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We’re living in a time right now where we’ve got to work through chaos, says Bishop Hughes, and the way we do that as Christians is we show our love. Recording this video in her kitchen where she’s preparing a special dinner for some diocesan members – “Cooking is my love language,” she says – she urges us all to think and pray about how we can show love with actions as well as words. (Time: 4:44.)

Video Transcript

This is Bishop Hughes in the Diocese of Newark. It is the second week of Easter, which means we’re in those great 50 days of Easter. And I am not filming at my desk today. I’m making this little tape as I stand in the kitchen. I got up early before I have to be in the office because I have people coming over for dinner tonight, and I’m excited about those people. They’re a marginalized group in the world, and I don’t want them to feel marginalized in our church.
So I’ve invited members of the trans community and our transgender community in our diocese over for dinner tonight. And one of the things that happens for me, naturally, when I cook is I think about the people who are coming. I want to make sure that they know that they are loved and cared for. And cooking is my love language, it is how I let people know that they are really, truly cared for. I hope and pray that we have really great conversation. And most of all, I want them to know that they are not alone, and they are beloved by God and beloved by me.
So I’m excited to have them here. But I have to say I’m at that point in the kitchen where I wish I could just stay, but I’ve got meetings, I’ve got to get into the office. But I just want to share with you a little bit of the disaster that it looks like this morning.
I think every cook recognizes this moment where things are not neat and tidy. As a matter of fact, they’re kind of everywhere. There’s a long ways to go. The only thing I’ve gotten done this morning is dessert, but it’s easier to get dessert done. Texas sheet cake, by the way, for those of you who know it and like it. But there’s still a ways to go, while on the other side of the kitchen, you can see some of the stuff – potatoes that only get peeled later tonight, there’s a butternut squash that’s already chopped up and veggies that have to be chopped up – but this is what it’s like when you’re pulling dinner together.
And I show you all the messy part, not just to say, Oh, look, this is what it looks like in my kitchen when I’m baking – I’m sure it looks as messy in yours when you’re cooking or doing whatever you’re getting done to get the next meal ready – but it’s to remind us that every single day of our lives we work through some mess, through some dirt, through some chaos, in order to get to something that we really like and something that we really want. And we’re living in a time right now where we’ve got to work through the mess. We’ve got to work through the chaos, and the way we do that as Christians is we show our love.
And so in these great 50 days of Easter, I wonder how every single person in this diocese could show their love. Show your love to someone who’s marginalized. Show your love to someone whose rights are being compromised. Show your love to those who need to know that they are loved. It might mean that you feel a little awkward. It might mean that you don’t quite know what to say or what to do. But think about it and pray about it first. I thought about this and prayed about it, like how, what’s my best way to support people in the transgender community in the diocese and let them know, other than my words, which I have shared frequently – no one’s surprised by my stance – but other than my words, how can I let them know? And it just struck me, this is one of the ways I show people that I love them.
So there is a strand of Christianity that is very much focused on proving who is wrong, who does not belong, where Satan is, and who God cannot tolerate. And I can’t help but look at the God who incarnated fully human, fully divine, in order to be with us and keep us connected to God forever – I can’t help but look at that and feel nothing but expansive love. And what Jesus tells us to do is to love our neighbor, and that when we see someone to love, that in some way, we are seeing Christ in that person.
So we’ve got 50 more days of – well, I guess it’s more like 47, or 43… math is not my gift – but we’ve got a number of days in front of us to still celebrate Easter, and I invite you to celebrate it in this specific way. Let people know that they are loved by God and loved by you. Show that love as much as you say that love.

January 24, 2025
“Remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” – Matthew 28:20b
Dear Companions on the Journey,
What a week it has been. Worship and service projects commemorated the prophetic witness and impactful ministry of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th president of the United States was celebrated at multiple festive occasions, including at a prayer service where Bishop Mariann Budde, Diocese of Washington, ended her sermon with a plea for mercy for those who fear what will come. All this took place by Tuesday of this week, as Executive Orders ushered in all sorts of changes, some impacting our churches. On Thursday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained people at a Newark business.
There is much demanding our attention. In this letter I want to focus on who we are as faith communities and how we treat each other in church. I will send a letter next week with specific guidelines and recommendations for Christian responses to Executive Orders that may affect our congregations.
The people, lay and ordained, of our diocese are diverse in many ways including political party affiliation. This week, much like just after the election when we gathered at Convention, there are a variety of responses to all that I named above. On Sunday morning when we gather for worship, some will be delighted and excited by the changes this week brought. Some will be shocked and sad, while others will have had their worst fears confirmed. All those reactions will shape what we need and experience at church this Sunday.
It is important for us to embrace our baptismal promises in our interactions with each other, especially these two:

• Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?
• Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?

A discouraging fact about our political discourse is the intolerance created by speaking of others in harmful, dismissive, and dehumanizing language and tone. The harshness of political polemic used in community has broken apart a variety of congregations, families, and friends. None of us want that as we gather to worship, but we also don’t want to make church a place where we do not talk about the things most important to us.
I encourage every one of us to release our partisan political viewpoint while at church and instead to step fully into the role of follower of Jesus Christ. On Sunday we have a chance to care for each other as a treasured gift given to us to support our faith journey. We should ask each other if we are okay and then listen to the response. We need to ask each other for prayer, and we need to pray right then and there. Let coffee hour be a place where we talk about how God guided us through the week. We need to leave church having given and received the support of each other. In other words, Sunday is an opportunity for us to care for each other as God cares for us.
Our practice of seeing each other as Christ sees us and loving each other will help us treat each other with respect. When you love somebody, you cannot help but want justice and peace for them too. The more we do this with each other, the more we will do it in our homes, schools, neighborhoods, and workplaces. Our faith can and will change the dynamic of all that is around us, if with God’s help, we choose to lead our lives guided by Jesus’ teaching.
We are not alone. God does not forget or overlook us. We are always in God’s sight.
Grace and peace,
Bishop Hughes

January 31, 2025
“Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”
Matthew 25: 38 – 40
Dear Companions on the Journey,
We are in the season of Epiphany, the time when the church and her people celebrate the three magi arriving in Bethlehem. Their story, along with the stories of Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, and John the Baptist, are all marked by dreams, prophets, and angelic messengers. Amid the chaos and confusion inflicted upon a people by a census requiring travel to hometowns, God was guiding every participant in this uniquely divine and human drama.
I am writing to encourage you in a time of chaos and confusion in our land. The unleashing of merciless directives in the form of Executive Orders has upended the lives of many people we know and love in our families, congregations, and communities. Shock, outrage, and fear are normal responses to these current circumstances. And yet even in these times, God does not leave us. In fact, when the least among us are troubled, God expects us to turn to them, using our gifts, knowledge, and resources to ease suffering, heal the afflicted, and assure the afraid that they are always in God’s sight.
Let there be no doubt, it is not by happenstance that God gives us the opportunity to serve the least among us. It is God’s expectation that we will live into the divine and holy vision of a world transformed by God’s love, mercy, and justice. As we learned in the pandemic years, we have an expanding capacity to care for the least among us. We can expect that God will give us insight and wisdom in dreams, messages, and prophecies as God has so often done when God’s people need to see and be the light of Christ.
The Executive Order rescinding protected status for churches, schools, and hospitals was shocking and had immediate impact in Northern New Jersey. The loss of safe spaces is especially grievous to churches. The church has been, is now, and will always be God’s house. The church is always home, for all of God’s people, at all times, regardless of circumstance or status. To treat it as one more secular place to bring harm to God’s people is the direct opposite of the teachings of Jesus Christ and ignores the freedoms of religion enshrined in the First Amendment.
Work in our diocese is well underway to prepare and support congregations and ministries primarily comprised of and/or serving people of color in the event they need to respond to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. Additionally, clergy of color will be trained next week to avoid becoming collateral detainees as they make pastoral visits to hospitals or schools.
This kind of preparation is not solely for the clergy and congregations of color, however. It is a ministry the entirety of our diocese is called to support. These are simple and practical ways that every congregation and member of our diocese can support immigrants and the people who serve them:

• Read the document “Immigration Guidelines for Congregations.” Discuss and determine how you and your congregation will support or advocate for immigrants.
• Call and write your elected representatives to express your concerns about the loss of protected status for churches.
• Carry “Know Your Rights” cards and ask people if they need a copy or know someone who needs a copy.
• Pay attention to who is missing from your congregation or ministry. Pray for them and ask how best to support any family remaining in New Jersey.
• Pray daily for the safety of our at-risk congregations, ministries, and clergy.
• Partner with local advocacy and immigration support organizations.
• Study the life and ministry of Jesus as found in the Gospels.
• Participate in a Sacred Ground program to develop a deeper and Christian understanding of our ongoing struggles with race and racism.
• Pay attention to what the law permits and seek to model Christ’s mercy within those parameters.

Finally, our call is always to serve God and serve God’s people. In a time that is terrifying for many, we are called to bring God’s peace. This is a ministry of mercy. As always, we are not alone in this ministry. We are guided by the One who loves us and all people, regardless of their circumstances and status.
Grace and peace,
Bishop Hughes

A message from Rev. Sharon
 
Last fall, members of our congregation and the Boonton community recorded our hopes and dreams on a banner that now hangs in our parish hall. In November, we met with a member of the diocesan Visioning Team to delve a little deeper into our dreams for St. John’s. We discussed the strengths of our parish as well as our challenges and concerns; the ways we interact with the diocese; how we wish the diocese could support us; and our dreams for future ministry. This weekend, the St. John’s clergy and deputies will hear more about the diocesan visioning process and how that connects with our own ministries.
 
The process of discerning a vision for the future is an important and ongoing part of the Christian journey in our own lives, in the life of our parish, and in the life of our diocesan and the wider church. This is how we discover what God is calling us to do and how we plan to answer that call.
 
You can hear what our bishop says about the process now underway in our diocese here:
https://youtu.be/wUVoEve9nMg
 
I’ve also attached the report from our listening session in November. I encourage everyone to read it. What do you agree with or disagree with? What would you add? These insights will help us as we plan for our future at St. John’s and how we will share God’s love with our community.