young Christians of the 21st century. All well and good, but listen closely to the music. The old hymn tunes have not been forgotten. They’re being used with the new words. Example: a few weeks ago we sang #34 in the green book, Let all Creation Bless the Lord. It sounded familiar; it was. Check #146 in Rejoice; it’s the same tune.

What has been done is that a bit of the past has been taken along with the new. For this we give thanks to those who compiled this new means of worship. And here at First Reformed Church our thanks go also to the Deuble family. The bequest of A. Franklin Deuble made it possible for us to experience these new, but familiar hymns.

The reception that followed had been prepared by many hands. Especially noteworthy was a variety of Jewish and Turkish desserts that are not too often seen on our premises. A special thank you goes out to Ethel Salamone and Joan Fekete who coordinated a great kitchen crew. Thanks to their work we others had time to mingle with the many guests from the participating houses of worship. There was also opportunity to meet Freeholder Director David Crabiel, City Historian George Dawson and Commissioner Cathy Carrigan. Commissioner Carrigan represented the Middlesex County Cultural and Heritage Commission whose grant makes our lunchtime concerts possible.

Why did we host this event? The reporters asked this question repeatedly. The main reason is that through events like these we contribute here at the local level to inter-religious peace and understanding. For many of us it is not enough to just get upset over the news every night, when our TV screens show us pictures of the many wars in this world. Rather, we want to do something. So, if they cannot find tolerance and peace somewhere else, we can start with it here.

All of this came together beautifully when we sang the old Native American hymn Many and Great on Tuesday night together. For this, Pastor Susan played a Native American drum, accompanied by Viktoriya Raufova on the piano and Ellen Hamilton on the flute. It took only a few measures, and Burak Alptekin and Emrah Arslan, our Muslim friends from Turkey left their pew, picked up their drums, and joined in this great Thanksgiving song.It was a very moving moment, and the Star Ledger acknowledged it with a large photograph. Let’s hope that we will have many more interfaith services of this kind.

The participating guests came from these houses of worship: Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple, Christ Episcopal Church, Emanuel Lutheran Church, Raritan Interfaith Dialogue Center, United Methodist Church at New Brunswick.

Participants in the planning [from the left] Viktoriya Raufova, Rev. Dr. Jeffrey Eaton of Emanuel Lutheran Church, Rabbi Dan Fellman from Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple, Dr. Nuray Tugrul Yurt   from the Raritan Interfaith Dialogue Center, Rev. Dr. Hartmut Kramer-Mills, Rev. Dr. Syndney Sadio from the United Methodist Church, and  Ms. Sedide Betul Ozturk from the Raritan Interfaith Dialogue Center.

Contrary to other Sundays, Fellowship Hall was almost empty during this time because everybody was busy preparing something. Thanks to Ethel Salamone’s and Joan Fekete’s cooking talents, the kitchen exuded beautiful smells. From the adjacent Randolph Room one could hear John Coakley’s clarinet, and later Ellen Hamilton’s flute. Led by Sandy Boyles, the children were enthusiastically rehearsing in the sanctuary, with a few members of Consistory (Bruce Bothwell and Joan Fekete) and us pastors joining them. At the same time, Stef Beemsterboer installed a PowerPoint projector we had borrowed from our Regional Synod office. Later Pastor Susan and Viktoriya Raufova, together with Liz Hance as soloist, had the young generation rehearse the children’s anthem. It was a lot of fun.

During worship, we performed a play written by Sandy Boyles under the title An Extreme Church Make-Over. It was a revised version of the popular TV show. It did not lead to tearing down the old church but expressed great appreciation of the many historic features of our buildings.

At several points during the performance, our youngest children, dressed with the hardheads of true church construction workers, listed famous names of our church’s past: Theodorus Frelinghuysen, John Henry Livingston, Elias van Bunschooten, Jacob R. Hardenbergh, to name a few. It was a moving experience because it felt a little like passing the baton to another generation. When I thanked the children I said that some day they would make fine members of Consistory.

Then our architect, Margaret Westfield, delivered a mission moment and gave us some more insight from her perspective why our buildings are worth preserving. It was the first time she addressed the congregation on the whole.

Then the luncheon came, combined with Margaret’s slide show. Thanks to great visual documentation for now almost 200 years, she was able to take us on a great history tour. We saw the familiar features of our church embedded in various periods of time, and we realized: Our buildings mean more than providing shelter for our current programs.

In total, we have now received pledges from our congregation and former members in the amount of $146,230.00. Thank you to everybody who committed him or herself to this great project! I am also pleased to announce that every member of our Consistory has submitted a pledge; our “board” is 100% in support of the project.

It is still a long way to go until we will reach the match of $750,000 for the state grant we hope to obtain next year. Yet there is more help on the way. We are approaching every congregation of the Reformed Church in America, we have requested help from the City of New Brunswick, as well as Middlesex County and various foundations. We are also planning on a larger external fund-raising event for Mar 9, 2008.

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

July 9th at 6:45pm – Betancourt’s
July 16th at 7:30pm – Ethel Salamone
August 1st at 7:30pm – Ethel Salamone
August 13th at 6:45pm – Betancourt’s

Please feel welcome to bring your prayers at any or all gatherings.

The Van Wickel House, located off Easton Avenue (just next to Rutgers Prep School), with its shade and nice stoned porch, has offered us a wonderful place for worship and fellowship. Usually we have about 70 people, which is a great way to see and meet other members of our local Reformed Churches.

Thankfully, chairs are available, so you don’t need to schlepp any from home. We are asked to bring either a salad or dessert to share, and we’ll announce which. For directions to the Van Wickel House, call the church office.