Messages from the Light

October through December 2008

2009-10-31T13:31:00.000-07:00

We were so busy from October to December that we got behind on the blog. Here is the fill-in!

We began with the celebration of Gandhi's birthday at the Dennison Building in Hauppauge and meeting Ambassador Phillips Talbot who worked with Gandhi for the last ten years of his life.

We had a fun time at the Hecksher Park Fall Festival sharing information on the solar cooker project that is saving women's lives in Durfur refugee camps.

We had a beautiful Pudja service. And an excellent Sufi Circle.

November started with devote remembrance at our annual memorial service.

We then had Raj Singh come and teach us about Sikhism and then we went to the temple to learn more!

We had our meditation hike. We had the New Earth Study Group.

We shared at the Huntington town wide Interfaith Annual Thanksgiving Service. It was truly a month to be grateful for! We started our collection for families in Domestic Violence Shelter too.

This led us into a wonderful December with a Rumi Celebration,

Solstice Circle, and a Christmas Eve Service.

We had a terrific send off to the year as we had our first Pre-New Year's Eve party. We were a little ahead but this way on that crazy night we were home safe in bed!

We sang out our Happy New Year's and Peace on Earth and Imagine by John Lennon at our party so we knew the New Year was entering in in a wonderful way!!!

Sacred September

2008-10-18T12:33:00.000-07:00

We were back on track with our full Fall program this September.

September 2008 was Jewish Awareness Month. We now have fun trivia cards for each faith to learn more during fellowship hour. Our first Sunday we honored Ramadan remembering all our connections:
La Illa ha Illa Allah, there is no God but God.
Shema Yisraeil, Adenoi Eloheinu, Adenoi Echad.
La illa ha illa Allah, there is no God but God.
Hear Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.
We are all sustained by the love of God. We need to discipline ourselves to that truth.

This month Dr Phil's father died. He loved to share food and fellowship at our picnics.
We had this picture up at the wake.
He is waving to you all from the head of the table.
Thank you for your love.

The following people made generous donations to
Gathering of Light in memory of Philip F. Scime
Ruth Bahr, Orestes Dioguardi, Imants & Maija Kalnins, Wendy & John McGee, Michael & Kathy Ragonese, Cathy Rodezno, Paul Sobera, Maija Thielmann, William Turner, Anthony & Tony Vittorioso
Thank you and bless you all.

Our WELLNESS EXPO was a wonderful success!
Cathy and Ronna led a great team to make the day successful. Sammy Anello, Louella Murphy, Orestes Diguardi, Colleen Scully, Linda Furtmullar, John Speed, Burt Kopito, Clairissa Thomas, Rev. Annie Mark, Bill Turner, Mike Monte. We wish to thank all who helped and attended. A special thanks to our great vendors.
I hear one vendor even stayed and cleaned up!! Thanks John.

We had the honor of participating with the United Nations International Day of Peace with a special service. Thanks to Zach Mandernach for sharing his amazing talent on the piano for our procession of peace flags and the singing of Imagine. We even signed and sent in a proclamation to the UN and were listed on the website for International Day of Peace.
Our Autumnal Equinox celebration brought healing to many.
The Goddess is alive and magic is afoot!
Our guest speaker for Rosh Hashanah, Dr, Rev Lucille Rosen,
our Rabbi, taught us about the joys of the Jewish High Holy days and the importance of remembrance. It was a powerful healing for all!
Our Annual meeting ignited much enthusiasm and commitments were made by many to reach new goals for GOL.

Sizzling Summer at GOL

2008-08-08T14:21:00.000-07:00

Yes, a sizzling summer is what we had this year. Usually things slow down in the summer but we continued to provide lots of great activities!
We entered the summer with Gathering of Light's nomination for the Suffolk County Award for Interfaith work, Arvind Vora (from the Long Island Multifaith Forum) won. You may remember Arvind from our Mahaveera Jayanti celebration (Jainism) at GOL.

We experience a fun and informative Movie night at Wendy's.

Rev Annie held us together with Singing in the Sacred which met every Thursday morning on the beach at Sunken Meadow State park off the west end pavilion. This was a powerful experience for all!

The Sufi Circle had a trip upstate to a Sufi Center for deeper study too.

Of course it is the time of year to play!

Our Annual canoe trip was terrific!

We continued to play in the mud and have loads of fun!

This summer Rev JoAnn represented Gathering of Light at the North American Interfaith Network's annual connect in San Francisco. Groups for all over spoke of Interfaith work and efforts that continue to change the world. The council for the Parliament of World's religions was most interested in our Voices of Faith for Peace event. They encouraged us to share this idea more and maybe at the Parliament next year in Australia .... well maybe at the one after that! Thank you again to all who made this trip possible. We put GOL on a larger Interfaith community map!

Our Volunteers loved relaxing at Rev Gerard's home for our annual volunteer's picnic. Remember there are great rewards in service work!! Hope to see more of you at next year's event (hint, hint).

We added a new activity which combined those you love connecting with nature as part of their spiritual practice and Buddhist practices as we had a group mindfulness meditation walk through the Long Island greenbelt trail.
Here is one of the comments on this event:
The meditation walk was another good tool in learning how to quiet one's mind and become more aware of the Love and Light that radiates from the Divine. As I walked and became more still, I was more accepting of what is and my heart opened yet more to the loving-kindness of the universe.

I was in joy... of having companionship through the journey. I was in love... in belonging to the beauty in nature and to all beings. It is my hope that there will be other opportunities such as this to remind me of who I am. Thank-you for inviting me to this experience. In gratitude, Linda.

We continue to advance our mission and are currently looking to reach out to the larger community to develop an advisory trustee council of at least 10 different faith traditions. If you know of anyone who might be interested please contact us at 631-265-3822.

And last but not least, we continued to work on our Starter Pack Program and helped families moving out of shelters. Look at the smiles on this precious family. Thank you all!

JOYOUS JUNE!

2008-06-30T19:23:00.000-07:00

June was a great month at Gathering of Light.

Before we get into all the happenings, Let me share this insight from Linda:

Dear Reverend JoAnn,
There was a moment during your message that I connected with the Divine and my Spirit leaped with joy to hear the Truth. This awareness strengthened the sense of who I am, created a sense of peace and triggered a sense of awe of the power of God.
The choice between Reality and my ego or mind became very clear.. Your impeccable words resonated the Truth within my heart which opened me up to more Love. I know moving forward that the true seekers who witness the GOL service will be drawn as I have been to the Light that is calling them home to the Love of God.
At the Solstice, I put fear and inadequacies in the fire so you know how difficult my week has been. However, in the midst of my challenges, I have found the New Life which is drawing me deeper into the heart of God. In a very short time, I have grown spirituality because of all that you do. In Gratitude and Love, Linda

Thank you Linda for all you bring to GOL!!!!

The unseen reality of GOL efforts are the best!

As far as the activities, It was Christian Awareness month and we worked on bringing Heaven on Earth here and now!

We had three June birthday girls, Louella, Cathy and Rev JoAnn.

We deepened our commitment as a community with our Community meeting. Cathy made a thermometer that we could reuse to keep track of goals we all wish to work on. Our first goal is to send Rev JoAnn to an Interfaith Conference in California on July 22 to represent GOL and get insight into the Interfaith movement and how we can help. Our goal is $500. We are are almost 1/2 way to reaching that goal!

After hearing how our Council of Trustees and Ministers are committed and willing to support and help others, the group gathered agreed that we would like continued support and enthusiasm to grow as a community. The topics of concern were

1. Requests/ Suggestions (With comments like...Encourage each other to stay motivated.)

2. Marketing (With comments like...) More personal stories of individuals from GOL

3. Grow Membership (With comments like... Speak to at least one person a week about GOL 4. Building membership donations to allow organization to meet financial obligations (Money amount that can be budgeted to cover expenses) Comments were ... Make pledge phone calls Commit to saving $1 a day and donating to GOL either monthly or yearly

With this kind of commitment, we can clearly see that GOL is here to stay and grow!!

Your voice counts! Come down and let us know what you are thinking

We had wonderful Sunday topics, A Course in Miracles, Ascension (Heaven on Earth), Father's, Summer Solstice and New Thought.

On father's day Craig's children led us in prayer (Rachel read for us twice) and song (Jake played bass). Proving that a Gathering of Light Dad can be very proud of the spirituality he demonstrates to his children!! (Sorry guys I forgot my camera that day).

Sufi Circle had a day trip upstate. Our Summer Solstice Circle burned away some baggage and left us called to action in this season of passion action and abundance!

Don't miss the upcoming summer fun!!

May Memories

2008-05-28T19:44:00.000-07:00

As this merry month of May comes to a close, we have more wonderful memories collected. Mother's Day we had a proud mother,
Denise with her two sons and a proud daughter Ruth who brought her mother to share Gathering of Light's service together.

Sufi Circle continues to attract excellent speakers!

And the Drum Circle jammed and danced the night away thanks to the leadership of Donna and Burt.

Along with our other wonderful monthly activities, we had a memorial day weekend (Sunday) picnic which started at 12:30 and broke for a fun-loving service at 2 PM with delicious desserts afterwards. The fun continued until 5 PM! We want to thank Bill for his excellent organizational skills in coordinating the food. The list was tremendous! Here is Bill's list of donations. Thanks to John Allotta & Dina Estreich for the cheesecake, Dr Phil for the fresh baked spinach and cheese bread, Ronna for the grilled turkey franks and turkey chili, Linda Fortmuller (one of our May birthday girls!) for homemade banana pudding, Madeline Hagerty for vegetable try with dip, Peggy Jacobs and Moni Feldman for the Memorial day mystery salad (very good), Burt Kopito for Louisiana Style rice and beans w/taco shells. Jim Lavery & Ruth Bahr brought fruit salads, Susan Meyers brought Apple pie, Louella a tossed salad. Rick Newton brought jerk chicken and potato salad and I think I saw ribs too. Kathryn Prete brought homemade seafood salad, Cathy Rodenzo brought fresh panni sandwiches. John Speed brought scallion noodles and Bill covered the gill with beef franks and beef chili, also homemade macaroni salad plus and his homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

Other drop in guests brought cakes and cookies, a vegetarian chili and more..... Good thing we sang, danced, played Frisbee, volleyball and drummed (thanks to Marty and Rip) to work off some of the food!!

Don't miss the fun for the month of June!! Come be part of the fellowship!

Strengthening Community Through Visits, Retreat and Birthdays!

2008-05-08T19:42:00.000-07:00

Many of you might recall Richard Savadsky. He has been a member of GOL since 1998. He was one of the original Trustees and is currently an honorary Trustee of GOL. Richard's last visit to GOL was February 2007. He shared his book of poetry on his struggles with M.S. Richard is currently a resident at the Northport VA nursing home. He needs a van that can carry him in his wheelchair in order for him to visit us again. I have the pleasure of visiting him every few weeks and deliver spiritual DVDs to him. If you have any DVDs to share, I welcome them. Today I thought I would sent his picture out to all of you because he often asks about the Gathering community. So here's a 'hello' from Richard!

GOL HOSTED ITS FIRST RETREAT AT ST. LAWRENCE SAT. MAY 3rd.

The event started with simple yoga and ended with human sculptures. Rev Gerard, Rev Annie and myself gave the secret formula to "Living your best life now." I can't draw the secret here (not computer savvy enough) but I can tell you it included Self ---Divine---Others.

Rev Gerard brought out his school bus of wounded parts. Rev Annie helped us connect to the Divine. And I introduced everyone to "the pain-body". There were many songs, chants and experiences to round out the day. We really heated everyone up with all the energy!!

All who attended will highly recommend the next one!

But a picture is worth a thousand words!

THIS WEEK'S BIRTHDAY BOYS - BURT AND RICK!

Happy Birthday!

Gathering celebrates with Jains honoring Nonviolence in body, mind and the world

2008-04-27T19:20:00.000-07:00

The continuing excitement at GOL was evident this past Sunday when we celebrated Mahaveer Jayanti; from the Jain tradition. We began by adding Mahaveer to our altar. All were invited to pay respects.

We continued with our traditional opening and sang Come and Fill this Temple.

After invoking the four directions with Jain traditions, and relaxing with the Preksha meditation, we chantedOM PARAMATMA NAMO NAMAH MAHAVEER SWAMI NAMO NAMAH" "MAHAVEER MAHAVEER MAHAVEER BOLO VEER MAHAVEER MAHAVEER"Thanks to the work of Ila Vora.

We then prayed the Namokar Mantra led by Rev Annie and Joyti Shah. Our connection deepened.

We had 6 presentations! Jains at recent papal visit. Thanks to Dr Girish Shah and Arvind Vora who narrated it.

Mr Jayant Sanghavi gave an ingenuous rendition on Jainism and Mankind in Modern World

Ms Nivea Kothari related a spirited and reverent story of Mahaveer and his teachings.

Dr. Panna Shah's informative discourse about Jainism and our World explained how Jain principles have been supporting compassionate action towards the earth long before we were in such need to heal our planet.

Professor Mahendra Shah presented a wonderful powerpoint on The Virtues of Jainism

Mr Arvind Vora concluded with a poignant discussion on Anekantvada (multiplicity of beliefs) and pointed out that this very celebration was an example of this important Jain principle. We need all viewpoints to understand the whole.

All who attended were captivated and profoundly touched by all our honored speakers and by the inspiring singing of Joyti Shah.

Our sincerest gratitude to all who attended and participated. Plans for a grander celebration are under way for next year!

Multifaith Passover Seder a Success!

2008-04-22T19:42:00.000-07:00

All who attended easily agreed that this year's Seder was terrific!

Ronna and Cathy worked hard organizing the menu. Bill Turner made sure we had a delicious Kosher turkey and krugel. Even those who could not attend at the last minute sent food!!

Rev Annie and Rev JoAnn led a Seder that was community focused. All participated sharing their stories and reading the Passover Story. Thanks to Tracy for a great reading of the four questions!

Unfortunately Newsday called the GOL phone at 6 PM and asked to come down and take a picture but we were in the middle of our Haggadah! Next year in Newsday!

Voices of Faith For Peace

2008-03-28T15:28:00.000-07:00

Over 200 people kept the focus of Peace on Earth through chanting from 12 different faith traditions for 5 hours! The whole day was amazingly powerful and joyously uniting!

The day began with a prayer from each tradition and then the gong rang out and the chants began. We started with a Buddhist chant thanks to Ned and Cathy Robinson. We went into the Christian chant of Kyrie Eleison, Christe Eleison thanks to Pastor Rebecca Segers and The Presbyterian Church of Sweet Hollow. As that chant went on it was joined by the tablas from the Sikh group which was led by Rosey Kaur, thanks to the efforts of Rajinderjit K Singh.

Long Island Muslims sang out the Azan and Allah O Akhbar followed by Long Island Baha'is singing Blessed is the Spot, thanks Stacy Fagan! Our African chant was accompanied by 13 Long Island African American children led by Edwina Lee Taylor. They really rocked the house. Everyone was dancing.

Gathering of Light Multifaith Spiritual Fellowship led the Native American chant and filled in for a group that could not attend at the last minute. Our peace teachers the Long Island Jains led us in Arham and then the Gayatri Pariwar of Long Island led us in the Gayatri Mantra. Our wonderful banner was made by Ranjan Desai a member of this group! It looked so perfect.

Judism was represented by Akiva Wharton and Long Island Jews who sang out Psalm 121.

The afternoon culminated with Sufis from The Sufi Circle of Long Island Whirling and then getting all of us to join hands in a circle for zikir.

Followed by 10 Minutes of silence and we prayed:

From the deepest place of our hearts we call for Peace on Earth. Let there be Peace on Earth and let it begin with us. As we go from here let us be more mindful to be the peace we seek in the world.

We are grateful to all who participated. We look forward to seeing more participants and faith groups next year!

We would love comments from anyone who attended.....

Welcome to our new Blog!

2008-03-25T06:45:00.000-07:00

Well, I am getting technologically advanced here! I am very excited about being able to communicate with everyone via this media.
My plan is to update everyone weekly on all the activities Gathering of Light Multifaith Spiritual Fellowship (GOL) hosted the previous week. There has been so many wonderful events that mention of them is necessary.
This past month of March has been marvelous!
This month we had Baha'i Awareness. Lots of information exchanged and a wonderful guest speaker Bernice Suplee!
Our grand event for this month was Voices of Faith For Peace. This amazing 5 hour day brought together 12 different Faith traditions on Long Island to chant nonstop for peace. Over 200 people participated. Our next Blog will give more details and pictures.
We also celebrated a magical mystical Easter Sunday service. For those of you who don't know where we are, we are at St Lawrence of Canterbury Church 655 Old Country Rd in Dix Hills every Sunday at 2 PM. GatheringofLight.org Keep in touch there is more to come!