NOTES FROM THE PASTOR
we don’t have to work quite so hard. There’s still a distance from the pump to the garden, and we continue to put effort into prayer and discipleship practices, into loving God and neighbor. As these practices, commitments, and efforts continue, the work continues to shift. The water needed for our garden to grow is even more readily available. It’s a stream or an aqueduct that flows near the garden, doing most of the work for us. It’s a smaller effort we are having to exert to get this life giving water to nourish the growth.
Dear Beloved Princeton and Kingston United Methodist Church Community, ”Iamthetruevine,andmyFatheristhe gardener.”–Jesus(John15:1)How does our garden grow? What fruit does it produce—in you, in us together? How do PUMC and KUMC feed people with all that produce? This newsletter is full of answers to these questions—but they are only some of the answers. I believe fruit at every stage, from seed to table, is abundantly present in each of us and all of us together. Every day I see it in you. And we need each other to keep our garden growing and flourishing. So this newsletter is also full of invitations for you to be co gardeners with God, sharing your investment and your fruit, so that we all might experience the fullness of life.
Teresa of Avila, a 16th century Carmelite nun, gives us this beautiful image of watering a garden as a metaphor for a life of prayer and growth in our discipleship. She notes how early in our garden cultivation, it takes a lot of effort. It’s a lot like having to go to a well, lower a bucket, and pull up each bucketful of water, carrying it by hand to the garden. It’s work to make the time, find the discipline, try out different ways of praying, struggling to trust and sense God’s presence.
Over time, though, we find that it is as if a pump has been added to the well, and
We find eventually that it’s not only less work on our part, but no work. Like rain falling from the sky or a spring bubbling up from the ground right where it is needed, it’s God’s presence, God’s grace, God’s transforming love that is flowing through us. It’s been there all along, but our ability to abide in God’s presence is itself the fruit of the very garden we (and God) are tending. It is a journey of engaged growth and tending that transforms us from the gardener to the gardened. It’s effort that creates the fertile ground for simply being, receiving, flourishing in God’s grace. The fruit that is borne of our garden, at all stages is life giving, feeding hungry souls.
How does our garden grow? Will you partner with PUMC and KUMC to help our garden grow and flourish? In doing so, know that PUMC and KUMC feed people! YOU are crucial to that effort. Your investment provides all sorts of gardening tools, cultivates a gardening community, and bears much fruit to feed a hungry world. And every effort feeds us as well. In this mailing, you’ll also receive a letter and a pledge card from our Stewardship and Finance Ministry team asking you to pledge your financial support for 2023. Pledge Sunday is October 30! Bring your pledge cards to church or pledge online. Or don’t wait, and pledge now! Go to the giving page on our website or scan the QR code to give or pledge today. Thank you for feeding me, for being a garden growing community!
Peace and love, Pastor Jenny
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Following Jesus to the margins of society and experience, we seek to see, know, love, and share with those who are outcast, overlooked, oppressed, forgotten. Together we work for justice and restoration through our missions and outreach.
practice joy, delighting in God's presence and grace in every aspect of our lives. Our joyful responses to God's grace spark joy in those around us.
We reflect God's diverse creation and the fullness of God's kin-dom as a fully inclusive, equitable, accessible, multi-cultural, antiracist community in all aspects of our life together.
ney of discipleship, immersing ourselves in the community, tools, and guidance that form us, free us, and perfect us in love.
God given creativity to experiment, explore, try new things, embracing our failures and our discoveries. We are open to new ideas, expressions of faith, and ways of being church, paving the way for others.
This page represents our operating budget for 2022.1 This breakdown distributes salaries and operating costs based on the proportions of expenses and staff time per area. This year's budget also includes the financial arrangement we have with Princeton UMC. While this budget is KUMC's alone, KUMC pays PUMC for some services we have contracted with them to provide.
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We embrace our
CONTAGIOUSJOY $27,766 We
DEEPENINGDIVERSITY $22,189 COMPASSIONATESERVANTHOOD $28,933 ENGAGEDGROWTH $20,233 We actively further our jour-
CREATIVEINNOVATION $8,960 KINGSTON UMCBUDGET AT A GLANCE TOTAL:$108,081 1Want to know more? Request a detailed budget from Herb Mertz.
4 30% increase in worship attendance from 2021 through a hybrid in person and online worship experience CONTAGIOUSJOY $27,766 3 baptisms 5 new members 7 new regular worshippers DEEPENING DIVERSITY $22,189 COMPASSIONATE SERVANTHOOD $28,933(27%) Over 15 service days with St. Bart’s Lutheran Church in Trenton serving food and working in the clothing closet ENGAGEDGROWTH $20,233 Growth In Numbers 6 joint small groups with Princeton UMC this year 2nd annual ecumenical VBS with 4 other churches Over 60 people at the Easter Egg Hunt co-hosted byKUMC and PUMC Online and in-person ministry offerings for children and families CREATIVE INNOVATION $8,960 3 Design Team meetings to date with 4 other United Methodist churches to develop a multisite ministry in the region 5 Princeton Theological Seminary interns during the spring semester and 3 during this current academic year 30 people from 5 churches trained in our updated and robust Safe Sanctuaries policy
With our hands-on work and our outreach offerings, we share with those who are outcast and oppressed. Togetherweworkforjusticeandrestoration.
"Compassionate servanthood issimply the DNA of KUMC. The love and concernfor each person,and for the communityat large, is inspiring. Most of all, it issimply who they are and whatthey do nothing artificial or forced aboutit."
“Kingston has nurtured my faith garden in many ways but I would say they have nurtured my faith garden the most through my children. The lovingness, acceptance and genuine interest in my children of our congregants has shown me and my family how God shines through all of the people at Kingston to watch over His littlest sheep.”
Dana Dreibelbis
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Wendy Hunt
Acleanupday at KUMC[right].
COMPASSIONATESERVANTHOOD $28,933
OurFaithBloomsinWorship:Wefindjoywhen—helpedbypastoral andmusicstaff—wecanparticipateinleadingtheworship: themusic,theprayers,themessages,theritual.
“KUMC does joy better than any church I’ve ever been part of! Walking into the fellowship hall, there is a contagious and irresistible buzz
it makes me think that joy is better evangelism than any “evangelism initiative” we could dream up!”
Kenda Dean
Asa fullyinclusive,equitable,accessible,multi-cultural, anti-racistcommunity, werevelinGod’sdiversecreation.
“It’s easy to pray for others in times of need, but it’s crazy to think you have others praying beside and for you. There was a time where Icouldn’t bring myself to discuss a personal issue and being the accepting and socially aware church we are, a member asked for prayers around a public issue and indirectly they were praying for me. We keep diversity as a core value and consistently show grace to so many peopleand I am grateful to feel it firsthand and pass it on to those who I come into contact with.”
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KendaDean
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DEEPENINGDIVERSITY $22,189
Jazlyn Cruz CONTAGIOUSJOY $27,766
7 MikeyastheEaster bunny[right]andthe 2021ChristmasPageant [farright]. Whetherit’swithart,movement,crafting,ortechnology, weuse ourGod-givencreativitytofindnewwaystoexpressourfaith. “I enjoyed the opportunity of being the Easter bunny this year at KUMC.” Mikey Arevalo CREATIVEINNOVATION $8,960 Toequipusandministertousonourdiscipleshipjourney,KUMC offersFirstHourgroupsandseveraljointsmallgroupswithPUMC. “Kingston UMC has nurtured my faith garden in many ways over the years, the one event in particular was the membership class. This class fostered conversations to further understand the Methodist church while connecting potential KUMC members. Our weekly classes truly were a time I felt my faith was being encouraged to grow!” Carrie Bergeson ENGAGEDGROWTH $20,233
ThefamilytogetherwithJames afterhisbaptism.
KUMCBAPTISMS!
“Emmett's baptism was a huge event for our family. We knew we wanted a space forEmmett to learn to find joy and acceptance from others while learning of the love of God. We had struggled to find a place we felt comfortable and that aligned with our beliefs, but we are so happy to have found that space at Kingston.”
“We're overjoyed and humbled to have joined the KUMC community this year, marked by the birth and baptism of our son, James Roman. We celebrate his baptism as the beginning of his faith journey and a rich life in service to and in awe of God and Jesus Christ.”
“[It was important for me to be baptized] to restart life, which I always wanted to since age 3, but didn’t take any action. There was continuous underlying bone breaking pain till I couldn’t move after falling down many times and still couldn’t.”
Emmett’sparentswithhim beforehisbaptism.
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Carrie Bergeson
Allie Scerbo
Thyme Kummarr
MINISTRY WITH ST.BART’S
This past year, KUMC continued in its partnership with St Bart’s in Trenton, a Lutheran Church that has a food and clothing ministry. Two lay leaders oversee KUMC’s involvement, including recruiting and scheduling volunteers for our bi-monthly service, as well as buying food for the ministry.
A total of 13 KUMC’ers have volunteered with St. Bart’s since October 2021. KUMC donates groceries & used clothing for St. Bart’s to distribute among their surrounding community. Volunteers help to distribute bags of food & organize the clothing pantry throughout the year. Carly Ximenes, one of the ministry organizers, says, “I have thoroughly enjoyed serving on this ministry. I bring Margie with me when I do the grocery shopping and love being able to teach her the importance of service and giving back to our community.”
KUMC is currently looking for more volunteers to help with St. Bart’s great work in their immediate neighborhood, so don’t forget to sign up!
KUMCkidshelpshopforgrocerydonations.
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AT KINGSTON UMC
Find the resources mentioned here, sermon recordings, and more at princetonumc.org!
For Lent [above], we learned to “Release” by using daily spiritual practices to encounter forgiveness in all kinds of ways.
If you’re reading our October Newsletter online, click on the caption for each image to find further resources!
For our 2021 Advent series, “Art Incarnate,” we took part in spiritual practices that allowed us to encounter the Incarnation through creative arts, and we found inspiration in the art of our church family.
For our “Powerful Purpose” Epiphany series [left], we learned how to make a Rule of Life: a set of choices, practices, habits, and rhythms that center us around God’sgrace.
This summer, we explored what it means to experience “Contagious Joy” amidst the struggles of our world.
And last month, we took a look at different “Perspectives” listening to the stories of our community, helping our neighbors, and finding our own perspective on our lives.
At Easter, we were “Building Bridges” through the Community Heritage Prayer Pilgrimage to learn about the experiences of our neighbors in the Witherspoon Jackson Historic District.
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Church St.
NJ
Rev. Jenny Smith Walz, Lead Pastor for Multisite Ministry
Rev. Skitch Matson, Kingston Campus Pastor
Rev. Tayler Necoechea, Associate Pastor for Children’s and Adult Formation Ministries
Rev. Jae Hong, Pastor of Pastoral Care
Michael Wisnosky, Music Director
Tyler Mathiasen, Office Manager
Evangeline Burgers, Dir. of Communications
Rev. Jenny Smith Walz
Rev. Skitch Matson
Mikaela Langdon, Editor
Applegate, Editor
Sonja Arevalo
Barbara Fox
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Kingston,
08528
THANK YOU TO OUR OCTOBER NEWSLETTER CONTRIBUTORS
KJ
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