“Waking Up White,” a book by Debby Irving, will be the focus for a series of free events arranged by Not in Our Town (NIOT) Princeton starting on March 22.
Irving will share her adventure of going from “well meaning” to “well doing” on Monday, April 18, at 4 p.m. at the Princeton Public Library and at 7 p.m. at the Hun School, 176 Edgerstoune Road.
Facilitators from NIOT will hold conversations about the book on consecutive Tuesdays (March 22, 29, and April 5) at 7 p.m. at the Princeton Municipal Building, 400 Witherspoon Street. Two copies of the book are available in the library (they have not yet been officially added, just leave a note if you take one) and are also available from the Princeton Public Library and Labyrinth Bookstore. www.NIOTPrinceton.org.
As Palm Sunday and Easter approach, here are some family friendly suggestions for how to teach your children about Jesus’ path in Holy Week. The ‘Resurrection cookies” and the “Empty Tomb” biscuits look interesting. They both involve marshmellows that melt.
For adults and teens, here is a “Lent Quiz.” For instance, one question asks whether, at the Last Supper, the disciples would have been standing, sitting, kneeling, or reclining. Click here for the answer.
We look forward to beautiful music during Holy Week. The Children’s Choir will sing on Palm Sunday at 9:30 and the Bell Choir plays both services. The Youth Choir sings for Maundy Thursday Communion on Easter. Good Friday brings the Michael Haydn Requiem. And for Easter Sunday — Hallelujahs!
Speaker: Walter Fortson, The Petey Greene Program Date: March 13, 8 am
Walter Fortson is the public relations and special projects manager of the Petey Greene Prison Assistance Program, which has its national headquarters here in Princeton. It aims to be the largest volunteer program behind bars in the country that offers in-class high-quality tutoring and resources for all incarcerated students working toward their GED or high school diploma.
An inmate at Albert Wagner Correctional Facility in Bordentown works towards his GED in weekly sessions under the guidance of a Princeton University student tutor as part of the Petey Greene Prison Assistance Program.
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Upon his own release from prison in 2010, and through the Mountainview Project – a special program geared toward helping formerly incarcerated students go to college – Walter Fortson was admitted to Rutgers University. In June of 2013, he completed his Bachelor of Science in Exercise Physiology with minors in Biology and Psychology – graduating magna cum laude. In 2012, Fortson was the recipient of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship – a national award that recognizes the country’s student-leaders in public service. In 2013, he worked as a research associate with the Justice Policy Institute in Washington, D.C, evaluating alternatives to parole revocations in Maryland. He recently earned a Master of Philosophy from the University of Cambridge.
Everyone is invited to enjoy a hot and tasty breakfast. A $5 donation is requested. Next month, April 10, Carl Clark will talk about Urban Promise Trenton.
Branches bear fruit, they don’t make fruit, said Rev. Jana Purkis-Brash in her sermon on Sunday, February 21, 2016. So if Jesus is the vine and we are the branches, we need to remember that we are empowered to do our good works only through Him. She explained other fascinating Biblical references to wine making on February 21, 2016, as below.
www.harvest.org
I need to preface this sermon by saying, I know nothing about wine. Here we are this morning focused on a passage where Jesus compares himself to a vine, and biblical scholars agree that vine would have been a grapevine, and the grapes would have been used to make wine.
In my research for this sermon, I found out that one foundational principle that applies to both Old World and New World winemaking is that great wine is always a reflection of a particular vineyard. If you want to pick a good wine, in other words, you have to know the source.
littlebigwonders.blogspot.com
Jesus obviously knew a little about wine himself, we see him at social gatherings in the gospels and he knew exactly what kind of wine would impress the guests at the Cana wedding feast. So it shouldn’t be a big surprise that he used the metaphor of a vineyard to describe his relationship to his disciples. Jesus knew that the best way to tell what kind of product you were getting would be to look at the label and see from where in the world it came. In this case, the source isn’t a place but a person — Jesus himself.
Jesus is the Vine. Jesus begins by saying that he is the “true vine”, the source of growth and fruit-bearing, in a vineyard that is tended by God.
God is the Winemaker: The Creator God is the real winemaker, the one who tends the vineyard and assures its quality.
The Vineyard has a history: Turns out, that this vineyard has a long and storied history. The metaphor of the vineyard is used several times in the Old Testament to describe God’s relationship with Israel. In Isaiah 5:1-7, for example, God plants and tends a vineyard but it yields “wild grapes” or inferior fruit — a metaphor for the apostasy of Israel and Judah. The same vineyard imagery is used in Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Hosea. In each of these cases, however, Israel is the “vine” and the ultimate source of poor “fruit.”
In the Old Testament, “fruitfulness” was another way of saying “faithfulness,” thus, a lack of good fruit meant that God’s people had failed to be the true, nourishing vine that would bolster God’s reputation in the world as the ultimate fine winemaker. That being the case, it was the winemaker’s job to do some pruning and replacing, which is what the prophets saw the exile as being all about.
Later, God would replant the vineyard with a new stock and that new vine, the “true vine,” would be Jesus himself who embodied the new Israel, God’s Chosen One, the One through whom the whole world would be saved and blessed.
catholiclane.com
The Branches are the focus: But while the vine is the source for good fruit, there’s a vital link between the vine and its fruit. The “branches” are thus the focus of Jesus’ teaching with his disciples. “I am the vine,” says Jesus to his followers, “you are the branches.” Notice that the disciples of Jesus aren’t the “fruit,” the end product, but the conduit for the vine’s nourishment. The quality of the fruit thus depends on the branches’ connectedness to the vine itself. What Jesus is describing here is the necessary interrelationship between himself and his disciples, us — a relationship characterized by mutuality and indwelling, but one that is also focused on bearing great growth for the whole world.
Look closely at a grapevine, though, and one of the first things you notice about its branches is that it’s very difficult to tell them apart individually. All the branches twist and curl around one another to the point that you can’t tell where one starts and another stops. Jesus’ use of branch imagery is a way of expressing that it’s not the achievement of an individual branch or its status that matters. The quality of branches and fruit depends solely on the quality of their connectedness to the vine. When it comes to discipleship, each “branch” or individual gives up his or her desire for individual achievement in order to become one of many encircling branches — a community that is rooted and nurtured by Christ and points to his reputation and quality, not their own.
With that understanding of branches in mind, there are a couple of things that we branches must remember in order to stay effectively and fruitfully connected to Jesus. First, we have to remember that branches are fruit bearing, and not fruit-making. “Just as the branch cannot bear fruit unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me … Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit because apart from me you can do nothing.” We’ve heard these words of Jesus many times, but we also hear the call of a culture of workaholism, achievement and success that can lure disciples of Christ into thinking that we can be fruitful as a result of our own efforts. Many are the pastors, for example, who have built large churches and famous reputations only to crash and burn as a result of moral failure, which is frequently the result of a failure to stay intimately connected to Jesus. When a branch gets the idea that it can make fruit, make wine, on its own, it dries up, withers, and is no longer useful. The mission of a branch isn’t to look good or to call attention to itself, but to give all the glory to God, the one whose name is on the label.
In the vineyards of Jesus’ day, grapevines grew naturally along the ground instead of being propped up on poles or lattices as they are today. The vinedresser would come along to lift and “clean” the vine, pruning away the excess and dead growth. Jesus uses the same image to describe the way the disciples themselves had been “cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you.” That “word” was the teaching and commandment of Jesus and the disciples’ meditation on and obedience to that “word” would help them “remain” or stay connected to his “love” — the nourishing flow from the vine. This is how being connected to Jesus changes our lives.
Reading, meditating and praying through the Scriptures is one way in which disciples are “pruned.” The words of Jesus about the kingdom and the story of his life, death and resurrection focus us on what’s truly important for bearing the fruit of his grace and love to the world. When the writer of Hebrews says that Scripture is “sharper than any two-edged sword” (Hebrews 4:12), he might have as easily said that Scripture was the ultimate set of pruning shears, trimming us for the life of discipleship we were meant to live. Such pruning can be painful as God uses it to lop off old habits, but it’s absolutely necessary if we’re going to embrace our purpose as conduits of God’s grace. Again being changed by Jesus.
gracechurchcochin.wordpress.com
Great wine is the reflection of a particular vineyard, be it from an Old World tradition or an eclectic New World experiment. God wants to tend the finest vineyard ever, here and now. May we, as disciples of Jesus, the true vine, embrace our role as branches — channels for God’s grace, so that when the world samples the fine vintage of God’s love and grace, they will want to know the winemaker!
This month Debra Vizzi speaks about the Community Foodbank of New Jersey at a breakfast at the Nassau Club on Wednesday, February 17, at 8 am (come earlier for networking). She is CEO of the state’s largest anti-hunger and anti-poverty organization, which employs some 200 people. Register as a member of PUMC for $25 at www.princetonchamber.org. You can bring your own business cards as well as brochures from the church and Cornerstone Community Kitchen
This is the Sunday for another yummy breakfast, prepared by the United Methodist Men. We’ll hear how polio has almost been stamped out around the world. Another treat: the children’s choir will sing, directed by Tom Shelton. (Yes, these pictures were taken in warmer weather! (Also mark your calendars for February 28, Youth Sunday, when the kids join the Youth Choir to sing at both services.)
Our sermon series for Lent: “I AM”. Each Sunday in Lent, we will examine who Jesus is (the Light of the World, the True Vine, the Good Shepherd, the Way the Truth the Life, and more). As we examine who Jesus is we will reflect on how that informs we who are as Christians.
For many, joy and sadness would be an unlikely partnership. However, for Rev. Jana Purkis-Brash the exact opposite is the case. Happiness is healthy, so is sadness and both need to go together. She based her text on Psalm 139 and John 16:16-24 and concluded: “My prayer for us is that Joy and Sadness are woven together in such a way that we are spiritually healthy and that our joy is rooted. “
There is a small part of me that is thankful for the blizzard last week. Let me explain. As I moved through the week preparing my sermon on Joy, I became more and more concerned that Joy and Sadness really needed to be together. In order to fully understand the healthy roles of these two emotions, they need to be brought together as a team. So because of the storm and canceling worship last week, I have been able to do just that. We will see how this unlikely partnership helps us as we seek to be spiritually healthy and whole.
A focus of Inside Out is the grounding of happiness. In a society that seeks joy in comfort, silliness, and diversion, Pixar presents a different picture of the full life. Being happy is not about eliminating or even minimizing emotions not named Joy. No one in history has ever succeeded with that approach. Inside Out refreshingly declares that the good life is not free from sadness or anger, but allows joy to live in a harmony with those other less comfortable emotions.
As we’ve mentioned previously the film enters the mind of a preteen, Riley, whose life has been disrupted by a cross-country move. The film’s brilliance is in embracing the brokenness we all face. We all experience it, and yet so few stories on TV and on the big screen help us process and endure it. In Inside Out, life is hard, but not hopeless. Grief and sadness are meaningful, even valuable experiences.
We see Joy as the irrepressible “Pollyanna” of the emotions at work within Riley—she flatly refuses to let life’s problems get her down and by extension, bring Riley down, so when Sadness comes on the scene during Riley’s infancy, Joy sees her as a problem to be overcome. As Riley grows, so do Joy’s frustrations with Sadness, particularly when she discovers that Sadness has the capacity to turn the glowing golden orbs of Riley’s happy memories sad by touching them. When Sadness causes herself and Joy—along with Riley’s core memories—to be sucked into the larger world of Riley’s mind, the two emotions must work together to make their way back to Headquarters and set things right.
It is on this journey through Riley’s mind that Joy begins to see the need for Sadness, and more importantly, comes to a deeper understanding of what joy really is. To this point, Joy has seen herself as a cheerleader—the one around whom the other emotions rally in order to help Riley make happy memories, leading (as Joy describes it) to perfect days, weeks, months, years, and ultimately, a perfect life.
Joy in comfort, in silliness, in sports can be happy for a time, but there are no roots, at least not strong ones. It’s fragile. One embarrassing moment in front of the class and it all comes crashing down. If life is about preserving that simple, child-like, playful happiness, then we’re all lost and helpless.
Eventually — and sometimes very early on — life removes its kid gloves — the unexpected move, betrayal, divorce, sickness, failure, loss. Life will steal a child’s happiness at age seven or seventeen or thirty-seven, and if we don’t have a plan for joy after sadness comes, we’ll be left frustrated, confused, and bitter. The film displays the futility of shortsighted, over-protective happiness.
The story begins with Joy frantically — though relentlessly cheerfully — micromanaging the team of emotions, striving to keep everything and everyone calm, predictable, and happy. The simplicity of a child’s life lends itself to lots of simple and repeatable pleasure. By the end, though, Joy cherishes and cooperates with the others, seeing their inevitable and even critical roles in Riley’s life.
Inside Out grounds joy — which in and of itself sets it apart from so many other movies — but still leaves it rootless. The joy is real and even mature, but it’s not safe or reliable. It’s not made or even expected to last the stormy waves that will crash into our lives. When one island of personality falls — whether silliness or hockey or friendship — we’ll start building another.
The message of Inside Out says that joy in this life can be real even when mixed with darker, harder memories and experiences. The film creatively and effectively protects us from thinking life is meant to be easy, fun, and carefree. True joy, the kind that survives suffering and endures pain, is not cheap or easy. It’s laced — woven through and through — with sadness. So it is with Christ in an even more profound way. We are “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing,” and our joy is all the deeper and more enduring because of the grief.
Joy is a frantic (albeit happy) character trying to run the show. She vigilantly guards against Sadness getting too much time at the control panel and from touching any of the memories and turning them blue/sad.
Photo by Marc Romanelli via Getty Images, from Huffington Post
Betsy Arnold will lead a “Journaling through Lent” group on Thursdays, 11:30 to 12:30, in the conference room of the church. “Journaling is a very personal process and we will be exploring different ways to enjoy this spiritual practice,” she says. “Please bring any thoughts, ideas, books, and techniques to share with the group. You will also need some type of journal or tablet of paper and your favorite pen. We will be doing some writing during our hour together.”
Betsy and her husband Bill moved to West Windsor last year; they have three children, one still in high school. Betsy graduated from Emory University and, earlier in her career, was a social worker. Now a published author, she is hard at work on Book III in the Tapestry series, a series of young adult historical fantasy novels set in medieval times.
To join the journaling group, or for more information, call 609-924-2613 or email office@PrincetonUMC.org.
From Rev. Catherine Williams: As I write this note Lent is on my mind. This is the time of the liturgical year I think of death and renewal. The dry, barren woods behind my home remind me that nature is in her own necessary cycle of death and renewal, even as Lent approaches. What images does Lent conjure for you? As a child growing up in Anglican schools the images of this season were markedly somber: fasting, deprivation, denial, meatless Fridays, penitence, confession, and lots of songs in minor keys! It was all about traditional piety back then. As an adult however, I’ve learned to lean into Lent more purposefully. Leaning into Lent means preparing to strip down my faith to its bare essentials. I don’t always succeed but the process always yields a healthier spirituality.
This year our mid-week Lenten meditations invite us into a fresh experience of the wilderness. We can lean into Lent as we take the journey from our cultivated daily landscapes into the uninhabited places of prayer, fasting, study, or whatever spiritual discipline is most meaningful to us at this time.
Our Lenten sermon series, starting February 17, looks at the “I am” sayings of Jesus as recorded in the Gospel according to John. Jesus identified himself in these sayings as the Light of the World, the True Vine, the Good Shepherd, the Way, the Truth, the Life, the Door, and the Resurrection and the Life. These are powerful nodes of spiritual encounter that invite you and me to fertilize and prune our faith during this season of death and renewal. I hope you’ll take this invitation to heart and join us on this grace-filled journey as the Spirit leads us towards wholeness and healing. As we lean into Lent together, I offer for our meditation this hymn of prayer from Charles Wesley: (UMH #410)
I want a principle within of watchful, godly fear,
A sensibility of sin, a pain to feel it near.
I want the first approach to feel of pride or wrong desire,
To catch the wandering of my will, and quench the kindling fire.
In Lenten simplicity.
Polio was a dreaded disease for those who grew up in the ’40s and ’50s, and even in the 1980s the world saw about 1,000 cases a day. Join us for breakfast on Sunday, February 14, at 8 am, when Dr. Julie Ann Juliano speaks how Rotary clubs around the world are fighting to eradicate polio. Sponsored by the United Methodist Men but open to all, the tasty hot breakfast, with all the trimmings, will be in Fellowship Hall. A $5 donation is requested.
A native of Queens, Dr. Juliano graduated from New York University and Albert Einstein College of Medicine and did her internship at the RWJ University Hospital (Somerset). Since 1992 she has been active in the Rotary Club of Branchburg and she served as district governor. She and her husband have three daughters, and she was active in Girl Scouts for 13 years . Board certified in family medicine, she has a private practice in Branchburg, New Jersey.
The Rotary Club of Princeton meets on Tuesdays at 12:15 at the Nassau Club; it is part of an interfaith and international organization that has helped immunize more than 2.5 billion children in 122 countries. In 1988 Rotary joined three organizations (WHO, UNICEF, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. Now, every dollar is being matched by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. A member of Princeton Rotary, architect and Rotarian Ahmed Azmy went with his wife Nadia to work as part of a vaccination team in Pakistan. The disease is still alive in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
“Waking Up White,” a book by Debby Irving, will be the focus for a series of free events arranged by Not in Our Town (NIOT) Princeton starting on March 22. 
As Palm Sunday and Easter approach, here are some 
This is the Sunday for another 
From Rev. Catherine Williams: As I write this note Lent is on my mind. This is the time of the liturgical year I think of death and renewal. The dry, barren woods behind my home remind me that nature is in her own necessary cycle of death and renewal, even as Lent approaches. What images does Lent conjure for you? As a child growing up in Anglican schools the images of this season were markedly somber: fasting, deprivation, denial, meatless Fridays, penitence, confession, and lots of songs in minor keys! It was all about traditional piety back then. As an adult however, I’ve learned to lean into Lent more purposefully. Leaning into Lent means preparing to strip down my faith to its bare essentials. I don’t always succeed but the process always yields a healthier spirituality.
Polio was a dreaded disease for those who grew up in the ’40s and ’50s, and even in the 1980s the world saw about 1,000 cases a day. Join us for breakfast on Sunday, February 14, at 8 am, when Dr. Julie Ann Juliano speaks how Rotary clubs around the world are fighting to eradicate polio. Sponsored by the