Celebrate Father’s Day and the start of the summer season by joining friends and neighbors at Homecoming Sunday at Union Chapel in the Grove. Rabbi Dan Geffen is the guest preacher.
The interdenominational service on June 20 at 10:30 AM also honors members of Shelter Island Heights who passed away last year.
Homecoming Sunday is a tradition at the historic Union Chapel, typically celebrated on Father’s Day. Last year, due to the pandemic, it was postponed to August. This year, the service has returned to its rightful place, though with a twist. This service, as well as the June 27 Children’s Service with Bill Gordh, will take place in the leafy grove behind the chapel. (If the weather doesn’t cooperate, it will move indoors.)
About 10 years ago, the Homecoming Service was expanded to include the annual celebration of the founding of both Shelter Island Heights and the Chapel in 1872, and to remember Heights residents and North Ferry employees who passed away since last August. Both Union Chapel and Shelter Island Heights celebrate their 150th anniversary next year.
Becky Northy, vice-president of the Shelter Island Heights Property Owners Corporation, will read the names as the Chapel’s antique bell tolls. This year, the Chapel remembers Wade Badger and Myra Nissen.
Guest musicians for Homecoming Sunday are organist Joan Osborne and William Packard, performing Baroque music on flute.
Guest preacher Rabbi Dan Geffen
Rabbi Dan Geffen of Temple Adas Israel in Sag Harbor is guest preacher. His sermon is titled, “What Fatherhood Taught Me About the Fifth Commandment.” Rabbi Geffen is the father of two: a daughter, Eva and a son, Emet, born last December.
Seving as rabbi of Temple Adas Israel since 2019, Geffen was ordained by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York in May, 2014, where he earned master’s degrees in Hebrew Literature and Jewish Education. Born and raised in New York City, he attended the AJ Heschel School and the Fieldston School. He earned a bachelor’s degree in History at the University of Wisconsin.
Before assuming his position at Temple Adas Israel, he served as the Rabbinic Intern for Woodlands Community Temple in White Plains and Jewish Home Lifecare of Manhattan. He lives in Sag Harbor with his wife, Lu, who is Temple Adas Israel Director of Community Engagement, their children, and dog, Stuart.
“I think one of the clear lessons of the pandemic is how much we all need each other,” Geffen says, about emerging from the pandemic. “Not to say that we didn’t know that before, but perhaps the theory was never tested quite as it has been over the last year. In our Temple community, I was truly amazed at how quickly our leadership and members asked, ‘How can we help?”’And really meaning it.”
“While these acts of goodness, on their own, could not solve the horrors and sadness and loss, they did provide hope and a sign that our common humanity shines brightest in the darkness,” he said.
“My heart will forever break at the thought of how many and how much was lost because of the pandemic, but this time did show me a glimpse of what is possible when we realize how connected we are. I only hope and pray we remember the lessons learned.”
Bring a chair for service in the Grove
All are welcome to join the interdenominational worship in the Grove. Please bring a chair, though the Chapel will have some available.
Looking ahead: Children’s Sunday, June 27, with Bill Gordh, storyteller, songwriter and banjo player. This outdoor service is for the young and the young at heart. Join in, whether or not you have children!
JoAnn Kirkland is an assistant to the Board of Trustees of Union Chapel in the Grove. Learn more about this historic nonprofit organization by visiting unionchapelinthegrove.org.
