From the pastor's pen...

 

JUNE 2019

 

Dear Church Family,

            We had beautiful services on Mother’s Day and Children’s Day in May! Thank you to all of our women and children who helped to lead our services. And on May 26th, we celebrated the special anniversaries of Waldo and Pres Roa and Lif and Elvie Roa. It was truly a special month of worship! And RCA Today, the denominational quarterly magazine, featured an article about our church and our new floor in its spring issue.  In June, we look forward to our Father’s Day service. We will also celebrate the sacrament of baptism for Caleb Joseph Saponaro.

            I will be at Hope College in Holland, Michigan serving as a delegate to our General Synod for a week in June.  I covet your prayers at this difficult time for the Reformed Church in America. The denomination is wrestling with issues of human sexuality and ways to move forward amidst these conflicts. Three scenarios are currently being considered by the denomination. One possibility is staying together and doing nothing. Another is a radical reorganization of the denomination and its bylaws, with networks of conservative, progressive, and centrist churches. The third option being explored is one of graceful separation. There are many ramifications attached to each of these options. We will discuss all of these at General Synod this year. General Synod will also vote on changing our current method of assessments from a per member assessment to an assessment based on a percentage of a church’s total income.

            In May, several of your elders and I attended the annual meeting of the N.J. Association of the United Church of Christ. We were officially welcomed by the association as a new member church of the United Church of Christ. It’s an exciting time as we learn more about the denomination and its resources. I will serve on the preordination committee of the association, working with seminarians and those discerning calls to ministry. This is similar to the work I do for the Classis of New Brunswick and the RCA, where I serve on the candidate care committee. We also attended the stated session of the Classis of New Brunswick. The classis voted to approve the organization of a new church: Agape House in North Plainfield. This is good news indeed as the classis recently closed the Reformed Church of Willingboro.

            As we enter the summer months and our activities slow down – at least a little - I encourage you to help with our summer “children during worship” Sundays and the summer toddler room. We could use fellowship hour hosts. Volunteer to help Bill Seaman with the garden weeding and harvesting. Talk to Mike English about painting around the property. And please continue to join us in worship. Don’t take a vacation from church!

            I wish you blessings this month and always.

                                                                                                                                      In Christ's service,

                                                                    

                                                Rev. Dawn Seaman