This Mom went all out!   These were baby Teven’s baby blessing favors, beautiful and yummy.

Hello All,

If you are in the Baltimore area the weekend of November 10-12,  I will be speaking at the 2017 conference for A World Alliance of Interfaith Clergy at the Retreat and Conference Center at Bon Secours in Marriotsville, MD.  Fifty per cent of the attendees are not clergy, but people from all walks of life seeking to spiritually connect.  So join us!

Here is the link and info:

https://awainterfaithclergy.org/conferences/2017/

“Discovering the Next Steps in Your Spiritual Life Path” Rev. Susanna Stefanachi Macomb

The Universe calls us to grow and evolve if we listen within to the part of us that is One with the Source of All Being and then act upon it. Discover the next steps in your spiritual life’s path. Bring paper, crayons and pens or pencils.

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This is a process that has guided, informed, healed and transformed my life for over 30 years— and one that I have taught to others.   I attended and spoke at the conference in 2014,  so I can personally attest that the retreat venue is beautiful and the people who attend are wonderful.

So I get to the Flicker household and there is this beautiful little angel, our baby of honor, fast asleep!  It was the day of his interfaith bris and baptism.   For the ceremony the family chose the Jewish blessing over the wine, traditional prayers mixed with more personal elements,  an honoring of the grandparents, as well as a Christian baptism.   Mom and Dad were in tears as I read their heartfelt words about what this baby meant to them.  Baby Max, it was a privilege to meet you and my great joy and honor to preside over your blessing.   You were surrounded with so much love on your blessing day.    May that love stay with you for the rest of your days and beyond.

Michelangelo is my favorite artist and The Sistine Chapel my favorite work of art.  When seeing it for the first time, the feeling was visceral.  I have gone back to Rome a few times to study it, enjoy it.  I have read books to understand it better.  For me, it was more than wonder and awe—and there was certainly that—it was an insight into this great artist’s breathtaking cosmology.  This weekend my family visited the reproduced  images of Michelangelo’s Sistine chapel within Oculus, the winged subway station at the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan.  I wondered, having seen the magnificence of these paintings in person, how would I react?  Add to that, from this site, Ground Zero, where the horrors of 9/11 took place, witnessed up front and personal, this great winged structure was born to symbolize rebirth, hope and freedom.  Here are some images to see for yourself…

This is latest angel whose blessing I had the honor and delight of performing.  We celebrated Catholic and Jewish elements: Blessing over the Wine, Honoring Grandparents, The Blessing of the Siblings, Appointing Godparents, Baptism, Prayer of the Faithful along with beautiful readings and so many personal and creative touches.  As we say in interfaith seminaries, “Never instead of, always in addition to”   Or as I tend to say, “With two traditions, we are twice blessed!”   It was an intimate blessing in the family’s home.  Everyone was honored and included.  I am profoundly grateful to have basked in the light of the love of this beautiful family.  One of my favorite Christian teachings is “God is Love.”   In the Talmud it is said that a human being is a universe entire.   We wholeheartedly celebrated the universe that is Nicole.