Youth Led Service – June 2 Our children and youth will be leading us in a lively liturgy--including songs, prayers, readings, message, and communion on June 2. Graduating high school senior, Molly Mason will be reflecting on her journey of faith within and beyond our congregation. Those who teach and nurture them will also be present and recognized for their various ministries.

Church Picnic – June 2

The church wide picnic is on June 2 on

the front lawn of the church. It will

follow the youth service and all are

welcome. Bring an item to share.

Families with last names A-S bring a

side dish, T-Z please bring a dessert.

If your dish requires refrigeration,

please drop it off before the service in

the kitchen.

Annual Meeting – June 9

Immediately following worship, there will be a meeting of the congregation. At this meeting, we will

receive annual reports

elect officers

elect the nominating committee

Pentecost - June 9 Wear Red

Hot Off The Press Beverwyck Anthology The eighth and newest edition of The Beverwyck Anthology is out! Your complimentary copy of First Reformed’s literary journal can be found in the bookstore, awaiting your pickup.

A Fan’s Sermon – June 14

Join us Friday June 14, 7– 9pm

Covenant Hall. Premier Screening of

new musical A Fan’s Sermon written

and directed by Jacob Ettkin. Jacob is

a son of our congregation, a 2017

graduate of Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake

HS, and a rising junior at Vassar

College studying Psychology and

Drama. The play was first produced

this spring, and is a semi-devised

musical exploring young love and all

the wrong reasons to be in it. It

features music by the Brooklyn-based

group San Fermin. Light refreshments

will be provided, and a talkback with

the director and a cast member.

Summer Lunch Program Again, FRC will help with the Summer Lunch program. We will need at least three people for each time. We will serve at Quackenbush July 1-5, July 8-12 and August 5-9.There will be a sign-up sheet in the Covenant Hall or call Ellie Rowland, 518-250-4302. This is a very rewarding activity and very worth your time.

First Things

A Newsletter of the First Reformed Church, Schenectady, New York June 2019

Youth Group We know that summer gets to be a busy time with schedules changing and vacations happening but we still want to see you! We hope you can join us for these good times ahead: Sunday, June 2

10am: Youth host the church service. Support our own Molly Mason as she shares her story of faith.

11:15am: All church potluck picnic.

12:30pm: YG Parents meeting. Please stick around for this. Lots to discuss for next fall. Your feedback matters. Youth, since you are stuck here anyway, we will have fun games available like Lacrosse and Bocce ball. Woo Hoo!

Sunday, June 9

10am: Confirmation Sunday. Class is over. Yay! If you are getting 'Confirmed,' congratulations! If you are not, come anyway and be supportive. Reflect on your own prior Confirmation experience or consider it for the future. Saturday, June 29

9am: Come see the fruits of your labor - literally! Revisit the site of our mission trip by attending the Kanatsiohareke Mohawk Strawberry Festival - More details to come. Let's coordinate with other church members, be green, & carpool. Saturday, July 20

10am: Join the Sole Searchers for a whole day at Grafton Lake State Park. There will be something for everyone - swimming, beach volleyball, and a hike to the fire tower.

Mission trip to

Kanatsiohareke

FRC Welcomes

Natalie Pizzolo Children’s Ministry

Coordinator Natalie Pizzolo was born in Ohio and raised in Western Pennsylvania. When she was young she attended Shiloh Presbyterian Church. She received a BA in Elementary education with a minor in Bible and English from Valley Forge University. Natalie married Dave Pizzolo in 1997 after graduating and began taking graduate courses in New York City while teaching full time in NYC Schools in 2001, she earned a Masters in Guidance and School Counseling from The City University of New York (Hunter College), while working in New York City schools.

After her two daughters, Gabriella and Gillian, were born she continued to take post graduate courses in school counseling and volunteered in many educational settings both in NYC and Schenectady County. Natalie looks forward to coordinating the children's ministry at First Reformed and building life long memories with children and their families.

Kid’s Summer Sunday Morning Schedule

10am Kinderwyck

11:15am Orff-estra

Communion Sundays Church school for K-2

(July 7, Aug 4 and Sept 1)

Orff-estra The FRC Orff-estra will begin meeting again on June 9 following church service from 11:15-12pm. We will meet in the

choir room above Covenant Hall and will play throughout the summer including during service. Children ages 3 and older and adults are welcome to join in with singing and music-making on percussion instruments. Orff music is a great first step into learning to play music, so absolutely no experience is necessary! Please join us in making some joyful noise as we celebrate God in song!

Summer Camp Reserve your spot for a week or more at Camp Fowler this summer. Senior high campers are especially encouraged to sign up early, as those weeks fill up quickly. Schedules, rates, registration, and other information are available online at campfowler.org. Scholarships for FRC families are available by emailing 1streformed@gmail.com your registration confirmation. Any questions contact the church office.

Chords of Love The Chords of

Love (the youth ukulele group) will be going on break beginning June 9.

Congratulations Graduates! We warmly congratulate our high school and college graduates for their achievement, and wish them the best of luck in their plans! If there are folks we have missed, please let us know in the church office. Molly Mason – Siena College Alexandrea Burgess – Montclair State University

Mohawk Strawberry Festival Join M&B, A&HC and the Youth, in the annual Strawberry Festival at Kanatsiohareke. Descendants’ of Mohawk members of our congregation of the late 1600s and early 1700s welcome you to the 2019 Strawberry Festival at Kanatsiohareke Mohawk Community, 4934 State Highway 5, Fonda, NY, June 29-30, 10am-6pm. A weekend of Mohawk culture and fun: with traditional and contemporary music and dance, food, storytelling, arts and crafts, silent auction, and more. For more information or if you would like to volunteer there is a volunteer sign-up sheet at the FRC office, or contact Andy Chestnut or Laura Lee if you have any questions.

Music &

Worship Adult Ukulele Stockade Strummers Adult Ukulele meets Wednesday evenings from 7-8:15pm. No experience needed and we have ukuleles that can be borrowed. Contact Jamie Ipsen at 518-399-6848.

Need a Break?

Our new Mohawk House has a sitting

room with coffee and tea and a place to chat with friends. It is open before and after church and weekdays from 9am to 3pm. Grab a cup of coffee or read the paper while waiting for the kids to finish choir or chat with a friend during the week. A free living room.

Check Out Our Facebook Page

Compassionate Dinner & Contemplative Worship June 19 All are welcome to share a plant-rich main course at 6pm in Covenant Hall. Sides, salads, and sweets are welcome as well. At 7pm we will move to a contemplative service next door in Poling Chapel. The service includes singing led by ukuleles and guitar, meditation on Scripture, communion, prayers, blessing, and Christ's peace.

Post-Worship Hospitality Please consider hosting our post-worship fellowship by signing up for a couple of Sundays during the year. The sign-up sheet and instructions are in Covenant Hall.

Wednesday Lunch We welcome you to join us for lunch every Wednesday 11:30 – 12:30pm in Covenant Hall. A light lunch will be served along with some coffee and tea. This is a weekly gathering open to members and the public. Suggested donation is $2 per person. We now have a meal card available for $20 (10 lunches). June 5: Pizza & salad June 12: Sausage, peppers, & onions June 19: Chinese June 26: Make your own sandwiches July 3: Mac & cheese

Welcome New Member

Florence Reed

Dr. Levering’s Sabbatical Blog

https://travelswithlevering.blogspot.com/

June Preacher Reader Jazz Vespers

2 Youth Youth Nat Phipps, piano; Pete Toigo, bass

9 Gregg Mast Youth Wayne Hawkins, piano; Mike Lawrence, bass;

Mike Benedict, drums

16 Viki Brooks Daniel Carlson Peg Delaney, piano; Bill Delaney, bass;

Gene Garone, drums

23 Gregg Mast Daniel Carlson Mike Lamkin, piano

30 Megan Hodgin Daniel Carlson Tim Olsen, piano

Groups Community Yoga at FRC Weekly Community Yoga class is held on Mondays from 6-7pm in Covenant Hall. Led by certified instructor Doug Goodbee, it is from gentle to moderate yoga. Bring a yoga mat and any other props you wish to use. Cost is free - heartfelt donations appreciated.

Evening Circle The Evening Circle will meet at Sally Bestgen’s on Wednesday, June 26, for our annual potluck dinner and planning for next year. Please bring a salad to share. Dessert and beverage will be provided. Please email or call Ellie Rowland, 518-250-4303.

Faith Book Shop The Faith Bookshop has landed in its new location alongside the Johnson Library in the old Assembly Hall area. We will be stocking up more, but in the meantime we have items you can browse. There are fun children’s items, framed photos of the church that make great gifts, beautiful spring photo cards of the church sold as singles or packs of five, and lots of copies of the new Beverwyck Anthology Volume 8, Spring 2019. Come by and shop, or share any thoughts you have about what you would like to see in the bookshop, or donate any books or CDs you would like to see have a second life with someone else! Group V Group V will not meet in June and over the summer. Our next meeting will be the first Monday in October. Maria Todd will call with a reminder.

FRC Sole Searchers On Saturday, June 15, we will head to the Albany Rural Cemetery for a guided tour, led by our very own Norm Kuchar. From the cemetery’s website: “An exemplar of the garden cemetery movement of the 1800s with its winding roads, wooded hills and beautiful burial monuments . . . 467 acres of beauty and tranquility with an incredible range of plants, flowers, trees and wildlife.” Pack your favorite snacks or a lunch and meet in the church parking lot at 9am. RSVP to James at jgonda12309@gmail.com.

Group VII Group VII will meet on Friday, June 21 at noon at the Glen Eddy for lunch. We welcome all women of the church to join us for lunch and fellowship. Please call Mary Jane Fisher at (518)280-8070 if you are coming.

Kerygma Various options for adult Christian education and nurture on select Wednesday mornings in June, July, and August are being considered. Plans will be published in weekly emails and Sunday bulletins. All are welcome to join the hospitable and hearty fellowship around the message of the gospel through each season of our Lord. Questions: contact Daniel Carlson.

Short-Short Writing Group The FRC Short-Short Writing Critique Group meets on the first and third Tuesdays of the month at 7pm., Short-Shorts include fiction, non-fiction, memoirs, essays, and travel pieces told in 1,000 words or less. The group’s mission is to help one another improve as writers.

Sweet Saturday Breakfast June 8 Last months breakfast was postponed, until

June 8, 8:30am in Covenant Hall; pancakes, bacon, coffee, juice and the local sweetness of Mohawk Valley maple syrup! Our speaker is Chris Welch, a son of this congregation, who two years ago with his wife Erica, launched Riverview Maple Farms. A high tech, family oriented experience in how maple syrup and products move from farm to table. It is quite a sweet story. Join us Please RSVP and send questions to Joe Doolittle, aldenjoe@nycap.rr.com.

Johnson Library News

The Johnson Library will continue to display new and topical books on the low bookcase in the library during the summer months. Look for information about the displays in the Sunday Bulletins. The library has some real depth in parts of its collection. During the summer, we will experiment with annotated bibliographies on one of those areas of depth. The annotated bibliography will be accompanied by a sample of the books on the bibliography. The Johnson Library is looking for people who are interested in getting involved with the library. Some ways you could get involved would include serving on the Library Committee to help plan for the Johnson Library’s future, volunteering to help staff the library after church on Sunday or spending some time helping during the week. If you think you might be interested, email Ruth Roinos at firstreformedlibrary@gmail.com.

Support

and Care Let Us Know Whenever you are ill, hospitalized, homebound, needing a meal, transportation to a doctor, or grieving a loss, we would like to know...so we can do what our Committee is named for: support and care! Please help us to help you when you are in need by calling Support and Care Chair, Barb Walton 518-346-1943 or Daniel Carlson 518-346-6416.

Support and Care Committee We invite you to consider helping with

a new supportive ministry. We are looking for those interested in grocery shopping for the homebound in our midst. Give Daniel Carlson, 518-346-6416 or Barbara Walton, 518-346-1943 a call if you feel moved to care in this way.

Emergency Contact Info It has been very

helpful to have the emergency contact information for members, especially--but not limited--to those who live alone. If you would like us to keep track of this for you, fill out a white card in worship or call or visit the church office.

Care & Prayer Need a moment for prayerful support after worship? Trained Stephen Ministers will be available in the Dykstra Chapel right after the service on the last Sunday of each month to sit with, listen to, and pray for and with you. Please stop by if this sounds like it may be just what you need.

The Glen Eddy Group The Glen Eddy Group will meet Monday, June 17 at 10:30am with Maria Todd in the Fireside room. Come prepared with memories from the past.

Live Streaming Live streaming of our Sunday service at 10am will be available in the Edison Room starting in May. If there are enough participants, this will continue. Ask your friends to come.

Getting into Church There is a gently sloping incline from the office entrance through the Atrium and into the Sanctuary that is easy to navigate. That replaces the big aluminum ramp that will be coming down soon.

Daily Check-in Calls

Hearing a warm "Good morning!" is a wonderful way to start the day. Your Care and Support committee is aware that some in our family of faith, especially those who may live alone, would enjoy such a daily call. Knowing that each day or so a friendly caller would ask, "How are you, today?" would be a comfort for such folks. If you would be interested in being such a caller--or the recipient of such calls-- please contact the church office or Rev. Daniel Carlson.

Knitting Prayer Shawls and Baby Blankets The Support and Care Committee encourages people who enjoy knitting to consider making prayer shawls or baby blankets that can be presented to our church family members in times of concern, like illness or grieving, and in times of joy, like the baptism of a new baby. These items are extremely meaningful and we want to continue this caring tradition. If you need more information or the pattern for a prayer shawl, Gini McDermott or Mary Jewett will be glad to help.

Justice Action Council Q: How does FRC ally with our LGBTQ community neighbors? A: One way this time of year is to join the Justice Action Council and friends at Albany’s Pride Parade on Sunday, June 9, beginning in Washington Park and continuing along Lark Street. Between Sunday morning service and the noon parade kick-off, the FRC contingency will meet in our designated place in the parade line-up along Washington Park Road (church groups in past years have typically been towards the end). FRC members, friends, non-members, strangers – everybody! - are welcome to join. See Matt Jones (a.k.a. Christina Jones’ husband; jones.matthewr@gmail.com) to share your interest and/or if you have further questions.

Bird Watching On May 18, 18 Sole Searchers made their way through the Vischer Ferry Nature Preserve on a perfect-weather day to hear and see a plethora of feathered creatures. Over a 3-hour period, we managed to spot over 20 birds.

Thank you, Jamie Taft, for being a gracious and informative guide. Karen Gonda, for playing the role of scribe and recording the various birds we saw. Shep Salon and Joanne Bedell, for driving.

The Home Furnishings Program

Needs Of The Month Furniture: loveseats, small kitchenettes, desks, recliners or living room chairs, end tables Furnishings: Dinner Forks especially, and other flatware, sauce pans, medium to large, soup spoons, can openers, toasters/toaster ovens, shower curtains and/or liners & hooks.

To donate, call Jamie Doriguzzi, Program Director, at 518-346-2444 or email us at homefurninc@aol.com to arrange for pick-up or warehouse drop-off of useful items.

Upcoming sales!

Sale Hours from 10am to 3pm

June 8: Strawberry Festival and

Village Garage Sale held at Our

Redeemer Lutheran Church.

June 15: Upper Union Street

Strawberry Festival, with Home

Furnishings in front of Gayne Optical

at 1628 Union Street.

Introductions to FRC

June 2 at 3pm

Come to an informal time to learn

more about First Reformed and

possible membership. It starts at 3pm

on June 2 in the church office. If you

have been an attendee for a while, this

is your time to make this place your

home.

Senior Sub As some of you may recall, I functioned in this capacity, as acting Senior Minister of FRC, 13 years ago, upon Bob White's departure. Therefore, I had some sense what it would feel and look like to lead as head of staff during Bill's sabbatical. However, I have still been surprised by several things; among these, is the speed at which I need to move to attend to not only my primary areas of responsibility but also several specific to the role of Senior Minister. High gear! This generally means shorter emails, briefer conversations, and diffuse attention in larger gathering - not easy, but essential for this time.

A bigger surprise is how much time I need to spend meeting with other staff members. It is all good, this ministry of administration: attending, understanding, supporting, coordinating, directing, and equipping others in order that we may together further the mission of Christ's Church. It just takes WAY more time than I expected, which has meant less sleep and growing piles of paper representing tasks less pressing. Regarding staffing: this month we will bid God-be-with-you to our Director of Christian Development, Liam Battjes, who is moving on for love and work in VT. And we've already warmly welcomed aboard the staffing ship, current member Natalie Pizzolo, who's already begun great and gracious work among us as our new Children's Ministry Coordinator. More staffing changes are afoot and approved and will be the subject of July's First Things.

So, friends, I'm truly tired but genuinely grateful for the opportunity to continue the ongoing journey of transformation Christ calls each of us to as I'm challenged to learn and grow amidst responsibilities and regimens familiar and new as a Senior sub. And while I appreciate reading Bill's sabbatical blog and commend it to your consideration, I've decided to pass on his suggestion that I write one of my own...at least during these next few months.

– Daniel Carlson

June Birthdays During June

1 Joseph Gallagher

2 Diane Robbins

3 Claire Hughes

Anna Rowe

6 John VanOort

7 Mary Matz

Delbert Pierce

12 Cathy Allen

13 Daniel Ipsen

14 Jeffrey Cox

Cynthia Gallagher

Lyn Gordon

Janet Schadler

15 Bryce Colby

Jani Pittman

17 Bryan Colby

18 Clarence Linder

19 Fred Daniels

20 Sarah Dolo

21 Katrina Colby

Chris Fernandes

22 Norm Kuchar

Christine Lund

Constance Young

23 Lisa Ettkin

Declan Karl

Lucas Karl

24 Richard Lupi

27 Alden Doolittle

Adam Mason

28 Peter Lion

29 Barbara Wood

30 June Vandercar

Every Sunday Choir Rehearsal, 9am Worship, 10am Church School, 10:15am Orff-estra, 11:15pm Children’s Music, 11:15am Youth Group, 5pm Vespers, 5pm Weekly Monday: Men’s News Group, 9am Community Yoga, 6pm Tuesday: Horizons Bible Study, 10am Wednesday: Wednesday Lunch, 11:30am Thursday: Chancel Choir, 7pm

Monthly Glen Eddy Group, 3rd Mon 11:30am Support & Care, 1st Tues., 11:30am Writers Group, 1st & 3rd Tues., 7pm Consistory, 2nd Tues., 7:30pm Archives, 2nd Wed., 1pm Stephen Ministry, 3rd Thurs., 6:30pm Group VII, 3rd Fri.,12pm Introductions to FRC, 1st Sun., 3pm Care & Prayer, Last Sun., 11am

Events 2: Introduction to FRC 8: Saturday Breakfast 9: Albany’s Pride Parade 11: Committee Meetings 11: Consistory Meeting 14: A Fan’s Sermon Premier 15: FRC Sole Searchers 17: Glen Eddy Group 19: Contemplative Worship 19: Compassionate Dinner 20: Stephen Ministry 21: Group VII 26: Evening Circle 29: Strawberry Festival 30: Care & Prayer

First Reformed Church

8 North Church Street

Schenectady, NY 12305

(518) 377-2201

Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage Paid Albany, NY Permit No. 736

Address Service Requested