G-mailing List
May 21, 2007
hello trans-curious out there,
did you know we have not just a gmail list, but two?
* one for weekly updates
* & one for periodic special events
email us at transmissionchurch@gmail.com if you’d like to be added to a list (please specify which one).
we’d love to let you know what we’re up to!
Update – tonight, May & June
April 29, 2007
Transmission WEDNESDAYS
We regularly meet on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of the month for a vegetarian dinner, home-cooked ritual, prayer, hang-out and social time. When there’s a 5th Wednesday (like this May), we organize some sort of activity. We’re a bit of a roaming tabernacle right now, with our next upcoming meeting in an apartment and still experimenting with the space at St. Mark’s in-the-Bowery. Send us an email if you’d like to help plan a ritual, bring food, or have an activity idea!
Wed, May 2nd – How Do We Know God Loves Us?
7-9pm, Union Theological Seminary, Broadway @ 121st (go to front lobby for directions to Paul’s apartment). Bowie & Katie are planning an exploration of how we feel loved by God, love God, and act on/out of that love.
Wed, May 16th – Ritual on Church and Accessibility
7-9pm, Katherine’s place (193rd and Fort George)
Planned by Paul & Isaac, exploring disability and different abilities.
Wed, May 30th – 5th Wednesday Activity
Hmm, some sort of Wednesday evening activity. Ideas anyone?
There may also be a short meeting for people interested in planning a service looking at turning 30 and “rites of passage.” Email back at this address if you’ve got an activity idea or to Bowie (epiphany.ny@gmail.com) if you’re interested in helping plan the ritual for the following week.
Wed, June 6th – Turning 30 as a Rite of Passage
Come be part of a service exploring turning 30 on Bowie’s big day (6/6/07), along with dinner and cake for a few members of the Transmission crew who have birthdays in May & June (email us if you do too!). Come share your stories and thoughts about the big 3-0, whether you’re years away or many years past.
Transmission COMMUNITY
Shoot us an email if you have an event that you want to send out to the wider Transmission community. We’ve got lots of spiritual, artistic, social-actions types among us… these community events enable us to support each other, get inspired, and have more excuses to get together.
TONIGHT – Sun, April 29 – Isaac Everett preaching at Sanctuary
6pm, Church of the Epiphany, 74th and York Ave
Isaac says: “I’ll be preaching this coming Sunday night at one of the places I work, Sanctuary. But wait, you ask, aren’t you mister anti-sermon? Aren’t you always ranting about how preaching imposes patriarchal models of authority and reinforces patterns of passivity in an already anemic church culture? Well, yeah, I am that guy. On the other hand, the lectionary reading this week is from the Book of Revelation and the opportunity to wave my arms around and shout of about rivers of blood and seven-headed dragons was too delicious to pass up. So if you’re not doing anything and feel like stopping by, please do!”
Mon, May 7th – “Bon Frieg!” by our poet and playwright in residence, T. John Snodgrass
9:30pm, Jimmy’s No. 43, Downstairs at 43 East 7th St. btw 2nd & 3rd Ave, $5 Admission
Snodgrass says: “I’m very excited to announce that the Outlaws Theatre will be staging ‘BonFrieg!’ as part of their series of new plays to brighten the first Monday of each month. As some of you may know, I have written many one-acts, and this is my personal favorite – zany comedy, action, romance, and something of a mystery as well. Director/producer Vanessa Reseland will be presenting a short piece as an opening act. The play runs about forty minutes, and you are all invited to join us afterwards for Discussion, Handcrafted Beer and Local & Organic Home Cooking at Jimmy’s No. 43.”
Thurs, June 7th – Evening with Ian Mobsby at Trinity Church Wall Street
Ian Mobsby from Moot in London will be talking about how Rublev’s Icon and a Trinitarian ecclesiology can enable us to be experimental and do mission. Ian is a founding member of Moot, an emerging church community in London, UK and has been doing emerging church stuff in the UK for the last 14 years, is sweet, and totally radical. Find out more about the event on the Trinity website.
Transmission @ St. Mark’s, this Wed, Apr 8th @ 7 p.m.
April 15, 2007
CIMG2881.JPG, originally uploaded by pointandlaugh.
Hey, friends~ I hope you’ve all sufficiently recovered from Easter at Avalon. It was a lot of work from everyone and I was really pleased with the event. Yay!
Anyway, our regular gatherings resume this Wednesday, the 18th, 7pm-9pm. We’ll be meeting at St Mark’s in the Bowery, a pretty radical (and historic) church on 10th St and 2nd Ave.
The service will deal with issues of space and sacredness: so far, we’ve met in people’s homes, in a dance club, and (now) a church. Are any of these spaces more holy than the others? What does sacred space mean? What is our relationship to space as New Yorkers? What makes something holy to us? It’ll be pretty cool.
We’ll also be discussing some logistics. Here are some things we’ll be discussing: Are we happy meeting twice a month or do we want to gather every week? Is St Mark’s as a location a good fit for us? How do we feel about meeting in a church? Do we want to always gather in the same location, or do we want to continue couch-surfing? Do we want to alternate between an uptown and a downtown location?
see you Wednesday,
isaac
Space & Sacredness
Wed Apr 18th @ 7pm
St. Mark’s
131 E 10th St @ 2nd Ave
www.stmarkschurch-in-the-bowery.com
subways: L to 3rd Ave, 6 to Astor Place, N, Q, R, W, 4, 5 to Union Square
Next Transmission on April 18th
April 11, 2007
Save the date! We aren’t sure where we’ll be meeting yet, but we’re in conversations with a few places and should have a location nailed down by the end of the week. One thing that didn’t come across on Easter is that Transmission is a community; we meet regularly, hang out together, work on projects together, babysit each others kids, etc. It’s something worth being a part of.
For those of you who are coming to us through the Easter at Avalon project, you should be aware that our usual services are small and intimate – usually a dozen people or so. We love throwing large and high energy events, but Easter at Avalon isn’t really indicative of what normal Transmission services are like. The smaller gatherings go, however, have the same playfulness, open-mindedness, and relevance that were evident on Easter.
So if you’d like to join us, keep yourself free for Wed, April 18th, at 6pm, and check back here for more details.
grab a Metro NY by the end of the day
April 9, 2007
Hey, I want to second Bowie’s thank you to everyone who came out last night. Also, if you haven’t seen it yet, you should pick up a copy of Metro NY today (Monday) – there’s a big article on us on page 4! You can also read it online here . The online version, however, doesn’t have the pictures or this juicy quote:
“I grew up in the church and this is very different. It’s at another extreme. A lot of people aren’t comfortable going to church. This is more of a safe space to be yourself. It’s making it more real.” (Audience member Lena Lasarzewaki).
Also, thanks to uncoolkids.com who ran a listing of the event along with the scariest Easter bunny ever:
#10 Offertory (last call to chip in for Easter)
April 9, 2007
Last night was FABULOUS – and touching. So many people got the spirit. What a wonderful gathering of folks. What a fine way to be together as church on Easter Evening…
If you weren’t able to come, left early, or came with an empty wallet, don’t fret!
There’s still time to make an “offertory” for last night’s service (step #10 in the Communion by #s we did at the end of the evening, see post below). And we’d still be happy to accept up to $1200 in additional donations to break even.
* Thank you to all the folks who made anonymous offerings last night! We were blessed with almost $500 from you all.
* Thank you again, to all the folks and faith communities who made donations before the event (you can check out that list here).
* A big thank you also to Tracy Quan, who sold and signed copies of her two novels and gave us the proceeds!
* Finally, one more thank you to all the amazing volunteer talent that helped make last night all that it was.
Time OUT – we’re on page 10
April 4, 2007
This week’s Time Out New York (TONY) features Easter at Avalon in a page 10 box called “Sacrilegious Affairs” – along with the KinkyJews Chocolate Passover Seder!
We’re also Sunday’s “Don’t Miss!” Around Town.¬† Thanks, TONY!
PS For the record, although we hope the service will be “nervy” and “sexy” – we’re not aiming for “pervy” or “sacrilegious.”¬† That’s just TONY talking.
Fundraising Update
March 31, 2007
So, friends, we’re about a week away from Easter and our fundraising efforts continue. We’ve received some very generous help, but this event is still pretty far away from breaking even, so please consider helping us out! Remember that we’re still a small-time independent church that meets in our member’s apartments; every little bit helps.
So first, a big thank you to the following people (please forgive my silly titles):
Pillars of the Church:
Deborah Black
Paul Everett
Faith House and Citylights
St. Thomas Church, Medina, WA
Patrons:
Mel Ahlborn
The Episcopal Church at Cornell
Matthew Pritchard
The Sanctuary Community
Mary Stuart
Friends:
Church of the Apostles, Seattle, WA
Kathy Cheney
Phillipa Currier & Gareth Powell (from Moot, UK)
Anne Ditzler
Abigail Estes
Chloe Silverman
Kelley Smith
Rick Snodgrass
Laura Unsworth
(also thanks to Tracy Quan who will be selling some of her books, proceeds to go to the event)
Our budget, meanwhile, looks likes this:
space rental: $2800
musicians: $400
eucharistic wine: $200
graphic design: $100
printing costs: $300
supplies: $200
—————————–
total: $4000
and this point we’ve raised $2,350 (updated 4.7.07) which means we’re a little more than half-way there. Please consider supporting this event!
Holy Week Schedule
March 31, 2007
Hey, guys, some of you have asked about what Transmission is doing for Holy Week. Obviously, with Easter around the corner we won’t be able to throw a service every day of the week, but it would be cool if we could spend some time together. Here’s our tentative schedule for any Transmissioners (and/or transcurious) folks who are looking for stuff to do:
Palm Sunday. Sanctuary, 6pm, 74th and York Ave. T.j.Snodgrass, the one and only, will be delivering his first homily. If you know Snodgrass, you know he’s not a man to be trifled with, so this should be worth checking out. I’ll be doing the music (including a tribute to Depeche Mode). One specific reason to come: almost every church does the crucifixion on Palm Sunday, but Sanctuary is actually focusing on the entry into Jerusalem and leaving Good Friday for Good Friday.
Wednesday. We’ll be having our last planning meeting at Avalon, 20th St and 6th Ave. This won’t be a service, but it will be our only chance to lay out the space, check sounds and lights, etc. The more hands, the better.
Maundy Thursday. Transmission will be gathering at Katherine Lee’s place up in Washington Heights. Good food, evocative ritual, and everything you’ve come to love about Transmission… (see post below for more info)
Good Friday. We’ll be back at Sanctuary, this time for an environmental stations of the cross which will be set up from from 6-9pm. No, it’s not a three hour service; that means that you can show up whenever you want and leave whenever you want. Bowie and I are both doing installations, and I’m also making an audio loop of poetry and music. It’ll be a neat experience of traditional church doing a radically decentralized worship.
Holy Saturday. Down to Time Square for St Mary the Virgin‘s Easter Vigil. Affectionately known as “Smokey Mary’s,” this place does high-liturgy like no one else. It’ll be a very different experience from Transmission, but we also recognize “high liturgy” as being both solidly multi-sensory and very traditional. It’s a long service, so eat before you get there.
Easter Sunday. EASTER AT AVALON! What else do you need?
Maundy Thursday
March 29, 2007
Hey, Transmissioners! First of all, a quick reminder that next week we’ll be having our tech/dress rehearsal for the event down at Avalon from 7-9pm. It’ll be hot. Ok, actually, it’ll probably be a little bit boring, but you should come anyway.
But, since that meeting is supplanting our weekly dose of community and ritual, we’ve decided to celebrate Maundy Thursday as a community. Katherine Lee has volunteered to host (apparently she has a massive apartment up in Washington Heights). Since the other Katie also lives up in that hood, they’ll be doing the food and I’ll be planning some sort of service. If you want to come, just shoot me an email and I will reveal Katherine’s address.
Hope to see you there!
isaac