Around Town

‘Love Your Enemies’: Community Celebrates the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. During Stirring Ceremony

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John Baluyut, a New Canaan High School senior, once believed that love could only happen between and among close friends and family. Yet after arriving in New Canaan, the ABC House scholar told a crowd of more than 150 people on Monday morning, he “learned that love is more than that.”

“Although the first month of moving here can be overwhelming, being in an environment that fostered love from people that were strangers to me a few weeks ago gave me an experience that I’ve never had before,” Baluyut told those gathered inside the United Methodist Church of New Canaan during a celebration of the life of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

He continued: “It opened my eyes to the fact that love is more than a feeling from family and friends—it is a transformative force capable of mending broken relationships, bridging divides and making enemies turn into friends.”

Baluyut struck a note that would resound throughout the moving ceremony, organized by the Interfaith Council of New Canaan. It featured a welcome from the Rev. Gilbert Burgess of the Community Baptist Church, music from the Men’s Choir at Pivot Ministries, the trio of Khanisha Moore (vocals), Peterson Prime (piano) and Justin Merveille, and Nerva Altino of the Congregational Church of New Canaan, an interfaith prayer for peace led by Jennifer Zonis, president of the Interfaith Council, testimony from Baluyut and NCHS sophomore Dariel Ortiz, an invocation from the Rev. Martha Epsein of UMC, keynote address from the Rev. Richard Williams, pastor of Pivot Ministries, and benediction led by Monsignor Rob Kinnally of St. Aloysius Church. Those in attendance included the full Board of Selectmen—First Selectman Dionna Carlson and Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll, as well as other municipal officials, local clergy and representatives from ABC House of New Canaan, including Moore, the organization’s resident director, Executive Director Jamie Boris and Board of Directors President Liz Tuff.

Around Town

Meet United Methodist Church’s New Pastor, Martha Epstein

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Religion can enter someone’s life in many ways, but for Martha Epstein, United Methodist Church’s new pastor, faith has been a constant presence. Born to a United Methodist Minister in Brooklyn, N.Y., Epstein would graduate from White Plains High School before attending Cornell for her bachelor’s degree. She would later go on to receive a master’s in Elementary Education from Pace University in addition to a master’s in Divinity from Drew University. While she would spend the first 10 years of her career working as a kindergarten teacher, Epstein found a new purpose in life once she started to spend her Sundays as a substitute pastor. 

“As time went on, I felt more and more called, I know people use that word a lot, but more and more this pull to be in the church, to work with people of all ages,” Epstein told NewCanaanite.com. “I was going through a bit of a rough time where I was teaching so I would come home from that and I didn’t feel as good.