Wednesday, October 19 at 7:30-9pm in Westminster Hall; Bible study/brown bag lunch at noon

All North Church families are especially invited to share in hosting a workshop. Invite your friends from other faiths as well. Rabbi Glenn Jacob will speak on how people of faith can maximize the moral authority of their faith while advocating for public policies, specifically those related to climate change.

If you have ever wondered what are the limits on lobbying or election year activities of religious groups and non-profit organizations, bring your questions. The rabbi, in his years of congregational ministry, took groups of teenagers to Washington, teaching them to lobby Congress on social justice issues.

Rabbi Jacob, executive director of New York Interfaith Power and Light (NYIPL), the religious voice on global warming, will also speak on Tuesday, October 18, at Congregation Shir Shalom on “Green Up” at 7:30 p.m. These are the two programmatic themes of NYIPL: (1) how congregations can be good stewards by reducing their carbon footprint, and (2) how they can be effective advocates for climate policy at state and national level.

Rabbi Glenn Jacob will be presenting a special kickoff lesson for our midweek Bible study group on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. in the library. If you attended the Sept 11 adult ed. program at which we saw his TED talk, you may recall that he suggested that a view of a non-personal God that we might readily refer to in the public square. He added that this kind of God was referred to four times in the book of Ecclesiastes. We wrote him and asked, “Which 4?” and he wrote back inviting us to offer a lunch and learned study of Ecclesiastes.

We will begin with our brown bag lunch at noon; the rabbi will present at 12:30 and we will be finished by 2 p.m. At that point those who wish to carry on with another session on Ecclesiastes next week will decide on a day and time, and perhaps confirm the number of copies of the Bible study resource that you want to use this fall.

NPC members are also invited to the public event at Shir Shalom Tuesday evening, October 18. Our efforts as a congregation to “green” our building and grounds will be highlighted as a case study for helping other congregations to do the same.