Sunday 12/2 - Advent

Saturday 12/1 2pm-3:30pm Eating for Energy: Health Coach Kirsi Paalanen offers a workshop to help gain an abundance of energy and vitality through better eating - especially important in the holiday season. Donation to benefit St. Matthew's.

To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul (Psalm 25:1).

Entering the season of Advent, we await the coming of God into the world at Christmas. It's a season of preparation, not for the coming winter, not for holiday shopping and decorating and cooking, but to receive and share God's love.

At St. Matthew's, we will light the first Advent candle, and share God's love in bread and wine. Pastor Hans Arnesen will preach and preside at a service of Holy Communion. Coffee hour and Bible study following the service,

God's compassion is everlasting.
St. Matthew's Lutheran Church
85 Wayne Street (btwn Barrow & Jersey Aves)
Downtown Jersey City
201.432.9319

Sunday 11/25 - Christ the King

This Sunday we celebrate Christ the King, But Jesus is a king unlike any other. A king whose glory comes in living for others. A king whose love is not for fine clothes, luxurious banquets, grand palaces, or mighty armies. Instead his love is simply for God's people.

This Sunday Paul Ellis will preach and lead a Service of the Word, starting at 11am. After the service, we'll share fellowship and pack food bags for clients of the Hyacinth AIDS Foundation.

Come, know God's grace!
St. Matthew's Lutheran Church
85 Wayne Street (btwn Barrow & Jersey Aves)
Downtown Jersey City
201.432.9319

Thanksgiving for Sandy Recovery

In thanksgiving for the tremendous community response at St. Matthew's and our parish house, the Barrow Mansion, St. Matthew's is holding a special service of thanksgiving this Sunday 11/18, beginning at 11am.

All JCNJ Recovery volunteers are invited to be thanked and recognized for their great and continuing work helping neighbors in need. St. Matthew's Pastor Hans Arnesen will presdie at a service of Holy Communion; he will be joined by JCNJ Recovery volunteer Rabbi Debra Hachen of Temple Beth-El for a blessing of the community.

As always at St. Matthew's, all are welcome. A reception will follow at approx 12:30pm.

I give you thanks, for you answered me.
Psalm 118:21
St. Matthew's Lutheran Church
85 Wayne Street (btwn Barrow & Jersey Aves)
Downtown Jersey City
201.432.9319

This week at St. Matthew's

This Sunday, November 11, commemorates Saint Martin of Tours, who died in the year 397. As a soldier in the Roman army, Martin was approached by a beggar. Moved, Martin cut his cloak in half and gave part to the man. That night in a dream he had a vision of Christ as that beggar.

This week St. Matthew's has been approached by hundreds of people asking for help. We have opened the doors of the church and are welcoming people into Bavendam Hall to receive storm relief supplies. WE NEED YOUR HELP to offer the hospitality of Christ to our neighbors in need. If you can come by the church for an hour or more to welcome, serve coffee and cookies, or help distribute supplies, please call Kim Aycox (mornings only 201.920.8615), Paul Ellis (732.397.2629) or Paul Bellan-Boyer (201.238.5987) or just come. Today and Friday 8am-8pm, and any time during the day on Saturday especially.

Our friend and sister Emily Narine departed this earth Wednesday morning, in the company of her family. Funeral arrangements will be forthcoming.

This Sunday we drink deep of the mystery of Christ. Pastor Hans Arnesen will preach and preside at a service of Holy communion.

O God, you show forth your almighty power
chiefly by reaching out to us in mercy.
Grant us the fullness of your grace,
strengthen our trust in your promises,
and bring all the world to share in the treasures
that come through your Son,
Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
St. Matthew's Lutheran Church
85 Wayne Street (btwn Barrow & Jersey Aves)
Downtown Jersey City
201.432.9319

Storm relief at the Barrow Mansion

St. Matthew's and the Barrow Mansion Development Corporation have opened the doors of the Barrow Mansion to serve as a coordination point for relief supplies and distribution. Volunteers are needed and appreciated to: receive and organize supplies, and drive them to distribution points throughout the city.

Donations needed: 1) warm clothing and blankets, 2) lighting (flashlights & batteries), 3) non-perishable food (but not water). Significant parts of the City are still without power and heat as of this moment, and we are concentrating on those neighborhoods.

Please come to the Barrow Mansion at 83 Wayne Street betweeen 8am and 8pm today (Monday). For specific information, please refer to jcnjrecovery.org.

Serving Christ by serving our neighbor.

Sunday 11/4 - All Saints

God is our refuge and strength,
    a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear,
    though the earth should change,
    though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
though its waters roar and foam,
    though the mountains tremble with its tumult.
There is a river whose streams
    make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
God is in the midst of the city;
    it shall not be moved;
God will help it when the morning dawns.
Psalm 46:1-6

We read this Psalm in church last Sunday looks back to this week of storm and trials. yet it also looks forward to God's promise of help, security, and presence in the midst of adversity, in the midst of the city.

PSE&G expects electrical service to be restored to most of Jersey City by Monday 11/5 - many areas came back on Friday night and Saturday morning. If you have needs following the storm, please reach out to us and we will help if we can. Contact Paul at 201.238.5987 for immediate needs.

This Sunday, as we give thanks for the ways in which God is seeing us through our current trials, we also remember those who have gone before us. On All Saints Sunday we recall the faithful departed, especially those who have died this past year. We write their names in the congregation's book of life, we say their names aloud in worship, and we place candles on the altar commemorating their witness to God's light on this earth.

St. Matthew's church building survived the storm without damage, and electrical power was restored to it on Thursday. This Sunday we will proclaim God's saving word, and share God's saving meal, Pastor Hans Arnesen presiding at a service of Holy Communion.

Daylight Savings Time ends: TURN BACK YOUR CLOCK 1 hour on Saturday night.

Rejoice in the Lord! God's mercies endure forever.

St. Matthew's Lutheran Church
85 Wayne Street (btwn Barrow & Jersey Aves)
Downtown Jersey City
201.432.9319

Hurricane Sandy

cityofjerseycity.com contains current info. This is an aggregate of best information as of Monday 8pm.

PUBLIC SAFETY

You should be inside unless you are evacuating to safety or an emergency responder.

As winds pick up we will get downed power lines. Please call them in to the Hudson County Office of Emergency Management (OEM), 201-319-3871. PSE&G is staffing that office 24 x 7 and they will get it into the system. For trees on county roads (such as: Grand, Summit, MLK/Monticello, Bergen, Kennedy, Westside, Mallory, Communipaw, Sip) or parks, report to Hudson County OEM.

Due to high winds, heavy rain and low visibility, residents are prohibited from operating motor vehicles on all Jersey City streets and highways beginning at 2:00pm on Monday 10/29 and continuing until further notice. All public transit is suspended including PATH, light rail, and buses.
Curfew from 6pm Monday 10/29, through 1pm, Tue 10/30 in the following areas:
1) Washington Blvd. east to Hudson River
2) Areas of State Highway 440 West to Hackensack River & Bayonne City Line
3) All pedestrian traffic prohibited in Port Liberte as well as Country Village.

Mandatory Evacuations Effective at 7am on Monday 10/29, in the following locations in Jersey City:
• Residents residing in ground floor/1st floor buildings for all streets EAST of Green Street from Essex Street North to Columbus Drive.
• Residents residing in ground floor/ 1st floor buildings for all streets EAST of Washington Boulevard from Columbus Drive North to 18th Street.
• Residents residing in ground floor/ 1st floor buildings in Port Liberte.
• Residents residing in ground floor/ 1st floor buildings in Society Hill and Country Village.
Follow evacuation orders. LEAVE NOW; do not wait.

SHELTERS
• All evacuees with existing medical problems should go to MS#4 on 107 Bright Street downtown due to its proximity to the Jersey City Medical Center.
• Other shelters are PS #7 on 222 Laidlaw Avenue, Dickinson High School on Palisades Avenue, PS #17 at 600 Bergen Avenue, and PS#41 at Wilkinson and Ocean Avenues.
• Those with pets must go to Pershing Field. All cats must be crated. All dogs must be crated or on a leash. Residents need to provide food for them.

EMERGENCY PARKING & TRANSPORTATION

Parking enforcement for all meters and street sweeping is suspended through Wednesday 10/31. Greenville residents who need to move their cars to higher ground should park in the lots at Public Schools 30 & 40 in Greenville. List of municipal parking lots available for parking below.

Transportation to city evacuation shelters will be provided by vehicles from the Department of Recreation & Dept. of Health & Human Services/Senior Affairs. Hourly Pick-ups will commence on 8am on Monday, October 29th, through the duration of the storm at the following locations:
• Society Hill
• OLM/Country Village
• Pavonia PATH Station
• Port Liberte/ Strip Mall on Chapel Ave
• CLOSED (Under water): Newport Center/McDonalds

MUNICIPAL PARKING LOTS:
404 2nd St
Boland Street off Bergen
277 Central Ave
340 Central Ave
352 Central Ave
388 Central Ave
477-79 Central Ave
Fairview Ave & Bergen Ave
Hoboken Ave [Reserved parking along street]
Mongomery St & Orchard St
174 Newark Ave
693 Newark Ave
Sherman Place
522 West Side Ave
754 West Side Ave

For emergencies, call 911. For information or for non-emergency aid, call Paul Bellan-Boyer 201.238.5987.

Please be safe and help your neighbors !!!

This is the storm surge probability map. Click on storm surge of 6 feet and look at your area. Right now we are looking at 6-11 feet).

God of heaven and earth, the eyes of all wait upon thee. We seek to be far from the tempest and storm. Yet turbulence and danger swirl around us. Our preparations can only carry us so far. Surely the rising of the mighty waters will not reach the faithful, O Lord, our rock and refuge. See us to a place of shelter. Strengthen and sustain us, that even in the midst of the storm, we may stand secure in faith, surrounded by your love, in Jesus Christ. Amen.

Storm Line, by Joel Torres
Used by permission.