October through December 2008

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

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

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!

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!!