The forty days of Lent ends with Easter Sunday, but begins with Ash Wednesday, this year on March 1. Even though the March winds were intense, Pastor Daniel (seen here with elder Kate Jacobs) skillfully assured that ashes made direct contact with foreheads. This continues the church’s annual and very proactive tradition of offering ashes, prayers and blessings outside the church doors. Mission accomplished: a […]
Seminary intern Adelheid Duhm is spending four weeks in Brooklyn and at Old First as she participates in a practicum on her way to the ministry. She’s currently a student at the University of Heidelberg in Germany, and a candidate in the Badische Landeskirche there. She explains that her practicum is a voluntary internship, which supplements her initial experience, in Mannheim, Germany. There she participated […]
Old First respite shelter co-manager Michael Bagnulo repped us at the recent appreciation dinner for our volunteers on September 29th. The Plymouth Church of the Pilgrim, located in downtown Brooklyn, and was once the church of controversial preacher and abolitionist Beecher Ward. Each year, it shares a celebratory dinner (Michael had the delicious curry chicken!) as a chance to recognize the people who help run […]
Cynthia Ponce has just completed her second year of managing the Old First respite shelter, which serves meals and provides beds to homeless men during the summer months. The biggest lesson she’s learned so far: a gift is often more for the benefit of the giver than the receiver. “During dinner with the guys, one gentleman came over and kept replenishing my orange juice,” Cynthia […]