FAITH HOUSE Manhattan

Faith House, An Extension of You: Mid-Year Report and Appeal

Faith House is part of a larger movement that is spreading through every continent, every religion, and every home-a movement to learn to live interdependently on our newly small planet, with courage and compassion. It is incredibly easy to retreat from these challenges and slip back into our old ways, to isolate and look out for ourselves alone.

 

How is your journey towards interdependence progressing? Are you (and your family) practicing the presence of the other in your life? Do you have a growing desire to discover the needs and beauty of your new neighbors, new coworkers, new friends? Are you exposing yourself to their unique ways of seeing, thinking, and loving? Does your heart ache when you notice suffering among them or injustice done to them?

 

If so, Faith House Manhattan is an extension of your efforts and your love. Don't give up. We are in this together. This summer marks three full years of our hope and our impact!  We have grown and diversified and are still committed to our mission:

 

"We are an experiential inter-religious community that comes together to deepen our personal and communal journeys..." 

 

This has been at the heart of our growth this year. We have been learning the value of a "practice" of experiencing our neighbor's faith in community, attending programs together, deepening friendships across faiths, building trust, always surprised by the infinite varieties of religious life and spirituality, thus making us all better understand, question, and appreciate our own.

 

Our Kitchen Table team gathers monthly in Samir's apartment around a literal kitchen table to share our "faith stories," soup and salad, reflections on past events and future plans, and dreams of how to better connect with people like you. Members of the Kitchen Table and Board of Directors went on a weekend-long retreat in March, which included Friday night Shabbat, Muslim and Christian text meditations, clean up of the local road, deep conversations, time to simply be together, and a fun talent show. Two members of the Kitchen Table will be starting seminary in the fall and we are excited that you and the Faith House community in New York have been part of their journey!

 

"...share ritual life and devotional space..."

 

Our Living Rooms continue to be safe spaces to experience each other's religious observances, ranging from Ash Wednesday with Transmission, an emerging house church; a Tu BeShevat Seder with Yitzhak Buxbaum, celebrating the fruits from the tree of life; and a session on Interfaith Love with Rabbi Burt Siegel, who has been marrying interfaith couples for 40 years!

 

More than 250 people attended our 3rd Annual Interfaith Seder with Rabbi David Ingber of Romemu at St. Francis Xavier Roman Catholic Church. We also launched a new Women's Spirituality Circle led by Jill Minkoff and Ashley Curl. This group had a winter and spring gathering, with a summer one planned for July 9.

 

"and foster a commitment to social justice and healing the world."

 

Two of our recent Living Rooms were focused on justice and healing, one around an Ethical Kosher Seal, which struggles to ensure workers' rights and ethical practices in the Kosher food industry, and another called "Uprising: Perspectives and Prayers for Egypt" organized by Frank Fredericks of World Faith with a panel of native Egyptians. 

 

The 10th Anniversary of 9/11 is coming up and we are collaborating with other interfaith groups to prepare for this commemoration that will deeply affect our city. In May, Samir Co-Chaired the 9th Annual City Wide Interfaith Teach-In on Approaching the 10th Anniversary of 9/11.

 

Next Steps

 

This June, our final Living Room was be led by Chris Stedman, Interfaith & Community Service Fellow for the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard University called "(F)a(i)theist: How One Atheist Learned to Overcome the Religious-Secular Divide, and Why Atheists and the Religious Must Work Together." Soon, Bowie and Samir head to North Carolina, where they are organizing the interfaith track for the first Wild Goose Festival!

 

This summer, Faigy will be hard at work building a new website for Faith House, while Bowie will be preparing the fall calendar and working on grant proposals.  

 

Nothing good in the world comes without perseverance. Through our birth, growth, and each new season, we come to you with gratitude for your vision, your actions, and your tangible support of this extraordinary co-laboratory we have created with you.

 

We want to be a powerful extension of your aspirations. Because we want to make an impact, we have cut down on every single expenditure we possibly can and are now operating lean, but strong. As we finish our 3rd year, please help us raise $30,000 by June 30th so we can together continue to participate at the growing edge of the revolution of interdependence that is sweeping over the world. We cannot do it without your help today.

 

With gratitude for your willingness to make an impact with us,  

 

Samir Selmanovic, Founder                                                                       

Bowie Snodgrass, Executive Director  

 

P.S. - To make this fundraising effort more fun, we have managed a little something for all contributors! Everyone who gives during the month of June will receive a PDF of our "Food and Faith: The Cookbook!" and all who give $300 or more will receive a copy of a small jewel of a book, 100 Graces: Mealtime Blessings signed by the author and a Faith House supporter, Marcia Kelly.    

 

 

Click above to give online with a Credit Card 

or send a check to "Faith House Manhattan"  

P.O. Box 552, New York, NY 10028

"Kitchen Table" Movie Night, Aug 18th

Wednesday, August 18
6 - 9 PM

Samir Selmanovic's Apartment
We'll send address when you RSVP

 
RSVP required, space is limited,
to faigy@faithhousemanhattan.org

Faith House's "Kitchen Table" gathers monthly and is "a conversation and coordinating hub for those dedicated to the support and process of Faith House." This month, we're gathering to coordinate volunteers for our September events, share a potluck meal, and watch a movie.  David and Moez picked "The Pursuit of Happyness" and to go along with the movie, the potluck theme is Californian food.

RSVP with any questions or to let us know you want to come and what you'll bring (salad, dish, dessert, beverage, other). Seating is limited in Samir's apartment... so rsvp ASAP.

This is why David and Moez picked this movie in their own words:

"The Pursuit of Happyness" presents the story of a struggling man named Chris Gardner (played by Will Smith), and the challenges that he faces in an increasingly unstable economic climate. This can especially resonate with people who are facing hardship and uncertainty today. The film also expresses the need to take risks, and how essential education is to achieve one's dreams and goals. I recall a quote, "To try is to risk failure. But risk must be taken because the greatest hazard of life is to risk nothing. The person who risks nothing does nothing, has nothing, is nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn, feel, change, grow, live, and love."

In a larger scope, this film will show us to never give up when confronted with problems or setbacks. It is no easy task to show in the post 9/11 world how a religion like Islam can promote peace and understanding unless interfaith institutions like ours come together to build bridges and promote the development where Islam and other faiths can routinely be associated with pluralism. The vision of Samir Selmanovic, the founder of Faith House Manhattan, is to help facilitate mutual religious understanding and cooperation through "experiencing the other." The following advice from the film is necessary in pursuing this challenging course of action: "Don't ever let anyone tell you you can't do something...You got a dream, you gotta protect it...If you want something, go get it."