Planting the Bethany House Garden!

Last Friday we were able to get the plants in right on time! We were very excited with the variety that we were able to plant this year and are excitedly anticipating the amount of crops we will be able to donate to Crisis Ministry.

We have now planted Swiss chard, tons of tomatoes, peppers, basil, cilantro, eggplant, brussel sprouts, lettuce, and so much more!

Thanks to everyone who contributed, and thanks especially to Dave and Linda for their continuing hard work and generosity!!

Gardening hands!

Relaxing after lots of hard work with the new chairs that Dave and Linda so generously gave to the Bethany House!

Planters at work.

4/25/13 Viewing of Unveiled

On April 25th, instead of our weekly Vespers meetings, we chose to go to New Brunswick to view the play Unveiled, written by Rohina Malik. In this play Rohina acts as four different Islamic women in a post 9/11 United states.

The main, and to me, most poignant message of the play was the line “get to know me!” This line seemed to speak against the human tendency to group all individuals in one negative category, or to assign a negative stereotype to a person because of their appearance or religious background, without knowing the person as an individual. (i.e. the assumption that all Muslims are terrorists). It seemed as though Rohina hoped to work against negative stereotyping of Muslims by exhibiting our shared humanity through this play.

Residents, Linda, Antoinette, and Pastor Karen pictured with play-write and actor Rohina Malik.

Residents, Linda, and Pastor Karen pictured with Susan.

August and September in the Bethany House

I bet some people are wondering why I, Erin Murphy, one of the four founders of the house is still around, yet is not listed as a year two housemate. Well I am here to tell you just that 🙂

Being as my VISTA term is a year long and I started in November of 2011, I will be at the house until early November 2012, just about a month from now. I unfortunately was not able to extend my year of service to two years so I will be leaving Trenton at the end of my service so I was not able to stay on for a second year at The Bethany House. I am happy though, that my exit meant that 4 new housemates instead of just 3 were able to come into the house.

Now back to the original reason for this post. I just wanted to catch everyone up on what has been going on, in short, at the house the past 2 -ish months.

Here it is in bullet point form:

• Jamie, Grant and Elizabeth left the house
• Amy signed on for a second year
• No Vespers were held during August to account for vacations and the transitions of the founding residents and new residents
• The new roommates Kamran, Hera, Hannah, and Laura moved in around the middle of August.
• Random bonding happened between the new roommates in the form of official trainings, intentional chats, housemate dinners, food shopping trips and late night discussions.
• The first Official Thursday Vespers  occurred on September 13th, 2012 where they planted  Fall crops in the community garden and bonded.
• The 2012-2013 residents were Commissioned on Sunday September 23rd, 2012 at a commissioning service at Westminster Church.

We look forward to having our house dinners just between us residents on Wednesdays and Vespers weekly on Thursdays.

Be Well.

-Erin

Out and about in January

January 2012 was a busy month for us at Bethany House.  On Tuesday, January 3, we were interviewed by Pastor Karen for her show on WIMG 1300 AM and WZBN TV-25.  It was a little difficult to get to the station (we circled around South Broad Street several times trying to get to the other side), but we finally made it!  The interviews covered topics like our intentional young adult community and the work that we are doing in the greater Trenton area.

On Monday, January 9, we volunteered with registration for The English School at the Lawrence Road Presbyterian Church.  We met Pastor Nina’s daughter Jessica, who is very organized, and graded placement exams for the applicants, who generally were very enthusiastic.

On Tuesday, January 10, we attended a pre-presbytery event about Bethany House at the First Presbyterian Church of Hamilton Square, where we met lots of people whom we would like to see again, and then the presbytery meeting, where we were commissioned as residents of Bethany House.  Pastor Nina wrote a beautiful litany of commissioning based on Micah 6:8, and we all signed the Community Covenant (except for Jamie, who was on a service project in New Orleans).

On Monday, January 16 (Martin Luther King, Jr. Day), Erin led a Day of Service with hundreds of volunteers at Trenton Central High School.  The volunteers cleaned and painted murals to make the high school more beautiful; they also made personal care packages to donate to local shelters.

On Thursday, January 26, we attended the installation of Rev. Wendy S. Bailey as the Regional Presbyter of the Monmouth and New Brunswick Presbyteries in Miller Chapel at Princeton Theological Seminary.  It was a rainy evening, but inside the chapel it was bright and joyful.  Amy really appreciated the time of praying out loud for each other.  After the installation we met up with old friends and made new ones at the reception.

Interfaith Gathering of Thanks

This past Monday night, we had the privilege to share some food, drink, and traditions with some friends. We opened up the house and invited people to come by and join us in sharing how we express our gratitude. House friend Wayne Meisel provided some entertainment, with a viewing of a Charlie Brown Christmas and an insightful rendition of silent night by Simon and Garfunkel juxtaposed with the Evening News at the time. If you are interest in chiming in to the conversation that took place at the gathering of thanks, please, click on over to Discussions and Dinner.

 

Westminster Presbyterian Live Nativity

This past weekend, Westminster Presbyterian hosted their 6th annual live nativity. The event brought together people from throughout Trenton in a moment of thanks, prayer and community. It was attended by over 100 people and by all measures was a success. We already can’t wait until next year!!!!

Open House!!!

Over 100 Attended the Open House for Bethany Presbyterian House of Hospitality & Bethany Food Pantry

Sponsored by UMC & The Crisis Ministry of Princeton & Trenton

UMC is grateful for the overwhelming support of New Brunswick Presbytery & Sibling Churches  We especially thank:

Regional Executive Presbyter of New Brunswick and Monmouth Presbyteries, Rev. Wendy Bailey

Vice Moderator of NBP, Jean Woodman

The 10 Presbyterian churches represented!!!

Allentown

Community Church of Sand Hills

Covenant

Dutch Neck

Ewing

Hamilton Square

Lawrence Rd.

Nassau

Westminster

Witherspoon

And the joyful and tearful members and friends of the former Bethany Presbyterian Church.