Wednesday, February 10, 2009

6 pm Doors, 7 pm Program

Intersections, 274 5th Ave
Btwn 29th and 30th Sts
New York, NY 10001

With Emily Scott and St. Lydia's

In the earliest days of the Christian Church, Jesus' followers gathered for worship in domestic settings, blessing and breaking bread, sharing food and fellowship, and singing and praying together.  Worship took place in the context of the meal that was shared: a ritual that eventually evolved into the Eucharist.  

Experience this early Christian Communion as practiced by a modern community.  Emily Scott, pastoral minister at St. Lydia's in the East Village will speak about early Christian worship, and give the Faith House community a taste of how the congregation of St. Lydia's lives into this ancient ritual. Simple songs will be sung, scripture explored, and prayers offered in the context of "dinner church."

Emily M D Scott is the founder and pastoral minister of St. Lydia's, a new congregation in Manhattan that meets weekly to share a sacred meal. Emily is a liturgist and musician with a particular interest in how worship might allow diverse groups of people to pray and praise God together.  She currently serves as Director of Family Music Ministries at the First Presbyterian Church in the City of New York. From 2007-2009, she served as the Director of Worship at The Riverside Church in New York City. She attended Yale Divinity School and the Institute of Sacred Music, where she earned her Masters of Divinity.

Emily is the New Music Project Coordinator at St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco.  Begun in 2005, the New Music Project is an association of church musicians and clergy from around the country dedicated to promoting "paperless" music - music that can be taught and sung by without written music - in a congregational setting.  As part of this project, Emily oversaw the publication of a new hymnal released by Church Publishing, Music by Heart: paperless songs for evening worship.