Brainstorming

[lydianstone]

Now that I have made some decisions, the angsty energy that has been driving me nuts has finally made some good progress at draining away. Now it's time to have some fun! During my last meeting with Beth, she asked me what my three big areas of interest in the church are. Probably rather predictably, those areas are 1) Liturgy, 2) Pastoral Care

Comments

[aliskye]

I think you have some amazing ideas here. The labyrinth particularly speaks to me.

What about a blood drive?

My parent's temple does this:

TEMPLE AKIBA'S ANNUAL MITZVAH DAY
Every year, all arms of the Temple (Religious and Nursery School, Sisterhood, etc.) come together for one magnificent day, MITZVAH DAY! It is a day of mitzvot, a day of helping, a day of giving, a day of healing and a day of repairing whatever needs to be fixed! Whether it's planting trees, cleaning the beaches, singing at the senior center, feeding the homeless, caring for the sick, painting over graffiti or donating blood, the entire Temple community joins their spirit with Culver City and its surrounding communities to create this sacred time.

[lydianstone]

I LOVE this!

[aliskye]

Oh! And what about a "sisterhood" with another church or temple or other religious organization?

[lydianstone]

Aliskye- what great ideas!

I actually wanted to ask you- is there anything in the Jewish religion that would oppose using a labyrinth? I have kind of an inter-faith vision for this, but need to do some homework on who does and does not "approve" of them. Some Christian denominations view them as the absolute work of the devil...

[aliskye]

Huh. I have to say I don't know. The first time I saw a labyrinth I wanted to walk it but there wasn't time in the schedule but I'm pretty liberal in all things and saw it as a meditation device (even though it was at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco http://www.gracecathedral.org/visit/labyrinth/)

Want me to see if I can get my Rabbi to answer the question?

[lydianstone]

Yes please! Folks who object to them are folks who see medditationn as a "door in" for Satan. I am not aware of anything any of the Abrahamic traditionss would. Have a problem with. I would love a response from your Rabbi. Thanks!

[aliskye]

Oh this is interesting:

http://ejmmm2007.blogspot.com/2008/03/labyrinths-in-judaism-i-sacred-path.html

brainstorming

[ext_961239]

With the military, what about support for families of the deployed, and continuing help for returnees?

A friend had once suggested a great idea. We could have one service every 6 months (or more?) at 9:00 a.m. to bring together the 8:00 a.m. attenders, and the 10:00 a.m. attenders. No other service would be provided that day.

There's more, but will have to be later.

Re: brainstorming

[lydianstone]

Hi Zona! Great ideas all! Heh! The 9:00 service would be like an internal outreach. *grin* I'm looking forward to what other ideas you have.

[aliskye]

More brainstorming:

What about working with Habit for Humanity or some other group like that? Or any of the micro-loan groups like Kiva?

[lydianstone]

Great ideas! I've added them both above