Churches

More than 40 years ago, someone who worked at Macy’s donated a Santa Claus suit to the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in West Orange.

Bob Gray tried it on, and it fit.

Gray, now 80, has been playing Santa every year since then, and he says he has no intention of stopping.

"It’s the joy of doing something like this," Gray said last Sunday, shortly after handing out presents to children at Holy Trinity, where Gray has been an active member for more than 60 years. "It’s the answers kids give you, the looks kids give you."

Jairo Barreto perched on a chair in the parish hall at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Morristown getting his hair trimmed – a fresh cut and, he hopes, part of a fresh start.

On his own since he was 16, the Morristown native weathered some rough-and-tumble days and acquired a criminal record. “I got into a decent amount of trouble when I was a kid,” said Barreto, now 32.

On December 21, our portion of the Earth will experience the Winter Solstice. That night is the longest night of the year and it ushers in the winter season. We will also be celebrating Jesus’ birth. As part of the festivities associated with the Christmas season, many will be adding lights both inside and outside of their homes. At All Saints’ Church in Millington, we are beginning a new tradition using light – and invite other churches to join us.

Members of the Peace Islands Institute provided authentic Turkish dishes as part of a special coffee house held at St. Paul Episcopal Church on Sunday, Nov. 11.

The words surfaced again and again as Episcopalians described how their churches became distribution centers for relief supplies and sanctuaries of warmth and food in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, which slammed the Northeast on Oct. 29. The storm swept away or flooded homes along the coasts of New Jersey and New York, disrupted transportation and telephone services across the region and left millions of households without electricity and heat, and in some cases water, throughout multiple dioceses.

Churches responded by opening their doors as warming, charging and feeding stations; collecting and distributing emergency supplies and meals; and dispatching volunteers to visit and inventory the needs of those most affected by the storm. In the process, their clergy reported, the churches offered new opportunities for service and built community within and beyond their walls.

One day after two beloved members of their parish died in a house fire, dozens gathered Sunday at St. James Episcopal Church to grieve and pray for a woman who was active within the church, and her “sweet” young son.

In between prayer and song, a few worshipers held hands with loved ones while they shed tears for Jeralyn Scibetta and her youngest son Daniel, 14, both killed Saturday morning in their Linden Avenue home.

Reports are coming in from our churches of the work they are doing to help their neighbors after Hurricane Sandy.

New reports will be added here as they come in.

From The Rev. Sheelagh Clarke, Rector of St. Stephen's in Millburn, Nov. 9: