Welcome to
The Church of St. Paul and Incarnation!
in the Heart of Jersey City
“The God of Paradox is at Work”
“God,
who is preached and represented in this world by the One who was crucified and
rose from the dead, is the God of paradox: what people consider wise He
considers folly, what people regard as madness He considers strength, what
people consider great He sees as small, and what they find small He regards as
great.”
- Tomáš Halík
After months
of quarantine, stay-at-home orders, closed businesses, Church By Phone and Communion
on Facebook, most of us have long since grown tired of Covid-19 and are
desperate to move into the “new normal,” whatever that is going to look like.
After all of the suffering and loss endured by the people of our region, our local
leaders have moved cautiously and sometimes, as in the case of indoor dining,
changed course, despite public pressure and the significant economic impact.
Elsewhere in the country, as I’m sure you know, many leaders failed to learn
from our painful experience, reopening too quickly and widely with predictably
devastating consequences. We may be tired of the virus, but it seems the virus
is not tired of us.
While eager
to welcome as many of you as possible back to church, the leadership of our congregation
is choosing to be cautious, not so much out of fear but out of love for one
another. So, in-person worship and other events will resume no sooner than the
first week of August. I know this is disappointing to many (and maybe a relief
to others), but I hope that we will continue to look for the gifts that God
continues to give us during this strange and difficult time.
God is the
God of paradox. God sees the world in a downside-up way, and acts accordingly.
So, in God’s view – in God’s “kingdom” – it’s the poor and the mournful and the
suffering people who are the blessed ones. The God of paradox comes among us as
a “nobody” born in the humblest of circumstances, raised in a small town not
known for producing much good, and whose life and mission seemed to end as a
miserable failure. But, as the theologian James Cone writes, when all hope
seemed to be lost, God took the cross, “a symbol of death and defeat” and
“turned into a sign of liberation and new life.”
God is the
God of paradox. Our Christian faith is built on paradox, calling us to take up
our cross, insisting that we must give up our life in order to save it. In the
gospel lesson we will hear this Sunday, Jesus declares that God hides the truth
from those who think they are wise and reveals it to “infants.” If church has always been part of our lives, if
we think we’ve somehow “figured out” Christianity, all of this paradox may be hidden
from us, fading into the background of our faith and our lives,
preventing us from seeing things as they really are.
But, God does
not miss an opportunity! And, I believe God is hard at work, rearranging our
vision, helping us to see the world through God’s eyes, inviting us to see –
and maybe even help build – a downside-up world during this time of paradox.
So, in the
eyes of the world, right now the church looks awfully weak. Never in our long
history has the church been closed for more than a week or two, usually due to
bad weather. Now, as you know, we haven’t been able to gather in-person since
March. And yet, when we might expect that our bonds of commitment would have
started to weaken, we have in fact grown even stronger. Way more of us are
praying “together” during the week and on Sundays, and it sure sounds to me
like we are praying with more depth and fervor than when we were sitting in our
pews. The God of paradox is at work in this time of paradox.
Across our
country, longstanding injustices are being exposed and long-demanded changes
that used to seem just too hard to tackle are falling with little resistance.
Statues of Confederate leaders (usually erected decades after the Civil War in
an effort to rewrite history and to intimidate Black people) have been swiftly
removed and hauled away. After years of stubborn resistance, the Mississippi
legislature quickly voted to remove Confederate imagery from the state flag. And,
it’s not just symbols, as important as they are. More people are looking
carefully at government budgets, calling for resources to be shifted from the
police (who, as Jon Stewart recently said, for too long have been asked to do
more than they can manage, in effect serving as a kind of border patrol between
the “two Americas,” the haves and the have-nots) to people and programs with a
better chance at actually fixing our deep-seated problems. And, maybe most
paradoxical of all, during a time when one would expect people to be circling the
wagons and only looking out for themselves and those they love, it’s like our
hearts have finally been cracked open and many more of us are able to empathize
with the suffering and oppressed. The God of paradox is at work in this time of
paradox.
And on Monday
evening, several local pastors and I took to the Internet for a frank, and
sometimes uncomfortable, conversation about racism and the church. I doubt that
we would have had this discussion during normal times when we all would have
been caught up in our daily routines and the usual demands of leading our
churches. (Or, I should just speak for myself: I would have tried to use the
excuse of busyness to avoid having this discussion.) But, it was during this time
when we are apart that about 1,200 people (!) came together to watch us, and
more have been catching up with the recording. Why did so many tune in? I’m
sure there was some curiosity and maybe a sense of obligation to support the
pastors, but I suspect that many recognized that this is a different kind of
time when God is rearranging our vision, helping us to see the world through
God’s eyes.
So, although
it’s hard to be patient during this difficult and frightening time, God is not
missing an opportunity to give us some unexpected but much-needed blessings. As
we wait for the reopening of our church building, the God of paradox invites us
to be even closer together while we are still apart, to continue opening our
hearts and our eyes, and to help build the downside-up world that God has seen
and hoped for all along.
Peace,
Tom
Prayers:
Please
pray for all those on our parish prayer list, especially Jean, Andy, Angelo, Richard,
and Kit.
Please
also remember in your prayers those who have died, and those who grieve their
loss:
Karen
Rey, the cousin of the Maynard Family
All of
those who have died as a result of Covid -19.
When We
See Us:
An
Interdenominational Panel Discussion About Racism, White Privilege and Power
If you missed the discussion on Monday evening, the video
can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtZtsPw5q9I
Supporting Our Church:
We are
aware that, unfortunately, some parishioners have been laid off or furloughed
and others are in danger of losing their jobs. Please know that you are in our
prayers and we are here to help any way we can. In these extremely challenging
economic times, we are especially grateful to those of you who have been able
to keep up with your pledges. You can still mail checks to the church or you
can use online giving. Visit stpaulsjc.org and click on "Online Giving."
We also have a Venmo account. Call the office or email me for more information.
Worship Schedule:
Monday through Friday: "Church By Phone"
Morning
Prayer, 7:30
Noonday
Prayer, 12:00
Evening
Prayer, 5:30
Call 201-433-4922 for more information.
Sunday at 10:00am
Join us
on Facebook Live for a celebration of Holy Eucharist
www.facebook.com/StPaulsJC
From the Diocese:
Read
The Voice Online for all the latest news, including information about
resuming in-person worship:
https://myemail.constantcontact.com/The-VOICE-Online--The-journey-forward---guidelines-for-in-person-worship.html?soid=1102692382496&aid=5hGdgHjcLJc
North Porch at
Triangle Park Community Center
As many of
you know, North Porch offers diapers, formula, and other assistance to families
with infants and young children. Since the need continues to grow, North Porch
is asking for financial donations through a GoFundMe campaign. Please consider
supporting this beautiful ministry:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/north-porch-mom-amp-infant-program?utm_source=customer&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link-tip&fbclid=IwAR2tibm9cDTU2k9BqFh-dtWMCn77qrsNaNBpNeMh7gcaW_M_reC03IdJpi4
DJ’s Free Market
Subscribe to
the DJ’s Newsletter to stay informed about this exciting new ministry led by
Deacon Jill:
On July 15th, DJ's will host "Freewheeling Wednesday" at Triangle Park
Community Center - a bicycle giveaway for the neighborhood children of
Greenville, Jersey City. So far we have over 50 children who've signed up - and
we hope to give each child who attends their own set of wheels! For some, it
will be the first set of wheels they get to call their own. We will also be
teaching a mini-workshop on bike safety at this fun event. Please let Fr. Tom
know if you would like to donate a bike!
Attention Parents!
The Jersey City Together Education Team
has created a new survey that aims to capture feedback about what learning has
been like for the past three months during the COVID-19 pandemic. This survey
is intended for anyone who has been helping a child with COVID-19 remote
learning. Alternatively, If you know someone who may be helping a child with
COVID-19 remote learning in Jersey City, please SHARE this survey!
The survey is here:
https://forms.gle/x1c984ZJicAH2gYU7 and
it is in both English and Spanish. The purpose of the survey is to assist
Jersey City Together's listening campaign centered around the COVID-19 pandemic
and the consequences of it as it relates to education including remote
learning, changes in your child’s temperament, academic flow, etc. Our hope
with listening is to identify common issues and concerns that parents and
caregivers may be experiencing, which can then inform our advocacy going
forward.
This survey is confidential and your
identity will not be shared with your child’s principal or the district. The
survey was created by parents and advocates who have professional experience in
public education, social work, youth organization and programming, and
survey/data analysis.
If you'd like to be in the loop on
updates related to this survey going forward, you can subscribe to Jersey City
Together's education advocacy email list (you can do that on the Education team
page here ... there is a sign-up form at the
bottom of that page).
Help for Renters and Homeowners:
There
is help available for renters and homeowners suffering because of the pandemic.
One is the website for the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency: www.njhousing.gov. You can also call
1-800-NJ-HOUSE (1-800-654-6873).
Helpful Resources:
State
of New Jersey Covid-19 Information Hub:
https://covid19.nj.gov
The
Diocese of Newark posts Covid-19 resources here:
https://dioceseofnewark.org/covid-19
You can
subscribe to diocesan newsletters here:
https://dioceseofnewark.org/subscribe
The
Episcopal Church has collected Covid-19 resources here:
https://episcopalchurch.org/concerning-covid19
"Habits
of Grace," weekly reflections from Presiding Bishop Michael Curry:
https://episcopalchurch.org/habits-of-grace
The
Church of England has some wonderful prayers and other materials here:
https://www.churchofengland.org/more/media-centre/coronavirus-covid-19-liturgy-and-prayer-resources
My
sermons can be found here:
http://tommurphe.blogspot.com