The Blawenburg Beacon

Len Hunt and Bernice Van Nostrand were recognized and honored as “people who draw strength from Christ to help others by ‘sharing in their trouble’ (Phil. 4:14)” at the Regional Synod Lay Recognition Dinner on Friday, March 14 at the Crowne Plaza in Somerset. Following are the tributes that appeared in the program for the evening.

Len was a part of the fabric of Blawenburg Reformed Church: he grew up, married and raised his children here, leaving a huge void when he died suddenly last fall. An advisor to interim and called Ministers as VP of Consistory, he always found time to lend a caring ear to the concerns of all he came in contact with, as well as a helping hand to fix the unending repairs needed at church. He was a firm believer in the power of prayer and daily devotion, and easily shared his faith with those he labored with at Blawenburg as well as the Ocean Grove Community and the Trenton Habitat for Humanity.

A product of lifelong service in Reformed churches, Bernice carried her attitude of Christian love, patience and service with her throughout her much-admired career as a teacher in Montgomery Township. A longtime Sunday School and Vacation Bible School teacher, she helped initiate the successful Children and Worship program at Blawenburg and continues to lead this in our Christian pre-school. Devoted to Christian Education for all ages, she has spent selfless hours on sorting, cataloging and encouraging the use of our pre-school library resources and our church library – including tapes of our Sunday services faithfully prepared by her husband Maitland. She has been a mentor, encourager and role-model of a Christian lifestyle to an untold number of children and adults here.

A big thank you to Mrs. Antonwiewicz for helping our Sunday school children learn the song of praise, Halle, Halle, Hallelujah. Below you will see the fruits of her labor as the children and teachers parade around the sanctuary singing and waving palms to welcome Jesus into Jerusalem. Later in class Mrs. Van Nostrand and Mrs. Van Doren told the story of Palm Sunday and the class suggested ways that they could praise God today.

On the Sunday after Easter, Pastor Rich spoke in the Children’s Minute about the resurrection of Jesus. During Sunday school, Mrs. Herbert helped the children understand more about this important concept of our faith by reading the story of Benjamin’s Box, which tells the Easter story with the help of the students. The class hunted for eggs that had special Easter symbols hidden in them. At the appropriate place in the story, the students opened their egg and told about its contents. Some of the symbols were coins, nails, a thick string, and a cross. The last egg, however, was empty! Ask Ariel, Emma, Pauline, Sophie, Morgan, Jack (a new visitor. Welcome, Jack.), or Barry about these eggs and their special meaning.

Now that spring vacations are over, we hope to have more of our kindergartners through 5^th graders back at Sunday school. Sometimes we have six students, and sometimes there are 16. It’s fun having you all together on Sunday mornings.

The BRC Preservation Fund visitations have begun. If you have not been contacted by a member of the committee, you will be within the next month. The purpose of the visitations is to provide information to you about the BRC Fund and ask for your participation. We would like everyone in the church to contribute something to the campaign.

Breakfast – May 17^th from 8 AM to 11 AM – stay tuned for the menu and special treats!

In January I presented to the Consistory a proposal to create an Outreach Ministry here at Blawenburg. This ministry would include congregational care and a Thrift Store in Memorial Hall. The Consistory asked me to “flesh out” the proposal. I would like input from the congregation on what they would like to see in an Outreach Ministry. My church will be sending me to receive training to be a Stephens Ministry leader. Stephens Ministry is a program where people are trained to provide one-on-one Christian care to persons in need on behalf of the congregation. I would be willing to train Blawenburg Church members as well as Montgomery Ministry members. Second would be a Thrift Store in the “blue room” in Memorial Hall. An idea that has been talked about for many years. I believe that we (you) are in a position to make it happen. The township has just opened its own Food Pantry - residents used to have to go to Hillsborough. And the money raised at the Thrift Store could help support our missions budget.

Please let me know your thoughts. I would be willing to have a luncheon to discuss your ideas – call me at the church office any weekday between 9 and 2 (609-466-3108).

Our condolences to the Tetz family on the passing of Steven – there will be a memorial service here on April 19^th at 1:00 PM. Frank & Nancy Tetz’s new address is 16 Donegal Way, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866.

Samuel Paul and Madeline Elizabeth Eason were born on the afternoon of Feb. 22nd in Princeton. Samuel weighed 6 lbs. 1 oz and Madeline 4 lbs 1 oz. Both are healthy and growing fast, and keeping Mom and Dad (Jen & Joe) on their toes 24/7

As we have more daylight hours as spring progresses, we have more of a chance to see the dust bunnies we have been able to ignore during the darkness of winter. It’s time for spring cleaning, but what products should we use? The more traditional products contain toxic chemicals that are harmful to our health and our environment.

There are several lines of products available (such as Pure & Gentle, Seventh Generation, 4R Future and Method) that have a lower environmental impact than more traditional cleaning products. However, all you really need is vinegar and baking soda (and a little elbow grease). As one website says, they are “non-toxic, multi-purpose and cheap”! If you would like a list of cleaning uses for baking soda and vinegar, see Susie Van Doren.

We are also eager to get our lawns nice and green with lush grass and beautiful plants. Before you get started on lawn maintenance and landscaping, take a look at

(http://www.ncipmc.org/reallyipm/guiding_principles.pdf), developed by the Lawns and the Environment Initiative, a coalition of environmental groups, businesses, government agencies and universities. It is a good place to learn about some things you can do to minimize the impact your lawn care practices have on the environment. The average American lawn costs approximately $1,500 per year for water, fertilizer, weed killers, labor for mowing and maintenance of the equipment -- not to mention the noise and fumes created by the equipment. Just adopt a few simple sustainable landscaping practices to begin to eliminate the use of toxins and conserve resources, such as water.

The Earth Day Fair in Montgomery will take place at Montgomery High School on Sunday, April 27, from 12-4 pm.

Rummage Sales are Earth Friendly! The April 17^th issue of Family Circle magazine has a helpful article in anticipation of Earth Day, highlighting how several families are saving money while saving the Earth. One tip is to buy clothes secondhand: it benefits the economy twice without requiring additional resources and you don’t have to sacrifice style!!

Mary and Martha discussion group meeting at 7:30 AM every other Saturday and new members are welcome to join us. We have you on your way home to wake your sleeping family by 9:AM. Next meeting April 19 . Thanks

· Food Drive – The new Montgomery Food Pantry is open! Below is a list of their needs. Please drop off your donations in the sanctuary or the church office between now and April 15^th. Please make sure you check the expiration dates on all items donated. And thank you for your support of the new Montgomery Food Pantry.

            Paper Products
            Tissues
            Napkins

            Condiments
            Ketchup                                   Mustard
            Relish                                       Mayonnaise
            Salad Dressings                        Coffee
            Tea                                          Sweetener
            Powdered/Boxed Milk

· May in Montgomery, "Digging Up the Past in Montgomery: A Cemetery Tour," will take place on Saturday, May 17, 2008, 10:00 am to 3:00 pm. Tickets purchased in advance are $20.00 each and include a homemade bag lunch and lecture at the Harlingen Reformed Church and tours of 4 cemeteries. Rain date is May 18, 1:00-5:00 pm. Send check made out to Van Harlingen Historical Society to PO Box 23, Belle Mead, NJ 08502 or purchase tickets at Robinson's Candies, Montgomery Shopping Center, Route 206, Skillman. Tickets purchased on the day of the event do not include lunch.

· This Far by Faith - Join us for an evening celebrating church music from the African American tradition. Music will be led by vocalist William Heard, pianist Michael Gittens and the Princeton Seminary Choir. Repertoire will include anthems, hymns, spirituals and gospel favorites. Saturday, April 12 at 7:30 p.m. in the Miller Chapel at Princeton Theological Seminary. Admission is free; No tickets necessary. Questions? Call the chapel office at (609) 497-7890.

ONE GREAT HOUR OF SHARING: Sharing Resources . . . Changing Lives – Thanks to you our annual Lenten mission to support the work of our Reformed Church World Service collected $1417.51 this year. Many thanks to Don Terhune for cleaning up and sharing with us his old-fashioned hand water/well pump to give us a particular focus on the dual needs of drinking water and nourishment by His Word.

Gift of the Heart Clean-up Buckets, Health, School and Baby Kits: Over the spring and summer, we will once again collect for these kits which get sent worldwide to serve those in need. Church World Service has expressed an urgent need for clean-up buckets again for victims of flooding and tornadoes. These are the most difficult and expensive items to procure, so we are allowing time for you to catch sales over the spring and summer. Baby items might be on sale right now, school supplies will be on sale over summer. As soon as we have enough items donated, we will plan on putting the kits together as a congregation. Please drop off items in Cook Hall basement. For the school and health kits, you can buy one item in bulk (remember toothbrushes need to be wrapped individually) or varied items at your pleasure. The lists are on the website below and on the Mission bulletin board at coffee hour for you to take and where you can check off what you’ve brought. This way we can try to balance the items available for complete kits. Last year Bernice Van Nostrand, Dora Verbeyst and Nancy Curtis sewed school bags and receiving blankets which was a huge help, and this year Barb Antoniewicz has crocheted numerous baby sweaters and blankets for the baby kits. All of the baby items were very expensive for us to buy last year, so this will help a lot. The website, www.churchworldservice.org has links to patterns for schoolbags, sweaters and nightgowns. All items, whether bought or hand-made, need to be new. Changes this year: no toothpaste, onesies or loose-leaf filler paper. Make this a family service project! Thank you.

Please join us for fun, fellowship and first dibs on ‘goodies’ at the pre-sale party Thursday evening. Even if you don’t think you need any more ‘stuff’ in your house, you’ll find treasures to give to people! And you can appreciate what a beautiful job the workers do setting everything up. It is definitely NOT your everyday rummage sale! If you haven’t yet signed up and could give even an hour or two to man a room or area during the sale, please call Gracie Johnson on her cell (#609-468-9475). Remember, all the proceeds of the sale go to mission: whether it be our own in the form of the preservation fund, our Croatian missionaries, or scholarships for our Christian pre-school.

In last month’s update, I tried to give a small picture of why Serbia felt as it did concerning Kosovo and why so much violence had erupted immediately after Kosovo’s declaration of independence on Feb. 17 and the subsequent recognition of Kosovo by many Western countries.

This month I will touch on the other side of the story though I will state again that this is a monumentally complicated situation. I don’t have a solution to this; I am just trying to help our supporters get a better understanding of the region in which we serve.

If Kosovo has had such a long history of being part of Serbia (dating back to 1389), why is it that independence is being supported by many Western countries?

As I mentioned in my last article Kosovo is approximately 90% Albanian and yet was part of Serbia until February’s declaration of independence.

A large portion of the issue from the Albanian perspective comes down to basic human rights. While being a huge majority in the region, the Albanians were given very little voice in the government. The Albanian majority in Kosovo had their children in schools where Serbian, not Albanian was the required language. This is simply a small example of the problems with which the Albanians struggled.

Complicating this is the background of the war in Yugoslavia following the demise of communism. Kosovo was one of the areas most terribly affected by the policies of Slobodan Milosević and the governing party in Serbia. How terrible and extensive this was, and moreover could have been, is summed up by David Frommkin in Kosovo Crossing: “If the United States and NATO had not intervened, the Serbs would have settled the Kosovo issue, by ethnic cleansing.” (page 190).

The UN and NATO have administered Kosovo as “an autonomous region” of Serbia since 1999. The European Union is expected to take over this role in the coming months. Kosovo remains one of the poorest regions in Europe.

A longterm solution needed to be found that would in fact secure the rights and future of Albanian Kosovars in the realization that no real progress was being made by the Serbian government for the self-determination, basic rights, or significant voice for the Albanian majority. The recent attempt at “ethnic cleansing” makes this all the more imperative and complex.

In the last update I also spoke about Serbia’s historic attachment to Kosovo. Albanians also feel they have a part in the historic claim to Kosovo. George Skanderberg (1405-1468) was an Albanian warrior chief, and by all accounts a great strategist. He is said to have repelled over a dozen Turkish invasions into the Balkans, contributing to the victory in the second battle of Kosovo in 1448, which followed the 1389 defeat mentioned in the last article. (Frommkin, 93).

So it is not merely upon recent developments coming out of the Serbian conflict of the 1990s, or the governmental injustices that motivated the Albanian majority. They also felt, as does Serbia, that they had an historic investment in Kosovo. Skanderberg contributed to Kosovo’s resistance to the Ottoman empire conquest of the Balkans and as deeply as Serbians feel about the battle of 1389, Albanians feel this same pride with respect to the battles of Skanderberg.

What I hope to have provided for you in these last two articles is a small picture of the reasons behind the passions related to Kosovo on both sides of the issue. It is admittedly an impossibility. More than this, what I want to convey to you is the need to pray for this wonderful, yet complex region of Europe in all of its beautiful diversity. Pray that peace may reign here supremely. Pray for wisdom for those who are working to find a solution. Pray also for our students and professors as they and their families travel across the region.

Eric and Nancy Titus are RCA missionaries in Osijek, Croatia, where they work at the Evangelical Theological Seminary and with the Reformed Christian Church in Croatia. They have three children: Samuel, Valerie and Penny.

The Blawenburg Beacon

April 2008 Issue