April 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 April: March 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. The Pastor Search Committee is expected to begin its work soon. We’ve seated 6 members of the Search Committee, including Eric Platt our chairman, and are in the process of finalizing our 7th member. We will be announcing the members shortly, and the work of the committee will begin soon. We have some wonderful news – the $250,000 matching grant was approved for Old First by the National Fund for Sacred Places! We have secured the funding we need in order to proceed with the electrical and lighting upgrade for our building! The Electrical/Lighting Upgrade Team is proceeding with the full electrical upgrade of our entire building. The upgrade will ensure safety, and will include a lighting upgrade of the sanctuary, lower hall, administrative offices and stairways. The bidding process is well underway, and we expect the construction phase of the project to begin later this year, and to last for up to 12 months. We will share more timing details as we have them. The Strategic Visioning Team, with support from Partners for Sacred Places, presented a Vision Statement to Consistory and the congregation on March 23 rd . The Vision Statement is designed to succinctly communicate the direction that the Team recommends Old First take with the use and stewardship of the building, including creation of a 501c3 and mapping out actionable steps for moving forward. Please see the links elsewhere in this newsletter to view the Vision Statement and the supporting documents: a Space Use Rubric and a Roles and Responsibilities document. We continue to evaluate the feasibility of safely resuming in-person worship. Use of the building remains restricted to the Brooklyn Relief Kitchen, Old First Nursery School and the church staff. We will continue to assess expanded building usage on a case-by-case basis. Old First Consistory: Elders: Jeff Cribbs (Vice President), Wayne Adams, Jessica Stockton Bagnulo, Ken Nieuwenhuis, Jabe Ziino Deacons: Kent Adams, Philip Alexander, Jan Barber, Kelly Greene, Anita Keire, Susan Snyder Contact the Consistory: consistory@oldfirstbrooklyn.org |
| Reopening for Worship: September 2021 The Old First Consistory has continued to received questions, comments and suggestions about returning to regular, in-person services. This has been true throughout the pandemic, but especially true now that vaccinations are becoming more widely available and many facets of public life are inching back toward more normal operations. As a Consistory we have agreed that we will target re-opening for on-going, in person Sunday Services this Fall — specifically Sunday September 12th. Just a few points we want to be clear on: 1) this is a target date that seems possible and wise in the current circumstances of the pandemic – but we will continue to monitor public health guidance and, if needed, change our target date 2) due to substantial requests from our community, we have committed to continuing virtual services as long as we have a substantial part of the community staying home over COVID safety concerns 3) while we will return to in-person services, we may well have modified practices in our services to ensure safety. We are all very eager to see one another again, in the flesh, and hopeful that this will happen on September 12th! Please reach out to info@oldfirstbrooklyn.org or consistory@oldfirstbrooklyn.org with any questions. Thank you. |
| Strategic Visioning Team Report The Strategic Visioning Committee of Old First (comprised of Wayne Adams, Kate Jacobs, Jane Barber, Michael Bagnulo, Virginia Bouillerot, Maureen Doyle, Aleeza Meir, Ben Hollberg of Old First Nursery School and Andy Wandzilak of Brooklyn Relief Kitchen) has been meeting together with representatives from Partners for Sacred Places during the last few months. The Committee has developed the following vision statement for building stewardship, which was presented to Consistory on March 15, 2021: The vision of Old First Reformed Church is to have the historic building at the corner of 7th Avenue and Carroll Street be a dynamic hub that embodies the mission of Old First—offering a space of unconditional welcome, a practice of worship and service, and a vision of God’s love and justice for all. OFRC seeks robust participation from both the congregation and the community in order to fully utilize the building’s spaces and sustainably restore and preserve the building to maximize the positive impact to Park Slope, Brooklyn, and the wider community. Old First is moving toward this vision in specific ways, by establishing a 501c3 for the long-term sustainability and preservation of the building. This includes outlining a recommended organizational structure that defines roles and responsibilities, and the creation of a space use rubric and target rental distribution metrics that support the vision by providing a practical road map to accomplishing these goals and recommending future coverage of its maintenance and operational costs. These documents provide additional information about the statement and process: Vision Statement Presentation (slideshow overview of process and outcomes) Space Use Rubric Roles and Responsibilities Please feel free to reach out to committee co-chair Wayne Adams with questions or for further information. |
| Old First’s Favorite Hymns Old First’s pianist / organist Aleeza Meir asked congregants to share their favorite hymns, and the results are in! The big winner in the hymn popularity contest was Be Thou My Vision. The text is set to a lovely old Irish tune. Some other especially beloved hymns were: Any text written for the Welsh tune Hyfrydol (ex: Alleluia! Sing to Jesus) Come Down, O Love Divine (music by the English composer Vaughan WIlliams) Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing (an American shape-note melody) O Sacred Head, Now Wounded (Believe it or not, this somber Passion hymn tune originally comes from a secular German love song! It was harmonized by J. S. Bach.) Thanks for taking part! |
| A Letter from Pastor Daniel Meeter To our beloved congregation of Old First, from Daniel and Melody Meeter, April 7, 2021 We have some news. We have bought a house in New Paltz, New York, and we are moving-in this month. It’s not large, but comfortable, and roomier than the Brooklyn apartment that we sold last month. We have three bedrooms, a sunroom, a fireplace, a porch, a patio, a large yard (that must be mowed!), and a view of the Shawangunk Mountains. Our address is 1 JUNIPER ST, NEW PALTZ NY 12561, and it’s just two “blocks” from our granddaughter’s school. Yes, our daughter and family have moved to New Paltz as well. We did love city life, so this will take some getting used to. But I can have a garden again, and bird-feeders. On Easter Sunday Melody was introduced to the Hopewell Reformed Church as their new (part-time) Minster of Pastoral Care. I have been supply preaching at the Plattekill Reformed Church of Mount Marion, NY (near Saugerties), while their pastor, Rev. Robert Vanderlaan, recuperates, and he will be back in the pulpit on Easter 3. It was a great gift to me to be with them on Easter morning. Melody and I had our second vaccinations on March 30 (me in Newburgh and she in Troy!), so we are grateful. We are comfortable and healthy. We miss you enormously, but we know that you are in good hands. Much love, Daniel |
Information and Resources
| Camp Warwick Since 1959, The Warwick Conference Center (a facility of the Regional Synods of New York & Mid-Atlantics, Reformed Church in America) has been serving groups, organizations and churches. As Camp Warwick and the Warwick Conference Center move into 2021, they are planning on running 2021 Summer Camps as scheduled. Camp Warwick is now hiring counselors (18 and over) and camp registration is now open (COVID safety procedures are in place). More information on the Camp Warwick website; you can contact Camp Warwick at (845) 986-1164 or at campwarwick1959@gmail.com with any questions. |
| Giving to Old First Though we are not currently passing a collection plate for offertory, the following options are available for you to give to Old First: Tithe.ly Available as a smartphone app, via the Donations tab on the Old First website, or through a phone call to Old First staff members. You can select a credit or debit card, or an account with a financial institution. If you currently have a check mailed to Old First from your bank, please consider switching this service to Tithe.ly OR Mail a check to: Old First Reformed Church 729 Carroll St. Brooklyn, NY 11215 Please Identify Your Intended Area of Support Remember, whichever method you send in your offering, to identify your offering as either: GENERAL FUND for general offering, CAPITAL CAMPAIGN for building restoration, or MISSION (CHiPS and HousingPlus) |
| Services and Meetings Note that the Consistory of Old First has voted that the sanctuary remain closed for worship at this time. Sunday Worship at Old FirstOld First is offering online worship via Zoom each Sunday morning at 11:00 AM. The service includes readings, prayers, music, sermon, and other elements from Old First’s pastor and members. Please join us as we learn to love God and our neighbor in this new space. Click here to join the worship service (This link stays the same from week to week; you will be able to join once the service has begin on Sunday morning at 11:00 AM.) If you miss the service, you can find recordings of past services here. |
| Sunday Coffee Hour Following the worship service, there is a more informal Coffee Hour as a time for attendees to chat, catch up, and see each others’ faces. Join us for a joyful group video meeting from our homes. Click here to join the coffee hour (This link stays the same from week to week; you will be able to join once the meeting has begun on Sunday morning at or around 12:00 noon.) |
| Antiracism Reading Group The Antiracism Reading Group is moving on to new material, and we welcome anyone who is interested to join us! Our next meeting will be Sunday, April 11, at 1:00 p.m. We will discuss episodes 4, 5a, and 5b of The 1619 Project podcast from The New York Times. We will continue meeting on the second and fourth Sunday of each month. Discussions are in the works for other related programs, so keep checking the weekly bulletins. Please contact Margaret Kearney (kearney.margaret@gmail.com) for more information. |
| Prayer Team The Prayer Team of Old First meets at 9pm on Thursdays, to pray for the needs of our congregation, our community, and our world. If you would like to request prayer, for yourself or anything/anyone else, please email prayerrequests@oldfirstbrooklyn.org. If you would like to join the prayer team or learn more, please email Jessica Bagnulo, jsbagnulo@gmail.com. |
| Past Services & Events Our virtual services and events are recorded, so you can access them any time. Virtual Service Recordings Thanks to everyone who attended our February 22 event with Father James Martin and Mary Karr discussing Learning to Pray! If you missed it, or if you’d like to watch it again, you can find the recording here: Learning to Pray event recording |
| Opportunities for Service Brooklyn Relief Kitchen The Old First Brooklyn Relief Kitchen is cooking up a storm and sending out lots of free food. You can volunteer to prepare and package fresh meals, and help delivery to 3 sites: CHiPS, Camp Friendship and Red Hook, plus a new site in Coney Island (probably more to come). You can volunteer to help by Contacting Piper the Volunteer Coordinator at piper@brooklynreliefkitchen.org. We will be accepting drop off donations at the front entrance on 7th Avenue under the tent. Check the Brooklyn Relief Kitchen Facebook page for updates and details about how to help. Find the Brooklyn Relief Kitchen on Facebook |