Monday, March 4, 2013

March 2013 Newsletter

March 1, 2013 - In This Issue:

Quotes of the Month
Correction
A Message From Dean Deb
ISIS March Elective
ISIS Fall 2013 Registration
ISIS Bridge Program
An Amazing Journey
Staff Changes
ISIS Open Houses
ICI Student Worship Services
Spring Electives

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Click Here to visit the Isis Website
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Greeting to the Spring Equinox
"Glad Bringer of Brightness, hail!
Maiden of Grace, Lad of Laughter.
Gifts of vigor are returning,
Spring's surprise, rainbow's embrace.
Quickened be the heart within us,
Opened be our souls to grace,
May the blessing be abiding,
Welcome sit in every face."
~~~~~~~~~~
"I encircle myself with the
nine powers of the gifting ones:
ecstasy of energy,
pattern of destiny,
protection of learning,
inspiration of initiation,
challenge of adversary,
liberation of love,
transformation of weaving,
stability of guardianship,
empowerment of wisdom,
Nine encircling breaths
of nine gifting maidens
be my protection this Spring day."
From Celtic Devotional Daily Prayers & Blessings by Caitlin Matthews

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OOPS!
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Thank you to everyone who responded to the newsletter with comments.  I assure you
Dean Deb is alive and well and that we would never make an announcement like that.
We are laughing out loud with embarrassment at the typo. We hope you all got a chuckle
with us.
Please note that dates and locations of the worship service and the electives have
been corrected. We look forward to seeing you at our worship service on March 24
and please bring your friends.
You can be confident that I will be much more careful in proofreading in the future!
Sincerely,
Kim Kotary
Administrative Assistant

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A Message from Dean Deb
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Ah, Spring...

What does this time of year make you think of?
Throwing off winter's trappings of cold, darkness and snow.
Turning our face towards the warming, brightening sun again and the warm rain that
nourishes the plants and trees and flowers.
Spring, time to wake up and cast aside the cloak of "I can't", "I'm too tired" "I
don't feel like it" etc. and look around at all the new growth, new beginnings,
and become excited by  new ideas, new ways of achieving your goals, new viewpoints
and ways of doing things.
Spring is my favorite time of year. It holds for me, a myriad of colors, sounds,
 scents, new life and new ideas.  It is exciting, expanding and  life affirming.
So what does Spring mean to you? Where is the power and the life for you this season?
What turns you on?
What plans did you begin last fall that needed nurturance  over the winter and are
now ready to be examined again, the root structure deep and sound, the stems moving
upward towards the light?
And for our Down Under friends, your  season turns to fall right now; the contracting
spiral, the quiet time. What does this time mean for you? Are there ideas that you
wish to nurture deep in the earth of Winter, that will spring up next Equinox?
For all of us who live with the power of the Mother Earth and the seasons, I wish
you  blessings and joy beyond measure. To Rabbi Roger, Rev. Nettie Spiwak and all
the pilgrims on the Three Faiths Pilgrimage, We wish them joy, safety and mazel
on their journeys.
Happy St. Patricks Day, Good Equinox , Happy Passover and Happy and Blessed Easter
to all.
Warmly,
Dean Deb

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ISIS March Elective
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THE INTERFAITH WEDDING
From the First Phone Call to the "I Do"
Saturday and Sunday,
March 16-17, 2013,
10:00 AM-4:00 PM

Fee: $150
For Second Year Students and Graduates Only
230 Riverside Drive, Apt. 4D, New York, NY 10025
This course will demonstrate how to organize and work with Interfaith couples to
 create the perfect marriage ceremony for
each couple, no matter what their religious beliefs. We begin with how to talk to
prospective couples (and their parents if
necessary), and how to close the deal, make contracts, and then how to create the
ceremony. We will also cover advertising,
what to do the day of the wedding, how to fill out wedding licenses and much more.
Rabbi Ross and Rev. Ross often perform interfaith weddings together and have created
a method of working with couples and
creating the perfect ceremony for each occasion: www.lovingheartsceremonies.com

Presenters: Rabbi Roger Ross & Reverend Deborah Steen Ross

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ISIS Fall 2013 Registration
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Apply Today for the Fall 2013 Semester

Are you an extraordinary person with the potential to lead and guide the spiritual
lives of others? Do you have a strong spiritual practice with the ability to compassionately
council others? Every religion has energy that can be accessed to help people and
the earth.  Are you ready to learn how to access that energy from a deeper perspective?

The International Seminary for Interfaith Studies - ISIS -  offers a two year and
an accelerated one year program for attending or corresponding students, live-streamed
every month. International students are encouraged to consider the correspondence
program, no residency or visa restrictions apply.

The Fall 2013 enrollment has started and will be continuing through September 2013.
The first semester for the Class of 2015 will begin in September, 2013. For further
information please contact Rev. Deb Ross at 212-864-2243  or email isisinterfaith@gmail.com

Click Here to download an application

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ISIS Bridge Program
at AWAIC Conference
(A World Alliance of Interfaith Clergy)
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Learn to Shift the Consciousness of Our World

AWAIC Pre-Conference
Special Presentation
Bridge Program
April 18-19, 2013 in Baltimore, MD

LAST CHANCE !

FINAL Registration Deadline: Monday, March 11

If you are planning on going to the conference, please get your registration in
immediately!

The ISIS Bridge Program is designed for all Interfaith Ministers who wish to experience
the movement toward Oneness, toward what it means to become a Universal Human, to
step into their Higher Essence, and who are ready to take their ministry into the
next level and phase of this new energy.
The Earth and everything on Her is changing at a very rapid rate. Are you feeling
this change? Are you ready to change with it? How can you minister to others, and
to the Earth herself, from this new perspective? How can you stay grounded and steady
as everything shifts around you? What tools will you need?
The ISIS Bridge Program will teach you the basics of the new format we are using
with our first, second and accelerated students in the ISIS program of study. Learn
how to work with the energies of the world's religions, contact and minister to
the earth and all her people, and create a new energetic community that expands
our world view as ministers and Universal Humans. This course will give you new
tools and concepts to add to your ministerial toolbox.
Join Rev. Deborah Steen Ross, Director of ISIS, for a powerful and experiential
two day workshop that will add to your ministerial skills and give you the information
you will need to "Minister into the Shift..."
Upon completion of this class, we will offer an optional Co-Ordination into ISIS,
and/or reassignment to the ICI (Interfaith Community International), our Ordaining
body, for all students previously taught by Rev. Deborah Steen Ross and Rabbi Roger
Ross. Ministers from other organizations will receive a Certificate of Completion.
ISIS Ordainees are eligible to join the ISIS Alumni Yahoo Group and may also order
an ISIS Photo ID card.
PLEASE NOTE:

The text for the workshop is Emergence-From Ego to Essence by Barbara Marx Hubbard. Please have read Emergence before class begins, and bring the book with you to the workshop.

If you would like a Bridge Program class in your area and there is enough interest
(five or more people), please contact the ISIS office.

World Alliance of Interfaith Clergy (AWAIC) Conference Info

Download Bridge Program Application

ISIS Bridge Program Information

FEES: Bridge Program $350

Optional: ISIS Co-Ordination OR Re-Assignment to ICI (Interfaith Community International)
for no additional fee.

There will be a $25 fee for preparation of Ordination or re-assignment papers.

For further information contact : Rev. Deb Ross 
212-864-2243 or email isisinterfaith@gmail.com

Registration for the Bridge Program closes on Monday, March 11.

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Holy Land Trip
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An Amazing Journey with Rabbi Roger Ross

Dear Ones,
I am writing to share my excitement with you as I am about to leave on a pilgrimage
to the Holy Land with an interfaith group of pilgrims and clergy. Making this journey
has been a long-cherished dream of mine, and of course, I wish I could put you all
in my suitcase and bring you with me!
But there IS a way to come with me spiritually-and at the same time, to make a real
impact on the lives of talented and courageous young people crossing the cultural
Jewish/Arab divide to make beautiful music together in the city of Nazareth in Israel.
You can be, literally, "An Instrument of Peace"!

Become a Heart of Faith Virtual Pilgrim!

You will be supporting harmony on three levels:

* You will be joining your goodwill and prayer energies to ours, expanding our field
of intention and influence. Those of you in the second year of the ISIS program
will have an opportunity to practice the PrayerFields Energy Circle technique that
Dean Deb taught in class. All the notes about it are posted on the website for our
ISIS students.

* You will have your name placed in the Western (Wailing) Wall in Jerusalem for
special blessing

* Through your sponsorship of these inspiring young people, the student musicians
of the Polyphony Foundation, you will be actively making a difference. Don't you
 wish there was something you could do to help bring peace to a region whose hot
 spots affect the entire world? Click here to donate!

I invite you to go to our Heart of Faith Pilgrimages page, watch the inspiring video on Polyphony
Foundation, and follow the instructions for joining us as a Heart of Faith Virtual Pilgrim. (Yes, you get to be a VP!) And, if you will, please share this with everyone you know who might want to support the work we are doing, please spread this announcement. All donations to the Polyphony Foundation are tax deductible. Just as people sponsor walk-a-thons and bike rides for causes, it would mean so much to me to have you join me in this journey. I will carry you in my heart, and in this way, you will be carrying me, as well as others you've never met. I would
love to have you be a meaningful part of this special pilgrimage in this way.

"This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully,
more devotedly than ever before." --Leonard Bernstein

Thank you!

Rabbi Roger

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Staff Changes
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Debra J. (DJ) Lott has been an asset to the ISIS community almost since its founding.
She created the structure and set up the computer network for the efficient administration
of the seminary.  DJ designed the ISIS library and made sure all the class materials
were available to every student. She was a stabilizing and calming force as she
supported Dean Deb in creating the new entity we know as ISIS.  We wish her lots
 of luck as she moves on to her new full time IT position.

Kim Kotary is joyfully taking up the reins from DJ to keep the seminary running
smoothly. With her added expertise in grant writing, fundraising and development,
we are looking forward to the the next phase in the growth of ISIS.

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ISIS Open Houses
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Join Rev. Deborah Steen Ross

for an

Introductory Evening

on Thursday, March 14, 2013

7:00 - 9:00 pm at

The Meta Center New York
214 West 29th Street
(between 7th and 8th Avenues)
16th Floor
New York, NY 10001

ISIS Introductory Evening 2013 Schedule

Thursday, March 14, 2013 7:00-9:00 PM

Tuesday, April 23, 2013 7:00-9:00 PM

Wednesday, May 15, 2013 7:00-9:00 PM

Thursday, June 13, 2013 7:00-9:00 PM

Wednesday, July 17, 2013 7:00-9:00 PM

Thursday, August 15, 2013 7:00-9:00 PM

Tuesday, September 10, 2013, 7:00-9:00 PM

Wednesday, October 16, 2013, 7:00-9:00 PM

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ICI Student Worship Services
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Join us in Sacred Celebration and Worship

Sunday March 24th 11:00 AM

at

Hope Martin Studios

39 West 14th Street, 5th Fl

New York, NY10016

ICI Student Worship Service Schedule

April 21, 2013, 11:00 AM

May 19, 2013, 11:00 AM

Please Note: ICI Worship Team services are on hiatus through May. Regularly scheduled
ICI services will begin again in June.

Stay tuned for more information in the coming months.

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Spring Electives
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Pre-Marital Counseling
Sunday April 7, 2013, 10:00-4:00
For Second Year Students, Ministers and Therapists Only
Location: 230 Riverside Drive, Apt. 4D, New York, NY 10025
*  *  *  *
Performing Christian Ritual as an Interfaith Minister
Friday April 26, 2013, 6:30-9:30 PM
Disaster Ministry
Friday May 17, 2013, 6:30-9:30 PM
For Ministers or Ministerial Students Only
Location: Meta Center New York, 214 West 29th Street, 16th Floor, New York, NY 10001


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Please Join Us . . .

We invite you to join us in any of our offerings.

May the returning light shine brightly upon you and be filled with blessings for you and your loved ones.

Warmly,
Rev. Deb Ross and Rabbi Roger Ross


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Phone 212-864-2243                                                     DONATE TODAY
Fax 212-864-8018
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ISIS IS A NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION, INCORPORATED UNDER THE GUIDELINES OF THE BOARD OF REGENTS OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK,ON BEHALF OF THE NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION.

All content © 2013 International Seminary for Interfaith Studies




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