What difference would it make to you if you knew your soul was immortal?
 
               A reasonable and healthy trend in contemporary spirituality is to live in the moment.  Call it mindfulness; stop and smell the coffee, sniff the roses, and take one day at a time.  That consciousness is a welcome antidote to the frenzy of tomorrow’s worries, tomorrow’s threat, and tomorrow’s unknown. Yet, there is an aspect about living into the future that is as valuable, as healthy, and as liberating.  Maybe even more so.
               The great author Victor Hugo observed:  For half a century I have been writing my thoughts in prose and verse; history, philosophy, drama, romance, tradition, satire, ode and song; I have tried all.  But I feel I have not said the thousandth part of what is in me.  When I go down to the grave,  I can say, like many others, “I have finished my day’s work.”  But I cannot say, “I have finished my life.”  My day’s work will begin again the next morning.  The tomb is not a blind alley but a thoroughfare.  It closes on the twilight, opens on the dawn

​                We believe in immortality because it is promised in our faith and celebrated in the Resurrection of our Lord.   And equally, we have experienced a deep encounter within our own souls - a thing too precious to be cast into the void.  Surely, if there is any higher power at all, such a precious gift as a soul could not be jettisoned at the conclusion of a material and finite existence.   We are unique, unrepeatable and irreplaceable.  We all live different lives.  And most certainly, the quality of our lives is not determined by length.   A care letter written by a grade schooler to a soldier overseas concluded, “I hope you will live all your life.”  Ah.  Do we live all our lives?   Or do we, too simply, think of life chiefly by its length?  Consider our Savior.  Jesus had thirty-three years and his public ministry was but three.
A former and rather eccentric parishioner, who now lives in the Perfection of God, was a man of deep and serious conviction.  I observed him spending a great deal of time with another parishioner whom I happened to know he disliked with some vigor.  I queried him as to this sudden shift in behavior.  “I realized I would be spending eternity with her and thought I better try to get along now, maybe I can help her be more pleasant before we get there.”    A more powerful eternal motivation is expressed in the martyrs Oscar Romero of El Salvador and Martin Luther King Jr. who knew their protests would risk everything while never completing their cause.  Through eyes of infinite continuity we can bring about more peace, justice, meaning, and love. 

The “everlasting” vision offers concrete inspiration for greater living in our moment, and not merely propelling us to care for those who rub us the wrong way.  Eternity empowers us to bravely endure sufferings, insist on justice for the oppressed,  find grace and grant forgiveness, claim power over the overwhelming, discover new beginnings in old endings, uncover triumph where all is doubt and darkness, walk in tranquility and peace where all is strife, stand with the troubled, and befriend the friendless.
 
This is why we believe in immortality, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and why we shout with all our being, ​

Back by popular demand!!   Somerset Patriots Ball Game and Fireworks night!  Saturday July 8.  Please pay the Group rate of $10 via the PayPal link.  Please meet at the ballpark and  pick your tickets up at the Will Call window the night of the game!   Let them know you are with the Church of the Holy Spirit!    Maybe we will see some CHS action on the field again!  :) 
Go to the online sign-up form > (don't forget to come back and pay!)

Come see some amazing and unique art! We will be carpooling from a designated area in Flemington at  9 am to head down to Hamilton NJ.   We will arrive at Grounds for Sculpture at approx. 10 am and head home at approximately 2/2:30 pm.  (Of course you can stay later if you desire!)   

Dale Dabour will be organizing a car pool (Please let her (daledabour@gmail.com)know if you are able to drive, how many people you can transport or if you yourself need a ride).  We can also run a carpool from CHS for anyone not able to get to Flemington on their own. 

NO outside food is permitted in the park. There are two establishments for dining purposes.  Rats Restaurant (Reservations are required), and The Cafe (also good food!)   

If you plan to attend, please pay the group rate in advance via the following PayPal link,  
$18 / Adult 18+,   $15 / Senior 65+,  $10/ student 6-17 (credit card fees will be added)

Good Friday 2023 Update:
Thank you to all that helped us to make our CHS Good Friday Day of Service a memorable one.  We had over 85 volunteers turn out for this special day.  We completed work at 13 houses as part of the Mr. Fixit project of Hunterdon County.  We helped Good News Home for Women clean out storage areas on their property.   Meals on Wheels gratefully distributed the 90 wreaths that we made for their clients.   We helped the Sunday School finish the 8 blankets that were made for the Linus Project.  The Flemington Food Bank received about 90 personal hygiene kits for their clients, along with handmade notes created by folks at CHS that day.  The Clinton Food Pantry received 440 lbs of food and cleaning supplies collected during the few weeks leading up to Good Friday.   Several caps were knitted and crocheted for the Seaman’s Institute’s Christmas at Sea program.  Several projects were completed around CHS including, outside pruning, Altar Guild room cleanup, electrical rewiring, and Parish Hall renovation work.  Our newly formed Publicity group sent out information to several publications and we had a few new folks join us that day due to this outreach.
A special thank you to those parishioners who spearheaded the projects and those that organized and contributed food for breakfast and dinner that day.
Sally Bird

Here is the letter that went to the Open Cupboard Food Pantry with the 440 pounds of donations!