[The Express-Times] For the fifth year in a row the Phillipsburg Ministerial Alliance, convened by the Rev. Thomas Mathews, rector of St. Luke's Church in Phillipsburg, celebrated National Day of Prayer on May 1.
[Episcopal News Service – Oklahoma City, Oklahoma] The Rev. Joseph Harmon, rector of Christ Church, East Orange, New Jersey, in the Diocese of Newark describes an effort to get state and local law enforcement agencies to discuss safe-gun technology with their firearm vendors. Harmon says that, after the U.S. military and other federal law-enforcement agencies, state and local police form the largest single group of gun buys in the United States and, thus, could be a strong advocacy voice.
[Episcopal News Service – Oklahoma City, Oklahoma] Diocese of Newark Bishop Mark Beckwith discusses the growing epidemic of violence and how he and other Episcopal Church bishops have come together to form Bishops Against Gun Violence to begin to stem the tide.
[The Star-Ledger] Essex County has forged a new partnership with local churches in its latest push to reach unemployed and underemployed people.
[The Sparta Independent] A pair of conductors and an organist have been filling the rafters of Christ Episcopal Church with music for more than 30 years.
[Parsippany Life] Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the season of Lent for Christians, signifying the 40 days until Easter. It’s usually a time for the faithful to reflect and to offer personal sacrifice.
The use of ashes, in fact, dates back to the very early days of the church. In ancient times, they symbolized a period of mourning, expressing sorrow, or penitence. For those raised in Christianity, Ash Wednesday still serves as a reminder, as said in Genesis 3:19, "That thou art dust, and to dust thou shalt return."
But as modern times progress, the tradition of attending an Ash Wednesday service is becoming less traditional.
[The Record] One local church has enacted a unique way to make the distribution of ashes more accessible to the public on Ash Wednesday, which marks the start of the Lenten season for western Christians. St. David’s Episcopal Church has established an "Ashes to Go" initiative.
[The Star-Ledger] For some Christian denominations, a cross of ash on the forehead for the first day of Lent is supposed to represent mortality, and a fleeting period of time on the Earth.
But not every Christian sets aside the time for a church service in the middle of a busy work week.
So instead of waiting in churches for parishioners who might never come, some clergy are going to the people — to the bus stops and coffee shops. They call it “Ashes to Go,” and it’s a way to reach out to the people where they are on this Christian holiday.
“People are busy – we understand,” said the Rev. Adele Hatfield, of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Mountain Lakes. “We’re not trying to beat up on them.”
[The Jersey Journal] A nonprofit organization in Bayonne, The Windmill Alliance, will be offering English as a Second Language classes for $10 this spring and is looking for volunteers to help administer the program.
The Rev. Rose Cohen Hassan, the ESL program director, said the program has been in the planning for two years, but with The Windmill Alliance receiving a grant, the ESL program has now come to fruition.
[The Montclair Times] It's never too late to change the path that you walk.
It was 50 years ago that the Rev. Wade Renn, the founder of Montclair Emergency Services for the Homeless (MESH) decided that enough was enough.
The former Boeing and Atomic Energy Commission employee had spent the first part of his life helping to make weapons of mass destruction and participating in research that Renn would only describe as "nasty stuff." His two physics degrees and scientific track record had earned him a spot in a prestigious Johns Hopkins think tank, but none of it brought him satisfaction.
