Redeemer Life
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City Sail near the Statue of Liberty (see "Life Around Church")
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Hi, Redeemer Hoboken!
Welcome back to fall weather and fall schedules! I hope you enjoyed your summer.
In this newsletter, you'll find:
- a list of upcoming events,
- pictures from the church picnic,
- and a story about Pastor Tony's participation in City Sail.
Enjoy! And please let me know if there's anything you'd like to read or write about in an upcoming newsletter.
 Sincerely, Jenny Bellik Communications Coordinator Redeemer Hoboken communications@redeemerhoboken.com |
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Upcoming Events
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- 9/23: Congregational Meeting after morning service
- 9/29: Apple picking
- 9/29: Man-B-Que 4pm
- 10/14: Fellowship Group Sunday
- 11/2-4: Women's Retreat
- 11/9-11: Men's Retreat
For details, see Church Calendar or Church Announcements.
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Last Month at Redeemer Hoboken
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| Summer Picnic at Liberty State Park
 Seventy-seven people turned out on August 25th for Redeemer Hoboken's church picnic, just across the Hudson from the Statue of Liberty. Kids, parents and everyone else enjoyed eating burgers, watermelon and a variety of side-dishes, playing frisbee and shooting foam rockets, and just standing around talking under the trees.
We even had a surprise guest, a photographer from the Jersey Journal! Take a look at his photos here!
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Scripture
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Current Sermon Series: "God Is..."
"The Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD.And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, 'The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.'"
(Exodus 34:5-7)
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Tony's Life Outside of Church
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City Sail: Sailing the Hudson with Kids from New City
 "You don't have to be cruel," Tony said to Karin, who was holding the hose for an exercise of "Trouble." Water jetted out of the hose and pummeled a smaller boy, Ahmed, who kept his head down and doggedly worked at tying the right knot in the soaked rope. By the time he finished, he was utterly soaked. Tony inspected the knot and pronounced it satisfactory, and Ahmed darted away gleefully.
 Karin and Ahmed are two of the five middle and high school students from New City Kids who were at the Liberty Landing Marina for City Sail one Tuesday afternoon in late August. Tony had invited me out to gather material to share with you all about City Sail, which is a non-profit program that teaches city kids to sail... Tony volunteers here, teaching them knots, tacking and steering, and generally keeping order. At least one of the kids I talked to was shocked to hear that Tony is a pastor. They seem to think of him as a sailor.
"This is my first time sailing," I said to Tony, as the sailboat Freedom pulled away fro m the dock at Liberty Landing. "Better be careful, it's addictive," Tony replied as he steered. We were using the motor to navigate out of the marina at this point, but soon we left the marina's close quarters. The Manhattan skyline came into view. Tony turned off the motor and called Ashley, Karin and Lily into positions at the helm and the winches on either side of the boat: it was the girls' turn to steer.
Then began a series of tacks, or changes of direction. "Ready about?" the person steering would shout. "Ready!" the two people on the winches would shout back, sometimes tearing their eyes off their cellphones.
Hearing the team was ready, the current pilot would order, "Hard alee!" and turn the wheel hard. The jib would swing, tens ions would shift in the ropes, winches had to be turned furiously in one direction or another. Then things would settle down and Tony would critique the performance.
 Tacking got smoother and smoother during the three hours of sailing, but even at the start, everyone knew basically what they were doing. I was impressed. These kids knew their stuff! They were still middle and high schoolers, though--joking and teasing each other between tacks, competing for prizes earned by accumulating points for sailing skills, yelling, checking their phones, pledging allegiance to "one nation, under God, invisible" (we shouted the Pledge of Allegiance every time Ashley was at the wheel and the boat faced the flag by the Statue of Liberty). They were quite at home on the boat.
I on the other hand am anything but a veteran sailor. After an hour, I was fighting sea-sickness. I was relieved when the sun hung low on the horizon, turning the sky rosy, and Tony said we'd better turn back.
The return to the harbor turned exciting when our motor refused to start. Tony had to sail the boat in: a tricky maneuver in this densely packed marina where another boat might have motored into us at any moment. Tony, concentrating, demanded unwonted silence from everyone but the interns, Derrick and Kevin, who had to jump from the still-moving boat to the dock to tie off the boat to arrest it! Despite Tony's nervousness, the boat docked smoothly, and the sailing adventure came to a mundane conclusion as we all unlatched our life jackets and piled out of the boat. --by Jenny Bellik
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Church Nitty-Gritty
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Budget, Giving, and Session Minutes
We want you to be able to understand and participate in every aspect of church life. To that end, the October newsletter will include minutes from the last meeting of the Session (elders), an update on recent giving and the church's current financial situation, and a link to the church budget. You can also find out more at the congregational meeting this Sunday.
As always, please contact an elder if you have any questions.
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