house church!
September 25, 2006
So while Francis is temporarily on hold while we wait for our Storahtelling friends, I thought it’d be good to talk about our upcoming Wednesday gatherings, especially since they start in a week and a half! Rather than planning out the format start to finish, I thought it’d be better to start with what ingredients I want to throw in the pot. Here are my thoughts:
1) community. I’m a professional churcher, which means that I almost always encounter people in an “official” capacity. I have jobs; I don’t have a community. I do have individual friends, who love and support me, though, and maybe if I can get five or six of them together in the same room at the same time along with some food (I’m a pretty good cook), they’ll like each other, too.
2) social time. I want to have a group of people who are aware of what’s going on in my life and in who’s lives I can take an interest. I also hardly ever have time to see friends these days, and I want to set aside some time each week to be with people I care about.
3) food. I’m a pretty good cook, and I think there’s something really holy about eating together. I eat so many meals on the subway or while I’m running down the street to my next appointment, and I think that’s a little messed up. Let’s break bread together.
4) prayer. Prayer is so intimate; it’s really hard to do. I think praying together can be really transforming, though, and I want to make it a regular discipline.
5) creative ritual. This doesn’t have to be much – it could be a bible study, a meditation, someone reading some poetry or playing a song, or whatever. This doesn’t need to be the focus of the evening, but including makes Transmission distinguishable from a social club or a discussion group. If different people took responsibility for coming up with something each week, the burden would be light and we’d have some pretty cool stuff.
Anyway, unless the plan’s changed, we’re first gathering on October 11, probably around 7ish. I can’t wait!
St. Francis & Storahtelling
September 22, 2006
Originally uploaded by perhapsfairfax.
Yom Kippur 5767 (in the Jewish calendar) is coming up on Oct 2nd. Ike has been gigging with a group called Storahtelling – “a radical fusion of storytelling, Torah, contemporary performance art and traditional ritual theater” – for three years now. Since Yom Kippur is so close to St. Francis’ Day this year, they have invited us (Transmission) to do a littler interfaith component during their day long YK 5767 RituaLab.
Here’s an email I sent to a Storahtelling leader on Sept 11th -
Hi Amichai -
Again, thank you very much for welcoming me in yesterday. What an amazing and wonderful group you have. And so welcoming – this morning Ayelet stopped me in the Times Square subway to say Hi!
I wanted to send you a little more info on Francis, who is arguably the most beloved Christian saint (he is certainly a favorite for Episcopalians, who value their saints for the lives they lived and as role models, more than for miraculous powers).
Francis’ feast day is October 4th, but will be celebrated by Christians on Sunday, October 1st (which is often a ‘blessing of the animals’ service). So incorporating Francis into an Oct 2nd Yom Kippur is timely – and will hopefully be one more way for us to think together about the interplay between atonement and peace – both personal and shared.
Blessings, Bowie
Info on Francis
St. Francis Prayer
Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
* this, other prayers by Francis, and many other great prayers from World Prayers
prayer litany for greenbelt
August 17, 2006
God we thank you for the fabrics of our lives: cotton for comfort, wool for warmth, silk, corduroy, denim, and spandex. For the way cloth feels against our skin: layers of memories embracing us, protecting us, and presenting us to the world. [please add your own petitions] God, in your mercy: Hear our prayers.
For the transformative wonder of a prom dress or tuxedo, a costume, a haircut. For scarves, boots, pajamas, sneakers, and all that we wear to live – and express ourselves – in the world. [please add your own petitions] God, in your mercy: Hear our prayers.
For uniforms and those in them – the police force, firefighters, sanitation workers, doctors in scrubs, priests in collars, and all those dressed and ready for service. [please add your own petitions] God, in your mercy: Hear our prayers.
For the gift of our bodies, in more colors, sizes, and variations than the human mind can comprehend. For our nakedness, made in God’s image, and the moments in our life when there is nothing between God and us. [please add your petitions] God, in your mercy: Hear our prayers.
For the celebration of Christ’s incarnation, the word become flesh and dwelt among us. [please add your petitions] God, in your mercy: Hear our prayers.