Experiences of New Jersey

Before jumping in, just a few quick announcements! (and yes, another “too long for email” post)

Pop Culture Pastors Hour! Today (Friday, October 10) at 3pm,

MaryAnn McKibben Dana

,

Frances Wattman Rosenau

, and I will not be talking movies or TV but instead we are talking banned books as a part of recognizing Banned Books Month. We have each gone through a list of a few thousand books that have been banned in various parts of the country and we’re going to be talking about our expeirences of some that we have read and about the practice of banning books in general. We’ll be on Substack Live today at 3pm. Here’s the link and it will be shared after as well.

Calendars! I am working on my calendars for the holiday season ahead. This year I will have three options - Psalms with Scout (or Pscout?), Expansiveness (expansive photos with expansive thoughts), and Herons (no words, just photos of these wonderful birds). The calendars will be in 8x11 and 12x12 sizes. They’ll be available for sale by early November. I will also have previous years calendars available (but with updated dates for 2026).

Ok…onto New Jersey…

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I spent a chunk of this week in New Jersey, a place near to my heart. After all, it was in New Jersey where I went to seminary and, even more importantly, it was where I met my wife! So, no matter what some people say about New Jersey, its a special place. I wasn’t in Princeton this week but instead in Englewood, NJ (northern part near Newark and NYC) at a conference on church growth. If you are curious about some of what I learned there church-wise, you can click here for what I shared with the ResoundingJoy Church congregation. But I wanted to share a few other things from my time there that were significant, impactful, beautiful, silly, and tasty.

Praying in the chapel at CVG

I got to the Cincinnati airport really early on Tuesday not only because my flight was early but also because of the current government shutdown and the effect that might have on TSA employees. While waiting, i wandered into the airport chapel and did some simple yoga stretches (which is when I often do my normal prayer time). As I was praying/stretching on the floor, two people (one who looked to be traveling and the other who was an airport employee) came in and picked up the prayer rugs to stop and pray at the prescribed time for Muslims at that hour and two women were sitting in the chairs in front of the cross looking like they were praying their rosaries. There was something really beautiful about that experience for me - coming together in the midst of that busy space to stop, pray and be present with the divine. (No photo beacuse I didn’t think it appropriate to photograph others praying)

Colors in the Worship Space at FPC

I love the way that light plays with stained glass windows, especially the way the colored light reflects upon the surfaces and walls. I also really love doing out of focus photographs of windows themselves. Here is a bit of what I saw in the worship space. It was lovely.

9/11 Memorial

I, like so many others, remember exactly where I was the morning of September 11, 2001. I was getting ready for our church staff meeting when our youth director saw me at the water fountain and told me that he just heard that a plane had crashed into the WTC. Shortly thereafter I got a call from my dad telling me to turn on the news to see what was going on. I checked what was CNN.com at the time and then we wheeled in one of the TVs (on a big TV cart) into our staff meeting room and watched as both towers were burning. We didn’t see the first tower collaspse as it fell while we were all bowed in prayer.

This was my first opportunity to get to the memorial since it was completed. I wasn’t sure what I would experience of it. After all, it was over 24 years ago. The pools with the names of those who died were absolutely beautiful and heartbreaking - seeing where a few flowers were placed over names and other tokens left in remembrance.

But it was in the museum that I really felt back to that 2001 day and the weeks following. Hard to put into words so I’ll mostly share some photos but one feeling that I did have was a deep ache around where we are as a country today and all that has transpired in the 24 years since 2001.

The new building rising above the pools

The north tower's pool

First two photos are of the same pieces of steel from the north tower and the third is from the south tower. These pieces were found to have been right where the planes hit the respective buildings

These are what are known as the "survivors stairs." This is one of the outdoor staircases that many of those who made it out of the buildings walked down as they escaped

This wall and this prayer. Behind the wall are interred remains of many of those who died on 9/11. Each of those water color squares is a different shade of blue/purple. The second photo is part of the final pillar removed from the site and has the prayer that was written by Father Mychal Judge (FDNY chaplain) who was killed at the site while giving last rites to an injured firefighter

These are the one pillar you can officially touch. This girder was bent completely over by the force of the collapse. The second photo is a fragment of it on the far side of where the first photo was. I saw both the danger in the piece sticking off but also a strange beauty in the patterns left behind. A strange thing to hold both feelings

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This quilt was made by parents and students at a NY elementary school. I was especially moved by the many languages for "peace" around the dove but also the variety of skin tones holding to one another

These last two were two of many other pieces in part of the museum of various art creations in the months and years following. Art is so often the best way to share the feelings of something like 9/11.

Labyrinth at the church & pumpkins

I am, of course a labyrinth seeker and I stumbled upon a prayer labyrinth on the grounds of the church. I have been pondering about whether we could install a labyrinth at RJC (goodness knows we have enough space outside the building). I saw this one and was surprised at how (relatively) easy it would be to install and maintain something like this...ponderings...

On the same wandering around the church grounds, I saw the church’s pumpkin sale. Most pumpkin sales I have seen for churches have the money going to some internal thing (youth mission trip, church budget, etc) and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. But I loved the two things on this sign - first supporting indigenous Navajo pumpkin farmers with the initial purchase of the pumpkins and that all proceeds aren’t going inside the church but instead to the justice and relief work of Heifer International. How awesome is that? If I could have bought a pumpkin and brought it back, I would have. I did just end up making a donation to the church toward the pumpkin sales instead!

Food

Conferences = food. There’s always the food table for during breaks but also checking out the food of the area. I was able to have dinner in Lower Manhattan with one of my dear friends and his daughter one night at a REALLY GOOD Korean restaurant. So fun and so good! My K2S0 Lego minifigure got into it too!

Also being so close to NYC required getting New York style pizza (which is far and away THE BEST pizza out there). One of my friends from Cincinnati also at the event was originally from the area and took several of us to her favorite NY Style pizza place. It was perfect!

And then on a wandering near our hotel one afternoon, I just happened to come across a fancy cupcake place (I am sure it didn’t have to do with me searching for sweet treats in the area...). K2 also enjoyed this treat as you can see. And Jesus got into the act too

Scout when I got home

And of course Scout was thrilled to have me home. She hasn’t left my side since I got back - here she’s showing off her dramatic side as we got some solar-cell time

Grace, Peace, Love, Hope, and Joy,
Ed

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