What’s Going on at the Church
EXTRA, EXTRA READ ALL ABOUT IT
Yes, it’s TRUE. Your session took a bold step and approved the installation of air conditioning in Davis Hall. This is indeed a costly project that is being funded by the investment funds and will improve our summer worship services as well as enable us to rent the hall during the hot months. The (4) mini-split units and condensers have been installed. The next phase is the electrical assessment to determine the safest and best way to provide power to the units.
We welcome donations to offset the cost of this project with much appreciation.
On June 20th, we had 2 events happening simultaneously!!
Our first distribution from our food pantry was tended by members of the church and the Lafayette Mason Lodge! Al Shipley organized the distribution. The pantry is located in the former library of the church. We are using the shelves to store non-perishable food items. We will be hosting other distributions in the future. However, if you are in need of an emergency distribution, please call the church and we will arrange a time for you to come by and get a bag or two.
Outside we were celebrating the grand opening of the Union Street Resource Center (USRC) Community Garden! Mayor Ray Giacobbe cut the ribbon alongside Council members Darlene Eastman, Dave Brown, Danni Newbury and Jeff Brooks, USRC Director Cheryl Anne Cammann, Rahway’s Best owner Joie Nodarse, First Pres member Sue Krivenko, and David Holmes was accompanied by his fiancé, Hakiema.
The creation of the garden was the idea of David Holmes. David and Cheryl Anne worked hard to take this from idea to reality! Many volunteers from the church attended work parties to build, move, and fill the raised bed gardens. Northfield Bank gave funds to purchase the soil through Councilwoman Eastman. At the ribbon cutting, attendees signed-up to help tend the garden. Loyalty Food Truck provided free hot dogs and sodas to attendees.
All of this happened one of the most beautiful days of the year! God’s blessing is upon us in so many ways!
“Weighing Truth and Life”
The sixth and seventh steps are two sides of one coin. The sixth step is essentially “letting go and letting God“ remove our shortcomings and obstacles to growth. The seventh step is essentially asking God to do that. This 7th step is the essence of prayer, which as we’ll see, is one of those “both/and” truths that happen so often in the spiritual life. Read Richard’s insights about these 2 steps slowly, and perhaps return to them from time to time – because they are counterintuitive, and yet they are an important aspect of a thriving spirituality.
“The sixth step struggles with and resolves the old paradox of the chicken and the egg. It recognizes that we have to “work” to see our many resistances, excuses, and blockages and at the same time fully acknowledge that God alone can do the removing. So which comes first – grace or responsibility? The answer is both come first. The difficulty is getting out of the way to allow grace to fully operate and liberate
.God is pure and free gift but there is a necessary undergoing to surrender to this momentous encounter. The connection point is perhaps clarified in a quote from Ansel Adams; ”Chance favors the prepared mind.” This is about learning to wait for and fully expect the “flow of the Spirit”. So the preparing of the mind for chance is about the softening of the heart, the deepening of expectation, and the readiness to really let go. This is the prayer Mary prayed at the beginning of her journey and that Jesus prayed at the end of his life, “Let it be done unto me.” So we must pray as if it all depends on us and work as if it all depends on God. (Yes, you read that correctly!)
The 7th step raises the question, ”Why does Jesus both tell us to ask, and then say, God already knows what you need.” Well, we ask not to change God but to change ourselves. We pray to form a living relationship not to get things done. Prayer is a symbiotic relationship with life and with God, a synergy that creates a result larger than the exchange itself. God knows that we need to pray to keep the symbiotic relationship moving and growing.
We can’t engineer or guide our own transformation or conversion. God has to radically change the central reference point of our lives. That’s why the 7th step says we humbly ask God to remove our shortcomings. That’s why Jesus said, “If we try to pull out the weeds (ourselves), we might pull out the wheat with them.” God’s totally positive and lasting way of removing our shortcomings is to fill up the hole with much better, more luminous and more satisfying things. It’s like Jacob, at the foot of his dreamy ladder where he saw the angels walking between heaven and earth said, “You were here, God, all the time, and I never knew it! This is nothing less than the house of God and the very gate of heaven.” The final discovery, as Thomas Merton put it, is that this gate of heaven is everywhere.”
Blessing and Peace, Ed
Looking to donate to our thrift sales?
If you have any furniture to donate, please take a photo of what you have and send the photos to office@1stpresrahway.org. At this time, we’re not accepting clothes or shoes.
Members usually work on Wednesday’s for our sales from 10:30 am -1:30 pm. If that’s not a convenient time for you to drop off donations, other arrangements can be made. Please email the church office and your request will be forwarded to the “sales crew” so they can respond to your inquiry.
As always, thank you to all who donate. Our sales have been a great success this year because of you!
Important Message from the USRC Board of Directors:
Please read these guidelines about Squier Hall and the formation of the USRC Board of Directors, who will be overseeing the groups meeting in Squier.
As part of the guidelines, please use this form if you have any concerns so that they can be addressed.
Interested in Getting Involved?
We have a lot of different ways for you to get involved – short-term projects, one-time opportunities, working with our livestream technology on Sundays, plus much more. Click on the button below to see what we have on our ‘volunteer wish list’. As more opportunities become available, we will be sure to update our listings.