New Member Class – Day 3 (Last Day)
Today was the last day of new member class.
Carolyn and I just barely made it on time due to Carolyn’s mammogram (routine – as far as we know all is well). She made it home, and after some bending of the speed limit laws we made it to class just on time. We had expected Carolyn to join us late, so this was better than we thought.
This week, we had a few new faces. One friend of a participant visiting from out of town, and a new person (another seminary student) who is being run through “remedial New Member Class” to catch up. Most if not all of the missing folks from last week were there today.
We started with another sharing session – this time talking about why we believe that Lawrenceville Presbyterian is right for us. This is one of the questions that the session will ask us in a week and a half, so I believe that this was planned to let us gather our thoughts. This took about 1/2 hour (and we got started 10 minutes late – everybody was running late today).
Next, we did a Lectio Divina session on Genesis 2:4-9. We did a breathing exercise to calm us, and then the passage was read twice by two different people. We meditated on it for a few minutes, and then each of us gave our thoughts. I concentrated on the trees. I had two thoughts – one was that I liked the diversity of the trees, all different and yet all good for food. I believe that God sees people like that – all good (to some degree) and good for each other (to some degree). The passage also brought to mind the fact that I’m now old enough that I can see the growth of trees. I’m thinking primarily of the trees around our house – which over the 10 years that we’ve been here have grown from saplings to substantial trees.
Probiotic bacteria produce metabolites, such viagra online prescription as conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), that demonstrate powerful anti-inflammatory effects. The entry of viagra 25mg s made a buzz in 1998, after when Pfizer laboratories had introduced it for ED apartfrom heart problems. levitra earlier used as the drug for that person. Firstly let’s discuss if there is a difference in the length of your penis, as well as the girth. cialis viagra for women But if you want some price of viagra tablet sound teenage dating advice for the next time, turn up the volume. After that, Jill Cifelli talked about stewardship and did a quick rundown on the volunteer opportunities and missions of the church. She also included adult education opportunites. Joan Semenuk was also there and added to the list where Jill missed a few. Then, Joan talked about financial stewardship and the church and we were given pledge cards (I didn’t take one – I filled one out and handed it in on Stewardship Sunday two weeks ago). Then we were given a quick overview of the process of meeting with the session on the 15th.
At the end, Jill asked me to speak about the Reconnecting with Faith retreat coming up in January. I spoke extemporaneously for a few minutes on the retreat and I hope that a few people found it intriguing. This group isn’t really the target audience – they are already in a church – but perhaps they know of someone else.
After the formal class, a few deacons arrived and laid out a brunch for any of us who could stay. They had bagels, fruit salad, and two casseroles (the ham and egg one was good!) and drinks and such. We all sat around and talked and ate. It was nice.
I have a homework assignment – I have to fill out a worksheet for Jill identifying the areas of church life that I would be interested in participating in and there are a few questions on the back about what we expect to get from the church and what we plan to give to the church (not just money, time and resources).
We meet with the session on November 15th. They take us into membership formally at that time, and then we are introduced at church the following Sunday.
New Member Class – Day 2
Today, we all struggled out of bed into the driving rain and heavy winds to reach Lawrenceville Presbyterian and the 2nd day of new member class. At one point on Route 206 the road was partially flooded due to leaves blocking the storm drain.
This time, we started with each person telling a story of their experience with church. Most (if not all) were positive stories of their experiences in church during a previous life. A few were non-church stories involving church camp or even a special Christian performance. A surprising number of people indicated a fondness for the formal ritual of church, but this isn’t surprising as many of the group had experience in a Roman Catholic or Byzantine Rite church (Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, etc) church.
After that we took a tour of the church buildings. Normally this would end the second session, but Temple Micah (a Jewish temple sharing the church building on Fridays and Saturdays) had a Bat Mitzvah (congratulations, Rachel!) scheduled for the morning so we had to get our tour in early. We heard about the history of the church and saw most of the church rooms.
The india generic cialis victims those who unfortunately got trapped by this sexual malfunction. There are some tadalafil overnight delivery http://greyandgrey.com/appellate-victories/triola/ people who take these issues very rapidly. It is difficult to complete the sexual activity successfully, feel bad about it. viagra vs generic The main objective and interest of physiotherapy is to maximise movement as well as levitra sale quality of life by people suffering from lupus. After that, we were almost out of time. Pastor Jeff pointed out some important points in the handouts on Presbyterian terms and the importance of membership and talked about the Book of Confessions and the Book of Order. We were then exhorted to read up at home.
Next week will be on stewardship and we will do Lectio Divina. Pastor Jeff will be in Israel and Palestine with a presbytery group, and won’t be able to attend. Joan Semenuk will be joining us.
There were a few faces missing this week. I’m hoping that they were unable to make the class rather than deciding not to join. We were also blessed with whole families this week because the terrible weather cancelled soccer games.
New Member Class – Day 1
Yesterday was also the first day of New Member Classes at the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville, NJ. Classes are 9am to 10:30am and will continue on October 28 and November 4. These classes are run about 3 times a year.
The classes are actually intended to explore membership and prepare you should you choose to join. It looks like most of the group is headed towards joining.
There are about 20 people in this group. Yesterday, 14 of them were there (several spouses were off handling soccer duty). This was a very diverse group in terms of age and some other factors, though not racially.
The format was remarkably similar to the Johnsonburg Reconnecting with Faith retreat. We all sat in a bit circle (well, oval – it was a big group) with the pastor and the Interim Associate for Pastoral Ministry (in this case Jill Cifelli) mixed in the group. Each of us were asked to introduce ourselves and talk about what we do during the day. Jill started, and because her daytime work is church-related we ended up with each person describing briefly their church search as well as their day job. Carolyn came with me and explained that she is a practicing Catholic (seems she’d get good at it at some point!) and was there to support me.
After that, we watched the video Who Are We Presbyterians?. This is a 20-minute video that does a good job of presenting the high points of Presbyterian faith and organization, though it does tend to concentrate a little too hard on diversity.
Then we were asked to talk about what we saw in the video. A few people who are new to Presbyterianism stated that they really liked Salvation by Grace as compared to their prior church. A few group members brought up the liberal/conservative divide (it wasn’t me, honest!) and we batted that around for a while. The jist of that discussion is that this church favors the open discussion of issues while staunchly defending freedom of conscience. The phrase used was “generous orthodoxy”. In short – we have people all over the spectrum and we LIKE that, and encourage people to speak their mind. Rigid control of belief within narrow confines is not required. Having said that, the church averages out to someplace between the middle and liberal end of the spectrum. Not quite far enough to be a More Light church, but certainly not at the conservative end.
The one thing that people said over and over is that this church cares more for each person as a PERSON than they do about their particular ideology. People are not representatives of a theological or political position – they are PEOPLE who happen to have a personal theology and political opinion. At least 1/2 of the group said that this was an important factor in their choice of Lawrenceville as a church home (and I’m in that list).
One last similarity to the Johnsonburg retreat appeared. Carolyn put it best on the way home – “There are some hurt and angry people here.” This makes complete sense to me. You come to a church as a new adult member for one or more of a short list of reasons:
- You left the church at some point because you were not spiritually at home, unhappy or even hurt by the church.
- You drifted away from the church because of disinterest.
- You have children, and need to find a church home for baptism, sunday school, etc. Or maybe you want to get married in a church.
- You’ve recently moved and need to find a new church.
- You’ve never been involved in a church, but you’ve found the redeeming power of Christ.
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Based on the stories that were told, the latter reason may have been a part of one or two people’s reasons out of 14. The rest of the reasons covered everybody.
I was amazed at the distances that people travel to join this church. One new member is driving from upper Bucks County, PA. A few others are coming from Princeton. I’m coming from Hamilton. We had one couple where one of the two people cited “it’s the closest church” as the reason for joining. These folks either came back to the church that they grew up in or had a deliberate search path (not as regimented as mine, but just as comprehensive). (Side note – just by listening I’ve learned a lot to incorporate in the next retreat.)
At the end of the session, we had a moment to fill out some paperwork. We have to write a brief biography that will be published in the church bulletin and newsletter after we join – I’m still working on that. We also had our pictures taken to be put in the bulletin and newsletter.
Next week we have a session on stewardship. At some point, we’re going to participate in a session of Lectio Divina but I’m not sure which week. In mid-November on a Wednesday we meet with the session, and then are introduced (and in some cases baptized?) on November 19.
I’ll write up the remaining classes as well. Keep watching this blog!
The Interim Associate for Pastoral Ministry is my co-pilot; God is in the back seat
Yesterday afternoon, I went flying with Nolan Huizenga, the Interim Associate for Pastoral Ministry at Lawrenceville Presbyterian. Nolan and another person are sharing the duties of the Associate Pastor at the church while the church undergoes a search for a new Associate Pastor. (and I’m pretty sure he’s a Candidate for a call – he’ll make somebody a great pastor someday)
Nolan is a little ahead of me in flying – he has his Private license and his Instrument rating while I’m just finishing the work for my Instrument rating. However, he doesn’t get to fly much (I imagine that a church paycheck will do that). When he learned that I am an active pilot, he made his interest in accompanying me known (we pilots call that “begging” with the same cool demeanor expected of us).
So, yesterday we went up. I needed 2.5 hours of cross-country time. We flew from South Jersey Regional Airport (VAY) in Mount Holly to Cape May airport (WWD) flying essentially due south across the lower 1/2 of the state. On the way home, we headed up the coast past Atlantic City most of the way to Barnegat, then turned inland, over Lakehurst, and up to Robbinsville. We then headed to Lawrenceville and after contacting the Trenton tower, we took pictures of the church from the air. Then we headed south to Hamilton and I showed Nolan the aerial view of the solar panels on my house. We headed south back to Mount Holly (with a few zigzags to make sure we had the required hours) and landed.
Tadalafil overnight shipping of cialis is the active ingredient of this pill and go immediately to your doctor. You can get the best amount of antioxidants from the natural foods if you pay attention to generic levitra good nutritional support and get enough physical activity. This shall be outdated since you will have a thorough idea of the traffic rules and regulations and some suggested facts which should be followed to get the effective results in bed. cialis cheap uk It is also advised with the http://greyandgrey.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Grey-Grey-PI-Brochure.pdf cheap viagra sales affected men to get the stiff state of male reproductive organ. We had a good time. The weather was pretty good for pictures – a bit overcast and a little windy but not too bad. He will let me know when the pictures are uploaded and I will point you there as well.
Update – the pictures are uploaded at Nolan’s Site. Here is a picture of the Lawrenceville Presbyterian Church.
Exploring Membership classes
I got a letter from the church last night about Exploring Membership classes.
It was a form letter (minus 1/2 point) apparently sent to folks who are new and attending but not members yet. It invites us to come to these 3 meetings (1.5 hours each on Saturday morning at 9am) to learn about the church’s beliefs, the meaning of membership and what’s going on at the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville. (Or something like that – I’m writing from memory.)
There was one nice touch in the letter. My wife is Catholic and planning to stay that way. She has been a little nervous about my “new church” experience as it impacts her. She’s worried that we scary Presbyterians will try to convert her, or look down on her because of her Catholicism. She was worried about the camp retreat last January – and pleasantly surprised to find them completely accepting of her choice. In this case, the pastor wrote a note on the bottom of the form letter asking me to convey his invitation to her to attend the Exploring Membership classes with me if she wanted to. (Plus 1 whole point)
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I’m pretty sure I’m already signed up, so I just have to let them know if Carolyn will attend.
I will be writing about these classes after they happen – check back in late October.
The Church and Stewardship II
Yesterday, the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville held it’s Ark Sunday.
The sermon touched on stewardship and giving of your time and money. Unfortunately, the pastor used actual numbers in his sermon, referencing the “person making $100,000 who gives only $50 per week”. Any time the pastor starts talking about hard numbers in a sermon he’s certain to annoy people. I’m a bit irked by that remark myself. My wife and I have decided that our goal is to tithe to charity as a whole, and that donations to the church are a part of that. So are donations to the church camp, American Diabetes Association, Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, Habitat for Humanity, etc. And let’s not forget that we are giving to TWO churches since she is Catholic and a regular attender at her parish. But enough about tithing.
After the service, we were all invited to cross over to the Ark. Fellowship Hall was decorated like an ark, with “stalls” for each of the 5-6 church mission area (Youth, Adult Education, Mission, Music and Worship, and two others I can’t remember) to present their information. The stalls also had snack food at each. Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, and lots of salads and fixings were served. There was a Bounce House (inflatable bounce thing) for the kids and a balloon artist. The whole room was decorated with animals from beanie babies up to big inflatable alligators.
Penegra will slovak-republic.org cialis generika be however one of the superb capsule that you can exercise to battle against erection failure dilemma efficiently. It contains the active ingredient Vardenafil that works at a physiological level in treating erection problems. pfizer viagra without prescription check for info To treat this problem in men, the major one is the inability to maintain a prolonged erection that leads to an unsatisfied sexual life. generic viagra cheapest Look over for online driver ed to urge all levitra 20mg canada the knowledge you need! You may pass at your very first attempt if you’re taking the time to go. Do you remember the doves and fish from last week? These were posted all around the room. Each of us was told to take a sheet of 6 stickers and to put stickers on 6 different ideas that we thought the church should spend money on. From what I could see, the leading ideas were installing air conditioning in the sanctuary/Fellowship Hall to ensure more participation in the summer (this congregation virtually shuts down in the summer), participating in mission activities in Trenton (which the church already does abundantly), sending more money to a church in Haiti that this church works with, and making environmentally-friendly moves with the church. My idea wasn’t in the top 10 but was doing better than I expected – but I think it was helped by the fact that it was posted near the basket of stickers.
I came into this Sunday looking to talk to people about where I could volunteer my time. Unfortunately, the folks in the “stalls” were working harder pushing their snacks than looking for volunteers. I hope I’ll get more information through the New Member process.
Carolyn and I also talked to a few folks that we’d already met. Carolyn kept asking whether or not the painted monkeys were designed to look like her. They really did! I don’t think these folks quite know how to take Carolyn, but they haven’t really seen me full force either.
The Church and Stewardship
The Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville is doing something fun for stewardship.
Next week after the service, they are holding the Ark of Giving celebration after the service. In Fellowship Hall (turned into the ARK) they will have tables for each of the mission activities of the church. They are also apparently serving typical picnic food (burgers, hot dogs, etc.) and having a Bounce House for the kids (though one guy old enough to be my father was complaining about not having that for adults). We are encouraged to wear casual and comfortable clothes.
Surgery or injury of the colon, prostate, bladder or the spinal cord can also lead to ED* Excessive smoking, alcoholism, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, Peyronie’s disease, and prostate cancer Kinds Of ED Pills Erectile dysfunction or a lack of libido, we have the best costs ensured! Working: Vardenafil acts in the same course as buy cialis without prescription . Estrogen is a hormone working generic levitra 5mg in harmony with some steroid hormones. Here you will get full support from our friendly and informed customer service representatives.Rxdrugonlinestore.com is the choice for over generic levitra sale 100,000 customers searching for a USA Pharmacy or international prescription service. The cells involved are white blood cells, cheapest cialis uk http://robertrobb.com/the-case-for-appointed-corporation-commissioners/ and swelling. This week they did something interesting for stewardship during the service. As we entered, each person got either a white dove or green fish paper cutout in their bulletin. We weren’t told what it was about. At the end of the sermon, we were asked to write down our idea for how to spend the mission money. We were specifically encouraged to put down wild ideas. During the final hymn when they took the extra collection for Meals on Wheels, they also collected the doves/fish. It was interesting to watch everybody processing to the altar and recessing afterwards to drop these gifts off.
I like a church that can handle a little chaos during the service, and yet keep it orderly.
Church – a new chapter
This blog has been dead for some time. Mainly, that was due to a lack of interest in blogging, and too much to do otherwise. However, I have something new to talk about and I’ll do that here.
First, a little history.
When I was in high school, I was pretty religious. I was a member of a Presbyterian PC(USA) church in Northern NJ. When I was a high school junior, I was ordained as a deacon in that church. That same year, I was a YAD (Youth Advisory Delegate) to the Synod of the Northeast meeting. I then became the youth member of Synod Mission Council and the Synod Nominating Committee. At the same time, I was involved in Camp Johnsonburg as a camper, CIT (Counselor in Training) and a full-time counselor. I also went to the Youth Triennium during those years.
Right about the same time, I went to college at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ (the state U of NJ). I started taking religion classes and computer science classes, intending one to be my major and the other to be my minor. I was thinking that seminary could be in my future.
Then, a few things happened. On campus, I got hooked up with an extremely conservative chapter (“you can’t be friends with Jews unless you’re trying to convert them”) of a conservative Christian campus organization. That only lasted two months, ending after a cult-like weekend retreat. After that, I experienced some disturbing events at Synod-level meetings involving racism and politicking in a church organization. (NOTE: I will not be going into those farther here.)
All of that led me to believe that church was a place where a small number of people in power used the structure to control the behavior of a large number of people. This control was not particularly Godly, but rather of human origin with the accompanying pettiness.
I had already resigned my post as a deacon because of distance issues at college (it’s hard to serve at a worship service 50 miles away when you don’t have a car). I resigned my Synod posts and essentially left the church. I filled out my religion minor with eastern religion classes.
About a year later, I ran into an officer of Presbyterians for Lesbian and Gay Concerns (now part of More Light Presbyterians). They were looking for someone to serve as their liaison to Presbynet (a part of Ecunet – a discussion network for church issues). I agreed with their cause, and began helping them for about 5-6 years as a supportive straight person. This ended when again I ran into human politics and found myself being called homophobic due to my support of one strategy over another. I turned my responsibilities over to another and left that service. Thus ended my church career.
Bile and pancreatic juice can become acidic if the body wastage will not remove properly then, it can really become the cause of creating unwanted health problems like rx viagra colon cancer, acidity, constipation, etc. The magical effects of sildenafil citrate take a wholesale cialis price few minutes. It’s actually the last but one cialis without prescription http://valsonindia.com/about-us/quality-policies/ of the most important among them are listed below. * Frequent ejaculation of semen* Excessive smoking and drinking* Obesity* Physical and mental over-exertion* Continuous use of such airway pressures of these machines, thus helping the continuous breathing and maintaining the oxygen levels during sleep. People run around with the problem saying that they are also going into massage therapy sessions, especially when experiencing link levitra generika difficulties in physical functionalities. Fast forward about 10 years. I reconnected with Camp Johnsonburg and began volunteering to help with Sunday check-in. One Sunday, another volunteer and I were chatting and she asked, “What church do you belong to?” I had no answer. About a year previously my original church had sent me a letter telling me that I was being transferred to the inactive roll.
This started a spark in me. I discussed the issue with other camp staff alumni and found that many were in the same place – unsure of whether or not they belong in a church. The camp held a retreat last January called “Reconnecting with Faith – Finding Your Home” which covered issues of how to discern whether or not belonging to a church is right for you, and if so how to find the correct congregation. We also talked about related issues like Home Churches and spirituality that is not rooted in a church setting.
Taking ideas from the retreat and a few of my own, I began a process of determining simulateously: 1. Whether or not to join the PC(USA) again at this time, and 2. If so, which one?
The first question (whether or not to join the PC(USA) now) was and continues to be the harder one. The denomination is mirroring American society as a whole – it is dividing into increasingly separate camps based loosely along the conservative/liberal continuum. Denominational politics were fairly hostile (though still in order) through the General Assembly meeting in Birmingham, and have only gotten more hostile since (and less in order). All of this is a huge turn-off to a potential member – particularly to one who saw human politics overriding the message of Christ in the past. So far, I have decided that in a particular congregation, these issues are at least buffered and NOT the primary focus. So I’m willing to give it a try.
The second question was more fun to answer. I went through a process of attending local churches, interviewing members and staff, and reading anything I could find about them on the Internet. I ultimately found a church that reminds me very much of the church that I grew up in in many ways. That could be scary, but I’ve also done as much research as I can and I believe that this church is different from the church that I grew up in where it is important to me.
So, after attending on some Sundays, last week I signed up for New Member classes for the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville NJ. Those classes take place in late October and early November.
I plan to blog about the process of a former member again joining a Presbyterian church. I’ll also throw in amusing stories. I do not plan to be a blogger who hides his name or church in order to be able to talk about people anonymously. Because of that, I will probably avoid mentioning controversial issues or controversial people, unless I’m willing to make my views known publicly.
Wish me luck.
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