St. John's Episcocal Church is located at 226 Cornelia St. in Boonton. A few months ago they opened up a storefront at 506 Main St. in Boonton, just a few blocks away from where I work. It's a community outreach kind of thing called St. John's Light on Main. This picture is from their grand opening and came from their website.
I don't know the people although the woman 2nd from the right in the light blue shirt is The Rev. Laurie Wurm, St. John's Rector. We've been to a couple of their fundraising dinners (which have been delicious!) and she's said a few words there. The guy on the left in the back with the black shirt on has also been working the dinners and he's always so happy and smiling, just like in this picture. Good for him!
There was something about the name that struck me as a little different, but I couldn't put my finger on it until Kevin pointed out that the name -- St. John's Light -- sounds like a light beer. (Now 20% more fulfilling!) I could certainly see their logo on a beer can or bottle:
I stopped in on my walk home from work today, just to check out the joint. I had traded emails with Rev. Wurm to get info on the after school homework help and internet access that I'd read they offer. I figured it'd be a good resource to know about for some of our younger patrons. Tonight I went to check out the place itself.
It's a very cheerful looking place and seems very welcoming. Longtime readers will recall that I'm not religious, although I have been known to frequent fundraising dinners of religious institutions. I'm aware of the kind of good works in which most of the local houses of worship are involved, so I'm happy for my measly $10/dinner ticket to go to support those works. Yes, yes, I suppose that, in a way, the money also supports the continuation of the religion itself. I'm unsure if that's a good, bad, indifferent or mixed thing. Religion, that is. But that's a pretty big question, one I won't address here.
What I will say is that when I think of the good that's done in the name of/as a way of living one's religion, I think of some of the kinds of stuff that St. John's does: the homework help; the free cyber cafe; the free books; first Friday kids' movie nights; third Friday Family Fun nights; career coaching; food pantry; lunches for people in need; etc. This line from their About Us page sums up what I like about their approach:
The way we treat one another says more about our beliefs than what we say.
Click on the above links for more info about St. John's in Boonton.
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