Village View – Week of July 5
A Letter from the Board of Trustees
Dear Friends and Lovers of the Abode,
…
Our decision to close the Abode to the public for 2020 was necessitated by the need to ensure the health and safety of our community, staff, guests and visitors. Many restrictions on gatherings remain in effect and will for some time. Thankfully, we have the resources to get us to a successful 2021 season. The Abode will endure.
With so much unknown, we have opted to view this calamity as an opportunity. The “opportunity” is to address many projects that would not be possible with a campus full of people. We are now at work on them. One of the most critical, and ambitious, is rehabilitating our central courtyard. It is in desperate need of repair to install new drainage, grading and gathering areas to mitigate long-standing moisture problems that have grown worse in recent years, and make the area safer, more accessible and provide more gathering space.
We described our vision when we launched our 45th anniversary capital campaign, which was suspended in March. If the Abode is to serve as a sanctuary, embrace proper safety and expand our accessibility, this must be addressed. We will need your help.
Read the rest of the letter & learn more about how you can help by visiting this link!
Sufi Message Class | Thursday, July 2 | 7:00 PM EDT
We pray you are well, healthy, and happy! The Inayati Center at the Abode will be Zooming it’s Thursday classes for the foreseeable future. Please join us on line for inspiration, meditation and social sharing! All are welcome.
Here is the link! Use the Password: 493634
Universal Worship | Thursday, July 19 | 11:00 AM EDT
Led by Yaqin & María Cristina! More details and Zoom link to come!
Save the Date for HuDost: A Virtual Concert for the Abode! July 27 at 7:00 PM ET. More details to come!
In honor of the 168th anniversary of abolitionist Frederick Douglass’s speech “What to the Slave is the 4th of July?” the Abode would like to share some a quote.
Born to an enslaved mother, Douglass was first sold at age 6. As a child he was exposed to many religious sermons and eventually converted to Christianity. In Baltimore, Frederick Douglass created Sunday schools to teach other enslaved people to read.
At the age of 20, Douglass was able to make his way to Massachusetts where he began to be heard by a broader audience as a leader.
From PBS’s This Far by Faith:
In an appendix to his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of an American Slave, published in 1845, Douglass clarified that he was not opposed to all religion, but only the Christianity of a slaveholding America: “I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ: I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land. Indeed, I can see no reason, but the most deceitful one, for calling the religion of this land Christianity. I look upon it as the climax of all misnomers, the boldest of all frauds, and the grossest of all libels…”
There is much more to Frederick Douglass’s story and we recommend you seek out more of his legacy.
