Ain’t no party like a garden party

Many hands make light work, but six hands still get the job done 🙂

Last week, three regulars got together to clear, cut, mulch and plant in the Glendale New Church’s front garden. Always a happy time to be together and work in the dirt.

If you are interested in getting in touch with the Earth, the church’s garden is a great place to start. Sign up to weed, water, or just bring a blanket and picnic near the blooms!

New mulch, and blooms and the Glendale New Church sign

Eileen and Maggie’s obligatory selfie (Pete not pictured)

Did Swedenborg garden? He sure did! Read this post from the Swedenborg Foundation about what types of specimens were contained in his plot.

The garden gang is at it again :)

Spring garden preparation. Adding compost and mulching around plantings. Burying the soaker hose. Next time, adding annuals!

Dinner for Bethany House, Nov 1, 2021

On November 1st, we will be providing a dinner meal for 12 families experiencing homelessness. These families are housed in hotels through Bethany House Services.

If you are interested in providing something, we are asked to provide 48 servings divided into 12 paper grocery bags of four servings in each, containing the following:

Entree

Fruit

Vegetable

Dessert

Paper plates, napkins and plastic cutlery

Drinks, optional

Thank you to our members who have provided financial assistance toward the meal. If you would like to help out with this meal, please contact Maggie through the church at newchurchofmontgomery@gmail.com

Photo by Ron Lach on Pexels.com

Help Needed in the Garden: 11 am, 8/21/21

One of our helpers

Tomorrow, Saturday, August 21, 2021, we will be having a garden work party beginning at 11 am. Come help out at the Glendale New Church, if you can. 845 Congress Avenue, Glendale, OH.

Partnering with Local Business to Bring Food to Hungry People

Food made by the Supasirilertkul Family at Thai Terrace Restaurant in Mason, OH

On August 10, 2021, we enlisted the help of our friends at Thai Terrace Restaurant in Mason, Ohio, to provide a delicious meal for half the families being housed by Bethany House Services that night. Owner and cook Gigi and her sister Lak cooked up and donated Thai fried rice w/chicken and chicken pad Thai, with Spring Rolls, adding some bottles of Coke in to boot! Our friends from church provided mandarin oranges, cookies and tableware. Together, a full meal was created. We are so happy when we can partner with our neighbors to help our neighbors.

Life in the garden @GlendaleNewChu

#WeekendPlans: 4/11/21 @GlendaleNewChu week, #Gardening, #Swedenborg Study Group

The New Church of Montgomery does not have worship service this Sunday. If you are looking for a Swedenborgian service, please look for the link to Glendale New Church’s Sunday service, forthcoming, or visit their website: www.glendalenewchurch.org You can also attend a virtual service at one of our many sister churches.

Also, if you are interested in helping in the garden at Glendale New Church, we will be meeting this Sunday, 4/11, in the afternoon, weather permitting. If interested, contact church via email: newchurchofmontgomery@gmail.com

The Swedenborg Study Group will be meeting in the evening this Sunday. They will be discussing the book, Ten Commandments, Secrets of Spiritual Growth Found in God’s Principal’s for Living Contact the church, via email if you would like to attend. newchurchofmontgomery@gmail.com

Alternative Harvest Feast

NEW CHURCH OF MONTGOMERY INVITES YOU TO OUR ALTERNATIVE HARVEST FEAST

Since we are not able to have our Harvest Feast potluck this year, we are inviting you to choose what you would have brought to our in-person celebration and, instead, send a check to the church for its value. The church will match the donations and the money will be donated to the Cincinnati Freestore Foodbank.

The Food Bank hopes to distribute over 14,000 Holiday Meal Boxes during the holiday seasons this year. They can serve 3 meals for $1.00, so even if you are thinking a can of cranberry sauce, your donation will be useful

Here is our usual sign-up sheet – no need to let us know what you’re “bringing”. Duplicates are fine! We usually have around 25-30 people for our meal.

• Turkey
• Gravy
• Stuffing
• Mashed Potatoes
• Sweet Potatoes
• Cranberry Sauce
• Green Bean Casserole
• Other Side Dish
• Salad
• Rolls
• Pie
• Juice
• Soft Drink

Send check made out to:

New Church of Montgomery,

P.O. Box 42466, Cincinnati, OH 45242

#QuarantineReading: #ThisIsGodsTable @annawoof

Many of you heard Rev. Anna Woofenden speak about her passion for the Garden Church when she visited the New Church of Montgomery several years ago.

A beautiful book has come out of her experiences in cultivating and growing the Garden Church in San Pedro, CA.

Please give a gift to yourself (and to Anna!) by ordering this book to help it reveal parts of you that need tending to, to let go of pre-conceived notions of church, and to learn new ways to love your neighbor.

Hardback, Paperback or Kindle versions are available. Sign into your Amazon account through Amazon Smile, where you can designate a charitable recipient (i.e. The New Church of Montgomery, etc.)

#Books for #Betterment: “This is God’s Table” by @AnnaWoof

Pre-order your copy(ies) of New Church Minister and Author, Rev. Anna Woofenden’s upcoming first book, “This is God’s Table. Finding Church Beyond the Walls.” By Herald Press.

From the Back Cover (and AnnaWoofenden.com)

Can a barren city lot become a church? 
  
This is the story of an audacious journey. It’s the story of what happens when people garden, worship, and eat together—and invite anyone and everyone to join them. In This Is God’s Table, writer and pastor Anna Woofenden describes the way that the wealthy and the poor, the aged and the young, the housed and unhoused become a community in this once-empty lot. Together they plant and sustain a thriving urban farm, worship God, and share a weekly meal. Together they craft a shared life and a place of authenticity where all are welcome. Readers of Nadia Bolz-Weber, Sara Miles, and Diana Butler Bass will find here a kindred vision for a church without walls.      
  
As churches across the Western world wither, what would it take to find a raw, honest, gritty way of doing church—one rooted in place, nurtured by grace, and grounded in God’s expansive love? What would it take to carry the liturgy outside the gates? What if we were to discover that in feeding others, we are fed? 
  
This is God’s table. Come and eat.

About the Author

Anna Woofenden is a writer, speaker, pastor, and leading voice in the food and faith movement. She is the founding pastor of The Garden Church in San Pedro, California, as well as the founder of Feed and Be Fed Farm. With an MDiv from Earlham School of Religion, Woofenden has served at Los Angeles’ Wayfarers Chapel and at San Francisco’s Saint Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church and The Food Pantry. Now living in Northampton, Massachusetts, with her husband, David, Woofenden is cohost of the Food and Faith podcast. She is passionate about spirituality, justice, food, the earth, and community, and is driven by a calling to reimagine church. Connect with her at AnnaWoofenden.com