The Daily News story states, “[c]ops have not said whether the threats are linked.” However, it also quotes

[a] security bulletin obtained by the Daily News [that] said the synagogue threats were all the work of a single person who sent out a mass email to 14 Jewish houses of worship in Manhattan, two in Brooklyn, five in Queens, one on Long Island, one in upstate Utica and one in Iowa.

According to this “mass email,” it was the work of “Terrorizers 111.”

From St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church:

In February of 1963 the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a guest sermon at Plymouth Church, then called Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims, in Brooklyn Heights. He spoke at the invitation of Plymouth’s then Senior Minister, the Rev. Dr. Harry Kreuner. In his sermon, which called for brotherhood and world peace, Dr. King touched on themes that would later appear in his “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered in August of that year. Details of the Plymouth Church sermon are in this Eagle story by Francesca Norsen Tate, originally published on April 3, 2018 and republished today.

Image: Martin Luther King, Jr. photographed by Marion S. Trikosko, 1964. LC-DIG-ppmsc-01269 Source: Library of Congress

This Friday evening, January 12 at 6:30 parishioners of Grace Church will join with congregants of the Brooklyn Heights Synagogue at the Synagogue, 131 Remsen Street (between Henry and Clinton) for a Shir Shabbat service commemorating the life of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The guest speaker will be the Rev. Dr. Allen F. Robinson, Rector of Grace Church. On Sunday morning, January 14, at 10:00, members of both congregations will gather at Grace Church, 254 Hicks Street (between Grace Court and Joralemon) for a service honoring Dr. King. Rabbi Serge Lippe, Senior Rabbi of Brooklyn Heights Synagogue and one of 2023’s BHB Ten, will give the sermon. The choirs of both the Synagogue and Grace will sing at both the Friday and Sunday sevices.

All who wish to honor the memory of Dr. King are welcome to attend either or both services.

Before I ever met Raymond Trapp, I asked him a favor. I was hoping he could help me with a sing-along after the 175^th Anniversary celebration dinner of Plymouth Church last November. He was the recently-named interim Minister of Music. “Just a few songs, we could sing around the piano,” I’d said. He quickly agreed. I don’t know if he expected a list of praise and worship music, but a few days before the dinner, I sent him my list: Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” was number one—a personal favorite. Next up was ABBA’s “Dancing Queen.” I’d also added Broadway favorites like “Seasons of Love” from Rent, “Age of Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In” from Hair and selections from Oklahoma, Mame and more. There was Billy Joel’s “Piano Man” and several Beatles tunes plus Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’.” Pretty much the only hymn was the rousing The Shining Shore.

Plymouth anniversary hymn and favorite hymn of Rev. Henry Ward Beecher

If Raymond was shocked, he didn’t say. But I was delightfully surprised on the day of the event as I watched him unload a keyboard and hold the door for a drummer and guitarist. He’d brought a band of friends to get us through. They played all of the requests with joy and humor. He didn’t say a word about how I shrieked along like bad karaoke. The event was fun.  I don’t think that room was rocking that much since Mrs. Beecher’s sewing circle got into the eggnog in 1849—-OK, just kidding, I made that up. Sorry, Mrs. Beecher. But it was a memorable 175^th anniversary jubilee and whomever is planning the 200^th should take note.

175th Anniversary Sing-Along

Raymond has now been Plymouth’s permanent Minister of Music for nearly a year and he’s hosted his own sing-alongs. At October’s Yankee Fair, he featured three singers plus his jazzy band friends, keeping “Dancing Queen” and adding a favorite finale from Grease “We Go Together” (you know, John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John: We go together Like rama lama lama ka dinga da dinga dong.)

We entered Advent with him at the piano again, with kids and adults singing along to favorite hymns. Then Raymond, undaunted by a seventh grader’s request of Mariah Carey, lead all of us, very few trained choristers, I should note, in “All I Want for Christmas is You.” I’m not sure Mariah needs to worry about her royalties, but I’ll bet we had more fun than she does singing it. With his trademark humor and spunk, we ended with a rousing “Feliz Navidad.”

Raymond is a delightful musician and if you haven’t heard him and the Plymouth Choir, there are two chances this weekend. On Sunday at 11:00 a.m., the theme is Joy and he and the choir will offer the classic “Joy to the World” followed by “Christmas Time is Here” by Vince Guaraldi and Lee Mendelsohn—what my family calls “Charlie Brown music”—with sax, drums and keyboard.

On Sunday night, December 17, the annual and long-standing Plymouth service of Lessons and Carols is free and open to the public at 6:00 p.m. There will be some singalong, some traditional carols, some guest musicians and chamber orchestra and lots of joy and wonder of the Christmas season. Do not miss that. (And if you do, there’s community caroling December 21 at 6 p.m. and three services on Christmas Eve—11 a.m., 4 p.m. for families and 6 p.m. for all.)

To my ear, Raymond would be perfect for a barroom or Jazz at Lincoln Center, but his actual credentials in chorale and sacred music are more impressive. He’s a Colleague of the American Guild of Organists and was elected as the first African American Dean of the Brooklyn Chapter. He has a B.A. in Music from Hunter College and a Master’s Degree in Sacred Music/Choral Conducting from Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey. Raymond was formerly director of music in East Flatbush, Brooklyn at Vanderveer Park United Methodist Church and served multiple terms as Worship and Music Director for the UMC national conference.

His training and interests fit in with Plymouth’s rich musical history. Back in 1855, Plymouth’s Rev. Beecher, his brother Charles and John Zundel, the widely known church organist created the “Plymouth Collection” known as America’s first hymnal. Plymouth’s website notes this:

Beecher wanted what he called “a singing church.” He concluded that the way to accomplish this was to put the hymns–both the words and the music–into the hands of the congregation. What many experts also consider revolutionary was Beecher’s concept of “usefulness,” bringing together popular and singable music from many denominations. Joining Beecher in creating The Plymouth Collection were his brother, Charles Beecher, and John Zundel, the widely admired organist at the Church.

In the fall of 1855, The Plymouth Collection entered the pews of Plymouth, and full congregational singing became the church’s hallmark. News spread quickly to churches of other faiths, and it was not long before Beecher’s hymnal carried congregational singing far beyond its Brooklyn roots.

All I know is, over here in 2023, I heard Raymond and drummer Chris DeRosa jamming with glee at last weekend’s Christmas pageant.

I’ve also heard Raymond and the present-day choir practicing my favorite Christmas song—“Do You Hear What I Hear?” In these dark days, I need to hear singing and joy and “voices as big as the sea.”  I can’t wait to pitch Raymond on a broad community sing along to warm up the coming 2024 winter chill, but until then, as this community rolls into Christmas, come and hear what I hear too.

Peace on Earth.

Follow the Brooklyn Heights Blog and follow me at Insta: kostercaroline75 and X: @aikenkoster   © 2023 Caroline Aiken Koster. All rights reserved.

This morning Grace Church, 254 Hicks Street (corner of Grace Court) celebrated the 175th anniversary of the first service held in its building, which was on December 10, 1848. The service, officiated by The Reverend Dr. Allen F. Robinson, fifteenth Rector of Grace, shown preaching in the phoro above. used the same liturgy and music as the 1848 service.

Following the service there was a reception in the church’s Guild Hall. During the reception, architectural conservationist and Grace parishioner Kim Lovejoy gave a talk about the building’s history. The main building was designed by Richard Upjohn in the High Gothic style. The Parish House, that includes space for Grace Church School, was completed in 1931. Ms. Lovejoy drew attention to some interesting aspects of the main building’s design, including its open trusswork ceiling, and described the history of interior re-decorations that led to the uncovering, in 2014, of the elaborate ceiling and wall designs dating from the late ninteenth century. Parishioner Robert Whiteford then talked briefly about the stained glass windows, which also date from the late ninteenth century, and include works from studios such as those of J&R Lamb, Franz Mayer of Munich. and Louis Comfort Tiffany.

I suppose we could have a debate, but I’d win: there’s really nothing more Fall than Halloween in Brooklyn Heights. And with a world going sideways, we need community, small humans and canines in costumes, Fall lovers and spectators, pumpkins, homemade treats and gratitude in this harvest home. This Saturday, October 28th, is shaping up for a good dose of all of those things in the neighborhood. 

Now, there are many options, but I’m partial to at least part of the day being spent at Plymouth Church’s historic Yankee Fair. It’s back post-pandemic!  Saturday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 75 Hicks Street, with Orange Street closed off for kid rides and booths.

I’ll be there early slinging Roebling Lattes and Promenade Fogs—my fancy names for toting along my beloved milk frother to top off standard church coffee and tea with foam—at my booth—Brooklyn Loaves + Dishes.  Stop by if you want to talk neighborhood stuff and nosh on magic bars and poppy seed bread between visits to the book sale, vintage clothing, history tours, chili lunch, sing-alongs and pumpkin crafts.

BloomAgainBklyn will be there spreading flowers and joy too! 

Profits go to Heifer International for world food relief so track down your Venmo password.

Alas, my kids have outgrown the BHA’s annual Brooklyn Heights Halloween Parade, which also kicks off on Saturday at 11 a.m. at Clark Street, traveling down the Promenade. Don’t miss it! Please indulge me a little Parade nostalgia—a personal Eras Tour—starting with my #1 favorite family costume creation: 

a homemade Empire State Building and Miss Liberty circa 2000.

It was an innocent time.

Little did we know the next Halloween, we’d need Batman or something,.. anything…to carry us through Gotham’s darkest days.

Halloween of 2001 was somber. Our homemade Batmobile had a flag license plate. Neighbors flooded local firehouses, reeling from September 11th losses, with donated candy and community warmth. We paraded our wagons and Batmans and Barbies, princesses, pirates and Power Rangers, ghouls, dinosaurs and puppies to pay respects to the real superheroes–our first responders.

And our community somehow carried on. 

Young neighbors at the Hicks Street Firehouse–October 31, 2001.

Until eventually, we were able to gaze upwards again.

This Saturday, with so many choices, how about a circuit of the neighborhood? You could stop in at Plymouth’s Yankee Fair for your latte, pick up a HandMade Booth knit cap or one of my vintage NYC subway map ornaments made while watching messed up news this week (and if we’re honest, mostly by my husband James, a local architect and waaaaay more skillful with the Modge Podge).

Get an early look at the trunks of vintage jewelry donated for this year’s sale and then stroll to the Promenade for the BHA Parade at 11 a.m. and down to the event-filled Montague BID Open Streets for games and demonstrations. Then make your way back to Plymouth for a community lunch of pulled pork and vegan chili, and an Underground Railroad history tour.

Or, start at the Parade, linger on Montague Open Streets and come by Yankee Fair in the afternoon in time for Raymond Trapp and his jazzy friends to warm you up at the 2 p.m. community singalong. I hear they’re playing Sweet Caroline! Watch kids bounce away the sugar. Or grab a last minute costume at the Underground Thrift Store. By then, the Trinkets and Treasures booth may have gone half price and the book sellers will be begging you to fill a bag on the cheap.

At Brooklyn Loaves + Dishes, I’ll sell you my famous Kentucky Derby pie—bipartisan this year with Brooklyn and Kentucky bourbon—for your Thanksgiving (they freeze well!) And, you can shop the frozen food aisle for dinner—applesauce, pesto from basil grown in Red Hook, holy bread pudding with bourbon sauce, French commando onion soup and Uncle Frankie’s Beef Bourguignon.

I’ll give you an ice pack so you can finish off your late afternoon along Montague Street, maybe even ending at the Cocktail Co-op at Clinton and Henry for an adult beverage from a local merchant.

Yankee Fair has been building tradition in Brooklyn Heights for years.

Check out these vintage posters.

I’ll throw in a free latte or pretzel rod if you mention this post! For the healthy eaters, I adorned some with dark chocolate, chia and hemp seeds, so no excuses.

Or try a sample of  Brooklyn Granola– because we are all a bit sweet and a bit salty, sometimes nutty, sometimes nutritious— and all mixed into this together.

Whatever you do this weekend, soak in Brooklyn Heights at Halloween. I’ll see you out there. I’m grateful for our community of warmth where we stand together, in the toughest days, costumed up as needed, and counting on each other.

Follow the Brooklyn Heights Blog and follow me at Insta: kostercaroline75 and X: @aikenkoster © 2023 Caroline Aiken Koster. All rights reserved.

Tomorrow (Sunday, October 15) from 12:30 until 2:00 PM Plymouth Church will present a panel discussion on Food Justice in recognition of World Hunger Sunday.

[W]e will gather in our Reception Room to share a simple lunch of rice and beans and talk about food insecurity in our own city. Last year, the mayor’s office estimated more than 1.2 million New Yorkers live without … access to enough food. Many of our neighbors worry that the food will run out before their next paycheck comes. So we will hear from The Campaign Against Hunger, CHIPS, United Community Centers, and Council Member Restler talk about their work in combating hunger in our neighborhoods.

If you would like to attend, please register here.

On Saturday, October 28, Plymouth will hold its annual Yankee Fair from 10:00 AM until 3:00 PM. There will be a “Family
Street Fair” on Orange Street between Hicks and Henry, with “fun & games,” a “children’s sing-along,” and “Lunch for Everyone.” There will also be an indoor market where you may purchase books, food items, craft items, knick-knacks, and, at the Underground Thrift Store, clothing. You may also take a tour of the historic church, where Abraham Lincoln worsshiped before declaring his candidacy for President, and The Reverend Henry Ward Beecher conducted his campaign against slavery.

Greetings neighbors—the first dispatch from me, Caroline Aiken Koster, your newest BHBlogger here.

This first post has me thinking about moving to Brooklyn Heights in Fall of 1996. Until then, my husband James and I, fresh out of graduate school and landing in Manhattan from our hometowns of Louisville and Cincinnati, rented a standard NYC starter on 23rd Street. It had one spectacular feature: a roof that Big Apple dreams are made of. A spiral staircase lead to a popped-up bedroom with a slider accessing the tar beach overlooking Park Avenue. There was a low parapet wall and railing; but no fences between neighbors. We shared that glorious turf with an urban gardener and a rotating cast of Elite models and Credit Suisse analysts cycling through the four bedroom rental next door. Plus we two Kosters! Newly married and newly minted New Yorkers.

Fast forward four years and a million tales from that aerie. I’m pregnant. Those stairs are too treacherous for an infant, the parapet, too low, the stuff, too much. My husband’s architect gang had decamped to Brooklyn Heights. “Just look there,” he urged as we considered our next home.

It seemed a bridge too far.

But after dinner in a friend’s back garden at Henry and State, I envisioned myself here. We walked into a Montague Street real estate office and an agent named Wade greeted us, gently guiding us through Brownstone floor throughs and Fruit Street walk ups and feeding us Fatoosh on Hicks, my first Middle Eastern food. Soon, I handed him his first homemade Kentucky Derby pie to celebrate our new home on Livingston Street. Three years later, pregnant again, we used a Saw-Z-All to cut a hole into the apartment next door, expanding our footprint and our family. Four Kosters, including our two sons, have called this neighborhood home ever since. After September 11, 2001, we added a golden retriever, Taxi.

“Well, said my mother, upon learning our new address would be in the 11201, “I guess if you win the lottery, you’ll move back to Manhattan.” “If I win the lottery, Mom,” I reminded her for years, “I’ll move up to the top floor of our building for the views or a setback apartment with a terrace, but that’s as far as I’m going.”

The view from the top of our building upon arrival in Brooklyn Heights 1996

I never got a back garden or a roof deck. I’m still on a low floor…..all the better to keep an eye on the place we all share. But I forever delight in our neighborhood.

I’ve really traveled this summer—Bali, Singapore, New Jersey, Kentucky and Ohio, my family reunion in Appalachia, Maine, Vermont and many lazy beach days in a tiny cabana near Ft. Tilden. But when the 5 train brakes squeal at Borough Hall or the yellow cab rolls down Court Street from a late night at work, I know I am home.

I walked around our neighborhood—mine and yours–this weekend, reacquainting myself with our special corner now that I’ve taken on this (volunteer!) gig to write about it. There on Montague Street were children frolicking in a fire hydrant, P.S. 8 parents touting their school, little tykes playing big chess and strollers clogging the Open Streets cocktail corral. I saw businesses I’d barely noticed before and characters I’d forgotten about. At Borough Hall Greenmarket, Councilman Lincoln Restler offered me a September welcome back, compost and a rain barrel. Instead, I bought 99 ears of corn for the church picnic and the shiny new community fridge. Then I took my 99 year old friend Grace for a sit on the Promenade. We’ve got some work to do around here, but I marveled at our community.

On Sunday, at Plymouth Church, a perfectly timed litany reminded us to love our neighbors as we return to our routines this September. In the other churches, synagogues, mosques, schools, coffee shops, gyms, parks, gardens, groceries and quiet places where we gather, I know people are feeling that too.

I can’t wait to talk to all of you and share my Brooklyn Heights and yours. Thank you for having me, neighbors. Meanwhile, I found our old change of address card– a 1996 dispatch from a new family who crossed the Brooklyn Bridge many Septembers ago to grab a future here, in this place. One decision we’ve never regretted.

Change of Address notice for move to Brooklyn 1996

See you around soon! Let me know in the comments how you made it to this neighborhood. Start reading and posting in the Open Threads. Share your thoughts and tell your friends. There’s so much to talk about!

It’s September in Brooklyn!

Follow the Brooklyn Heights Blog and follow me at Insta: kostercaroline75 and X: @aikenkoster © 2023 Caroline Aiken Koster. All rights reserved.

Update: because of weather, the service was held in the Parish House of St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church. The Brooklyn Heights Interfaith Clergy Association will hold its annual interfaith memorial service for the victims of the 9/11 attacks this coming Monday, September 11 starting at 7:15 PM, on the Brooklyn Heights Promenade near the Montague Street entrance. Previous services have included readings from sacred texts of the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faiths.

As your correspondent can attest, you don’t have to be Jewish to love hamantashen, the small triangular cookies with sweet fillings that are a staple for the holiday Purim. This year, Purim falls on March 6-7. To prepare, Chabad of Brooklyn Heights will have a hamantashen bake at Congregation B’nai Avraham, 117 Remsen Street (between Henry and Clinton) on Thursday, March 2, starting at 5:30 PM. This is an event for the family, and admission is free. Please RSVP to www.heightschabad.org

Photo: Yallayallaletsgo, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Tomorrow, Sunday, September 11, starting at 7:15 PM, the Brooklyn Heights Interfaith Clergy Association, which includes representatives of various Christian, Jewish, and Muslim houses of worship in the neighborhood, will hold their annual candlelight memorial service for those who lost their lives in the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. The service will be held near the Montague Street entrance to the Promenade. Tables will be set up at 5:00 PM for those who wish to write prayers for loved ones or friends, to be read at the service.

On Monday, St. Charles Borromeo Church on Sidney Place welcomed 200 migrants sent by bus from Texas to the doorsteps of the Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens. According to The Tablet, Msgr. Alfred LoPinto of CCBQ said hundreds of migrants were found camping out in front of 191 Joralemon St. with letters in their hands that said the office building was their new home. The Msgr. said they were “blindsided by the whole thing,” but CCBQ quickly organized to rally around the migrants and provide them with necessities and just plain humane treatment.

As widely reported, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sent an estimated 9,000 migrants by bus to Washington D.C. and New York City, so-called “sanctuary cities,” because his state ran out of room or something like that. “Everything’s bigger in Texas” so they say, but not the heart, apparently.

Msgr. LoPinto said that the migrants were told to find catholic charities in New York City, but that the charities were given no heads up. “The sad part of it is, had they given notice ahead of time, we could have been more organized and had a much better opportunity to help. But now you just kind of roll with the punches,” he said. The Msgr. added that it would have been impossible to help the migrants without volunteers, St. Charles’ pastor Father Bill Smith, and St. Vincent de Paul Society which helped with emergency funds.

At the orientation at St. Charles, Alvanys Rondon said she and her 10-year-old daughter trekked from Venezuela through the Panama jungles and “had to wade through foliage that tangled their legs and a near-constant quagmire of mud.” When they finally made it to the border in Texas, they found that their journey was far from over. “It has been a 30-plus hour bus ride up from Texas. They’re hungry. They’re confused, disoriented. It’s all terrible,” said CCBQ’s vice president Richard Slizeski.

At St. Charles, the migrants received a warm welcome to our country, legal information on seeking asylum, boxes of necessities and food, and a hot meal of chicken and rice and beans.

Yesterday, #CCBQ, @CMSBQ, and the St. Charles Borromeo Parishioner volunteers welcomed over 140 #migrants and #asylumseekers at an information session and lunch at St. Charles Borromeo Church in #DowntownBrooklyn. Read more: https://t.co/OxvAyIhsa7 @CMSBQ #Bethesolution pic.twitter.com/mZAUjB3M7s

— Catholic Charities (@CathCharitiesBQ) August 30, 2022

Photo courtesy Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens.

Rev. Adriene Thorne, Pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn, a founder of the Brooklyn Heights Community Fridge, one of the BHB Ten 2021, recipient of the Brooklyn Heights Association Community Service Award 2022, a former Radio City Rockette, and self-described “Mama, Minister, and Mystic,” has been named Senior Minister of The Riverside Church.

The Riverside Church, located in Morningside Heights, is a storied church with national prominence. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. preached his famous anti-Vietnam War sermon, “Beyond Vietnam,” from the Riverside pulpit in 1967. The Church has also hosted Nelson Mandela, President Clinton, the Dalai Lama, and countless other dignitaries. To find a new Senior Minister, the Church’s search committee cast a nationwide net for 18 months and considered dozens of ministers before choosing Rev. Adriene to lead the congregation.

Today, Rev. Adriene delivered her last sermon at First Presbyterian Church, titled “Brave Enough,” to a congregation brimming with emotions and applause. “Church folk don’t need to be wildly brave, just brave enough,” Rev. Adriene said, imploring her congregation to be open to change. “Be brave enough to change your seat,” she said, drawing laughter in the sanctuary. “Be brave enough to have more fun. Brave enough to take these pews out of here. Open up this space to exciting possibilities. Remember you are a church alive, not a museum, not a mausoleum. Make space for others to belong here and for others to lead.”

After the sermon, member of the church Nathan Dudley said, “I have mixed feelings about Rev. Adriene leaving. She’s a very strong presence here and in the community. I think it’s great that she’s moving onto Riverside and I’m very hopeful for her ministry there. It’s a very important pulpit in America and this is a very important time in our country. I want the best for her and I want the best for our congregation. And I think we’re all going to be alright.”

Meghan Cavanaugh, a member of the church’s renowned choir, said, “I’m very sad. Adriene has transformed this church into a place where everyone can feel welcome. I’ve been here almost ten years and I’ve seen the church go through other transitions before she arrived. But once we got her, the light just clicked and she just took this church to an entirely new high. She did such an incredible job shepherding this church through the pandemic. We actually managed to grow our presence virtually. On Easter, we had over 500 people on our livestream, which was an incredible feat. Her messages are so powerful. They speak so much to people. I’m going to miss her presence around here. She is literally just like a walking light.”

Meanwhile, Rev. Adriene took her usual spot outside spreading her light to parishioners, young and older, as they left. In return, many expressed good wishes and prayers for Rev. Adriene and her 12-year-old daughter Petal as they embark on a new home church together.

Asked how she felt after her last sermon at the church she led for six years, Rev. Adriene said, “It’s a lot of mixed feelings, it’s bittersweet, happy, sad. I did think this would be the church I would retire from. But as I told my congregation, when we make plans, God laughs. So it is a day of big feelings and mixed emotions. I think this congregation is amazing. We’re celebrating our 200th anniversary this year and there’s a reason that churches like this last as long as that. This church has been an anchor in the neighborhood from the beginning and my wish is that they will continue to be that. So I hope we will continue to partner with our neighbors, to feed those who are hungry, to visit those who are in prison, and to make a difference not only in Brooklyn Heights and the larger Brooklyn borough, but in the City of New York, the State, and the nation.”

Brooklyn’s First Presbyterian Church was established in March of 1822, and has been in continuous operation since. It is located at 124 Henry Street, just south of Clark. To celebrate the Church’s bicentennial, it will be presenting “a year long calendar of events” that are open to the public. We will notify you of any upcoming events.

First Presbyterian has enjoyed a long and storied history within Brooklyn Heights,” said Senior Minister Rev. Adriene Thorne. “On this anniversary, we look back on the last 200 years to reflect upon the church’s beginning and the people who began FPC’s journey. As important, we look forward to the next 200 years of our journey. By examining the past, we ask how we can continue to serve our faith community and our local community. This year-long commemoration of where we came from will inform where we are going in God’s name.”

Most recently, First Presbyterian, through Rev. Thorne and parishioner Caroline Koster, has been instrumental in creating the Brooklyn Heights Community Fridge.

First Presbyterian initially occupied a building on Orange Street that was later sold to Plymouth Church. Its present sanctuary (photo), designed by William B. Olmstead, was completed in 1846, and the first service was held there in 1847.

It seems the third try was indeed the charm for St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church, a pro-cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island, at Clinton and Montague Streets. As reported by Ranaan Geberer in the Eagle, the church’s third application for a grant from the National Fund for Sacred Spaces has been approved. The Fund will provide up to $250,000 to restore the church’s tower, the stonework of which has been in poor condition for decades. This will also mean that the construction bridge above the sidewalk in front of the church’s Clinton Street façade and entrance, which has protected pedestrians from possible falling stone since before your correspondent moved to Brooklyn Heights in 1983, can at last be removed.

Photo: C. Scales for BHB.

This coming Saturday, September 11, is the twentieth anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and the hijacked plane that was brought down in Pennsylvania.  Starting at 7:15 pm there will be a candlelight vigil on the Brooklyn Heights Promenade near the Montague Street entrance, presented by the Brooklyn Heights Interfaith Clergy Association. Your correspondent attended the ceremony ten years ago, at which representatives of several faiths, including Christian, Jewish, and Muslim, read pertinent passages from their sacred texts (see videos in the linked post).

During the day volunteers will be at tables along the promenade “offering supplies (pens, card stock paper, tie ribbons) for people to leave a written prayer or message tied to the fence.”

Aarti is a Hindu ceremony that is celebrated in many ways, most involving lighting a small oil lamp. In one version, which will be performed at Brooklyn Bridge Park this coming Saturday, August 7, tiny lamps are placed on palm leaves and floated on water (see photo). This will happen between 4:00 and 7:30 PM at “Pebble Beach,” located in the Park’s northern section, between the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges. The event is free, and no registration is required. There’s more information here.

The newest Staten Island Ferry boat is named for Dorothy Day. Ms. Day was born in Brooklyn Heights in 1897, but her father, a journalist, took a job in San Francisco in 1903. The family later moved to Chicago, where she reached adulthood. As a young woman, she returned to New York and lived a Bohemian life, espousing radical causes. In her early thirties she became a convert to Roman Catholicism, but combined her faith with a continued advocacy of social justice. She lived much of her later life on Staten Island. Along with Peter Maurin she founded the Catholic Worker Movement, which advocates nonviolence, works of mercy, the dignity of manual labor, and “voluntary poverty,” meaning

by casting our lot freely with those whose impoverishment is not a choice, we would ask for the grace to abandon ourselves to the love of God. It would put us on the path to incarnate the Church’s “preferential option for the poor.”

Photo: New York World-Telegram & Sun Collection, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Rev. Adriene Thorne says she’s not magical. But many in the community would disagree. Since moving to Brooklyn Heights four years ago to become Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn, her mark on the community has been tremendous. Adriene tends to her congregation of 300 members, with a focus on faith as it intersects with justice and human rights, and with a call to spread love above all else. She is active in the Brooklyn Heights Interfaith Clergy Association and advocates for unity among the diverse faith communities in the area. She also volunteers on the School Leadership Team at P.S. 8 where her daughter Petal is a rising 5^th grader, and co-chairs its Equity and Diversity Committee which aims to cultivate a diverse and inclusive environment at P.S. 8 and the community at large.

The blog interviewed Adriene about pastoring during this extraordinary time when the need to physically distance makes gathering at church impossible now and for the foreseeable future.

(Full disclosure: Adriene and the interviewer are friends, as are their children who are schoolmates at P.S. 8.)

* * *

How are you doing, really?

I’m exhausted [laughs]. Even on my good days, I’m exhausted. And it’s not even so much… it’s just sort of a mental exhaustion. I feel like I never stop thinking or worrying about something.

I totally relate. It’s been three months since First Presbyterian has been able to hold live worship services, how have you shifted to serve your congregation?

I think we’re one of the lucky churches. We’ve been live streaming worship almost since I arrived here four years ago. So the transition for us has been pretty smooth. So, instead of having 20-30 people on the live stream, we’re all on the live stream.

What does Sunday services look like now?

We start the hour before with a bible study which we used to do and now we do that via Zoom. And worship pretty much looks like it looked before. Some of my colleagues have been doing a scaled-down service. We’re still doing what we call prelude to postlude. So we start with music; we do all the prayers; we have a sermon; we have solo singing. Everything you would experience in person, we’re doing online. The added benefit is that because we record everything in advance and stitch it together like a movie, we’re able to add images. One Sunday, we added a laugh track because it was Holy Humor Sunday. We couldn’t have done that in person. Anything you can do in a movie or TV setting, we can do now.

Rev. Adriene Thorne delivers a sermon from a safe distance at home.

The church is renowned for its incredibly talented choir and musicians, who I understand are a tightly-knit group. How have they been now that they’re unable to practice and perform together in person?

Our minister of music Amy Neuner is very creative, and her husband Chris Neuner does the online worship production. Our choir typically rehearsed on Thursday evenings. Amy used to play music and from wherever we were joining her, we all would just sing, but of course we couldn’t see each other. What she has shifted that into, is choir members recording themselves singing, and then we show videos of that. That way, we can see each other and hear each other do solos or duets, and that’s been really great. This week, she’s going to pull from the archives and just show videos of the choir doing beloved songs from over the years. She calls it “going back to the vault.”

The First Prebyterian Church of Brooklyn Choir, B.C. (before Covid). (Photo courtesy of First Church.)

David Murray sings “Amazing Grace” with Matt Podd on the piano during recent virtual services.

Since we’re friends, I’ve known you to have a usual week packed with meetings with church staff and condolence calls to parishioners, not to mention all the special events you host at the church throughout the year, as well as all your volunteer work. How much has your regular schedule changed and how?

[Laughs] Well I do educate my child, although I wouldn’t say I’m actually educating. But I try to make sure she does some level of education each day. My schedule used to be to take her to school, go to the gym, and start working at around 10:00 a.m. Now I just block out my morning to exercise and then help jump start her educational effort. So I work much later into the evening now. I’m actually able to do more condolence calls, much more interaction with parishioners now than ever before, because I was always at meetings at Borough Hall or at P.S. 8. There are no meetings now. So I’m doing lots of phone calls, lots of hand-written notes. That’s the biggest shift and I actually love that much more than my typical schedule.

Places of worship are now allowed to hold gatherings of 25 or less people. Does the church have any plans to take advantage of that soon?

So, we’ve not had a formal conversation. We’ve only touched on it lightly. Probably when the elder leadership meets again this month, we’ll look at it more formally. But I’m not recommending that we do. Our community has close to 300 people and many of them have underlying conditions. Like a lot of churches, we also have a sizeable number of members over 65. Churches and communities of faith are probably the number one vectors of spreading the virus. We hug, we kiss, we sing, we eat together. I don’t think there is any way to do worship as well in person, with all of the restrictions we have to take, that will match what we’re doing online. So I don’t imagine we will be back before 2021. But that’s just my guess.

When the church finally opens to live worship, how do you envision services to look like in a congregation built on a close-knit choir and multi-generational memberships, and the passing of peace with people shaking hands, hugging and kissing.

In response to the President recently saying, “churches must reopen!” one of our members, Tracy Zamot, said on facebook, “my church never closed, we just moved worship online.” And I thought that was so correct and I was so proud that one of our church members said that. Because we didn’t close. Synagogues haven’t closed. Mosques haven’t closed. People are still being church. Church originally happened in people’s homes. We’re still together and we’re still doing church. It’s just hard to imagine gathering in person before there’s a vaccine. And I’m not slamming anyone who makes a different choice. But for our community, to do that before a vaccine, we’d be putting so many people that we love at risk. During a recent webinar with other church leaders, we discussed how singing is the worst thing, followed by playing woodwind instruments, because of how singing aspirates the virus. So we would be asking people to come and sit in an enclosed space and inhale what could potentially kill them. And I just can’t with good conscience do that to people that we love. So it’s hard to imagine live worship before there’s a vaccine.

I saw that there are bins outside the church front doors asking people to drop off what they don’t need and to take whatever they need. Have you seen a lot of activity there?

I put up a notice a few times on facebook and I’ve been incredibly heartened by how this neighborhood has rallied to fill those bins. People walk by and take photos. People come by with their own groceries and stock the bins. I just want to shout out the neighborhood for taking that to heart. I’ve always thought, and people have always said to me, “oh Brooklyn Heights, those people don’t need anything.” For one, I don’t think that’s true. I think there’s a great need in this neighborhood. I also think there’s a lot of sorrow underneath the surface. I also think this is a neighborhood of people who want to do good. And if they have the opportunity and we make it easy, they will step up and do good. So I just want to shout out the neighborhood.

What does pastoring mean now and what has been the most surprising change for you since the pandemic began?

I think like all of us, there are things that you knew before that are now just so much clearer in this moment. I think what’s most clear for me is that I’m not doing this alone. And the other thing they teach you at seminary is that you don’t have the power to save anyone. You always know it in the back of your mind, but I think a lot of clergy, just like parents perhaps, think we have a lot more power than we do. This virus makes it very clear that you are one of many trying to do the best you can to help people in your care. But you’re not Jesus, you’re not magical. You’re human and you have to sleep. All of those things have become very clear. So, I have to ask for help. I have to be able to say, “Can you call that person?” I have to take a break because if I don’t, I’m going to lose my mind.

You’ve been tasked with providing comfort and guidance during a time of tremendous uncertainty and anxiety, and you’re going through it as much as anyone else. So how do you care for yourself, so that you can care for everyone else.

I had five people that I cared about die in April. It’s been hard. I recently took a week vacation. That’s part of the care that I’m taking for myself. But I have to say my coach had to say to me, “you need to take a break.” Because I was just going-going like everyone else, and once things got less intense, I thought I was fine. But the minute she said, “you need to take time off,” all I could think about is taking time off. Because you’re just in shock. We’re all going through this trauma all at the same time. We all need someone to say to us, “you need to stop, you need to take a day off.” Sometimes we can’t see it until someone else says it. The other way I take care of myself, I always remind myself that I am limited in the number of people I can care for. So one of my most urgent jobs was making sure that the community was connected to each other, so they could take care of each other. As I said, we have almost 300 members in our community and they’ve got to start calling each other beyond what they had already been doing. They’ll check on each other, run errands for each other, and all those good things. So that’s been amazing.

* * *

Rev. Adriene Thorne is a mother, a Pastor, a writer, a certified life coach and disaster chaplain, and so much more. Her life before divinity studies included a career in the arts and performing with the Dance Theatre of Harlem and the Metropolitan Opera, among others. As a gifted dancer, Adriene also held the center spot on stage as a member of the world famous Radio City Rockettes.

All are welcome to join services on Sundays at 11:00 a.m. or listen to the choir’s recorded music at this link. You can also watch past services and listen to Adriene’s sermons at this link.

Angela Rizzuti, a Brooklyn Heights resident artist, graduate of the Parsons School of Design, and now retired Grace Church School teacher who taught your correspondent’s daughter there, made this little poster and displayed it in her window. The pastor of the Zion German Evangelical Lutheran Church has told her he will base his e-sermon this Sunday on it. We at BHB join in Angela’s wish for all.

The Rt. Rev. Lawrence C. Provenzano, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island, which includes Brooklyn, has ordered all churches in the Diocese, including Grace Church (photo) and St. Ann & the Holy Trinity, to suspend services beginning today through March 26. At that time it will be decided whether to continue the suspension, which would then presumably last through Holy Week and Easter. The churches will remain staffed with offices open.

The Most Rev. Nicholas DiMarzo, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, has excused the faithful from the obligation to attend masses, but services will continue. Catholic schools in the diocese are closed.

The First Presbyterian Church has suspended “in-person worship effective immediately and for the foreseeable future” and the First Unitarian Congregational Society has suspended all programming until April 5, though worship services will be available on line, Plymouth Church is taking a measured approach. There will be a service tomorrow (Sunday, April 15), with modifications to permit social distancing, and the service will be live streamed. Updates will be given periodically on the Church’s website. Plymouth Church School is closed. The Brooklyn Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) will continue to have meetings on their usual schedule, but the First Day School and Social Hour are cancelled until further notice. Neither the Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Cathedral nor the Zion German Evangelical Lutheran Church have indicated any change to scheduled services.

The Brooklyn Heights Synagogue will continue to have Friday evening Shabbat and Saturday morning Chavurah services, but the religious school and other programs are suspended during a two week hiatus. More details are on the website linked above. Neither Congregation B’nai Avraham nor Congregation Mount Sinai have posted any information concerning suspension or modification of services.

The Islamic Society of America/Dawood Mosque has not indicated any change to availability of prayer services.

Photo: Claude Scales

On Sunday, Jan. 19, 11:00 a.m., two local churches will hold services to honor Martin Luther King, Jr.

From Rev. Adriene Thorne at First Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn:

This Sunday will be a very special one in the life of our community of faith. We are celebrating the life and witness of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in word, song, dance and jazz. We received a grant from the NY Presbytery to bring people together around two things we all love – jazz and justice. Make plans to celebrate #mlkday2020 with us. There will be amazing music from our gospel choir (ranked one of the top-10 in NYC) and a 16-piece jazz big band. It doesn’t get any sweeter than this – jazz, gospel and Jesus! Please bring a friend. Please bring food or drink to share at fellowship hour. See you Sunday!

There will also be a Musical Interfaith Service at Grace Church in conjunction with Brooklyn Heights Synagogue.  Rabbi Serge Lippe will deliver a sermon at the service, along with Rev. Dr. Allen F. Robinson.

This coming Thursday, November 7, starting at noon, City Tech’s Jewish Faculty and Staff Association will host at the College’s Atrium Amphitheater, at 300 Jay Street, “From Kristallnacht to Pittsburgh and Beyond.”

On the night of November 9-10, 1938 rampaging mobs throughout Germany and the newly acquired territories of Austria and Sudetenland freely attacked Jews in the street, in their homes and at their places of work and worship. At least 96 Jews were killed and hundreds more injured, more than 1,000 synagogues were burned [see photo], almost 7,500 Jewish businesses were destroyed, cemeteries and schools were vandalized and 30,000 Jews were arrested and sent to concentration camps.

We are also just past the first anniversary of the slayings of congregants at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue, which showed that murderous anti-semitism is unfortunately alive in our own time and country.

Admission is free, and all are welcome. There’s more information here about the program and the speakers.

Photo: ruined synagogue in Munich after Kristallnacht; לא ידוע / Unknown [CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)]

Next weekend, Saturday, May 18 and Sunday, May 19, the New York Landmarks Conservancy, in conjunction with various religious institutions, will present its annual Sacred Sites Open House. Among the participating houses of worship are four Brooklyn Heights churches: Grace Church (photo, C. Scales for BHB), open Sunday the 19th from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.; Our Lady of Lebanon Cathedral, 113 Remsen Street (main entrance on Henry), open Saturday the 18th from 9:45 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and Sunday the 19th from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.; Plymouth Church, 75 Hicks Street, open Saturday the 18th from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.; and St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church, 157 Montague Street (main entrance on Clinton), open Sunday the 19th from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

All of the Brooklyn Heights participants in this year’s Sacred Sites Open House are Christian, but Beth Shalom v’Emeth Reform Temple, 83 Marlborough Road, Prospect Park South will be open Sunday the 19th from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and the Moslem Mosque Inc., 106 Powers Street, Williamsburg, will be open Saturday the 18th from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The Mosque tour requires advance registration.

Sorry for the very late notice. Brooklyn Heights Synagogue has invited all friends and neighbors, of whatever faith or belief, to show solidarity with their congregation, the American Jewish Committee, and all Jews by attending Shabbat service at the Synagogue this Saturday morning, November 3, at 10:30. Brooklyn Heights Synagogue is located at 131 Remsen Street, between Clinton and Henry. More information here.

In a service this afternoon at which The Right Reverend Lawrence Provenzano, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island (which includes Brooklyn and Queens, as Long Island geographically does) officiated, The Reverend Doctor Allen Robinson was instituted as the fifteenth rector of Grace Church, which has stood on Hicks Street between Grace Court and Joralemon Street since 1847. The service was attended by many Grace parishioners, as well as by local clergy of many faiths and Episcopal clergy from throughout the Diocese. There was also a delegation from Rev. Robinson’s former church, St. James Lafayette Square in Baltimore, along with The Right Reverend Robert Wright, Episcopal Bishop of Atlanta.
Rev. Robinson and his family were warmly welcomed by the congregation.

Today St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church, at Clinton and Montague streets, was made a Pro-Cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island. As a Pro-Cathedral, it will serve as a secondary seat from which the Bishop may officiate. The celebration of this event began with a procession (photo) beginning at the Montague Street entrance to the Promenade and continuing along Montague to Clinton and the church.

Once in the church, the celebration continued with an evensong service. In his remarks, Bishop Lawrence Provenzano noted that Holy Trinity, as the church was known before the merger with St, Ann’s, was the original cathedral of the Diocese of Long Island. He was delighted to make it a Pro-Cathedral in recognition of the importance of Brooklyn and Queens in the diocese.

The Wardens of Grace Church have announced that The Reverend Doctor Allen F. Robinson (photo; courtesy Grace Church) will serve as the venerable church’s (founded 1847) fifteenth Rector. According to the Wardens:

Allen comes to us from St. James’ Church (sometimes known as “St. James’ at Lafayette Square”) in Baltimore, Maryland. Organized in 1824, St. James’ was the first black Episcopal church south of the Mason/Dixon line and the third black Episcopal congregation established in the United States. Allen became Rector of St. James’ in July 2002. Previously, he served as Associate Rector of Calvary Church in Memphis, Tennessee, as Assistant Rector of St. Dunstan’s Episcopal Church in Houston, Texas, and Assistant Rector of St. James’ Church, also in Houston.

Allen was ordained in 1995 after study at the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia. In 2007, he received a Doctorate of Ministry, with a dissertation on congregational development, from the Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California.

Dr. Robinson will arrive at Grace on Monday, March 19 and will conduct his first services on Palm Sunday, March 25. Grace Church is located at 254 Hicks Street, between Grace Court and Joralemon Street.

Brooklyn Heights Synagogue and First Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn will jointly host musical interfaith services to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. weekend. At BHS this Friday, Jan. 12 at 6:30 p.m., the soul-stirring BHS and FPC choirs will perform together and the inimitable Rev. Adriene Thorne of FPC will bring the word. At FPC on Sunday, Jan. 14 at 11:00 a.m., the choirs will rouse the congregation and the incomparable Rabbi Serge A. Lippe will deliver the word. 

Asked about the joint services, Rev. Thorne said,

At a time when religious bans are normalized, when the protected status of immigrants is in jeopardy, when neighbors are feeling left out, left behind, and left on their own, Interfaith relationships matter. As a person of faith who follows a Jewish rabbi named Jesus, I put great value in my Interfaith relationships and what they make me question and better understand about Christianity. I am a better Christian because I spend time with Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists and people of no faith.

Rabbi Lippe added,

Fifty years ago, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel offered these words to colleagues when introducing Dr. King, “Martin Luther King represents a voice, a vision, and a way… I am convinced that the whole future of America depends on how seriously we take this voice, this vision, and this way.” As we approach a half century since Dr. King’s prophetic voice was silenced, women and men of good faith must not content ourselves with simply reiterating his message, we must act and respond to the challenge of his vision. It is not enough to be inspired by Dr. King’s soaring oratory, we must be willing to discomfort ourselves in order to establish his vision: “It is not possible to be in favor of justice for some people and not be in favor of justice for all people. Justice cannot be divided. Justice is indivisible.”

All are welcome. See flyer below, the BHS website, and the FPC facebook page for more details.