NOTES FROM THE PASTOR I’ve always liked the idea of twilight. Twilight is the soft hue that permeates the darkness when the sun is right below the horizon. For me, the beauty of the twilight moment lies in its indistinguishable nature between dusk and dawn; the sun’s last gasp before the evening dark or the greyish haze of an upcoming morning both flaunt its eerie calm and gently gives way to what comes next. ThinkPastor Jae Hong ing of twilight as an inflection point provides a pregnant pause, wondering whether it is the darkness or the light that is to come. Considering my challenges as twilight moments have always provided depth and courage to my next steps. Continued on page two.
IN THIS ISSUE Church Calendar
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Prayer Labyrinth
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Maundy Thursday
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New Members
6
Prayer Beads
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Historical Tidbits
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Tech Team Thanks
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Children’s Ministry
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Birthdays
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Continued from page one.
As we draw closer to the pinnacle of our Christian calendar, I am reminded of another inflection point from Jesus’ celebratory entrance into Jerusalem to a wooden cross on Calvary’s hill. What were in the hearts of the people that would welcome Jesus as an expected messiah but call for his execution five days later? A linguistic exposition of the word “Hosanna” provides a clue. The word that people use to greet Jesus as a conquering king is a word translated twice over (Hebrew to Greek, then Greek to English). The original Hebrew word is הֹושיעָה נָא ִׁ (ho-shiya-na) and actually carries two different meanings. One meaning is a declaration stating, “He Saves!” The other meaning is a command/request stating “Save us!” As the crowd was all declaring the same one word, I wonder who worshipped Jesus declaring him as the Coming King and who was ordering Jesus to help better their lives. To better frame the distinction, consider theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s understanding of cheap grace (Save us!) vs costly grace (He Saves!) in The Cost of Discipleship. Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor who was part of the German resistance against Nazism, and his active involvement resulted in his execution in 1945. Bonhoeffer states that cheap grace is “the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, (it is) baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”
In contrast, Bonhoeffer notes costly grace as “the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. Costly grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us.”
Painting of Dietrich Bonhoeffer by Charles Pâté, Jr.
My dear community, we will walk together in remembrance of Jesus’ death and blessed resurrection in mourning and celebration of Good Friday and Easter. As we find ourselves on the precipice of walking with Jesus through his journey into Jerusalem to Calvary, I invite you to pause and consider the twilight of this moment. How will you say Hosanna to God and those around you today? How costly is your grace? - Pastor Jae Hong
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APRIL EVENTS Apr 3
Apr 4
Apr 5
Contemporary Issues Class Lenten Book Study Group Worship & Children’s Ministry Online Compassion Camp Virtual Coffee Hour Handbell Choir Divorce Support Group Youth Group & Youth Choir
April 17
Easter Sunrise Service at Carnegie Lake Easter Services at PUMC and KUMC
Apr 18
Monday Morning Bible Study Stewardship & Finance Team Circle of Care
Apr 19
Monday Morning Bible Study Church Council
Communications Team Campus Ministry Godfulness Meditation Small Group
Apr 20
Tuesday Lenten Prayer Service Worship Ministry Team Campus Ministry Godfulness Meditation Small Group
Love Lives On Children’s Choir Cornerstone Community Meal Chancel Choir
Apr 21
Nominations & Lay Leadership Team
Apr 24
Contemporary Issues Class Worship & Children’s Ministry Confirmation Class Online Compassion Camp Love Lives On Handbell Choir Divorce Support Group Youth Group & Youth Choir
Apr 25
Monday Morning Bible Study
Apr 26
Technology Ministry Team Campus Ministry Godfulness Meditation Small Group
Apr 27
Love Lives On Children’s Choir Cornerstone Community Meal Chancel Choir
Apr 28
Staff Parish Team
Apr 6
Love Lives On Children’s Choir Cornerstone Community Meal Chancel Choir
Apr 9
Easter Egg Hunt at KUMC
Apr 10
Contemporary Issues Class Lenten Book Study Group Worship & Children’s Ministry Confirmation Class Online Compassion Camp Outreach Ministry Team Handbell Choir Love Lives On Divorce Support Group Youth Group & Youth Choir
Apr 11
Prayer Labyrinth Open Monday Morning Bible Study Children & Youth Formation Team Membership & Growth Team
Apr 12
Prayer Labyrinth Open Tuesday Lenten Prayer Service Trustees Team Campus Ministry Godfulness Meditation Small Group
Apr 13
Prayer Labyrinth Open Love Lives On Children’s Choir Cornerstone Community Meal Chancel Choir
Apr 14
Prayer Labyrinth Open Maundy Thursday Service at PUMC
April 15
Prayer Labyrinth Open Good Friday Services at PUMC and KUMC
April 16
Holy Saturday Service at PUMC
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A LABYRINTH REFLECTION The labyrinth, all its curved blue lines smoothed out on the canvas, is laid out in the Sanford Davis Room. I’ve walked this labyrinth before. Each time is different. Today, I walk it as an 81-year-old elder, well taken care of, as before. Busy and over scheduled, as before. How will my walk be today? My gaze is down. The curves come quickly. After every several steps I must make a U-turn. So as not to lose my balance, I carefully place my feet on the narrow white path. Then come the long stretches when one-footin-front of the other requires less care. That’s like my life, I realize. All went well during some of my years. I could coast along without big worries. Other years, it seemed like a new problem lurked around every bend. Gradually I work my way over to the other side, lulled by the repetition of placing my feet on the white lines, and then – suddenly! Without warning! Because I was focusing on my feet, I had no warning. There I am in the center! Finding the center of the labyrinth can seem like finding God. Again, the labyrinth mirrors my life. When I needed God but least expected God, God was there. I yearn to stay in the center with God but – like most times in my life -- I do not let myself take time to stay, and I begin the trip back. As I repeat the long stretches and the short turns, I
The Prayer Labyrinth will be open April 11-15th, from 9-5 pm, at Princeton UMC.
admit that I am sad about being on the down slope of my life’s trajectory. Just like I am nearing the end of the labyrinth walk, I am nearing the end of my own years. I’ve been lucky to have this many years and I’m not guaranteed to get any more. But I keep walking, lost in this thought. Then, suddenly, without warning, I am back where I began. I have finished the labyrinth. Is this how my end will be? Suddenly? or with warning? That’s out of my control. What I can control is whether I’m ready, whether I have ordered my life so as to have no regrets. Younger people may judge these thoughts macabre or at least unnecessary. We elders know better. We know we want to be ready. Our message to our children and our younger friends is… We are born to die. Once you know that, you can more fully live. When you walk on God’s path, you have the joyful surprise encounters with God. When you live so that you have no regrets, you need not fear the end. Walking a labyrinth can be soothing or challenging. How will it be for you? - Barbara Fox 45
MAUNDY THURSDAY @PUMC For Christians, Maundy Thursday services recreate the Last Supper Jesus shared with his 12 disciples before he was betrayed, arrested, and crucified. On that evening 2,000 years ago, Jesus gave to his disciples a new commandment - a mandatum: “Love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another” (John 13:34). Princeton UMC’s Maundy Thursday Service, which begins at 7:00 p.m. on April 14, commemorates Christ’s sacrifice by reenacting his last meal in a very personal and spiritual manner. “In John, we see Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. The humility of that act was an expression of His love,” explains Pastor Jenny. Those attending the church service can participate in hand or feet washing as either recipient or bestower.
Stained glass window in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Amiens, France.
Theresa Cann, a member of the Princeton UMC family, has been going to Maundy Thursday services for years, and in the last Maundy Thursday before Covid, chose to assist in the handwashing. As she poured water into the cupped hands of the congregants and then wrapped their hands in clean towels, she made a simple yet powerful connection: “For me, that act symbolized the assurance that we are forever enveloped in God’s love. Whether we gazed
Last year, Sarah Betancourt offered a liturgical dance during the online Maundy Thursday service.
at each other or not, squeezed hands tightly or gently, there was an unspoken affirmation of Christ’s love in that moment,” she reminisces. Before Covid, to approximate the intimate and somber atmosphere of that first Maundy Thursday, the celebrants staggered groups of 12 throughout the service for communion in the Sanford-Davis Room or the library. While Covid restrictions have loosened, Maundy Thursday communion is organized to make everyone attending feel comfortable. The celebrants are inviting small groups up to the communion rail to partake using prepackaged communion elements. “The wonderful news is that we are getting to have this service in person (as well as livestreamed), and we are hosting a joint service with Kingston UMC,” Pastor Jenny explains. Following communion, the sanctuary will be prepared symbolically for the darkness that followed Jesus’s death. All colors and religious symbols will be removed from the sanctuary and the altar stripped by our confirmands. Soft, somber acapella music will complement the ceremony and usher those attending quietly and thoughtfully out of the sanctuary. “Our hope is that the visceral character of the service will deepen people’s understanding of how Jesus must have felt as he went into darkness,” shares Pastor Jenny. 55
WELCOME NEW MEMBERS Edwin Jenkins was born and raised in Savannah, GA. He’s married to Una Satchell Jenkins and they’ve lived in Millstone Township since 2005. Jenkins is a CPA, and an accounting and financial reporting consultant and Princeton UMC is very fortunate that he is serving on the Stewardship & Finance (S&F) Ministry Team. Edwin enjoys bicycling, core fitness training, reading, travel, and has completed five (!!!) NYC Marathons. Edwin and Una also fund several scholarships for students majoring in accounting. In addition to his service on the S&F ministry team, Edwin hopes to get involved with helping people with financial literacy at PUMC. Samaila Ayuba was born and raised in Nigeria. He comes from the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) denomination and is currently a seminarian at Princeton Theological Seminary. A highlight for Samaila, since being in the U.S., is that he learned how to ride a bike! He hopes to learn more about the Wesleyan tradition at Princeton UMC and to pursue the ordination track. Samaila is especially excited to serve with the children’s ministry and next year he will work as a seminary intern for the Central District Multi-Site Ministry, across the PUMC and KUMC campuses.
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LENTEN PRAYER BEADS WORKSHOP Last month we gathered at PUMC, KUMC, and Stonebridge to learn how to make prayer beads from Author Kristen E. Vincent. If you missed it, you can still access the workshop video recording at princetonumc.org/lent-easter.
The church’s brand new TV served as a great tool, as the workshop leader Zoomed in to offer background on the significance of prayer beads as a spiritual tool and instructed the participants in creating their own prayer bead sets.
Pastor Jenny and Judy Algor work together to make their prayer bead sets.
Evie Lee shows off her finished prayer beads.
Head Usher Doug Fullman kept a steady hand as he assembled his beads.
Worship Intern Hyelim Yoon displays her completed prayer beads.
Barbara Fox graciously hosted residents of Stonebridge at her home for the workshop.
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HISTORICAL TIDBITS Princeton United Methodist Church has a long and interesting history. Have you ever wondered how and when our church was founded? Where our parsonages were located? What our first church building looked like? Why the name Sanford is found in several areas of the church? Each month, we’ll be sharing some aspect of our church’s story.
Our Founding Reverend David Bartine was assigned to the Trenton circuit and is considered the "Spiritual godfather” of the Princeton Methodist Church. He first preached in Princeton in 1810 at a private home. In 1846, his son, Dr. Oliver Bartine was a leading member of the group that established a church in Princeton. Our first pastor was Rev. Joseph Ashbrook, appointed in 1847. His immediate task was to secure a plot of land on which to build a church. At Rev. Joseph Ashbrook the time, The College of NJ (now Princeton University) and the Theological Seminary were dominated by Presbyterians who thought that Methodists were loud and lacking in dignity. We sang too much and were too rowdy! Because they believed that Methodists would be a bad influence on students, they did not want to sell us any land. At that time, Dr. Oliver Bartine's home and medical office were located on the lot where our current chapel and Sanford Davis room are located. The congregation wanted to obtain the adjoining lot too. Rather than offer to purchase the lot as a church, Oliver Bartine bought it for $500 in Sept. 1846. In 1848 he gave the property to the Trustees of Princeton Methodist Episcopal Church for the same price he'd purchased it.
PUMC YOUTH LEANNE GRIFFITHS WINS COMPETITION Leanne Griffiths, daughter of Church Council Chair Ian Griffiths and Compassion Camp Leader Marie Griffiths, recently won first place at the Crescendo International Piano Competition in the Weil Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Leanne is currently a Junior in high school and is passionate about not just piano, but also singing, social justice issues, walking her dog, and volunteering in the community. We are so blessed to have Leanne as a member of our Princeton UMC church family and that she frequently shares her gift of music with us through singing in the Youth Choir and playing the piano for Leanne, second from the left, singing last month with the PUMC Youth Choir, special worship services. under Tom Shelton’s direction.
Leanne Griffiths stands at Carnegie Hall, holding her award.
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THANK YOU FROM THE TECHNOLOGY TEAM To Our Recent Anonymous Donor, I wanted to reach out and express my sincere gratitude and appreciation for the gift of your donation that has enabled Princeton United Methodist Church (PUMC) to fully modernize the technology that enables our weekly online livestream capabilities. My name is Bill Gardner, and I am the current technology chair and part of the PUMC Church Council. Back in March 2020, our world faced the enormous challenge of Covid-19. Our church recognized the immediate need to change to provide remote access to our worTechnology Team Chair Bill Gardner sits at the ship services. Led by Pastor Skitch Mathelm of the livestreaming software. son, the church invested in a basic The new sound board sits lit up in the foreground. livestreaming capability, with a single camera and sound solution. I was invited to play trumpet one Sunday and watched this process that Skitch and Pastor Jenny had implemented and I wanted to help. As Covid had no end in sight, it was important to continue to evolve and improve our online offering. We laid out a plan to modernize the entire technology foundation, including new visual, sound, and infrastructure capabilities. Thanks to your gift and some critical volunteers, we have largely completed this mission. We have a new computer that has the power to provide rich video feeds to various streaming services, such as Facebook and Vimeo. We have two new cameras that are mounted in the back of the church, but allow us to zoom, pan, and tilt to view any part of the sanctuary. We have a new soundboard that has revolutionized our capabilities to manage the quality of the sound. We have built a permanent facility in the back of the church that allows us to fully manage our in-person and streaming content without obstructing any worshippers. Please see the attached picture that shows us running an actual Sunday service from this new facility. Our vision is to continue to improve. We have more to do to realize all the possibilities that our magnificent sanctuary has to offer. But we have come incredibly far in our capabilities already, and your gift was a key part of realizing this mission. I want to thank you for your generosity and sincerely appreciate what this has meant to members and visitors of our wonderful church. Best regards, Bill Gardner PUMC Technology Ministry Team, Chair
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CHILDREN’S MINISTRY UPDATE We have a lot to be grateful for this month in our Children’s Ministry program! After 18 months of online-only gathering for Compassion Camp, Grow Students, confirmation classes, and children’s choir, we are now able to safely gather in person for all ministries, including singing live during worship services! In addition to gathering in person, we continue to provide online access to Compassion Camp, as well. Thank you so much to our entire Children’s Ministry Leadership Team (both online and in-person) for your ongoing ministry with our children and teens.
Sixth Grader Juli Collins and Third Grader Sequoah Hadley tell an Old Testament Godly Play story in the desert box.
Second Grader Elliot Walz enjoys instrument time during a recent Children’s Choir rehearsal.
First Grader Victoria Offer (left) and Second Grader Anna Griffiths (right) respond to a Godly Play story with legos.
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APRIL 2022 Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
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2 Ashleigh Donaldson Nathaniel Griffiths
3 Joan Reil
4 Edem Timpo
5 William Ponder Jeff Sayre
6 Evan Blomgren
7 Vinette Jones
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9 Corinne Meirowitz Jax Miner
10 Christine Green Sequoah Hadley Fritz Hillegas
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12 Melanie Febinger Michele Tuck Ponder
13 Anita Dreibelbis
14 Connor Langdon
15 Tyler Mathiasen Emefa Timpo
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17 Eileen FranciscoCabus
18 Jax Obe
19 Rebekah Anderson Curt Hillegas
20 Amanda Ciccone Madeline Febinger Rosalind Hayes
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22 Elli Collins Vivien Sayre
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25 Julia Potts
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28 Tammy Nadbielny Gene Nugent
29 Bobby Walz
30 Kathleen Garber
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7 Vandeventer Avenue Princeton, NJ 08542 609-924-2613 princetonumc.mn.co
Princeton United Methodist Church is a Stephen Ministry Congregation
Rev. Jenny Smith Walz, Lead Pastor Rev. Skitch Matson, Kingston Campus Pastor Ashley Gonzalez, Pastor of Adult Formation Jae Hong, Pastor of Pastoral Care Hyosang Park, Director of Music Tom Shelton, Director of Youth Choirs Julia Hanna, Accompanist Tyler Mathiasen, Office Manager Evangeline Burgers, Dir. of Comm. & Kid’s Ministry Gilmar Enamorado, Custodial Ministry Lawanda Coney, Custodial Ministry Santos Gonzales, Custodial Ministry Mikaela Langdon, Nursery Care Lead Tayler Necoechea, Intern Hyelim Yoon, Intern Alex Hoshino, Intern Emma Worrall, Intern
THANK YOU TO OUR APRIL NEWSLETTER CONTRIBUTORS Pastor Jae Hong Kate Lasko Barbara Fox
Bill Gardner Lori Pantaleo Evangeline Burgers, Editor
Do you have something you’d like to see in the newsletter? Ministry Team news, or something to feed our congregation on our discipleship journey? Email news@princetonumc.org The deadline for the May issue is April 15th.