Prayer on New Year's Eve

As the new year approaches and as we in the church take a deep breath after a busy season I would like to share a prayer with you from "Celtic Benediction" by J. Philip Newell. May you have a happy and healthy new year.

Closing Prayer

The stillness of God be mine this night that I may sleep in peace. The awareness of angels be mine this night that I may be alert to unseen mysteries. The company of the saints be mine this night that I may dream of the river of love. The life of Christ be mine this might that I may be truly alive to the morning that I may be truly alive.

Happy New Year

Living in Queens

I thought that since one of the purposes of this Church Herald blogging experiment was to gather people from all around the denomination from different backgrounds that I would share a little about my past and my present. I was born and raised in the suburbs of Grand Rapids, MI. My great grandfather was a German immigrant who later became a minister in the RCA serving churches primarily in Minnesota. He preached in German until he realized that to reach the wider community he needed to hold services in English. The story goes that he got up in the pulpit one Sunday and informed his congregation that next week, and all following weeks, services would be in English and that was that. Growing up in the burbs of GR my world was fairly homogeneous. After graduating from seminary, much to my surprise I was called to upstate NY, and after four years to my much greater surprise my wife Stephanie and I packed up our 3 year old yellow lab and 1 year old son and followed a call to Queens, NY. The parsonage has a small yard which originally was only reason I could convince my wife that Queens was ok.

Queens is the most diverse county in the country, and it is even said in the world. There are over 170 different languages and dialects spoken in Queens. In the Church on the Hill (the congregation with whom I serve) we have people that speak English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Italian, and even German. (No Dutch)

The Classis of Queens is great because at every Classis meeting we have the opportunity to sample another culture's cuisine. The current President of our Classis is an an Asian female minister, the 1st VP is an African American female elder, and the 2nd VP is a white male minister.

Living in Queens is living a life of diversity. Living in Queens has opened my eyes to the opportunities and struggles that living and ministering in such diversity can bring. Living in Queens gives me hope that we as a church can live and minister with people who have backgrounds, ideas, and even some theologies that are different from our own.

My great-grandfather switched to preaching in English to reach the people that surronded his church. Living in Queens has helped me to see that English may not be enough.

Blog Beginner

Welcome to my blog. Currently I am trying to find new balance in my life. I am the minister of the Church on the Hill in Queens, NY. My wife and I have a 2 and half year old son and recently added another son to our house hold three weeks ago. The Church on the Hill has been a great help with our family's new addition.

Right now at the church we are getting ready for the "Holiday Season." During the week of Thanksgiving we are participating in an interfaith serve, hosting our own Thanksgiving Eve Service, and a Community Thanksgiving Dinner for people within our congregation, and outside our congregation who need a family with whom to celebrate the holiday.

Currently in NYC we are facing food shortages in our food banks and the City is reorganizing how they house and serve homeless. Something that is concerns me is the closure of local drop in centers for homeless persons in order to consolidate them into fewer locations. Part of this also means they will no longer bus homeless persons to places like my church where we hold a shelter for women 2 times a week in the winter. So I am looking for other ways our church can serve homeless persons in the city. Suggestions welcome!

Justin

Update on Tuesday, November 11, 2008 at 11:33AM by Justin Meyers

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/11/giving/11FOOD.html?_r=1&ref=giving&oref=slogin

This is a link to a NY Times article about the food shortage and growing hunger needs of NYC. I am certain this is happening around the country but here in NYC with such a concentration of people it is even more amplified.