Lutheran Church of Our Savior

I am a lifelong Lutheran, a second-generation female pastor, and an advocate for food and shelter justice. I grew up on an organic family farm that doubled as an ecumenical retreat center in Point Roberts, Washington. Having felt a call to serve others from a young age, I engaged in disaster response work following Hurricane Katrina, ran a severe weather shelter for houseless and transient men, and eventually lived and worked in a mountain valley called Holden Village before saying “yes” to God’s call to serve the church. 

In 2017, I completed my MDiv at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary of California Lutheran University and entered the first call process. At that time, I felt pulled to return to the church of my formative years– the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.

Over the past two decades, I have worked at and served congregations in Bellingham, Washington; Berkeley, California; Garden Grove, California; and Vancouver, British Columbia. After serving as the Interim Assistant to the Bishop for the British Columbia Synod, I returned to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to serve as an interim pastor at St. John’s Lutheran in Middletown, New York, of the Metro New York Synod. 

I have enjoyed many different roles in the church beyond the role of parish pastor, too, like serving on the BC Synod Candidacy Committee and the Program Committee for Leadership and Ministry (a national church appointment). I have organized synod conventions, chaperoned countless confirmation student gatherings, created large-scale liturgical art pieces, led Habitat for Humanity trips, volunteered as a wilderness first responder, founded the BC Synod Archives, and served as a chaplain and spiritual care provider for houseless youth and young adults in Vancouver, British Columbia. Responding to God’s call has led me to embark on many journeys throughout my life!

When I'm not serving the church, you can find me at home with my husband, Phil, and our two bossy cats, Petunia and Peregrin. We love to spend our free time exploring new neighborhoods, visiting museums, and supporting local businesses. I have a passion for music and history, liturgical art, quilting, birding, reading historical fiction, photography, needle-felting, community organizing, cooking, traveling, and exploring the natural world. I also enjoy wine tasting, making the perfect cup of coffee, and hosting meals with friends. These personal interests and hobbies not only bring me joy but also enrich my spiritual journey. 

I look forward to this next step in my journey– pastoring alongside the community of the Lutheran Church of Our Savior and responding to God’s call throughout the wider community of the Metropolitan New York area. 

Peace and Blessings
Pastor Rebekah Swanson

Federico Teti is currently living in New York City and he serves as Director of Music at the Lutheran Church of Our Savior in Port Washington, New York, where he plays the organ and the piano for all services, conducts and accompanies the choir, and makes music together with vocal and instrumental soloists for special celebrations.

As background, Mr. Teti studied Piano, Choral Conducting, Organ and Composition in Rome at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory of Music where he graduated with the highest honors.  He won the First Prize of the Competition for Young Organists “Rome 1981” and his performance given at the “Prize Winners’ Concert” was broadcasted on Italian National Radio (RAI). Since then, Mr. Teti has given solo recitals in his native Italy, the United States, Germany and Japan, and participated in Music Festivals and Competitions in Italy, France, Denmark, England, Scotland and Lithuania. Among his teachers and coaches are Daniel Roth, Ewald Kooiman, Giancarlo Parodi, Hedda Vignanelli Illy, Elio Solimini, Giorgio Carnini, Klemens Schnorr and Peter Westerbrink. He was awarded a scholarship to study at the “Accademia Musicale Chigiana” of Siena, Italy and a European Community Scholarship to study at the Academy of Italian Organ Music of Pistoia, Italy and he furthered his musical studies at the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Rome, where he took courses in Organ and Gregorian Chant.

An active church musician, he was organist of the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare in the historical center of Rome, where he played on an early 19th century Italian organ for the Sunday Latin Mass, enriched by the singing of a Gregorian Schola.

Mr. Teti attended the Juilliard School in New York City, where he completed advanced studies in Organ Performance under the direction of Dr. John Weaver and pursued his conducting studies with Judith Clurman, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Eduardo Browne and Isaac Karabtchevsky. While at Juilliard, he also studied Harpsichord with Lionel Party and Improvisation with Dr. Gerre Hancock. He made his Lincoln Center debut playing the Theodore Kuhn tracker organ in Alice Tully Hall and made his conducting debut at Juilliard Paul Hall, Lincoln Center, conducting the Chopin Piano Concerto No.1. Mr. Teti conducted in Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, and at The Riverside Church Theatre, the Cantata for solos, choir and orchestra “The Children’s Requiem” by Judith Fleisher, and has been the conductor of the School for Strings Orchestra in New York. He has performed, among other venues, at the Cathedral of St. Patrick and at Saint Thomas Church in New York City and has given recitals in Japan at the Toyota City Concert Hall, at the Toyota Municipal Museum of Art and in Nagoya. He has also performed in a benefit concert in Japan to help people of the area stricken by the earthquake and tsunami of 2011.

Dorothy joined the office in June of 2024 as the Interim Office Manager, following the departure of Sue Waiter who left after two years with the Lutheran Church of our Savior to pursue her graduate degree.

As a member of the congregation, Linda donates her time and effort to manage and oversee the use of our facilities, coordinating their use for all members and outside groups. Anyone interested in using any of the Church building facilities should contact Linda Murphy only through her mobile phone at 516-242-0459(c).

2024 Church Council

Officers

Linda Murphy,  President  

Leslie Kinney, Vice President

Christian Carrington, Treasurer   

Nikos Andreadis, Recording Secretary 

Martha Schweitzer, Financial Secretary

Pastor Rebekah Swanson, Pastor

Members-at-Large and Ministry Liaisons

Robert Carpentier, Christian Education

Noreen DeSalvo, Worship & Music

Randall Fairhurst, Stewardship

Fabiola Knight, Fellowship

Jerry Lockwood, Property

Jeff Stone, Evangelism

Laura Boehm Warnke, Community Outreach