For tonight’s Vespers we traveled to Princeton Theological Seminary to worship with pastors and congregational leaders participating in an Urban Ministry Conference. Pastor Karen spoke on Revelation 21:1-6. Afterward we walked down Nassau Street to Efes Mediterranean Grill, where we enjoyed good Turkish food served by very nice waiters.
May 8, 2014 – Vespers Service
Nassau Presbyterian Church and Westminster Presbyterian Church continue to be our gracious co-hosts for Vespers on the second Thursday of every month. Tonight we had our second drumming session (this time in the back yard) and enjoyed the fire pit donated by Pastor Nina and Jim to Bethany House. We would have made s’mores (Kaysha had bought the supplies) except that we were stuffed!
April 5, 2014 – Work Day in Community Garden
This Saturday eleven of us gathered at Bethany House for some spring cleaning of our front and back yards. We added compost to the raised beds, mulched, raked, weeded, and did much more for almost four hours – it was quite a workout.
Mark Smith of the Crisis Ministry came by to say hello and we will continue to donate fresh produce to the food pantry.
We give thanks for our friends from Westminster Presbyterian Church (especially our House Parents David for leading us and Linda for feeding us) and the Lawrence Road House of Hospitality. We couldn’t have done it without you!
February 6, 2014 – Vespers Service
As a part of our weekly Vespers Service, we have been reading and discussing chapter’s from Karen Armstrong’s “Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life,” (2010). This week we focused on Armstrong’s eighth step: “How Should We Speak to One Another?” In our discussion, we 
focused on the, “principle of charity,” which can be summarized in Armstrong’s words:
…when we hear a statement that at first seems odd or false, we automatically try to find a context in which it makes sense, because we want to understand what is being said to us, (138).
In order to make the principle of charity applicable to real life, Jeffery, resident of Lawrence Road House of Hospitality, prepared an engaging, multimedia exercise. We listened to clips from TV debates and analyzed the ways in which the principle of charity was evident, (or not)…
I would like to end this blog post with a checklist for making ourselves mindful of the way we speak to others, paraphrased from Armstrong’s concluding paragraph:
- Before I argue: Am I ready to change my mind?
- While I argue: Am I really listening to my opponent? Am I making points that will further understanding? Or am I getting personal and inflicting pain?
- After I argue: Can I back up everything I said? Did I want to inflict pain? Did I know what I was talking about or was I depending on hearsay? (141-2)
January 30, 2014 – Vespers Service
For Vespers tonight we went on a field trip to the Cooperative Extension of Mercer County, Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station (930 Spruce Street, Trenton), where Master Gardeners David Byers and Jim Simon of Isles, Inc. gave an informative presentation on community gardening. The presentation included a historical overview with the amazing fact that during World War II 20 million victory gardens produced more than 40% of the vegetables grown in the United States. We should be dreaming bigger dreams!
Isles has created a fantastic Virtual Garden Tour where you can visit the Bethany House and Westminster Presbyterian Church gardens, as well as 43 others in the Isles Garden Support Network.
After the presentation the residents of Lawrence Road House of Hospitality invited the residents of Bethany House of Hospitality over for dinner. We had a lovely time.
Here is our tree
This year again we decided to cut our own Christmas tree (well…go to a tree farm that didn’t have pre-cut trees and point to the one we wanted so they could cut it down for us, wrap it, and attach it to the top of our car 🙂 )
We went to Bear Swamp Tree farm right here in Trenton! (300 Basin Road, Trenton NJ) Once again we had a really pleasant experience with very kind workers who made it so easy to carry our tree home. I would recommend this tree farm to everyone. We bought the biggest tree I’ve ever had for Christmas (all trees only 40$ no matter the size)…It reaches all the way to the top of our high ceilings at Bethany House. The only challenge is getting enough ornaments to cover it..and to get it to stay standing (our wonderful cat has knocked it down twice)
Here is our tree all lit up.
Happy Holidays from us here at the Bethany House!
Joe Landolfi
Hometown: Deptford, New Jersey
Education: Bachelors of Arts in Secondary Education and Spanish
Reason for Moving to Trenton: I moved to Trenton to teach Spanish at The Village Charter School.
Fun Facts: I like Spanish-speaking cultures and histories. I also make extremely good Italian red sauce and I feel bad for everyone who has to eat sauce out of a can.
Stephanie Kraver
Hometown: Livingston, New Jersey
Education: The College of New Jersey (BA English, minors in Arabic and Philosophy with a concentration in Middle East Language and Culture, 2012)
Reason for Moving to Trenton: To help me become more connected to the population of Trenton and align with those enacting positive change in the city.
Fun Facts:
I enjoy hiking, dancing, and practicing yoga, and hope to one day be fluent in Arabic.
Kaysha McKim
Hometown: Nampa, Idaho
Reason for Moving to Trenton: To be a food corps service member.
Fun Facts: I like cooking and gardening. I also love to read.
No snow + no rain + no hurricane + 2 jack-o’-lanterns =
trick-or-treaters at Bethany House! Halloween has special significance for us, because Bethany House opened in October 2011 during a pre-Halloween snowstorm and marked its first anniversary in October 2012 sheltering residents and friends of residents (including Stephanie, who is now a current resident) during Hurricane Sandy.
This year, the weather finally cooperated and we welcomed lots of neighborhood children with pumpkins given to us by Linda and David and carved by Hannah, as well as chocolate. At one point Joe actually had to go to the store to buy more candy! Afterward we roasted pumpkin seeds and had a few guests over.
Bethany House of Hospitality 