Tag Archives: APYA
John Jureller and Mary Giegengack Jureller. Photo by Michelle Kanaar.

Jurellers’ support for Chautauqua grounded in interfaith programming

August 20, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

Like so many vacationers, John Jureller and Mary Giegengack Jureller expected their trip in the summer of 1992 to result in relaxation, with entertainment and quaint sights and, maybe, if they were lucky enough to stumble upon a decent place, church on Sunday morning. But the Jurellers were going to Chautauqua.

“You can’t often find a vacation place where you can expect to have your spiritual life nourished and expanded. Mostly you go searching about for a church that’s tolerable,” Mary said. “We found the Sunday morning ecumenical service here just wonderfully enriching.”

Since finding Chautauqua much better than “tolerable” — both spiritually and in other regards — the Jurellers of Syracuse, N.Y., have returned for another 20 seasons.

Read more
Community
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Michael Harvey, Emily Perper, Nikhat Dharmi, Safi Haider Photo by Adam Birkan.

The APYA coordinators, in their own words

August 18, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

Editor’s Note: With the Abrahamic Program for Young Adults concluding its 2012 Season activities this weekend, the Daily asked the four coordinators to write a reflection on their experiences at Chautauqua.

Read more
Religion
, , , , , , , , , , , ,
Joan Brown Campbell and Maureen Rovengo answer questions about Chautauqua as an interfaith community at the Trustees Porch Discussion Wednesday morning on the Hultquist Center porch. Photo by Rabab Al-Sharif.

Porch discussion focuses on interfaith community

August 4, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

At Wednesday’s weekly Trustees Porch Discussion on the Hultquist Center porch, the Rev. Joan Brown Campbell, director of the Department of Religion, spoke with Chautauquans about “Chautauqua as an Interfaith Community.”

When Campbell arrived at Chautauqua about 12 years ago, the Institution had just begun to “put its toe in the water” of becoming an Abrahamic community, with outreach to the Jewish community.

That was not difficult, she said, because there were already many Jews living on the grounds.

“I think one of the great traits of Chautauqua as an interfaith community is that we are a lived-in community, not just a dinner party that people have to introduce each other to people of other faiths,” she said. “People live here and live together. I think it’s a much deeper and profound way in which to begin an interfaith knowledge of one another.”

Read more
Community
, , , ,
The Abrahamic Program for Young Adults pre-Ramadan potluck dinner featured a plethora of vegetarian options. Photo by Adam Birkan.

APYA’s pre-Ramadan dinner celebrates holy month, community

July 27, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

Last Thursday, as the rains showered from the sky onto the grounds at Chautauqua, a group of about 30 people warmed the cool night air with conversation and camaraderie as they tucked into a potluck feast on the Alumni Hall porch.

The event, a pre-Ramadan dinner sponsored by the Abrahamic Program for Young Adults, was facilitated by the organization’s coordinators but included participants from all walks of life. The tables, overflowing with samosas, hummus, quinoa, lasagna, macaroni and chocolate cake, reflected the multicultural nature of the dinner’s guests.

The coordinators called the event an Iftar, referring to the meal Muslims have after sunset to break their fast during the month of Ramadan. In the Muslim religion, Ramadan is a month of inner reflection and devotion that includes fasting — abstaining from food, drink and sex — from sunrise to sunset.

Read more
Religion
, , , , , , ,
Three of the 2011 Abrahamic Program for Young Adults partake in the Jewish tradition of washing hands before prayer during last season’s Abrahamic Sacred Song Service in the Amphitheater. Daily file photo.

Sacred Song Service to celebrate Abrahamic faiths

July 21, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

Chautauqua is a community with dozens of faiths and hundreds of religious services throughout the summer, but rarely do people have the chance to worship together.

Sunday’s annual Abrahamic Sacred Song Service will celebrate the Institution’s interfaith mission and encourage people from the three Abrahamic faiths — Christianity, Judaism and Islam — and others to join in worship. The service is at 8 p.m. in the Amphitheater.

The service is one of the most powerful of the summer, and it incorporates songs, prayers and symbols from the three traditions, said Jared Jacobsen, Chautauqua organist and coordinator of worship and sacred music. Two major symbols the faiths share are light and water, so the service will begin with ceremonial lighting of three 7-foot candles mounted in a pool on stage. Then, the four coordinators for the Abrahamic Program for Young Adults will fill the pool with pitchers of water, representing their faiths.

Read more
Religion
, , , , , ,

Expanding the ‘Beloved Community’ through love, forgiveness

June 30, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

“We will not be non-denominational; we will be all-denominational.” So declared John Heyl Vincent and Lewis Miller, the founders of Chautauqua, in 1874.

“It is time to embrace world religions,” said the Rev. Joan Brown Campbell, director of Chautauqua’s Department of Religion. “Some say we are late getting at it, but it is an essential journey that Chautauqua needs to be about. It is about peace in the world.”

Campbell’s words were at the heart of the Department of Religion’s interfaith conference, titled “Expanding the Beloved Community through Love and Forgiveness,” held June 11 and 12 at the Athenaeum Hotel. The event was co-sponsored by the Fetzer Institute of Kalamazoo, Mich.

Read more
Religion
, , , , , ,
APYA Coordinators from bottom left, Safi Haider and Emily Perper, from top left, Michael Harvey and Nikhat Dharani pose for a portrait at Miller Park. Michelle Kanaar | Staff Photographer

APYA creates safe environment for interfaith dialogue, questions

June 23, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 1 Comment

Last summer, during an open community dialogue, a man approached Ali Karjoo-Ravary and asked: “Why is Islam a religion of such hatred and evil?”

Though Karjoo-Ravary, the former Muslim coordinator for the Abrahamic Program for Young Adults, remembers the incident clearly, he carries with him a different moment from his summer at Chautauqua. The moment he holds onto occurred just five days later, when the same man approached again but with a different message.

Read more
Religion
, , , , , , , ,
The 2010 coordinators of the Abraham Program for Young Adults participate in a “blending of sacred waters” during that season’s Abrahamic Sacred Song service. This year’s coordinators will offer audience members a piece of string to tie around their wrists, to have something to leave with. Photo by Rachel Kilroy.

Abrahamic Sacred Song service reminds faiths of common roots

July 31, 2011 by The Chautauquan Daily Comments Off

The story of Abraham is both well known and misunderstood within Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Most people know that Abraham and his descendants formed the three Abrahamic religions, but few people scratch below the surface.

Read more
Religion
, , ,
Older Entries