DINNER WITH OTHERS
As announced
It started in a coffee shop in Everett, Washington. Unity in Lynnwood’s then Board Chair Nadine Pierre, Associate Minister Rev. Nina Clark, and Spiritual Director Dr. Richard Loren Held met to give rise to an idea. Central to that idea was the human tendency to fear the other (in any of its countless forms) resulting in a clumsiness at best, or an outright inability at worst, to have meaningful conversation.
And in that clumsiness or inability, the fear goes unchallenged and the chasm among members of a single human family widens.
We invited Rabbi Ted Falcon into the conversation. The author of Judaism for Dummies and a founder of The Interfaith Amigos, Rabbi Ted has worked in the Interfaith world for decades.
And with a healthy nod to the work of The Amigos: It seems that humanity is taking sides, building teams, gathering arms and growing apart - that humanity is creating “others” with unprecedented vigor and animosity.
In our belief that this effective dehumanization of each “other,” whether that otherness is born of race, religion, orientation, gender, politic, age or otherwise, is counter to the very evolution of us as a planetary family, we invite you to join us for Dinner with Others.*
Share a story. Shake a hand. Laugh. Eat. Connect.
*All guests will be asked to check positionality with the attendant at the door. All convincing and converting, all self-righteousness and self-importance, all aggressiveness and argumentativeness can be picked up upon exit, if-desired. Otherwise, leave them. We’ll be happy to dispose of them for you.
The idea was presented by Rabbi Ted Falcon. He suggested that members of the powerful majority – whether that majority status is born of ethnicity, religion, identity, age, class or otherwise – have a very real responsibility to members of the minority.
Wow.
In a world so marked by resistance and struggle, he suggested that this very real responsibility calls members of the majority to step up and to say, “I’m with them,” in any moment of disregard, diminishment, domination (or worse) imposed upon the minority.
Yes, this means that this very real responsibility calls today’s Christian to don the kippah or the hijab, to step up next to the Jew and the Muslim, and to say, “I’m with them.” This very real responsibility calls today’s straight to don the rainbow or the triangle, to step up next to the gay, the bi and the trans, and to say, “I’m with them.” This very real responsibility calls today’s white to don any of the countless symbols affirming the value of every life, to step up next to the tan, the brown, the black, and to say, “I’m with them.”
We envision a world in which so many members of the powerful majority step up next to their brothers and sisters in every moment of vulnerability, that all discordant sounds of separation are completely swallowed by the ever-rising refrain of, “I’m with them, I’m with them, I’m with them.”
We invite you to join our chorus; join the I'm with Them! Facebook group and/or order your I’m with Them! bracelet here today.