Archive: Around Town

Since a monthly interfaith dinner was organized at the Lansing United Methodist Church last Spring it has been open to people of all faiths, including those who don't belong to, or believe in an organized religion.  The dinners have been held at a number of locations on the last Thursday of every month since.  People from at least a dozen local houses of worship, including Christian, Muslim, and Jewish places of worship, have attended regularly, including people not part of a faith community.  Next Thursday Lisa Campbell is hosting this month's dinner at a secular location to encourage people not affiliated with a faith to feel welcome.

"I just love these dinners," Campbell says.  "I've been a regular.  Good food, good conversation.  I find it appealing and wonderful and I enjoy myself immensely.  I've had conversations about everything with so many different people, from our pets to literacy, to eating habits... any number of things.  it's a great opportunity, with no agenda, to sit with members of our community that you may have never met before."

Campbell calls this month's dinner a 'community dinner'.  It came about because of a conversation at the last dinner.

"We were chatting informally and I shared that someone had asked whether people who don't belong to a faith were invited," Campbell recalls.  "I said of course, everyone is welcome.  Then we talked about having a community-based dinner.  Some of us wanted to come together and host that.  I like the concept of a community dinner.  Someone said that to have it in a community space might be more welcoming for people who don't have a faith affiliation.  That may very well be true, so I think it's a great idea to do this."


She looked for a secular location, including the Lansing Community Center.  It was not available for the last Thursday.  The library space wasn't big enough, and the town courtroom was not an appropriate venue for a dinner.  John Joseph Inn owner John Hamilton didn't take any convincing before he offered his facility.

"He was very agreeable," Campbell says.  "I love the idea of going to this inn for pot luck!"

Campbell participated in the 'Lansing Stands Together' group that was formed after a local hate-graffitti incident.

"I believe the LST community gatherings served an important purpose and were in part a spring board for the Interfaith Community dinners," she says.  "We communicate now and then through the listserv but have not met in months."

"We're reaching out to all of our faith communities," Campbell says.  "When I distribute the flyers for the dinner that LUMC have been making with their co-hosts I usually put a tag on that says I, myself, am not a member of a faith community, but I am a regular at these dinners.  I like very much the way the invitation reads, about coming with 'open hearts and open minds'.  I think it is very powerful in its simplicity."

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