Category: General

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Pastor Jenny’s Video Update April 25, 2020

Watch Pastor Jenny’s Video Update

Thank You!

Thank you to our Health Care Professionals, particularly those who are in direct patient care, working in hospitals, in the midst of very challenging and anguishing situations, putting yourself at risk to be part of God’s healing work in the world.

Two people from our congregation who I want to lift up, give thanks for and to, and pray for are are Pam B.  and Deena P.

  • No doubt there are others of you in the PUMC Beloved Community who are also in direct patient care. Please help me to know who they are!! We want to thank and surround them as well!

​​Coffee with the Pastor
Sunday, April 26 (tomorrow) at 11:30am-12:30pm
Via Zoom.

Open to all!  While this is always open to all, I tend to gear this even to those who are newer among us to give them a chance to get to know us better and us, them.  Newcomers and long-timers are invited, and after some general fellowship time, I’ll invite us to talk about ways our faith has been challenged during this COVID crisis and time of physical distancing. What has been called into question for you about God, faith, church, what God is revealing to you, for example. (The link will be available at the worship service on Facebook).

Tuesday Chapel Prayer Service & Zoom Lunch
Starting this Tuesday, April 28, at noon.

Join us on our PUMC Facebook page for a live (or archived) prayer service. It won’t look exactly like the Lenten Series. It will likely be simpler, with no homily, and more of a time of prayer. I’ll offer leadership this week, but it won’t always be me. We’ll follow this with a fellowship lunch via Zoom.

​​Virtual Coffee Hour
1st Sunday of Each Month – after worship – via Zoom

Miss your PUMC friends?  Want to see their faces? Share a smile?  We’ll gather in a few different virtual Zoom spaces on the first Sunday of each month for just this. The next one will be Sunday, May 3.

Tell Me a Story! 
Continuing to Talk the Walk in Worship and Beyond

We’re continuing our “Talk the Walk” worship series about telling our stories. Heather H.  is sharing a story tomorrow in worship, which I know you’ll want to hear. And I would still love to hear your stories of your beginnings and how God was part of that beginning! Even if you don’t tell me, tell someone! Be part of worship tomorrow for another Tell Me a Story prompt.

Be sure to look for your worship materials on our website. Send Pastor Skitch a prayer request to be named in worship or put it up on the Facebook post asking for your requests. Gather a candle, your bible, and make some sacred space for worship tomorrow.

Thank you!
for your gifts, your tithes, your offerings, and going Above and Beyond!

Your joyful and generous responses to God’s love in the form of your financial gifts are continuing to make ministry happen. We thank you for the ways you’ve shifted your giving to mail and online giving. And we direct you to our PUMC giving page to set up automatic payments or to send in a gift. You’ll also find there information about our yearly Above and Beyond campaign, which allows you to sponsor a particular ministry of our church and help us close the gap between our budget and our annual pledges received last fall. This week’s focus is on Children and Youth Formation and Music Ministries.

I miss and love you,
Pastor Jenny

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Happy Earth Day!

Canticle of Creation
The Canticle of Creation
By Evangeline Burgers
Happy Earth Day! Did you know that today marks the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day? To commemorate this special day, I’ve put together some fun resources for your families to use. Pastor Jenny opened her new sermon series this past week talking about God’s story (and our story!) in Genesis and it feels fitting to continue to celebrate our Earth and Cosmos with Genesis this week with our families!
St. Francis of Assisi wrote a beautiful “Canticle of Creation”. Feel free to print off the attached coloring page of the prayer to reflect on God’s creation. Then you can turn it into a “stained glass window” by following these easy steps with your coloring page.
Here is an imaginative prayer to celebrate Earth Day!  I’ve recorded myself leading the prayer, but you might rather do it as a family so there is a .pdf attached of this prayer, “God Loves So Many Things”, from Jared Patrick Boyd’s book, Imaginative Prayer.
Henry and I have been LOVING reading a new book this week that is inspired by God’s story told in Genesis. It is called Love Made and it was written by a spoken word artist named Quina Aragon, when she was pregnant with her daughter. Here is a beautiful animation video with the same poem that was made before the book was published. Then the author tells her powerful story here, with a preview of the picture book. I’m excited for us to continue to explore our own stories with our families in the coming days.
Let me know if you have any questions or concerns about anything and I hope to see our children at 4:30 today at online  Children’s Choir practice with Mr. Tom.
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Blood Needed During COVID-19

Princeton Area Blood Drive

The U.S. blood supply is facing a shortage during the coronavirus pandemic. The COVID-19 outbreak is affecting the supply for the entire country. Donations from healthy people in the Greater Princeton Area are needed to avoid an additional health care crisis.

There is a natural fear over donating blood during this pandemic. However, according to America’s Blood Centers, whose facilities, in addition to those operated by the Red Cross, it is safe to give. They are executing greater social distancing measures and infection control protocols.

Here are local facilities where you can schedule an appointment to give blood:

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‘Butterfly Hug Prayer’ for Stress and Worry

by Evangeline Burgers

Are you and/or your child experiencing anxiety right now? The Butterfly Hug may be a good prayer and calming technique for you to try. I’ve recorded a video to help your family learn this Butterfly Hug prayer, which was developed by a therapist in Mexico to help children who were dealing with trauma following a hurricane. While we may not be currently facing an actual hurricane, we are very much experiencing trauma. I pray this prayer practice brings feelings of peace to you and your family. Remember that it is a “practice.” which means it may not come easy to all of us right away. Practice makes better!

Lines from Psalm 139,

If I flew on morning’s wings
    to the far western horizon,
You’d find me in a minute—
    you’re already there waiting!

Credit for the prayer:

Faithful Families: Creating Sacred Moments at Home by Traci Smith.

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Sermon “Singing Mary’s Song of Rejoicing”

“Singing Mary’s Song” is the theme for Princeton United Methodist Church this Advent season, during 10 am worship. “The Magnificat” is the Virgin Mary’s joyful, prophetic response when the baby John the Baptist in her cousin Elizabeth’s womb joyfully recognizes the presence of the baby Jesus in her womb.

On this First Sunday of Advent, December 1, 2019, Pastor Jennifer Smith-Walz preached a sermon titled “Singing Mary’s Song of Rejoicing.” The Scripture for the week is Luke 1:46-55. These ten verses of Scripture are beautiful, dense, vibrant, hopeful, and challenging. 

“We are a diverse community joyfully responding to God’s love and growing as disciples of Christ.” That is our Mission Statement – why we exist as PUMC – why we are thankful more and more. 

The keyword here is “Joyfully.” We are joyfully responding to God’s Love, yet, we get confused sometimes between “joy” and “happiness.” Joy can be both a gift and a challenge. Is it aspirational? Is it appropriate – given so much sorrow, struggle, and despair in the world? A joyful thing can be a struggle, particularly when we are struggling and finding it difficult to be happy. It is not always a natural disposition to be joyful when one has a lot of work to do. Define Joy. What is your joy?

In the Gospel of John, chapter 15, verse 11, Jesus said: “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” Jesus demands us to love one another: “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”

Mary taught me much about Joy. Here we see a young Jewish girl from the backwater town of Nazareth, unwed and vulnerable – receiving the announcement by the angel Gabriel that she would conceive a son by the power of the Holy Spirit to be called Jesus. She goes to visit her relative, Elizabeth. Her response to the Annunciation is to sing a song, “My soul magnifies the Lord …” She is full of joy, but it could easily have been fear. This song is full of joy, hope, reversal, expectation, Incarnation, and Kingdom building. 

Rejoice! God has broken into your life and human history.

Rejoice! God has regard for you – beloved, enough, seen, known, loved

Rejoice! God is calling you to join God’s action. Incarnate, kingdom building, liberation, healing, joy

Rejoice! Mary’s ‘Yes’ and every ‘Yes” within us

Rejoice! The reign of God is at hand. God has fulfilled his promise. Full of surprise and life 

Rejoice! God is trustworthy, kind, merciful. We can say yes, even if we don’t understand

Rejoice! God is giving us eyes to see God’s promise as already fulfilled.

Rejoice! God is turning things on their heads! Subverting power structures, pretensions, hierarchies, sin, in church and society  

Rejoice! God’s liberating work has set you free. No more fear of failure, loss, rejection. No more shame that distances and hides. No more need for anxiety and control. No more need to get your worth from status, wealth, privilege, possession, or meeting expectations.

Rejoice! God has not forgotten those who are oppressed (underprivileged or overprivileged). God’s liberating work is setting the downtrodden free, scattering the proud, lifting the lowly, filling the hungry with good things.

Rejoice! God has embodied all of this in the absurd choice of these two marginalized pregnant women who bear the good news, the gospel, the “incarnate” love of God in this world of the “I – young/poor/unwed” or the “I – too old!”

Rejoice! We are all pregnant with the possibility of a new life. God is with us – God is in us.

Rejoice! We do not have to manufacture joy – a gift – a fruit of the Holy Spirit. We just let it in. Say yes! And when we do, like Mary – our souls magnify the Lord – aglow.

So let us celebrate Advent, singing Mary’s song of praise together: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my savior.” AMEN

The sermon is a podcast on this webpage under the category worship. Here is the link

For the complete video of the December 1 service, found on Princeton United Methodist Church Facebook page, click here

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CELEBRATE ADVENT- December 1, 2019

 Singing Mary’s Song

“Singing Mary’s Song” will be the theme for Princeton United Methodist Church during the Advent season, beginning on Sunday, December 1, during 10 AM worship. “Throughout December, musicians and singers of all ages – and even those in the congregation – will have an opportunity to respond to the words of ‘Mary’s Magnificat,’” says Rev. Jenny Smith Walz, lead pastor.

 

 

At 5 p.m. on December 1, Hyosang Park, music director, will conduct a free concert “How Great Our Joy!” featuring PrincetonUMC’s handbell choir, handbell quartet and a handbell solo with Duo Grazioso. “Through handbell music and singing Christmas carols, you will experience a truly joyous season,” says Park.

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Steve Wong “I Like Giving: Faith Story” 11-03-2019

“Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish”

When I was asked to share my story about giving, it made me stop for a moment and think about why it is that I am so willing to give up my time and resources for God. One would think that it would be an easy and obvious question to answer, but I struggled mightily to come up with the words to explain it to even myself. So I started thinking about the times I spent around the church. I started thinking back to the summer when we did nine Sundays of robotics –  sitting in the sanctuary listening to the sermon – taking the children through a Bible story in Sunday School – having fellowship with folks before and after service. And then it dawned on me. I’m willing to give because giving is one way that I can give thanks to God for all he has done. 

And what has he done? He has provided our family with a home church in PUMC. We feel blessed to have the music ministry. Both of our children are singing or have sung in the choir. PUMC has provided a Sunday School to our children that has taught them essential Christian-based lessons. Volunteering as a Sunday School teacher has dramatically expanded and deepened my understanding of Christianity – which is significant for me since I grew up with non-Christian parents and never learned about God or attended a church service until well into adulthood. My son William had the opportunity to act as a lay-reader and serve communion during service. My daughter Elizabeth got to be a part of the children’s performances. Listening to the sermons reinforced my faith and helped equip me to better deal with life’s challenges, including some significant problems at my day job. 

I remember finding myself in a position within my career where I had hit the ceiling, and the only way to continue growing was to take drastic steps to improve my situation. Retraining can be a terrifying thing fraught with risks. It was just when we started attending PUMC, and I needed God more than ever to help me through it. Through His grace and guidance, I’m in a much better place now. I would be remiss not to mention that PUMC has connected us with a community of faithful believers who are not only welcoming and care for each other but also visibly serve God and the community in creative ways. You are all a constant source of encouragement and inspiration to our family. 

I am happy to give back to God in appreciation for all his blessings to us.  I am profoundly grateful to Him for bringing us to this church and walking with us through good times and bad. I am also thankful for being able to share this story with you. 

 

 

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Sermon “I Like Giving: Ripples”

On All Saints Sunday, November  3, 2019, Pastor Jennifer Smith-Walz preached a sermon titled “I Like Giving: Ripples.” The Scripture for the week is John 6:1-14. 

As she continued her focus on acts of generosity,  she looked at the story of Christ feeding five thousand people with five loaves and two fishes. There was this boy ready to share a little, and in the hands of Jesus, his act of generosity produced ripples that continue to this day.

Do you ever wonder about this boy with the five loaves and two fishes? Did he have grandparents who taught him generosity? Or was it his idea? How did he get that food in the first place? Did he catch the fish himself? Or was it packed for him lovingly to go on this journey? What did he imagine would happen as he handed his food to Jesus? What did he think when 12 baskets were collected? What difference did his act of generosity make? His life most certainly was changed that day. The miracle of the Feeding of the Five Thousand changed these people’s lives on that day. They all ate and were satisfied but most importantly, they must have told the story to many others who also recounted it to still others and impacted their lives as well. Might our presence here right now in these pews be a ripple effect of this little boy’s offering 2000 years ago?  

That day reminds us of repeated scenes in our lives too. Look around and see the enormous need in the world. Hungry people. Unending gun violence. Countless people without homes. Refugees. Far too many children in orphanages and foster care. So many homes destroyed by fires, hurricanes, earthquakes.  Desperate people have given to despair. What are we going to do about them? When we lift our need to God, God is asking, “what do you have?” We reply, “not enough.” The end of our human understanding, knowledge, resources, is the beginning of love’s understanding and knowledge. Love’s knowledge multiplies our seemingly meager resources and makes a way where there doesn’t seem to be a way. Love’s understanding is enough to feed all the people and with leftovers. When placed in the hands of Jesus – hands full of love’s knowledge – our gifts, as limited as they might be (even generous giving can feel like a drop in the bucket) become abundance, more than enough.

God calls us to is not just generosity, but generosity as Ministry, as an act of love. Ministry is about multiplying resources in the hands of love, Jesus’ hands, so that what might’ve been just a social hand-out becomes a revelation of God’s amazing Grace, leaving behind transformation, healing, restoration, life, justice. God’s love changes people and societies.

As the names of the deceased were read, a dove was placed. Each family was able to take home a dove

As we come to the Table today on All Saints Day, let us bring, with thanksgiving, the memories of the saints who taught us not only generosity but how God multiplies resources? Let us remember that at the end of our understanding, love’s knowledge takes over.

The sermon is a podcast on this webpage under the category worship. Here is the link

For the complete video of the November 3 service, found on Princeton United Methodist Church Facebook page, click here

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Sermon “I like Giving: Change”

On Sunday, October 20, 2019, Pastor Jennifer Smith-Walz preached a sermon titled “I Like Giving: Change.” The Scripture for the week is Luke 19:1-10. She focused on acts of generosity while looking at the story of Zacchaeus, that wealthy tax collector who is radically changed, ready to put right the wrongs he had done, and eager to give half of his possessions to the poor.  

Pastor Jenny at Princeton UMC
Sunday Service, October 20, 2019

Generosity is very complex. It comes easily in some ways but in other forms, not at all. People’s feelings, lessons learned, money, sadness, fairness, fear, and responsibility are all involved. But being generous to the point of extravagance is a crucial attribute of God, and thus of discipleship.

Indeed generosity is a significant theme in Luke’s Gospel, especially at a time when the rich keep their riches for themselves, believing they are given to them by God. Luke is concerned about wealth and what happens to the poor. He believes in distributive justice, and consequently, he is hard on the rich and how they use their money. Closely tied to the theme of welcoming outsiders, the poor and the marginalized, are money, and generosity of spirit. We could be generous with our money but also with our thoughts, words, time, energy, and love. 

Zacchaeus’ story is straightforward but still challenging. Something is stirring in Zacchaeus’ conscience at this time of his life. A tax collector, wealthy, involved in exploitation, extortion, and taxing, who has this desire to come and see this one with the reputation of being a friend of tax collectors. Zacchaeus is so eager to catch a glimpse of Jesus despite the mumblings of the crowd, who, no doubt dislike him, that he climbs up a tree in an undignified manner. The people are shocked to see that Jesus sees him, calls him, names him, showers him with love, and then invites himself to his home.   

God sees him, loves him, and claims him as his own – and this immediately transforms Zacchaeus. He receives the generosity of God’s presence and forgiveness – and it spurred him to action. He must, therefore, fulfill his obligation of theft and right the wrongs he has done. Reminded of God’s abundant gift of grace, he is moved to extravagance – giving away half of his wealth. 

Salvation comes not only because he is repentant and changes his ways but also to heal his brokenness. Now, marginalization is a thing of the past. God has freed him. In God’s company, giving back after defrauding the poor, changes the relationship and brings joy, eagerness, humility, and reconnection. Jesus said to Zacchaeus, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Lack of generosity lies with the self-righteous observers who are mumbling, judging Zacchaeus and Christ. It keeps people on margins – withholding grace, love, acceptance. They act superior as they desire to maintain their reputation. They deny that people change. But God’s grace brings healing and transformation. God’s grace transforms us into more generous people. Acting in generous ways also brings us closer to God. When God saves and heals us, we are no longer broken. 

The story is asking us what lack of generosity, or attempt to stockpile wealth is keeping us apart from God and others, stifling our joy and leaving us broken? On the other hand, what longing for Christ is stirring in us? What joyful reactions to God’s grace are we experiencing? Eagerness, welcome, hearing our name called, looked upon with love? What change comes as we respond joyfully to Christ’s love, call, and presence? Let us now return God’s extravagant grace with our extravagance in giving.

This week, I invite you to try one big generous act in your own life. Also, pay attention to what you are worried about, like fear, excuse, debate, judgment, discomfort, violation of fairness, debt, time, need a reward, or what else is happening in your life. Jesus is saying, “I see your generosity. Give just 10% of your wealth.” Ask God to stir up your heart and make your spirit willing.

The sermon is a podcast on this webpage under the category worship. Here is the link

For the complete video of the October 20 service, found on Princeton United Methodist Church Facebook page, click here.