Saturday, August 4, 2007

Montclair






June 19, 2007

First Congregational UCC of Montclair is like a huge medieval castle akin to Westminster Presbyterian in DE. It is also the original home of “The Outpost in the ‘Burbs” where I gravitated to as a young adult in the late 1980s for an alternative to ‘the bar scene’. Though it was hot and humid that afternoon, the weather in the early evening turned quite cool with a balmy zephyr every now and then. Downtown had changed and was changing with lots of construction going on. Some places along Bloomfield Ave had declined into dinjgyness, while Church Street still had its boutiques. The health food store/restaurant had morphed into an upscale establishment which is an improvement I suppose. So much for progress…

The pastor at First Congregational is Rev Scott Howell, congenial and warm in welcoming me and very enthusiastic about his church. There had been a recent write-up in the UCC national newsletter about the collegial atmosphere between the UCC congregations of Glen Rock, Upper Montclair and this church. There was a great showing of pastors that evening, even from as far away as Westfield (about 15 miles away), but I was disappointed that there were not more lay folks in attendance. One particular lay person, though, made me do a double take – John Thomas’s brother, that is to say, his twin brother goes to First Congregational and they do look alike! Representing the local churches, there were some wonderful, talented singers and a musician ensemble on hand, and this really made for a nice evening. Scott had designed the event as a worship service and this was very effective in creating that ‘sacred space’ that is so important especially for Biblical storytelling.

After the program, I began to hear the kind of complement I would hear in other places I visited, to this effect – “We didn’t know what to expect, but it was great.” A young man who was one of the musicians is also a youth leader at one of the churches and he gave me a wonderful insight about the story of Jesus confronting the man with the “Legion” of demons (which I called “Division”). He pointed out that the demons’ power was deflected when Jesus was brave enough to talk with them. This particular story brought out more insights by others, which I will share later on.

Afterwards, a group of us went out for a drink including Pastor Scott, Steve Cutaia, Joyce Mauer, Bob McParland. Steve is still the program director for “The Outpost”, reviewing and contracting with the musicians and singers. This coffeehouse ministry began circa 1987 and was the inspiration of then-associate pastor, Rev Rich Pfeiffer (which he based on “The Potter’s House” in Washington, DC). This program has survived its original cadre by forming a board of trustees and operating as a secular activity (nevertheless, still a ‘ministry of hospitality’) in order to receive state funds for the arts.

Joyce is a psychotherapist who continues to maintain an office at First Congregational Church. She is an expert witness in the courts regarding mental illness and is an advocate for the poor. She was part of the regular volunteers who helped set up, clean up, and generally support Outpost activities. Originally, there were folk music concerts twice a month and a monthly newsletter. In time, this was expanded to include retreats, dinner at restaurants, movies, square dancing, Habitat For Humanity workdays, and play productions – even an arts & spirituality festival!

Bob McParland is a musician, singer, playwright, author, and college professor
who was the “Spanky McFarland” of The Outpost – as in ‘Hey, kids! Let’s do a show!’ Bob engineered a musical production of three stories by Oscar Wilde as well as several “murder mysteries”. The first time I tried community theater was when Bob called me up and over the phone, he described my character and gave me a line to work into whatever I imagined to say in a spontaneous (and unrehearsed) dialogue with another actor! It was fun and it was a hit! These wonderful people were an important part of a ‘young adult ministry’ that kept me going through a period of loneliness and uncertainty.

No comments:

Blog Archive