September 2021 Newsletter
If you have questions or comments about anything here, please feel free to contact newsletter@oldfirstbrooklyn.org. Thank you and God bless you!
Consistory Report for September: August meeting notes
The Consistory is the governing body of Old First, composed of volunteer Elders and Deacons confirmed by the congregation. Consistory meets monthly to discuss the financial, physical, communal, and spiritual life of Old First Reformed Church, and shares updates on their work here.
Happy September! We hope that you have had time for rest, reflection and relaxation over the summer. Autumn will soon be here!
Please see a separate announcement in this newsletter with new information about our worship services and small group meetings.
The Pastor Search Committee has continued to meet regularly over the summer. The Committee thanks you for your responses to the congregational survey, and is now in the process of completing the Church Profile, a document with information about our congregation, mission, priorities, building and the surrounding community. This document will be published as part of the new pastor recruitment process.
The Consistory is exploring the possibility of dual affiliation with the United Church of Christ (UCC), a liberal mainstream Protestant denomination, through conversation with the Reformed Association. The Reformed Association is a group of RCA churches who have dually affiliated with the UCC. We would remain in the RCA but would also join with the UCC. Dual affiliation would allow us to fulfill our mission of supporting members of our community called to the ministry, regardless of their gender identification or orientation. Secondarily, we are interested in exploring what dedicated fellowship with Reformed Association churches might bring to our congregation. We will share more information with you in the months to come.
The Electrical and Lighting Project Team is finalizing contracts with the approved electrician and lighting restoration company. The contract process is taking a little longer than we expected, so the construction phase has been delayed into the Fall. We are hopeful that the work will begin in a few weeks. The initial steps will include the installation of the new electrical service for the building, and the removal of the Sanctuary light fixtures, which will be transported to our lighting contractor’s facility in Virginia for restoration. The construction phase of the project is expected to last for up to 12 months. We will share more timing details after the two contracts are signed and the project is fully underway.
We continue to implement the recommendations coming from the Strategic Vision Statement ratified earlier this year, and are in the initial phases of establishing a 501(c)(3) for the purpose of preserving and restoring our building. The Consistory and Church Office are using the Space Use Rubric to ensure that potential tenants and one-time rentals fall within the Rubric’s guidelines. The revised rental rates are in the process of being finalized by the Administration and Finance Committee and Treasurer. We will continue to update you on our progress.
The Consistory continues to support the Deacons’ missions: HousingPlus and CHiPS. The Deacons are also sponsoring a Haiti Relief Fundraiser through September 13th in support of the RCA Global Mission, who are working with their partners at Many Hands for Haiti (MH4H) to provide relief to the people of Haiti. Please see a separate announcement in this newsletter with more information.
Finally, please be on the lookout for your pledged offering update letter, coming to you in the coming weeks.
Old First Consistory:
Elders: Jeff Cribbs (Vice President), Wayne Adams, Jessica Stockton Bagnulo, Ken Nieuwenhuis, Jabe Ziino
Deacons: Philip Alexander (Co-chair), Susan Snyder (Co-chair), Jane Barber, Kelly Greene, Anita Keire
Contact the Consistory: consistory@oldfirstbrooklyn.org
In-Person Worship Delayed
In recognition of the growing public health concerns, especially related to the Delta variant of the coronavirus, and the particular vulnerabilities and concerns of members of our community, the Consistory has decided to delay the reopening of our building for regular, in person worship services, previously scheduled for September 12th.
We will continue to monitor the guidance from public health officials and the needs of our community. We anticipate coming together again when it feels safe to do so.
In the interim, we will be looking for opportunities to host small groups for prayer, bible study or fellowship in a way that is both safe and welcoming. If you are interested in participating in a small group meeting, please reach out to info@oldfirstbrooklyn.org.
Pastoral Letter from Interim Pastor Jane Ann Groom
Dear Ones of Old First Church, I share your disappointment that we will not be gathering in person soon. Aiming to protect the most vulnerable among us, keeping things virtual seems the wisest approach right now. Before we canceled our in-person worship, I was set to warn you to check your expectations. The service would have felt different — no hymn singing, no responsive readings, mask wearing, social distancing, an altered Communion to accommodate safety guidelines, and no coffee hour. Most every church is enduring this sort of disruption. You have an additional challenge. You bade farewell to your former pastor after the initiation of virtual online worship. That has to feel unfinished to some of you. You welcomed me as your interim pastor and most of us have never laid eyes upon one another except via Zoom. Every congregation is enduring restrictions and unmet expectations. Every congregation struggles with how to proceed. For you, the additional challenge remains that you are in an interim period. An intentional interim ministry helps congregations grieve the loss of what is gone and to move beyond the comfort of familiar patterns in preparation for a new pastor. In service to cultivating exploration, it is usual that during the interim time I introduce fresh ideas in worship to sample for a while. It remains important for you to stretch beyond familiar patterns not because former patterns were wrong but because something new is afoot and flexibility is essential. Your called pastor will come to you with ideas, gifts, interests, skills, and point of view about liturgy, mission, and leadership that might differ significantly from what you are accustomed to. Our work now is to prepare you to receive that person with open hearts and open minds, not encumbered by longing for the past or nostalgia for what was or we’ve- always-done-it-that-way-itis. Change is hard and every change includes loss that needs to be grieved. Even the smallest changes dismay us. This can be especially painful in a worship setting when a particular liturgy, unvaried year to year to year and officiated by the beloved pastor no longer present, becomes a point of resistance for a congregation as a new pastor arrives. Your future pastor is called to bring their ideas, their godly inspiration, and their sensibility. You need to be ready to receive them with enthusiasm. In this regard, the Elders and I want to prepare you to know that we will engage various Communion liturgies over the coming months that differ from what is familiar to you. Your openness to experience and reflect on what you feel, think, and see will be much appreciated and vital as you move forward. The Elders are in the process of examining a few different options of liturgical settings for Communion from the RCA as well as from other denominations adapted for use with this congregation. We will engage a particular liturgy for weeks or even months at a time in order to experience it in the most meaningful way. We will not switch the liturgies from week to week. We will go slowly and allow time for processing. The meaningful question for you is not, “Do I like this?” for that question is oriented to being a consumer rather than a worshiper. The helpful questions include, “How do these words affect me? Does this liturgy speak to me in a new way? How do I experience God’s presence through these words? How is this different for me than what I have become so used to?” There is no right or wrong here. What you are accustomed to is not better or worse than another liturgy. The familiar does offer you comfort, though, and we care about that. However, it will serve Old First well to expand your experience in whatever ways we can, given the constraints of virtual worship, so that you will be ready to welcome your new pastor, affirming what they bring to you. On another note, in anticipation of zoom weariness and other impediments to experiencing virtual worship in a meaningful way, I want to encourage everyone to stay connected, to hang in there, and to, if possible, continue to tune in on Sunday mornings in real time. It is the best we can do just now. My suggestion is that you listen more than you look. I never tire of listening to podcasts and audio books while I would grow weary of watching the same on video. Perhaps the intentional choice of focusing on listening will help you enjoy the coming weeks or months, however long this continues, until Old First will gather again in person. Hey, you can always draw! Some of you do that already. Knitting, drawing, snuggling the cat, petting the dog, or kneading the dough—any of this might be the right thing to do as you listen on Sunday mornings. It’s tough and please hang in. This, too, shall pass! Life is all about change. For better or worse, we are enduring tremendous changes in all our lives during this historical time and what we know is, God journeys with us. This does not change. Thanks be to God. I will be on vacation for September, returning in October. I look forward to our time together, however it plays out. I hope that we can find ways to cultivate community at Old First so that something good happens for each of you during this difficult time. Please call on me when I’m back in October. I look forward to speaking with you.
September Virtual Worship: Order of Service Changes
With Pastor Jane Ann on vacation in September, the Elders of Old First will host our virtual worship services on Zoom, and incorporate some new elements in an embrace of these transitional times. Rather than bringing in guest preachers to offer sermons each week, during September the Elders will take turns offering a short reflection on the week’s scriptural texts, prompted by Pastor Jane Ann’s reference in her pastoral letter to times of change when “God journeys with us in times of change.” There will also be an additional time for members of the congregation to offer their own reflections aloud or in the chat, and an opportunity to share prayer requests before the Intercessory Prayers. The Elders will review these temporary new elements at the beginning of each worship service.
If you have questions or ideas about the worship service at Old First, please feel free to email info@oldfirstbrooklyn.org. We look forward to journeying through this transition together.
Recommended Event: Friday, September 10 at 11 AM (via Zoom)
Looking at White Christian Nationalism, Liberation Theology, and Being Reformed
Hosted by New Brunswick Theological Seminary
After the riots at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, Missouri Senator Josh Hawley linked White Christian Nationalism to the theology of Abraham Kuyper, a prominent Dutch Reformed theologian whose teachings were used to justify South African Apartheid. While we remember that not everyone in the Reformed tradition necessarily follows Kuyper too closely, it still leaves us, and the world wondering whether being Reformed should somehow be linked with being racist, or can we do better?
On Friday, September 10, at 11:00 am, Dr. Juan A. Carmona will lead our first Reformed Church Center conversation of the new academic year, with a discussion of “Calvinism, White Christian Nationalism, and Liberation Theology.” This is another installment in the series of discussions begun in 2020, seeking to help congregations be more anti-racist. Dr. Carmona will examine the connections between Calvinism and White Christian Nationalism, and suggest equally strong, and more biblical, connections to much more expansive and inclusive theologies. After his presentation and some response by James Brumm, Director of the Reformed Church Center, we will open up the gathering to everyone for questions and discussion.
Juan Carmona is a retired prison chaplain, parish pastor, and teacher at various institutions of higher education. He served as a Visting Scholar/Professor of Theology for several years at the Tainan Theological College/Seminary in Taiwan, teaching courses on Liberation Theology and Prison Ministry. An ordained minister in the Reformed Church in America since 1978, he holds degrees from the State University of New York, New Brunswick Theological Seminary, and Colgate-Rochester Crozer Divnity School.
THIS PROGRAM WILL TAKE PLACE ON ZOOM, AND THERE IS NO COST FOR PARTICIPATING, BUT REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED: CLICK HERE TO REGISTER.