New Paltz Student Christian Center

04/26/2025

Here's a wrap-up for today and a look ahead to tomorrow.

05/21/2022

Best Wishes, Of A Bright Future, To The Graduating Class of 2022!

05/14/2022

To care for each other as Jesus taught us, it looks like we will be returning to masking.

Ulster County is once again seeing rising rates of active COVID-19 cases. Please protect yourself & your community by wearing a mask in public indoor spaces, staying up to date with COVID-19 vaccines, and getting tested if you have symptoms. Report positive at-home tests ➡️ https://covid19.ulstercountyny.gov/hometest

05/08/2022

A prayer for our nurturing parents this Sunday.

Mothering One,
by you we are called into being,
through your care we are nurtured,
in your spirit, we are supported and strengthened.
For all those through whom you do this mothering,
we give you thanks.

For those who teach us to be courageous and kind, who hold our grief and fight to make a way with and for us, who love us when the world doesn't, who encourage us to share our deepest most authentic gifts for the sake of the collective whole...
We are grateful. We are blessed.

And also, you welcome the truths more complicated in these collective observances. You know all the ways today can hurt for so many - the grief, the erasure, the distance, the q***r and trans antagonism, all the forces that leave those who mother under-resourced, criminalized, isolated, or afraid for their children - given or chosen.

You reject social expectations that oversimplify and shame on days such as these. You linger with us in the both/ands. You reveal the way mothering manifests regardless of gender.

You, Sacred One, know all the ways our modern celebrations of mothering are rich and fraught, both. You welcome us to find you in the midst. Loving us in and through all that is unresolved.

[Image description: a white photo with a dark green plant on the far right side. These words sit on top - "for all who mother our collective children by fighting for their rights and protection, loving and advocating for the rejected and isolated, calling for radical action to combat climate crises, and modeling love and strength born not from domination but from compassion and courage, we give thanks to God who shows us that new life is born in so many ways.]

04/26/2022

This is a meditation for those who are looking at massive changes (especially finals and graduation) in the coming weeks. If you're feeling overwhelmed, know that it is because you are starting something new, and God is walking with you.

"I keep finding myself back at the beginning, which, oddly enough, is always new...I am still working my way out of many strange and distinct patterns, still unlearning several survival methods that try with all their might to hold me back...Each time I feel the old tightness, the worry, the existential unease, I know that something that I insist on doing is just not working. These days, I take any fatigue and depression t mean that I've traveled the same road one too many times. When I catch myself in some ideation or fantasy about giving up, or some desperate feeling of loneliness, I wonder what lie about myself I am making up. I wonder what I am forgetting.

There are, and there will be even more, days when we think we have it figured out. Days when we don't remember what was so hard about it all. Days when we are sure that it will be perfectly smooth sailing from here on in. And then, just like that, it falls apart again. Do I want to use the word fail? Fine. Fail is just another four-letter word that we vilify. I intend to fail as gorgeous foundation, fail as wind behind me, fail as the growing wild, fail as glowing ember, as starting point, as flickering lighthouse. Sometimes you think it's all over, when in fact you are standing at the edge of a new age. Old practices and patterns fall away because they must. They leave when it is time, and it is always Time."

- Yrsa Daley-Ward
The How

[Image description: A light blue photo with the faint image of a large rock coming up from the bottom. There is a little sea gull sitting on top. These words sit on the sky area - "Sometimes you think it's all over, when in fact you are standing at the edge of a new age. - Yrsa Daley-Ward"]

04/24/2022

As some may know, we lost our wonderful Student Volunteer, Dave Mano, on the 14th. He was an absolute joy to work with, and his wry sense of humor is going to be missed.

We ask that you lift up his family and friends, both at SUNY Ulster and at SUNY New Paltz, as we grieve his loss. If you would like to attend his viewing this Wednesday, follow this link for all of the service information. There are also several other things you can do in his memory.

Peace, comfort, blessings,
Pastor Rebecca

04/22/2022

Here are some pics of last week. We had a wonderful time connecting with students around the hard feelings we deal with, and a wonderful time working with our friends at the campus counseling center.

Peace this Easter Week, and blessings,
Pastor Rebecca

04/21/2022

This is a lovely thing to meditate on today.

Easter was a confusing time for Jesus' disciples, as they would not have known exactly what was going on. They would have been wondering who took his body, confused by Mary's story, and worried the Romans were hunting for them, in addition to the grief they would have been feeling from the prior week's events.

This is a beautiful image, loaded with meaning, and one we can meditate on as we explore greif, confusion, and joyous change as well.

“Christ: The Mother Hen”

New icon

I have often felt that we don't use the metaphor of Christ as Mother Hen enough. Many folks mentioned this after my recent icon “Our Lady of the Journey: Mothers” It was about time to paint an icon of it. Inspired by Christs own words in Matthews Gospel and from a beautiful mosaic inside Dominus Flevit Church on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.

“Metaphor is the only possible language available to religion because it alone is honest about Mystery. The underlying messages that different religions and denominations use are often in strong agreement, but they use different images to communicate their own experience of union with God."
~Richard Rohr

Prints and the Original Icon are available here:
https://kellylatimoreicons.com/collections

04/20/2022

Hi everyone, our lovely custodial coworkers brought in a couple of items that were lost on the 4th floor. It is a ring and a bracelet. If it is yours, let me know what they look like and come get them in the office tomorrow from 2-4PM.

Pastor Rebecca

04/16/2022

A prayer for today, a quiet day.

Rev. Anna Blaedel, on this Holy Saturday

[Image description: A grey photo with these words on top - "The call of Holy Saturday, is to practice remaining. To remain with pain, to bear witness to wounds. This is central to the work of redemption. Witness and with-ness are practices of new life, practices opening new possibilities, practices of resurrection. Holy Saturday reminds us that redemption is encountered not in victory over death, but through remaining with death in a way that honors both life and loss, gift and grief, fear and wonder. No easy answers. No quick fixes. No superficial platitudes.
God meets us in deep, complicated, and messy ways; God dwells in deep, complicated, and messy places."]

04/15/2022

Hi everyone! Head in down to SUB room 209 today, leave a post it, and settle in for a chat. We will be there from 2-4PM, and we will have snacks (and maybe our canine visitor). See you there.