Greetings!
I returned Sunday from four weeks in India with my husband's family, where I also attended a conference called "Envisioning Post-Colonial Theologies to Decolonize the Body of Christ" (look for a summary in next week's Update). With warmth in my heart, it is wonderful to be back in wintery Manhattan and I look forward to seeing you at this month's Living Rooms.
Tomorrow night, we will gather for our first Faith House communion, to experience the central sacrament of the Christian Community. This event will be based on the shared meals and prayers of 1st and 2nd century (CE) early Christian communities, but will be hosted by Emily Scott and St. Lydia's, a thoroughly modern Manhattan community. All are welcome to participate at the level they feel comfortable. Please bring cut fruit or veggies, olives, cheese or dips to share. We will be gathering, even though it will be snowing outside, unless the National Weather Service pronounces a Blizzard Warning for the evening.
If you are interested in joining World Faith and the NYU Islamic Center's Khariat program to volunteer with kids in Harlem on Saturday, February 20, please see the full announcement below and contact Bara Levitt to RSVP, asap.
Next week's Update will include full details about our Purim! Living Room, the most raucous Jewish holy day, which we'll be celebrating on February 24th with Rabbi Justus Baird.
Finally, please take a moment to read the message below about the staff transision of Juliet rabia Gentile, our founding Islamic Co-Leader, and her message to the community (to the right). Rabia's eighteen months with Faith House have had a tremendous impact on the development of this young community and, as her message relates, have spaped her spiritual growth as well. Please join us in wishing her all the best professionally, in her spiritual path going forward, and we look forward to her continued involvement with the community.
In faith,
Bowie Snodgrass
Executive Director
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FAITH HOUSE STAFF TRANSITION
Juliet rabia Gentile, Islamic Co-Leader
 Faith House has been blessed for the last eighteen months by Juliet rabia Gentile's work as a founding staff member and Islamic Co-Leader. Rabia, a Dervish of the Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Order, is a person of spiritual depth who has helped shape Faith House conceptually in its first stages of development, contributing to the Mission, Vision, Principles, website content, as well as the design and "feel" of our Living Room gatherings.
In mid-February, Rabia will begin a traveling sabbatical away from New York, where she will be working on a new book about her journey on the path of Sufism.
Rabia has been a friend, a budding mystic in our midst, and we look forward to her continued participation in the community, including opportunities for her to guest host future Living Rooms. For the next couple months, you can continue to email any messages to rabia@faithhousemanhattan.org
Living Room Gatherings Designed by Juliet rabia Gentile
Islamic Themed
Banquet of Love: A Ramadan Feast with the Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Community (September 2009) The Garden of Union: Ancient Sufi Ceremony of Dhikrullah (May 2009)
Holy Journey: Hajj and Eid al-Adha (December 2008)
Islamic and Interfaith (with Jewish and Christian collaborators)
Seeding the Heart & Harvesting Intentions (July 2009)
Mother, Prophet, Mystic: Mary In New Testament, Holy Quran, and Beyond (January 2009) Renewals of Life: Ramadan and Rosh Hashanah (September 2008, Launch!) Breathing in... Faith House (June 2008, First Preview)
Other Faiths (with Zoastrian and Buddhist guest hosts)
Rebirth of the Sun: Nowruz and the Spring Equinox (March 2009) Selflessness: Buddhism and Social Justice (November 2008)
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LIVING ROOM
Sharing the Meal: Early Christian Communion in a Modern Manhattan Community
 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 & St. Lydia's Snow is forecast for Wednesday; we will meet unless the National Weather Service pronounces a Blizzard Warning for the eveningIn 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. RSVPs welcome, but not required on Facebook or MeetupPLEASE BRING fresh cut fruit or veggies, olives, cheese or dips |
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SERVE TOGETHER
Volunteer with local kids at the
Dunlevy Milbank Community Center in Harlem
 Saturday, February 20, 2009
10 am - 12:30 pm
Dunlevy Milbank Community Center in Harlem, 118th Street Between Lenox and 5th Ave
Come join Faith House, in partnership with World Faith and NYU Islamic Center's Khariat program, for a morning of volunteering with local youth. Enjoy a morning of literacy, crafts, and other enrichment activities with the children, ages 5-11, of Dunlevy Milbank Community Center in Harlem. Volunteers will work with students to develop educational fundamentals through reading, writing, and various other activities. Then the kids will be rewarded by time in the gym, computer center & pool.
Spots are limited, so please RSVP to Bara4987@gmail.com (subject heading "Serve Together") as soon as you can.
Looking forward to Serving with you,
Bara
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UPCOMING LIVING ROOM GATHERINGS
February - April 2010
 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month Feb - April 2010
Doors at 6 PM,
Program at 7 PM
Intersections, 274 Fifth Ave between 29th and 30th Street
Feb 24, 2010 Purim! Jewish Living Room with Rabbi Justus Baird
Mar 10, 2010 Open Circle Living Room
Mar 24, 2010 Open Circle Living Room
April 14, 2010 Islamic Living Room
April 28, 2010 Islamic Living Room
All programs free and open to the public. Donations welcome.
Twice a month, Faith House hosts LIVING ROOM gatherings where we
share holy days, learn new spiritual practices, and address current
cultural and social issues. Each gathering has a specific theme and
participatory elements.
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Message from Rabia to the Faith House Community
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Dear Friends and Members of the Faith House Community,
When I first joined Faith House Manhattan a year and a half ago it was
like entering a new experiment in religious life. Each one of us had a
vision for Faith House, but that vision had not yet taken form. The
journey that unfolded in the doing, the reaching out and the effort of
shaping spiritual community in New york City was an invaluable
experience that has enriched my life in myriad ways. Every moment of my
time at Faith House has been precious and has taught me about myself,
it has been a beautiful journey of discovery and learning for me.
It is an honor to know each of you and to have watched you grow and
push yourselves out of your comfort zones to experience the "other." It
is in these places of vulnerability, when we are pushed beyond our
limits, that we experience true generosity of spirit.
I want to thank you for your generosity and your friendship. I look
forward to watching this beautiful community blossom and grows in the
coming years.
May God's light guide you and inspire you in every moment and with every breath!
-Rabia
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Your Religion IS Changing (Probably for the Better)
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Excerpt, Article by Samir Selmanovic
... Religion can be defined as the "spirituality of others" or the
spirituality we hold together. That's why to be spiritual but not
religious can be not only lonely but frighteningly undemanding. To disregard religion is to disregard the discoveries of our spiritual predecessors, close our ears to our spiritual contemporaries, and refuse to deliver our spiritual experience into the future. Religion does all of that and more. Religion organizes our individual spiritual selves into spiritual communities. Religion gives voice to what matters to us, offer stories, histories, communities, group impact, and a long catalogue of teaching, experiences, and practices that have both served us well in the past, or that have miserably failed us.
Click for full article
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Faith House Amazon Book Store
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Support Faith House when you buy books through our Amazon.com Affiliates Book Store.
Find books and chapters by Samir Selmanovic, plus...
Staff Favorites &
Sabbath Poems
Visit the Book Store
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