Ocean Grove Beach Church every Sunday 9:00 am. This photo is 9:30 am 7/17/22. Blogfinger.net photo. South side on the boardwalk.
Pavilion is full; outside seating on the west side (here), north side and south side. 7/167/22.
North side.
Armed police presence noted. 7/17/22 This photo is a few feet away from the service at the Boardwalk Pavilion. What other town event requires armed police? Why? Paul Goldfinger photo.
By Paul Goldfinger, Grover, Editor. Blogfinger.net
It is a sunny Sunday morning at 9:30 am at the Ocean Grove boardwalk. A church service is being held in the Boardwalk Pavilion. Attendees are not only inside, but are seated on three sides outdoors. It is crowded.
This service will have to end in time for the start of the big service in the Great Auditorium at 10:30 am
Even though this is the only activity in town at 9:30 am, and the beach won’t open till noon, and the stores won’t open till 10 am, nevertheless it is hard to find a parking space throughout the town, but especially on the eastern half.
The calendar for the Camp Meeting today consists of 7 distinct activities extending through 7 pm.
Did you ever see a giant flea market here on a Sunday, or a town-wide porch sale, or a parade or any significant event?
To understand this question consider that in 2013, FEMA. (Federal government) ruled that the CMA could get public funds to repair the boardwalk on the grounds that our boardwalk and beach were “public thoroughfares,” with the arguments focusing on safety issues. The CMA loved this ruling.
But if the beach, the parks, and the boardwalk are for the public, then where is separation of church and state today in the Grove? We have seen religious based events and symbols in the OG parks.
The CMA owns the parks in town, but these parks also are public thoroughfares, so are there any secular events in our parks?
In the case of the service above, the Pavilion is private property, but spilling over onto the outside boards would seem to violate the religious separation.
I understand that it is special to have a church service there, but what happens if the Hare Krishnas were to show and have a service on the boards, or if any other religious group or cult did so?
There has been no explanation for banning swimming on our beach on Sunday mornings. If the reason is religious, then I suspect it would not hold up in court.
Today we are here on a beautiful summer Sunday in July, peak season, so why are there no special activities other than religious in town–such as a musical event, a town-wide yard sale, a historic reenactment, a movie on the beach, a poetry reading, a small sea food festival or arts exhibited on the boards, or even food trucks downtown? And how about some organized activities for kids, other than those supported by the CMA?
In other words what secular activities can be found on a Sunday at this popular Jersey Shore town with probably 15,000 people here today.
Are there double standards in OG? Will Michael Badger get his wish to turn the Grove into a “Seaside Christian Community?” And if there is clout in this town, it should be independent of who owns the land as it is in any American town.
Preferences should be for the people and by the people, not for the CMA or the useless Neptuners at the the Mother Ship.
Editor’s note: Please read Rev. Douglas Grote’s comment below.
From La La Land. “Another Day of Sun
“Summer Sunday nights
We’d sink into our seats
Right as they dimmed out all the lights
A Technicolor world made out of music and machine
It called me to be on that screen
And live inside each scene”
That “other world” was a theocracy and is not worth admiring or feeling nostalgic for in the light of 21st century America.
The ushers of today are almost all too old to be lifeguards. That “practice” is no longer present and is no longer a valid justification for the Sunday beach closure now.
The CMA should be transparent and tell the town why the OG beach should still be closed on Sunday mornings. It seems to be one of the few remaining religious based “blue laws” and should be cancelled immediately by Neptune Township.
Whether the practice is still carried out, lifeguards did serve as ushers and is one of the reasons why the beach is closed.
It was a wonderful time in OG when everything was closed on Sunday. It was a very peaceful day and was wonderful watching families walk down the middle of the streets coming from the Auditorium. It was another world that sadly will never return.
Doug. I spent some time in Elizabeth when I was a child. My Uncle Henry and Aunt Tilly lived there in a lovely brick house across from a park. His business was Linden Beverages—soda manufacturers–Their rival was Hoffman’s which made the best black cherry soda. My cousin Marty was an ice cream distributor, so we could combine the two and have some great ice cream sodas.
By the way, Days has terrific ice cream sodas—-ask for whipped cream on top.
–Paul
Hi Paul,
Thanks for your kind words.
Lest you also hear me challenging your words about CMA’s Christian mission, I’m not.
On the contrary, I feel all your words in “Who Owns Sundays in OG?” actually challenge the CMA to fulfill its true, MLK, Jr., Christian mission–a multicultural democracy MLK named “the beloved community.”
That spirit to me is but the secular premise of our separation of church and state, which normally allows a municipality to use its assets as it democratically chooses. I would think our democracy should also induce a municipality to protect its “public thoroughfares.”
Lastly, I too question the atypical, heavy police presence by the Pavilion during their Sunday morning worship, especially if they weren’t used for crowd control.
In short, the CMA’s democratic intentions are as suspect from my perspective as they apparently are from yours.
By the way, old Elizabeth had a significant Jewish population, especially in my neighborhood.
Doug
I am old enough to recall when the beach was closed all day on Sunday. I believe I heard somewhere that the lifeguards are required to serve as Auditorium Ushers. If this is correct, it is obvious they cannot be two places at once.
Douglas Grote. I am so grateful for your heartfelt comment and I agree with everything you said. Eileen and I are Jewish and when we decided to move to Ocean Grove full time in 2002, we specifically realized that we loved the spirituality of this town: the church bells ringing on Sunday, the Choir Festival, Santa showing up on Christmas Eve across the street from our house, and special events such as the Live Nativity.
You mention Garrison Keillor, and one of the most moving performances I have ever seen was when he took a mike and strolled through the Great Auditorium at a Saturday night performance singing hymns with the audience.
One of my personal themes is the idea of freedom of religion, and given the experiences of my family going back for centuries, I would not dream of criticizing the CMA’s Christian “mission.”
My concerns with them has to do with their policies related to the life styles of the secular residents and visitors in the Grove.
I wish they would acknowledge that the largest faction in the Grove are secular residents (owners and renters) who need a piece of the cultural pie. This town has a future, but what will that future be like, and what will the demographics be?
Thank you again for your comment. It is inspiring. Diversity with the support of everyone who lives here is the ideal goal.
Terry: I don’t speak for the “folks in OG.” The concerns expressed in my blog posts are my own, although they sometimes reflect conversations which I have had with those who actually live here.
I wish more Grovers would comment on Blogfinger. We tried polls, but the technology available to me makes us vulnerable to “stuffing the ballot box,”and that has happened.
Parking has always been a problem in Jersey Shore towns, but it is especially a difficult situation in the Grove where we have essentially no garages or driveways or parking lots, and I believe that in the summer we often have more cars than spaces, so any solution must find a way to reduce the numbers of cars.
To tell the truth, I can usually find parking because of my 20 years experience navigating the situation as a year round resident. But I know that parking is a real hardship for quite a few people in town.
You could make a list of all the reasons why residents are upset about parking, and I don’t think that the CMA programs are the sole concern. I’m not sure what you mean about “free parking being the real concern of folks in OG”
But it is our free parking that lures so many Asbury bound drivers into the Grove, because in Asbury you have to pay for most spaces.
Since the Asburians do not care about our problems, pay-to-park in the Grove would create many new spaces which are currently occupied by A. Park “free loaders.” And it is a source of much money which should be returned to the Grove for our own secular programs.
Thank you all for your comments, I appreciate your points in regards to activities in OG. The “fief and drum” corps would make for some great entertainment.
In regards to free parking, is that the real concern of folks in OG?
Hi Paul,
I’ve lived in OG for 4 years, am a semi-retired Presbyterian minister, and psychotherapist, and love every minute of it here. Please excuse my ignorance, but this is the first I’ve heard about the shut-down of secular events in the Auditorium in favor of outside Christian worship services.
Accordingly, please also allow me to offer my objections to the apparent decision by the OGCMA to eschew its rich multicultural legacy in favor of practically giving the precious Auditorium, Pavilion, (and even parks?) over completely to outside Christian groups. “Who Owns Sundays in OG,” indeed!
As a 9 or 10 year old kid who grew up in the richly diverse Elizabeth, NJ, up in Union County, I was saved by Jesus during Billy Graham’s call to the altar in the Auditorium in either his 1955, or 1956 crusade here. Later on in life I’ve heard Garrison Keillor and great cover bands on Saturday nights.
All my familiar neighbors, I believe, are secular. Like in Elizabeth, no one feels the need to ask. Like I said, I love it here.
My point? Secularity and religiosity have lived side by side very comfortably in all the generations of my life, and I’d love to see it continue that way in our beloved OG. Specifically, why can’t both the Auditorium and Pavilion be used by all bona fide groups via a permit process, alongside the weekly 9:00 am Sunday morning service?
Why does the beach stay closed Sunday mornings? In an age when even every church offers multiple and video worship services throughout the week, why maintain this costly relic of the 1950s?
Whenever I’m on the boardwalk on a Sunday morning I see many families come to our beach only to be awkwardly turned away by OGCMA’s paid beach attendants. At the same time, the Pavilion’s worshippers’ children are allowed their Sunday School/playtime on the beach. How does this look and feel to those families who have to go back to their cars with their disappointed kids early Sunday morning and find another beach?
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., reminded we Christians again and again to seek the heavenly, beloved community in a richly diverse environment. Let’s try better.
Peace,
Douglas Grote
dfgrote@yahoo.com
PG – hahahahaha. I don’t think the CMA would rent us a practice hall if we play standards and not religious songs. LOL
Long Time. How about starting a fief and drum corps in the Grove
It’s like banging your head against a wall trying to break them away from their struggling “mission”. They keep wishing and hoping their overt outreach will catch on.
However throngs of people (hundreds) come to the town every weekend from New York, Pennsylvania, etc., JUST to use the beach. They have no interest in the religious activities. They come at 11, leave at 7 (as opposed to the 7-11 store).
The CMA can’t believe their “fifedom” is not interesting to the majority of visitors. All the visitors want is free parking.
BTW, Definition of fiefdom: an area over which someone exercises control as or in the manner of a feudal lord .
Hmmmmmmm………….
Terry; You seem to believe that there are few secular events in the Grove because people would rather participate in OGCMA religious-based programming. Your logic is flawed.
There is no data as to who attends those many summer religious events. You think that the “preferences of the people” are reflected in all those who attend the CMA events. But which “people” are you referring to?
There are about 3,000 census based residents here, and the numbers swell to many more in the summer, but we don’t have any information about the summer populace demographics.
It is possible that most of the CMA programs are enjoyed by religious tourists. So if you are speaking about those “people” then yes, they do “prefer” religious programming. But what about the secular residents and visitors? Do they just “prefer” the beach and nothing else?
My contention is that there is not enough variety in summer offerings due to the overwhelming CMA programs. Just look at the CMA summer program guide, and especially at what goes on or doesn’t go on in the Grove on summer Sundays, such as beach availability in the morning.
Instead, consider this: The CMA no longer offers Saturday night secular programs in the GA which attracted audiences by the thousands. No lack of interest there.
We have seen secular events in the Grove which were or still are popular: Blogfinger Film Festival, Yoga on the boards, street musicians such as those who used to perform outside Nagles on Saturday nights, the Blogfinger People’s Free Garden tours, the Heck Avenue witches convention, The Town-Wide Yard Sales, Blogfinger.net a secular blog which has attracted over 4 million hits since its founding, the town newspaper which went out of business, boardwalk art show, poetry in the park including Kevin’s celebration of Walt Whitman, the first new Illumination night which was for everyone and was a big hit as designed by Deb Cuddhy, the Lifeguards tournament, Civil War re-enactment and more.
So you can’t argue that secular events are or would be unpopular–it is a question of availability and choice.
You seem to believe that the relative lack of secular programming now means that no one is interested in such events, but no, as you can see from the CMA’s aggressive advertising, secular programs would need to be developed and promoted with the OG residential community in mind and with diversity of lifestyles in mind. The future of Ocean Grove depends on it.
As for your “wish” that the OGCMA programs would continue to be successful, we have never suggested that the CMA’s activities should fail.
But there needs to be cultural balance for this town to succeed–otherwise it will become just a run-of-the-mill shore town with a heavy duty religious presence and nice historical houses–paid for mostly by the secular folks in town.
Terry: Thank you for your comments. I do not accept assignments from readers. I have always wished that Blogfinger fans would be citizen reporters, but that concept never caught on.
Paul
Thank you for your comments and photos.
Some thoughts…if you are concerned regarding the police presence, it would seem a phone call to them, might give you the answers you are looking for.
It would also seem that it should be celebrated that there are seven distinct activities being offered and very much likely at no charge. It does raise an interesting question, who is responsible or wants to do secular activities?
Judging by the number of participants, the preferences of the people are being reflected in their participation in OGCMA events.
With all of this…please keep the pictures and comments coming and I would wish Michael Badger and OGCMA all the best and continued success in their program offerings.