Dinner and Divinity - December 17th - "Prayer"

This month's Dinner and Dinner was a twofold event. On one hand, D&D was its normal self. We had a delicious dinner (Middle Eastern meatballs - cous cous and cucumber sauce, chicken and asparagus and some Chinese dumplings [lots to choose from at these potlucks...!]). We had a diverse mix of participants and since our theme was prayer, we created a prayer list which we read during our divinity portion. We discussed the topic, got to know each other and enjoyed our selection of tasty desserts.

On the the other hand, D&D was also celebrating my last day of student teaching. Tanja did some decorating and used the night to congratulate me. It was a great way to finish off the semester! Thanks Tee!

Tanja put these little speech bubbles all over the house. They were awesome!

Dinner was great. A true potluck. Thanks everyone!

When you don't have a table, make one with your knees!

Dessert (thanks for the cookies Jessie!)

Erica, Tanja and Wink

Naseem and friends from San Francisco

Tanja even made that banner for me... from SCRATCH!

Dinner and Divinity - November 5th - "Meditation"

This week's Dinner and Divinity was led by Jessie Klein, a yoga and meditation teacher (and our friend and neighbor). After a filling dinner of lasagna, stuffed shells, chicken, garlic bread and salad, Jessie shared some of the basic concepts of meditation and led the group in a sampling of four different types of meditation: visualization, breathing, sound and reflective. We closed the night with some silence, prayer, singing, and of course - dessert!

Here are some photos from the night. Until next time...

Brenda, Jessie, Marlena

Garlic bread... ^__^

Tanja, Ollie, Chelsea

Tanja's Dad, Paul, who was visiting from Finland and me

Dinner and Divinity - October 22nd - "Coming out Spiritually"

This week's gathering was the biggest Dinner and Divinity we've ever held! 19 people cozily sat on couches, chairs and even the floor! It was a lovely and diverse group of friends.

The conversation was lead by Lisa Sargese, a religious studies professor from Montclair State University, on the topic of "Coming out Spiritually." Before getting to the topic, each participant shared their own spiritual path and where they currently feel they are. Then Lisa started the discussion, asking, "When you declare new beliefs or your interest in a different religion, how do you friends and family react? How do you respond to those reactions?" With heartfelt, honest answers, the group shared their experiences and the discussion carried into the night. The evening was capped off with a prayer for humanity and a series of seven desserts!

One - two - three - four - five ...

... six - seven - eight ...

... nine - ten - eleven - twelve... :)

Goat cheese and pear salad, Wild rice, Chicken cooked with mushrooms and tomatoes, Vegan artichoke baked pasta and a Pasta dish with a tomato and turkey sauce. Yum!

Good food and good company!

Seven different types of dessert!

Pumpkin pie, Cream puffs, Munchkins and four types of cake! (Red Velvet, Peruvian Strawberry Short, etc). Delicious!

John and Nassim having a cuddly moment with our cat Wink.

Dinner and Divinity - October 8th - "We Are God?"

For this week's D&D, a good friend of ours, rockstar / meditation leader - Mark Van Buren, shared some of his insights on the topic "We are God." Over the summer, he completed an independent study focused on the similarities between Buddhism and Christanity and came up with a paper about the need to find inner divinity. For D&D, mark put his paper into a powerpoint presentation and helped us think deeper about the reality of God and ourselves.

As always, we started our gathering with delicious food:

build-your-own Chicken Fajitas with some Potato salad on the side.

the lovely Jessie and Andrea.

Mark sharing his Power Point presentation.

The evening was brought to a lovely end with some lovely songs and drum beats...

Dinner and Divinity - September 24th - "Think With Your Soul"

This week at Dinner and Divinity, our dear friend Ally led some discussion on this interesting thought:

Often, in times of difficulty or decision making, we are encouraged to think with our head (rationally) or to think with our heart (emotionally).

Ally suggested, "What if we were encouraged to think with our soul? What would that look like?" Unlike our head and heart, the soul can not be simplified so easily. It is a divine mystery held deep inside us, manifesting itself in subtle reflections and silent moments. When we call upon our soul, how do our thoughts and actions differ?

Thanks for the engaging discussion Ally. Enjoy London for the next 7 months. We'll miss you!

Persian rice, eggplant casserole, bean salad, stew and salad. Yum.

So far, D&D's youngest participant. :D

Tanja and Ally. Cheerio mate!

Dinner and Divinity - September 11th

This week was a little different from previous times: We had a very international group of friends get together! These are some friends we met during our Year of Service in Haifa, Israel, where we worked along side people from all over the world, as well as other friends from New Jersey who had met each other in Israel as well!

Tonight was shared with Roya from Australia, Nabil from Germany/England, Matine straight from Jamaica on his way back to Seattle, James from NJ but on his way to Russia, Bahiyyah from South Carolina, Juliet who recently arrived from Niger and thrown into the mix was Tanja from Finland/Canada/NJ and Bryan, World Citizen! :-)

It was a lovely evening filled with reminiscing of the "good old days" , discussing all kinds of different and diverse spiritual topics as well as sharing some prayers.

Salad, homemade pizza and baked pasta. Italian night.

Conversing, reflecting.

So lovely to be together again!

Such strange elbows...

:)

Dinner and Divinity - August 21st - Middle Eastern Drumming

This week's gathering was a small and intimate group. For dinner, we ate salad, baked macaroni, a healthy vegetable dish and crab dip and chips. After cleaning up and conversing, we started with some drumming. This week, D&D was attended by Luis Manuel, an accomplished drummer, who teaches drumming workshops all over the State. (You can check out his website here). He led the group in several different Middle Eastern drum patterns. During a Sufi pattern, the type that Whirling Dervishes dance too, I read some mystical writings to accompany the rhythms. The spontaneous collaboration was quite beautiful.

We finished the evening with some more music and interfaith readings, followed by a delicious dessert of peach cobbler / crisp.

Here are just a few photos from the night. See you at our next gathering, September 11th at 7pm!

A Portuguese vegetable salad.

Post dinner conversation.

Luis Manuel. Check out his site and videos here.

Hasta la próxima!