As Christmas approaches I have been thinking about the importance of family and of the unique ways we create family. It is not just marriage or children that grows a family — making new friends adds new members to a family. While interning at Emmanuel I have had the opportunity to experience moments of love that have expanded my own definition of family. Continue reading
Musings from the Margins
Thanksgiving
As Thanksgiving approaches, it is becoming abundantly clear to me, all of the things about which I have to be thankful. I am of course, incredibly appreciative to have been welcomed into such a unique and accepting community at Emmanuel, to have found my career path in Expressive Arts Therapies, to have my family and so many new friends. There is connection, laughter, creativity, and joy in my life where there was not always. This is quite a contrast to the first part of my life, which was filled with struggles to survive in a world I felt misunderstood me. My desire to create and march to my own drum always seemed in conflict with a need for acceptance and pressure to conform. I could not find my courageous, creative voice or give myself permission to be who I was. I am realizing now that the struggles were part of the journey to finding purpose and authentic freedom and open other doors of possibility. Continue reading
Creative Creatures, Creatively Created
I can’t believe that Thanksgiving is right around the corner! As the holiday approaches, I find myself being very grateful for the opportunity to work with folks at Emmanuel. I also find myself thinking about turkey, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and pecan pie, but that’s beside the point. No amount of delicious food can replace the wonderful feeling in my heart that I receive from the joy I see on people’s faces…and boy, did I see a lot of that this week! Continue reading
Everybody Is a story.
I hope you are all doing well. With Thanksgiving approaching, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on what unites us all together as people, which I feel is a large part of what Thanksgiving is about. Also, I know at this time of year we are all so busy so I will keep this short, sweet and to the point.
There are so many diverse programs that go on at Emmanuel Church at times it feels like all we could possibly share is the building. Lately, I’ve been thinking that we share something else as well: we all share a table. The same tables used for church gatherings are the tables used for common art, the same for the Café Emmanuel lunch, the same for Central Reform Temple Torah Study, and for many other events held at Emmanuel. Continue reading
The Halloween Spirit
Hi everyone! The Halloween spirit was alive at Emmanuel for sure, with many creative, resourceful, scary, and fabulous costumes. I saw a wizard-like witch’s hat with bats flying around the rim, an inventive cape and hood made from a sheet and pillow case, brains made from different colored saran wraps and glue, several masks, a biker, and so many other imaginative costumes that fascinated and inspired me. Halloween seems to be the one time of year that as adults we can allow our inner children out to play but what if we could give ourselves permission to play more frequently? Continue reading
Halloween Week
What a week it has been! I hope everyone has been having a wonderful time celebrating Halloween and enjoying the crisp, fall air; I know I have! It was a pleasure to create seasonal crafts with the prison group, Common Art, and Café Emmanuel this week. I really noticed an atmosphere of community and generosity. Continue reading
Amanda
Hi, my name is Amanda Rigatti, I am an art therapy intern here at Emmanuel from Lesley University’s graduate expressive therapies program. Evey, Liz, and I all feel incredibly lucky to be a part of this community and I can’t even begin to express how thankful we all are for how kind everyone has been to us as we work our way through our first semester.
It’s hard to believe that it’s only been three weeks since I began at Emmanuel. I feel like I have learned more in the past few weeks working with common art, Ethos, and women at the Suffolk county prison than I have in years of schooling. I have learned to expect the unexpected. Continue reading
Liz
Greetings, Emmanuelites! I feel very fortunate to be joining a wonderful group of interns from Boston area colleges and universities at Emmanuel. My name is Liz and I am one of the three first year Expressive Arts Therapies interns from the Lesley University Graduate School of Arts. I would like to introduce you to my two partners in creative expression whom I feel ecstatic to be working with. Evey, who shared her reflections about Emmanuel in last week’s blog entry, is a Dance Therapy major with a beautiful smile and a fondness for ballroom dancing. Amanda, a Bluegrass music loving sculptor, who will be introducing herself in next week’s blog, is an Art Therapy student. As a lover of variety who is admittedly a bit indecisive, I am enjoying the many creative modalities of the Expressive Arts Therapies major. Continue reading
Evey joins the program.
Founding of This Blog
While our rector Pamela Werntz traveled on her 2013 sabbatical, we also had opportunities to explore Spirituality and the Arts at Emmanuel (thanks to the generosity of the Lilly Foundation). A collaboration with Lesley University’s Expressive Arts Therapy program seemed like a perfect means of enriching the church’s mission for using the arts as vehicle for healing and spiritual growth. On April 7, 2013, faculty from Lesley joined us for the service and offered a stimulating presentation about their program and ideas for working with Emmanuel.
In order to build upon this exciting beginning, a group of Lesley University faculty met with representatives from Emmanuel to discuss our future collaborations. Between these two meetings, the bombings at The Boston Marathon resulted in feelings of pain, loss, fear, and anger. The group decided its first event should involve the healing power of creativity in addressing these wounds, and we called it “When Words Are Not Enough.” Over the years since then our Expressive Therapy Interns have recorded their thoughts about their experiences at Emmanuel in this blog.
The Rev. Susan Ackley, our Sabbatical Priest/Artist-in-Residence, and participants in “Words Are Not Enough” carry prayer flags down Newbury Street to the Boston Marathon bombing memorial site in Copley Square.