Who Are We?

St. Lydia’s is a Dinner Church. We gather every Sunday and Monday night to cook and share a sacred meal. Our congregation is looking for an experience of the Holy that is strong enough to lean on, deep enough to question, and challenging enough to change us.

Our life together is founded on three pillars:

  • Sharing the Meal: Our worship takes place at the table around a big, delicious meal that we cook together. Communion is made as we share food and ourselves by exploring scripture, singing, and praying together.
  • Telling Our Story: Jesus told a lot of stories, and so do we. We tell the story of Christ's dying and rising, and through it, uncover the daily dyings and risings that comprise our lives.
  • Working Together: When you arrive at St. Lydia's, you'll be put straight to work preparing dinner or setting the table. Working together unites us as a community and brings us closer
    to God.

Leadership

Emily Scott, Pastor

Emily Scott

Emily Scott imagines her ministry as "creating space for moments of transcendence through ritual." At St. Lydia’s, these moments take place around a common table where God comes and finds us. Trained as a liturgist and musician at Yale Divinity School and the Institute of Sacred Music, Emily has followed a particular interest in the intersection of worship and the arts. She founded St. Lydia's in collaboration with colleague Rachel Pollak and congregants in 2009, and was ordained as a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in 2012.

Emily served as the Director of Worship at the Riverside Church in the City of New York from 2007-2009, then as the Director of Family Music Ministries at First Presbyterian Church in the City of New York from 2009-2013. Emily collaborated with All Saints Company to found and coordinate “Music That Makes Community,” a network of clergy and musicians interested in composing and leading congregational music from the oral tradition and train church leaders to do the same. As part of her work, she oversaw the publication of Music By Heart, a hymnal of paperless music.

Read Emily's writing: "Dinner Church: Sit Down At the Table", "Refraining from Invitation"

Read an interview with Emily: "Hungry for a Connection"

Read Emily's sermons: Sit and Eat

Write Emily: emily@stlydias.org

Rachel Pollak, Community Coordinator

Primarily a visual artist, Rachel Pollak holds both a Master of Fine Arts degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a Master of Religion and the Arts degree from Yale Divinity School. She is interested in the social aspects of both art and religion—how communities grow around symbols, images and rituals. Her art work has been exhibited in Chicago and New York City, and reviewed in such publications as Chicago Weekly and Art Review.

Rachel Pollak

Rachel has served as Community Coordinator for St. Lydia's since September 2009. She is also the Program Director of the Music That Makes Community project of the All Saints Company in San Francisco.

In addition to being a staff member at St. Lydia's, Rachel is also a congregant. In September 2011, she became the first person in our community to be baptized. RP (as she is known to us from her Weekly Update emails to the community) loves St. Lydia's and is here to help, so feel free to email her if you have any questions about attending worship or being part of the St. Lydia's community.

Read Rachel’s Writing: “Letting Meaning Unfold”

Read an Interview with Rachel about her work in Overflow Magazine.

See Rachel's artwork on her website.

Write Rachel: rachel@stlydias.org

Leadership Table

St. Lydia’s is guided by a Leadership Table which, directed by the Holy Spirit, reads the spiritual compass of the community, measures the bearings of all that has come before, and takes soundings of what lies beneath.

Leadership Table

Currently, our Table Leaders are:

  • Phil Fox Rose, Chair
  • Burke Gerstenschlager
  • Charlotte Moroz
  • Jeremy Sierra
  • Aaron Soldner

Write the Leadership Table: leadershiptable@stlydias.org

Write the Leadership Table Chair: chair@stlydias.org