emily scott
pastoral minister
welcome ■ who are we? ■ who was lydia? ■ guided tour ■ our founder ■ help us build ■ links ■ find us
Read Emily’s writing:
“Dinner Church: Sit Down at the Table”
Read Emily’s blog:
http://sitandeat.typepad.com/blog/
To get in touch with Emily, write emily@stlydias.org
rachel pollak
community coordinator
Emily Scott wants to create a place where God and God’s people sit down and have dinner. Trained as a liturgist and musician, Emily graduated from Yale Divinity School and the Institute of Sacred Music, where she earned her Masters of Divinity. Emily has a particular interest in the intersection of worship and the arts. From 2007-2009, Emily served as the Director of Worship at The Riverside Church in New York City. In addition to her role at St. Lydia’s, she currently serves as Director of Family Music Ministries at the First Presbyterian Church in the City of New York, and is a candidate for ordination with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Emily is the New Music Project Coordinator at St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco. Founded in 2005, the New Music Project is an association of church musicians and clergy from around the country dedicated to promoting “paperless” music – music that can be taught and sung by rote – in a congregational setting. As part of this project, Emily oversees conferences on “paperless” singing, as well as the publication of a new hymnal released by Church Publishing, “Music by Heart: Paperless Songs for Evening Worship.”
Primarially a visual artist, Rachel Pollak is a mover between worlds. She holds both an Master of Fine Arts degree from the School of the Art Insitute of Chicago and a Master of Religion and the Arts from Yale Divinity School. Her interests focus around the social aspects of both art and religion; how communities grow around symbols, images, rituals and traditions.
Rachel has worked in many environments and roles, including Editor-in-Chief of an arts and literary magazine, provider of direct care to adults with developmental disabilities, teacher and printmaker. Her adaptable and highly social personality makes her a natural connector across diverse populations of people; Rachel wears many hats. She has brought her whole collection with her to New York and is putting them all to use as the Community Coordinator of St. Lydia’s.
