PAST EVENTS

2025

                         

A “Moveable Feast” 

AN INTERFAITH “SEMA” AT THE TENLEY-FRIENDSHIP LIBRARY 

Sunday May, 4th 2025,  from 2-4 PM

4450 Wisconsin Ave NW, Washington, DC - across from Tenleytown Redline Metro Station

🌹A Rose by any other Name! On Sunday, May 4th we gathered at the Tenleytown Library for the first of what we hope will be many blossomings of our "Rosebush". Thirty-two people of numerous faith and meditative traditions gathered to experience our Sema - a recitation of Rumi’s Sufi poetry. Our Persian friend Giti read in the original Farsi  language which was then translated into English. Participants also had the opportunity to share short pieces of Rumi’s Mystical poetry. A wonderful Sufi friend [Aliya] shared an exquisite meditative demonstration of “whirling” - an aspect of the Mevlevi Sufi order’s sacred rite. Friend Peter similarly animated the room with his soulful and humorous renditions of Hafiz’s poetry. Zamin shared an “Intro 101” to Sufism & Rumi, and taught some sacred forms of Sufi Dance [Zikr] and chants drawn partially from the “Dances of Universal Peace” *  Time was adequate to close prayerfully and to joyously greet one another!

🌸What are the “Dances of Universal Peace”? The “Dances” are a spiritual practice generally done in large group circles. Their intention is meditative - to joyfully elevate our consciousness and to promote peace between people of diverse religions. The DUP form originated via Murshid S.A.M. Lewis who was a beloved Sufi Disciple of Hazrat Inayat Khan. These joyous and devotional "Dances" combine Sacred Chants from the many world faith traditions with easily learned circle dance movements, some whirling. The "Dances" invite and evoke a group harmonization through breath, movement and chant - they can be accompanied with musical instrumentation - and can also be woven with Sacred Story & Poetry [in a form called a “Sema”.] 

                            

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2024

"AN IFC ASK ME ANYTHING? FAITH-BASED HUMAN LIBRARY"

ROCKVILLE UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CHURCH

JUNE 2nd, 2024

On Sunday June 2nd 2024 Rev. Rebekah Savage welcomed three IFC faith representatives for a "Human Library" panel event: Hillary Chapman representing the Baha'i faith, Rev. Jay Moses a Presbyterian Minister, and Matthew Regan a Buddhist Dharma Teacher. Zamin Danty was privileged to serve as facilitator.

We certainly are living through tumultuous and fragmenting times and our gathering presented a rich opportunity to interact with three differing faith traditions. Before opening to questions and interactions with the U.U. Community, sequentially each representative had time to reflect on their religious traditions & practices, and their own spiritual journeys. We finished with a large group discussion - an opportunity to reflect on what we had discovered through our interactions.

As a large group we eventually began to explore how we might better relate to the cultural and religious diversity in the communities in which we find ourselves. Collectively we came to a coherent place of recognizing our mutual need for "Transcendence" in what Rev. Jay described as a "post-denominational age." We deeply thank Rev. Rebekah and the U.U. Community for warmly hosting us!