This past Sunday, I shared a little about my experience at the Sikh Langar at this year’s Parliament of the World’s Religions. There, the Sikhs provided lunch every day for hundreds of the Parliament participants, because feeding all, and complete equality of all people, are core to their faith.
This next Tuesday, January 30, we get an opportunity both for interfaith engagement and providing a meal to our interfaith friends. Live Oak will be hosting the iAct (Interfaith Austin) Red Bench event. If you can bring a contribution to the meal, please sign up here: Red Bench Food Sign Up.
iAct asks for the meal to be vegetarian, because there are food practices for some religions, e.g. certain Buddhist traditions are vegetarian, observant Jews follow kosher food guidelines, Muslims follow Halal law, etc. Having a vegetarian meal allows more people to be fed.
If you would like not only to contribute to the meal, but participate in the event, you are enthusiastically welcome. Here’s how it works: You will sit at a table with people from other religious traditions. There will be a guided discussion about the topic for this month, “Protection: Love or Barrier?” I always find it an informative and enriching experience.
You can RSVP here — it gives us an idea how many people will be coming. And thank you for contributing to the feast!
Letter from iAct:
Dear Friends,
We invite you to contemplate the nature of protection. What does it mean to you? What are you protecting yourself and others from? How does protection shape our lives? Why does it matter?
We are excited to partner with Live Oak Unitarian Universalist Church (3315 El Salido Pkwy, Cedar Park, TX 78613) to host iACT’s Red Bench Conversation on January 30, from 6:30pm to 8:30pm – where the topic will be Protection: Love or Barrier. Please RSVP here.
The Red Bench Conversation is an ongoing dialogue program designed to address one of the most pressing needs of our time: improving interfaith understanding and civil discourse in our society. Bring a friend to share in the joys of an open and safe conversation. We look forward to seeing you on January 30.
With gratitude,
Simone Talma Flowers
Executive Director
Interfaith Action of Central Texas