Planting a Mustard Seed at an Interfaith Dinner
- by Natalia Temesgen
- Aug 24, 2018
- 4 min read
Natalia Temesgen attended multiple 2017 On the Table conversations and reflects on one of her conversations at a joint conversation among St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Greater Beallwood Baptist Church and Temple Israel.
After the lunch On the Table at CSU, I picked up my kids from preschool, spent the afternoon playing and doing chores with them, and did the handoff with my husband when he got home from work. I called my friend, Tristan Daniels, to meet me for this final On the Table of the day. He was unsure at first; Tristan is gay and was worried that a meeting at a church might end up being uncomfortable. I assured him that it would be fine and sold him on the free dinner. We met up in the parking lot at St. Thomas Episcopal Church and walked in together.
This was a huge turnout for a joint On the Table event hosted by St. Thomas, Greater Beallwood Baptist Church and Temple Israel. The large hall was full of round tables of eight, each filled to the brim. In fact, we had a little trouble finding a table with two empty seats. But, we did find just one, and promptly sat down. We had missed the introduction portion, but got a quick refresher. We were served bowls of soup and delicious corned beef sandwiches. The energy was palpable, and the hall was buzzing with conversation.
Our table was discussing the crime rate in Columbus. The gang activity in town appears to be growing and affecting far too many of our young people. Mentorship was brought up as an important factor to helping to reverse that momentum. I shared what was discussed about mentorship in my afternoon session.
Derrick, a member of Christ Community Church, spoke from personal experience about how crime impacts youth and their families. His eldest child is in prison and when Derrick asked him if they are studying or learning any trade in prison, he told him no. All they do is sit around and talk. Derrick hates this reality. Can we get a program in place to change that? Can we get a program to help imprisoned parents to stay connected to their children and remain a mentor in their lives?
People nodded and agreed that something should be done. But no one had any prescriptions. This happened often at the table. Many profound questions were raised, but we didn’t have equally profound answers. But, so it is. As frustrating as that was, we seemed to appreciate that if it were easy to answer these tough questions, we all would have done so long ago.
Someone mentioned that small businesses aren’t sprouting and growing here as quickly as the national average. Why is that? “The regulations are very tough,” answered another tablemate.
The man sitting to my right was a longtime resident of Chicago before moving to Columbus. After a lull in conversation, I went back to the subject of crime and asked him what he observed regarding Chicago’s infamous crime and youth gang problem. “There are very dangerous areas that you avoid at night, but in the suburbs you are essentially safe and in a different world,” he said. “Here in Columbus, the violent crime seems to be relegated to the South Columbus neighborhood, but there are break-ins all over the city. Nowhere is safe.”
This phrase, ‘nowhere is safe,’ hung in the air for a moment and disturbed us all. Our moderator, a member of St. Thomas, talked about the Sutherland Springs church shooting. Someone misremembered it as having happened two weeks ago. I corrected him; it was only a few days ago. He was surprised: “They happen so often, it’s hard to keep track.”
Our moderator wished we had more gun control. She hated that the role of news in a mass shooting is to make the perpetrator “famous” for their terrible acts. She also expressed frustration about the comments under local news stories online. “They can be so offensive,” she said with defeat.
We paused to get dessert. Once we got back and started into the decadent cakes and cookies, our moderator steered us in another direction.
What do we like about Columbus?
Everyone started by praising the On the Table project. It reflects what is good and working in Columbus: dialogue and community crossing boundaries. The Chicago native said that in his three and a half years in Columbus, he finds that most people he runs into are friendly and courteous. He loves the smalltown feel, but also the fact that there is much to do. Many of us then celebrated the way our local arts community has grown and flourished, even including the Rainey-McCullers School for the Performing Arts.
Another tablemate put our city’s development like this: “Columbus has grown into adolescence without kicking and screaming like some other cities.”
As the event neared its end, many wondered what comes next. How do we keep the dialogue going? At this point, tablemates exchanged details of their favorite volunteer organizations and hoped that they would see one another again. It was clear that despite the sizeable amount of frustration and fear that was floated over dinner, we left the table feeling hopeful. Tablemate and St. Thomas member Len put it this way: “I think a mustard seed has been planted.”
After a lovely closing prayer led by Adrian Chester of Beallwood Baptist Church, we hugged and parted ways. I asked Tristan what he thought. “That was really cool,” he said. I agreed.
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