Author: David Groeneveld

Volume 10, issue 1

News From the Pews

JANUARY 2024

Reformed Church of freehold
Demonstrating god’s reconciling love

Inside this issue:

Worship	1
Pastor’s Pen, CACF	2
Fellowship, RCW, Parking Pod	3
Senior Party	4
Info, Odds & Ends, / Seniors, Birthdays & / Anniversaries	5
Dates to Remember	6

Jesus, the light of the world, was our theme on December 24 as we celebrated the fourth Sunday of Advent and Christmas Eve here at The Reformed Church. As folks arrived for a covered dish meal in the Fellowship Hall, they were directed to craft tables in the. There Helen McKenzie and Amy Craven helped them score their oranges, frill paper, tie red ribbons, and load toothpicks with a wide variety of dried fruits. The fruits, representing the four seasons of God’s care throughout the year, decorated the oranges, which symbolized the gift of God’s world. The ribbon reminded us of Jesus’ love coming into the world. The white frilled papers pointed to Jesus’ sinless nature, and the candles, of course, represented Christ who is the light of the world.
As we finished the crafts Pastor David led the lighting of the four advent candles, illuminating the fourth Sunday of Advent. We shared in a group choral reading of the Angel’s appearance to Mary from Luke 1:26-38. A wonderful meal was shared with delights prepared lovingly from so many kitchens, and chicken entrees came from Dusal’s in freehold. We are grateful for a Thrivent Action team that helped make our craft and meal possible.
We took our Christingles with us to the sanctuary. After the Uchno family led the lighting of the advent candles and the Christ candle, Matthew Uchno and Madison Tarr led us in prayers and helped light the Christingles from the Christ candle. A wonderful service of Lessons and Carols followed with Andrew Rosenkilde on piano, John Lambert on trumpet, and Lee Ann Newland on horn. We were grateful to have Freehold Resident and Rutgers University Master’s Degree student, Carl Muhler as vocal soloist.
Thank you to Lauren for her extra work during the Advent and Christmas season. Thanks to Amy, Helen, and Earl for their work on decorating and preparing the sanctuary. Thanks to our decorating volunteers on December 10. Thanks to Barb Lyon and Gabrielle Uchno for organizing and setting up the meal. Thanks to our musicians. Thanks to the Sunday School for the great and dramatic tale of the BOAD. We thank our readers and candlelighters as well. So many contributed to making this a meaningful and sacred season.

Worship

Pastor’s Pen

Volume 10, issue 1

Kirk Byron Jones recently wrote an essay about waking one morning with the words, “Good morning, child of God” in his head. It ran through his mind several times that morning, and while shaving, he found himself repeating the words out loud to himself. (“All God’s Children,” The Christian Century, June 23, 2023)
What a powerful way to begin a new day. What a powerful way to begin a New Year. I can so quickly get caught up in what didn’t get done the day before, last week, or even last year that I fail to approach each day with a sense of wonder and anticipation.
Abraham Heschel declared, “Just to be is a blessing. Just to live is holy.” How might our days, our year, and our community be different if we could hold this knowledge in our hearts?
My prayer is that you wake with God’s love singing in your heart, and you look forward to seeing Christ in your neighbors near and far. May this sacred knowledge begin to heal our world. Amen.
Peace, Pastor David

Community Arts Center of Freehold

This winter comes with a flurry of activity for the CACF. First, our second annual String Day with the Madison String Quartet will happen on Saturday, January 20. Members of the Quartet will provide coaching to amateur adult string players, along with a lunch and a small performance. Last year, String Day brought players from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts to our sanctuary and fellowship hall. This year, the day will include a welcome coffee hour, coaching sessions, lunch, and a performance for all players. Thrivent and the ACMP sponsor the event.
New this year is our STEM program for families, which will be held on six Friday evenings beginning January 26. Participants will share a light supper followed by a Science or Technology activity provided by new staff members, Mallory Kilroy-Science, and Charles Rotunno- Technology. Volunteers from our congregation and local businesses are welcome to join the fun! Please contact Lee Ann or John if you are interested in helping out on Friday evenings from 5:30 to 8:00 pm.
On February 18, at 4:30 pm, the sanctuary at the Reformed Church will be filled with the sounds of the Princeton University Chapel Choir under the direction of Dr. Nicole Aldrich. "The Princeton University Chapel Choir is a 50-voice ensemble that draws its members from the entire Princeton community: students, alumni, faculty, staff, and local residents. With director Nicole Aldrich and University Organist Eric Plutz, the Chapel Choir explores a varied and rich repertoire of sacred music, performing weekly on Sundays at the magnificent University Chapel and presenting two full concerts annually."
Beginning on April 2, our church building will be filled with youth from the Freehold Borough for Spring Break Arts Camp. Students for this and other camp programs register through our partnership with Freehold Area Open Door.
Community Arts Center of Freehold looks forward to you joining us, bringing friends, and sending children to the youth programs we have coming up!

Fellowship

Volume 10, issue 1

A great time was had at our Christmas Eve celebration. We enjoyed fellowship and an amazing spread of delicious foods and desserts. Thank you to Superior Cleaning for their help with cleaning up. Also, everyone did a fantastic job on their Christingle craft. How beautiful it was to see the warm glow of the Christingles illuminating the sanctuary during the service symbolizing Christ as the Light of the World.
We hope you are enjoying the fellowship of coffee hour. In the new year, we would like to continue offering coffee hour twice a month. A sign-up sheet is posted in the lobby. Thank you in advance for everyone's continued support with hosting, contributing baked goods or with clean up. It is very much appreciated.

Reformed Church Women

Our Holly Berry and Soup Sale was again a nice success. Thank you to all who helped and supported this fund-raising event.
We are still collecting hats, gloves, and scarves for Open Door on our lobby tree thru January. They are needed and greatly appreciated by the clients.
On March 20th we will be hosting a Lenten Luncheon for the Freehold Clergy Lenten Series of Wednesday worship and lunch. Please let me know if you can provide soup, salad, sandwiches, or dessert for that day. A sign up sheet will be on the lobby bulletin board for helpers and donations.
Our Spring yard sale will be in conjunction with the Freehold Boro town wide sale, probably in May. If you are cleaning out some space now we have been accepting donations.

Parking Lot Pod

Have you wondered why there is a storage contained in our parking lot? It is being used by Freehold Area Open Door to store needed non-perishable food items. Open Door continues to burst at the seams. There's just not enough room to do the work, manage the clients, and store the donations at their Throckmorton facility. They already have one POD at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church. When Consistory was approached with the possibility of placing the storage pod in our parking lot, they were happy to help our ministry partners at Open Door.

Senior Christmas Party

Volume 10, issue 1

Seven of our seniors and their prayer partners celebrated the Christmas season together on December 19. Barb Lyon organized a lovely gathering, with devotions, games, treats, a beautiful and luscious Christmas Cake, and an enchanting Christmas punch. Pastor David happily opened his festively decorated home for the party. The afternoon began with him leading a devotion based on Mary’s joyful and humble celebration of God working through her to bring salvation into the world. A delightful game was played that presented rephrased Carol titles to be deciphered. Grab bag gifts were claimed and prayer partners had gifts for their special senior. Pastor David was presented with a challenging and picturesque Thomas Kinkade jigsaw puzzle to encourage him to slow down and find time for this simple pleasure. Everyone enjoyed a leisurely afternoon as they lost track of time celebrating the season together.

Reformed Church of Freehold

Volume 10, issue 1

67 W. Main Street, Freehold, NJ 07728
(732) 462-1717

Pastor–David Groeneveld
dkgroeneveld@comcast.net
Treasurer– Jill Moore

Secretary–Lauren Redmond
office@freeholdreformed.org

CONSISTORY 2023
Wilfred Ojo– Vice President
Bill Barth–Classis Delegate
Barb Lyon–Hospitality & Congregational Care Bill Barth–Missions & Benevolences
Helen McKenzie–Buildings & Grounds Gabrielle Uchno–Fellowship
Lee Ann Newland–Worship & Music Sharon Sanicola–Education
Wilfred Ojo–Human & Financial Resources John Lambert–Building & Grounds

Odds and Ends

Communion Offering
On the first Sunday of the month we collect items for Open Door which can be left in the church Narthex. Monetary gifts are accepted at any time and can be placed in the offering plate. Please mark “Open Door” on your envelope.

Flowers
If you would like to have flowers given in honor or memory of a loved one or event, please contact the church office. The cost is $20. Please make checks payable to: “Reformed Church of Freehold” and write “flowers” in the memo.

Secretary’s Hours
Our secretary will be in the office from 8:15–11:45am on Fridays. She will continue to check and answer emails during the week. In case of emergency, Lauren’s cell number is 732-766-5147.

Senior Group

The Reformed Church of Freehold has formed a senior group. They meet periodically for fun, parties, dinners, travel, etc. They enjoy their special time together. All folks who are retired or are of senior age are welcome to join the group.
If you would like to join the group, please see Barb Lyon or call her at 732-677-2681. We would love to have you!

Birthdays and Anniversaries

JANUARY: 1 The Ojo’s, 4 Madeline Jacobus, 4 Gabrielle Uchno,
11 Audrey Statesir, 15 Alex Sanicola, 19 Kristen Murphy, 21 Julia Uchno,
FEBRUARY: 4 John Seifert, 21 Wilfred Ojo, 27 Bethany Sanicola

Page #

The Reformed Church
Of Freehold

67 W. Main Street
Freehold NJ 07728

Phone: 732-462-1717
office@freeholdreformed.org
www.freeholdreformed.org

Demonstrating God’s Reconciling Love

Dates to Remember

JANUARY
7 Sunday	Communion Worship, 10 AM
14 Sunday	Worship, 10 AM
16 Tuesday	Consistory Zoom Meeting, 7 PM
15 Monday	Martin Luther King Jr. Day
21 Sunday	Worship, 10 AM
28 Sunday	Worship, 10 AM

FEBRUARY
4 Sunday	Communion Worship, 10 AM
11 Sunday	Worship, 10 AM
13 Wednesday	Consistory ZOOM Meeting, 7 PM
14 Thursday	Happy Valentine’s Day
18 Sunday	Worship, 10 AM
25 Sunday	Worship, 10 AM