2013 december newsletter of frc

December 2013 1 Newsletter of the First Reformed Church inNew Brunswick

From Pastor’s Desk —by Pastor HartmutAdvent is a time of silent reflection. Traditionally, theliturgical color is purple – the same as during Lent. This isappropriate for a season, during which we prepareourselves for the coming of the Lord. It’s a time to reviewand to confess, to examine and to assess – and to discoverthe love and grace of God in new ways.

It is thus a time when we wonder about the relation of theold and the new in ourselves. The reference to the deathof the old Adam seems to be too simplistic to be true. Weknow that the old and the new somehow continue tocoexist; that our accepting of Christ has freed us from theconsequence of our sin before God but not from thereality of sin itself. We remain human, no matter howintensely we pray.

This applies to our worship life as well. Yes, great changeswould be needed to be of immediate relevance to othergroups in the community as well. But we cannot reallystop being ourselves. Neither can we change overnightwhat has grown liturgically for centuries in our branch ofthe Protestant tradition.

In the midst of these contrasts, our understanding ofGod’s love is born. It comes and lives among us, and doesnot deny us. But then it offers to move us further, to bringus from one place to the next. The theologians call this“transformation”.

May this be a season of transformation for all of us! May itlead us from accepting ourselves to a renewedappreciation of God’s love for us and for our calling in theworld. And may Christ accompany us all the way!

With fond wishes, Pastor Hartmut

Inside this IssueAdvent Breakfast 2Benevolence for December:

Women Aware 2Hall Fund Raiser 2TCCDC Update 3Project Blue 3Dutch Dancing 4Rutgers Jazz Trombones at FRC 4Interfaith Thanksgiving 5FRC on City Calendar 5Ordination of Fawn Stephens 5Rutgers Students Volunteer to Help FRC 6Light of the World Bash 6Lunchtime Recitals 7Christmas Eve Events 8

Pictures of Interfaith Thanksgivingarticle on page 5

Advent Breakfast—by Susan Kramer-Mills

We are getting all the delicious breakfast breads andgoodies ready for our annual breakfast. It is such a lovelyaffair, when women from various churches join us forsinging, breakfast, and a presentation. This year Susan isgoing to present on Dina Van Bergh, sharing her personalfaith journey.

We hope that you feel welcome to attend. It is this quietand sweet time of sharing that really marks the Adventseason and the time of waiting for the birth of Jesus.


Women Aware, Inc., is the domestic violence shelter inMiddlesex county. Besides running a safe house forvictims; they have also just opened a new house, whichholds three permanent, supportive, affordable apartmentsfor victims and their children. We are pleased to beassociated with Women Aware and to support all that theydo for victims.

Here is their Mission Statement - Women Aware is committed to a vision of a just society.Our mission is to end domestic violence in the lives ofwomen, children, and men, and to change societalattitudes and institutions that promote and condoneviolence through public policy, advocacy, education, andprograms and services that promote lives free of abuse.

December Benevolence

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Town Clock Community Dev. Corp. Updates

The Town Clock CDC has moved into the fast lane and continues to finalize its applications for funding. In November,we have met with the pre-Planning Board for a review of all our documents. This meeting was extremely important tosee what other issues we were required to address. Architect, engineer, lawyer, appraisers, environmental analysts haveall spent significant time in reporting to the city about the necessary plans and changes. As it turns out, the OpenHearing for our project will take place on Monday, Dec. 16 at 7:30 pm. We invite all of you to attend, especially thoseof you who live and/or work in the city. Your voices are especially precious.

If you have any questions, please contact Susan, the Executive Director.

Town Clock CDC’s Project Blue Event—by Sherrilynn Novack

On November 23 over 50 people joined the Rutgers Women OrganizingAgainst Harassment (WOAH) group to decorate blue bras. The eventtitled, Project Blue, was organized as s fund raiser for Town ClockCommunity Development Corporation. The reason for calling this eventProject Blue is that in December 2011, a female protester in Egypt wasdragged through the streets by male soldiers, her shirt was lifted upexposing a blue bra, right before a soldier stomped on her bare stomach.

Local businesses donated food and supplies, including Au Bon Pain,Korean BBQ & Grill, and Maoz Falafel. Guests were primarily students andtheir parents – decorating blue bras and tee shirts to raise awareness ofviolence against women. The guests also had the chance to learn aboutDina’s Dwellings and visit the sanctuary. Fun and fellowship were had byall!

WOAH is a student organization at Rutgers dedicated to the eradication of gender violence and sexualharassment. They meet at 9:10 PMevery Tuesday in the Women's Centeron the third floor of the DouglassCampus Center and can be reachedvia email at [email protected].

TCCDC received over $500 from thisevent. Many thanks go out to WOAHand their dedicated volunteers.


Dutch Dancers—by Pastor Hartmut

The first weekend in December is full of dancing for usas we celebrate with the city of New Brunswick the TreeLighting Ceremony on Friday, December 6th from 5 – 7pm. There are also many other performances takingplace which are fun to see. Also, there is a chili cook-offand booths from various organizations around town.

Then we dance at the annual Sinterklaas Eventsponsored by the Meadows Foundation. This wonderfulDutch celebration takes place at the historic HagemanFarm. Please see the poster. It is a worthy location forsuch a wonderful event.

First Reformed Church hosts the Rutgers JazzTrombones—by Benjamin T. Berman

On the evening ofNovember 23, FirstReformed Church hosteda wildly successfulfundraiser for theCampus Ministry in oursanctuary. With 68people in the audience,we were able to raise$1,003 for Rutgers Protestant Campus Ministries(RPCM) through the delicious music of the Rutgers JazzTrombones.

Led by Professors Conrad Herwig (a member of Six MileRun Reformed Church) and Mark Stasio, the 13-pieceensemble got us swaying and clapping to the tunes ofpopular Christmas, Epiphany and Advent music. Theywere so gracious to donate this concert to the studentsof campus ministry twice on the same day. Earlier in theday they also played the same program, “Jazzin’ up theholidays,” at St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church inSummit.

After the concert was over, Victoria Field, a member ofRPCM, and a sometimes visitor of First Reformed

Church (and occasional singer in our choir), sold home-made baked goods to boost the profits for the group.Rutgers Protestant Campus Ministries provides “a wideopen space for conversation about Christian faith and thedoubts that come along with learning and changing” forstudents at Rutgers University. Their mission is to providea “radically loving and welcoming community of Christianfaith for Rutgers University students through worship,study, conversation, service and fellowship.” GaryBernhofer is a member of the board, as have been othermembers of our congregation in the past. Gary wasinstrumental in organizing this fundraiser.

The campus minister is Patty Fox, but she will soon bedeparting to move with her partner, Lisanne Finston, toMassachusetts. And so, RPCM is about to enter yetanother time of difficult transition. I am glad to say that weat FRC helped to smooth their way by providing our spacefor this concert.


Interfaith Worship—by Pastor Hartmut

This year’s Interfaith Thanksgiving was most likely the lastone in our church before the reconfiguration of thebuilding. And it had not even be our turn to host!However, just a few weeks prior, our Turkish friends fromPeace Islands Institute had learned that their reservation of

a hall had been cancelled, and we happily offered ourchurch. In fact, this made Thanksgiving even more thejoint venture it is supposed to be!

As always, dinner was magnificent and had been preparedentirely by the Turkish women. The following worshipservice could not have reflected more accurately thetogetherness of several mainline houses of worship here inthe inner city of New Brunswick. It featured such diversetraditions as the whirling dervish in the beginning,followed by the Arabic call to prayer by Gokhan Nalcaci,Howard Verb’s chanting of Deuteronomy 26:1-10 inHebrew, and Rabbi Phil Bazeley’s rather erudite sermon.

We are blessed to be part of such a community, a modelfor peace in the world and an inspiration to believers ofmanyfaiths!

Picture of First Reformed on City Calendar—by Fawn Stephens

First Reformed Church was delighted to be considered forthe 2013 Shop Local calendar that is created annually byNew Brunswick City Market. Earlier in the Fall, a photo ofFirst Reformed Church in the midst of April cherryblossoms, taken by Pastor Hartmut Kramer-Mills, wassubmitted to the special committee tasked with selectingthe best photos. The photo was chosen as a finalcandidate and will be displayed as the month of "April2014". The calendars are created each year to be given toparticipating Shop Local retailers in Downtown NewBrunswick, which are in turn given to customers for free,to help promote small businesses and shopping locally.The calendars are expected to arrive and be distributed onTuesday, November 26th. For more information aboutShop Local, check out the "Downtown Feature" section ofwww.newbrunswick.com.

This, too, Is Church—by Pastor Hartmut

Gary Bernhofer took this great picture when weordained Fawn Stephens on November 3 to her newoffice of Deacon. To me, this picture is symbolic foreverything the church stands for. In particular, I amthinking in equal terms of the sense of belonging, oflove, and of being sent to follow the call of Christ. Wewish Fawn and Liz God’s rich blessing for their termsas Deacon and Elder.


Rutgers Students Complete Season at Sexton’sHouse—by Pastor Hartmut

Yet one more time this year, we want to thank studentsfrom RUTGERS UNIVERSITY for their selfless work onthe Sexton’s House. On November 2, the followingstudents finished painting the Sexton’s House for the yearand helped cleaning and restructuring our nursery:

Larysa, Jamie, Jenna, Yi, Charlene, Sofia and Shirley, allunder the leadership of Ming Man Cheung. Ming Man hasnow served twice here at First Reformed Church.

It is always a joy to have thestudents here, to receive theirservice and to introduce themto the rich history that connectsRUTGERS UNIVERSITY withFirst Reformed Church. And sowe look forward to another yearof fruitful cooperation with theRutgers University StudentVolunteer Council.


Mesmerized— by Pastor HartmutWhat a worthy finale we had for the end of this year’ssecond season! The final recital was attended by 86persons and thus set a new record. This means that ourattendance increased throughout the season, which is veryspecial indeed.

Marc Cotton, beautifully accompanied by BrittanyMontoro performed concert songs in Italian, German and

English. After each piece, he engaged the audience– especially the 30 students from the LivingstonSchool – in uncomplicated and fun conversation.But even the youngest children – two and three-year-olds from Pine Grove Nursery weremesmerized. One of the older attendees told meafterwards how much she appreciated the earlyexposure we offer our youngest audience memberswhen we introduce them to this type of music.

But especially with all these good things in mind, it isappropriate to ask whether this is what a church should bedoing. Clearly, the Series is not religious and yet demandsa lot of time and effort.

A question like this can never be answered in a textbooklike manner. Here, we would most likely fail to providesound reasoning: The Series is not religious.

But try an answer from the world of real life. Seniorssmiling at children oftentimes sitting at the same table;musicians engaged in meaningful conversations withstudents who are beginning to wonder about their owncareer possibilities; the wide eyes of the youngest kids;caring church women preparing soups and cookies foreveryone – is this not reflecting the world as God must

have intended it? These concerts and meals are filled withmoments that impact evolving lives and lives in the goldenyears at the same time. Who knows what fruit this willyield someday in an adult life? Who knows what burdenthey lift temporarily from the shoulders of one of thespring-Hill residents? Many of us are aware of it, and weapprove with our smiles.

So here is my conclusion: In principle, our Recital Series isprobably as religious or non-religious as some of theevents in the New Testament, events whose fame isundisputed. Many of these do not focus on religion but onthe provision of food, joy, and physical recovery. I amthinking of the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus’ turning ofwater into wine, and also the healing of blind Bartimaeus.Yet would we ever doubt the Christian character of theseevents?

Then our Recital Series must be seen as a Christianservice as well. It offers food, joy and even moments of

respite fromthe burdens ofage andphysicallimitation. Infact therecitals areselfless,because theydo not insiston religionbut take theform of pure

service – the humble church at work.

First Reformed Church9 Bayard Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901phone: 732-545-1005; fax: 732-545-1139email: [email protected] site: www.FirstReformedChurch.net

2013 december newsletter of frc

Documents

new house

issueadvent breakfast

annual breakfast

new ways

time of silent reflection

quietand sweet time

discoverthe love

accepting of christ