Interfaith Round Table of Washtenaw County

Tea Time with Benjamin Hollenbach
2021-09-15 13:00 - 14:00 (America/Detroit)
We invite you to join us for a virtual tea time on Wednesday, September 15 from 1:00-2:00pm with anthropologist and Ph.D candidate Benjamin Hollenbach. We will learn about their research on LGBTQIA+ inclusion in mainline protestant congregations and also get to know Ben along with their thoughts, hobbies, and interests. Feel free to bring coffee, tea, lemonade, snacks, or anything you’d like for this virtual, afternoon conversation!
Benjamin T. Hollenbach (he/they) is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Michigan. Benjamin earned a B.A. in anthropology and classics at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Benjamin’s research focuses on religion, with a particular emphasis on contemporary Christianity in the United States and LGBTQ+ representation within Christian groups. By focusing on how people of faith determine which behaviors promote greater equity, Benjamin’s dissertation examines the ways in which progressive Christian congregations shape and influence queer politics in the United States. Conversely, Benjamin also examines the ways queer Christians actively construct queer religiosities, and shape the religious institutions to which they belong. In their spare time, Benjamin (or Ben) enjoys going to art museums and watching Joan Crawford movies.

Parkluck: Southeast Area Park
2021-08-26 18:30 - 20:00 | Southeast Area Park, 2901 E. Elsworth Rd, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
Welcome to our Parkluck series! Over the next couple of months, we will have occasions to meet neighbors around shared tables at local parks as we share a vegetarian potluck meal. Please RSVP at the link below, and IRT Director Renee Roederer will get in touch with you to see what you would like to bring to share. We request that all food be vegetarian, and please label your ingredients in case there are allergies or religious dietary needs. We’ll eat in areas that have picnic tables, but if you would like to bring your own outdoor chairs, we invite that as well.
Please wear a mask if you are unvaccinated except while eating. Masks are not required for unvaccinated participants, though some may want to wear them if that makes the event more safe, accessible, or comfortable for them. Friends are welcome too!

Day Forum: Holding Compassionate Space for Divisive Conversations
2021-08-17 11:45 - 13:00
In our IRT mission statement, we say, “The Interfaith Round Table of Washtenaw County is a spiritually based alliance of people from across the spectrum of faith who come together to address our commonalities and explore issues with the potential to be divisive.” How are we invited to hold space compassionately while discussing conversational or divisive topics? What best practices can guide us?
On the third Tuesday of each month, we hold our Day Forum. This is an invitation for community members to come together during the lunch hour for connection, friendship, and interfaith dialogue. In later months, we anticipate meeting in person, but for now, we will meet over Zoom.
You can register here to join us.

Tea Time with IRT Director Renee Roederer
2021-08-10 13:00 - 14:00
We invite you to join us for a virtual tea time on Tuesday, August 10 from 1:00-2:00pm. This will be a Q&A time with IRT Director Renee Roederer. We can learn about the upcoming IRT program year together, chat about current and local events, and you can ask her get-to-know-you questions. Feel free to bring coffee, tea, lemonade, snacks, or anything you’d like for this virtual, afternoon conversation.
We will meet over Zoom. You can register here to join us.

Book Study: “The Book of Joy” by the Dali Lama and Desmond Tutu
2021-05-26 19:00 - 20:30, 2021-05-19 19:00 - 20:30, 2021-05-12 19:00 - 20:30
The Interfaith Round Table of Washtenaw County invites you to a three-week book discussion of The Book of Joy, co-authored by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Dali Lama. These two men are among the most respected spiritual leaders of the 21st century. In an intimate discussion, they help us learn to experience sustainable joy even amidst pain and confusion.
In a series of three virtual evening discussions, we will consider concepts shared in their best selling book. It’s not necessary to have previously read the book before coming, but it will enrich your perspective.
This book discussion series will be led by Dwight L. Wilson, IRT Board Member and former Co-Director. We look forward to having you join us.
To join us, please register here. When you register, the Zoom information will be sent to your address. You can join us by video or by phone. The same Zoom link and phone numbers will be repeated for all three weeks.

IRT Day Forum: Grow and Tell
2021-05-18 11:45 - 13:00
On the third Tuesday of each month, the Interfaith Round Table invites the wider Washtenaw County community to join us for interfaith dialogue and friendship over the lunch hour. This month, we’ll give a nod to our growing years (we mean this in more than one way!) Remember when we had show and tell as children? We’d like to do that together as adults. For this session, we invite you to bring something — an object, a symbol, a photo, something you’ve created, a story, or something else — to share a time when you’ve grown spiritually, emotionally, or socially. We will show these to one another and share our stories of growing personally.
To join us, please register here. When you register, the Zoom information will be sent to your address. You can join us by video or by phone.

Compassionate Community Conversations: The Flores Exhibit
2021-05-06 18:30 - 20:30
We invite you to join the Interfaith Round Table of Washtenaw County (IRT), the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice (ICPJ), and Bend the Arc: Jewish Action of Greater Ann Arbor for a Compassionate Community Conversation on the Flores Exhibit. The Flores Exhibit brings visibility to the testimonies of migrant children and young adults held in detention at the U.S. / Mexico border. Join us to hear the experience of these youth in their own words and share our reflections, particularly in light of faith traditions and spiritual and moral values. Community members across faiths and differing beliefs about immigration policy are welcome. Participate in this conversation to deepen our understanding, bridge our differences, and work together to create welcoming, safe, and loving communities for all.
To join us, please register here. When you register, the Zoom information will be sent to your email address. You can join us by video or by phone.

Baha’i Faith 101 with Rainn Wilson
2021-04-25 20:00 - 21:30
The Interfaith Round Table invites you to learn more about the Baha’i Faith with… drumroll… Rainn Wilson! Rainn Wilson is an actor known for a number of roles, most notably Dwight Schrute on NBC’s The Office. He is a committed member of the Baha’i Faith and the creator of the digital media platform, Soul Pancake.On Sunday, April 25, IRT is invited to join a national Zoom event, entitled “Baha’i.chat with Rainn Wilson,” co-hosted by Liz Dwyer. This will include a light, one-hour conversation about the Baha’i Faith, including Q&A. This session will explore race and racism in the context of the Baha’i writings.Afterward, all IRT participants will be invited to a second half-hour Zoom session to meet with members of the Baha’i Faith in Washtenaw County for an additional time of Q&A.To participate, please RSVP at roederer@umich.edu. IRT Director, Renee Roederer, will send you the registration links for both portions of the evening.

An Evening of Readings with Rabbi Rob Dobrusin
2021-04-21 19:00 - 20:30
The Interfaith Round Table of Washtenaw County invites you to an evening of readings shared from the writings of Rabbi Rob Dobrusin. Rabbi Dobrusin is a long-time friend and former Board member of IRT and the Rabbi Emeritus of Beth Israel Congregation in Ann Arbor. He is the author of The Long Way Around: Stories of Sermons from a Life Journey and the host of the podcast Wrestling and Dreaming: Engaging Discussions on Judaism.During our time together, Rabbi Dobrusin will read from his book, his sermons, and additional writings to share his reflections upon Judaism and his life experiences. We welcome hearing from him.

Born and raised in Boston (and a passionate Boston Red Sox fan), Rabbi Dobrusin was ordained as a rabbi in 1982 and came to Ann Arbor in 1988. In addition to serving two congregations, Rabbi Dobrusin has been active in many causes including serving as a board member and national co-chair of T’ruah: the Rabbinic Call to Human Rights. Since retiring from the pulpit in 2018, he has continued teaching and supporting community institutions including serving as a member of the board of directors of the International House of Ann Arbor and volunteering at the Humane Society of Huron Valley. He is also a Volunteer Zoo Educator at the Toledo Zoo. Rabbi Dobrusin and his wife Ellen are the parents of two adult children and their family includes Sami, a sweet mixed breed rescue dog and two gentle cats, Spot and Ozzie. To RSVP, please register here. After you do so, Zoom information will be sent to your email. You can join with us via video or phone.

IRT Day Forum: From "Holy Rage to Holy Hope"
2021-04-20 11:45 - 13:00
On the third Tuesday of each month, the Interfaith Round Table invites the wider Washtenaw County community to join us for interfaith dialogue and friendship over the lunch hour. This month, we would like to explore this question: Have you had moments when you personally witnessed or experienced injustice, and how did that anger move you to action?
Our language for this discussion — “from holy rage to holy hope” — comes from Rev. Sharon Risher. Rev. Sharon Risher is the daughter of Ethel Lee Lance, one of the nine people who died in the Charleston shooting at the Mother Emanuel AME Church. She spoke very powerfully at a recent event with the IRT
We’re encouraged to watch the video of her talk before our gathering, though you don’t need to have watched to come and participate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3avRZBOmXQ&t=3255s
To RSVP, please register here. After you do so, Zoom information will be sent to your email. You can join with us via video or phone.

Sharing Poetry Together
2021-04-14 17:30 - 18:30
The Interfaith Round Table of Washtenaw County invites you to an evening of poetry readings on Wednesday, April 14 from 5:30-6:30pm. Each person is invited to bring a poem or two to read aloud and share with the group. These may include writings of treasured poets you admire or poems of your own creation. Then we’ll move to a time of storytelling — how do these poems connect with a moment or experience in your life? We invite you to come and meet neighbors through this form of sharing.To RSVP, please register here. After you do so, Zoom information will be sent to your email. You can join with us via video or phone.

Tea Time with IRT Director Renee Roederer
2021-03-24 15:00 - 16:30
For the last program year, Rev. Renee Roederer has served as the Director of IRT during a unique virtual season. On Wednesday, March 24 from 3-4:30pm, we’ll have some time to connect with her over Zoom with tea, coffee, snacks or anything else you’d like to choose! Bryan, Weinert, Board Chair of IRT, will interview her about her interests and her reflections on this season of our shared life. Then we’ll have a Q&A time with her.
In addition to her time with IRT, Renee also serves as a Community Chaplain and the organizer of the Michigan Nones and Dones community in Southeast Michigan. And she’s a part-time staff member at the Epilepsy Foundation of MIchigan. She’s lived in Ann Arbor for 7 years, after previously living in Southern Indiana; Austin, Texas; and Pasadena, California. She enjoys choral singing, hiking, and traveling, and she’s an avid writer. One of her greatest joys in life is the large, chosen family she has built over time, with whom she enjoys keeping in touch, laughing hard, and reflecting on life.

To join us, please register here.

And So We Grow: Welcoming Spring
2021-03-21 19:00 - 20:00
We invite you and your friends to join the Interfaith Round Table on Sunday night, March 21 from 7:00-8:00pm for a time of pre-selected readings, poetry, and music read by interfaith readers, along with a time of shared reﬂection as we begin to welcome spring. Throughout this season, when we see new growth around us, how might we acknowledge the growth within us — how we’ve grown during the pandemic, and how we seek to grow moving forward? This gathering will be facilitated by Director Renee Roederer, and will take place over Zoom. As we near the end of winter, we honor hardship in our collective life, and we gather to provide spiritual support, encouragement, and friendship to one another.

To join us, please register here.

IRT Day Forum: New Normal? Envisioning a Post-Pandemic Future
2021-03-16 11:45 - 13:00
We are still in the painful throes of the coronavirus pandemic, but as we begin to imagine what comes next, some have said that we cannot just ‘go back to normal.’ That era no longer exists. Instead, we will have to cultivate new ways of living together with knowledge, wisdom, and hopes for a better future. What could that look like? How do our spiritual traditions shape our imaginations in these directions?
On the third Tuesday of each month, the Interfaith Round Table invites the wider Washtenaw County community to join us for interfaith dialogue and friendship over the lunch hour. This month, we would like to explore important questions like these. What could a post-pandemic future look like in Washtenaw County?
Please RSVP to roederer@umich.edu if you are interested to join us, and we will send you the Zoom information. You can connect with us over video or over the phone.

For Such a Time As This: An Evening with Rev. Sharon Risher
2021-02-24 19:00 - 20:30
The Interfaith Round Table invites you to a powerful discussion with the Rev. Sharon Risher. She is the daughter of Mrs. Ethel Lee Lance in Charleston, South Carolina who was killed at Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, along with 8 other people, including Rev. Risher’s two cousins and a childhood friend. Through story and conviction, we will hear about the power of legacy, faith, and hope and how these have fueled Rev. Risher as an advocate for anti-racism and an end to gun violence.
Rev. Risher is the author of For Such a Time as This: Hope and Forgiveness After The Charleston Massacre. It is a powerful expression of heart and boldness in the face of trauma and personal loss. We will ask Rev. Risher about her story and the causes she holds dear. And we’ll invite her to call us to action as well: How might we be called for such a time as this?
To attend, please register here.

Age-ing to Sage-ing: Re-envisioning Elderhood with Lucinda Kurtz, M.A. and Oran Hesterman, Ph.D
2021-02-18 17:00 - 18:30
Join us for this offering that invites us to re-envision the new terrain of longevity where we learn to harvest wisdom not only for ourselves but for a world missing the voice of the elder. This is an introduction to a longer course on Age-ing to Sage-ing that provides practical and contemplative tools to provide a new vision of spiritual aging.
Please RSVP to roederer@umich.edu if you are interested to join us, and we will send you the Zoom information. You can connect with us over video or over the phone.

Islam 101
2021-02-17 18:00 - 19:00, 2021-02-10 18:00 - 19:00, 2021-02-03 18:00 - 19:00
During the month of February, we are inviting IRT friends to join the Muslim Community Association for their weekly class, “Islam 101.” The Islam 101 class is held on Zoom every Wednesday at 6:00 pm. The class includes three/four sessions on basic topics about Islam (Article of Faiths of Islam, the five pillars of Islam, and Prophet Mohammed). The classes repeat, so you may start attending on any Wednesday and continue as you wish.
To register, please fill out this form: http://mca-a2.org/islam-101/

Day Forum: Belonging
2021-02-16 11:45 - 13:00
Mother Teresa used to say, “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”
On the third Tuesday of each month, the Interfaith Round Table invites the wider Washtenaw County community to join us for interfaith dialogue and friendship over the lunch hour. This month, we would like to explore important questions like these: How does your spiritual tradition practice belonging? How do people come to know that they belong and are valued? How does your faith experience expand what belonging means and who gets to belong? How does belonging contribute to shared peace?
Please RSVP to roederer@umich.edu if you are interested to join us, and we will send you the Zoom information. You can connect with us over video or over the phone.

Tea Time with Dwight L. Wilson: The New American Dream
2020-12-30 15:00 - 16:30
As a former Co-Director and current Board Member of IRT, Dwight L. Wilson has been a strong advocate for interfaith dialogue. We invite you to join us on Wednesday, December 30 from 3-4:30pm, where he will share a sermon, entitled, “The New American Dream.” We will then have a discussion with him about our own hopes and dreams for building a better world.

Alongside his work in interfaith dialogue and friendship, he is father to four sons and grandfather to two grandsons and two granddaughters. He spent 41 years as a school professional including serving as Headmaster and Dean as well as Assistant Chaplain at Oberlin College and Associate Dean at Marshall University. He is also a recorded Friends Minister who is the only person of color to serve as General Secretary of Friends General Conference. Among his many volunteer services is as Ann Arbor Human Rights Director. In that capacity he spent 3.5 years Chairing the Police Oversight Subcommittee.

On December 30, we’ll have some time with Dwight over Zoom with tea, coffee, snacks or anything else you’d like to choose! We can learn more of his thoughts and share our own as we dream together for a vital and flourishing future.

Please RSVP to roederer@umich.edu if you are interested to join us, and we will send you the Zoom information. You can connect with us over video or over the phone.

The Darkest Night: Poetry, Quotes, Music, and Reflection
2020-12-21 19:00 - 20:00
We invite you and your friends to join the Interfaith Round Table on Monday night, December 21 from 7:00-8:00pm for a time of inspiring words, calming music, and shared reﬂection on the night of the Winter Solstice. This gathering will be facilitated by Co-Director Renee Roederer, and will take place over Zoom. As we near the end of 2020, we honor hardship in our collective life, and we gather to provide spiritual support, encouragement, and friendship to one another.

Please RSVP to roederer@umich.edu if you are interested, and we will send you the Zoom information.

Day Forum: The Spiritual Practice of Ritual
2020-12-15 11:45 - 13:00
On the third Tuesday of each month, we invite the wider Washtenaw County community to join us for interfaith dialogue and friendship over the lunch hour. This month, we would like to explore an important question: “How is ritual a spiritual practice?” In our shared conversation, we will share stories of practicing rituals with our spiritual communities and in our daily lives. How do rituals connect us to larger meaning and to one another? How do they provide direction and purpose?

Please RSVP to roederer@umich.edu if you are interested, and we will send you the Zoom information.

Faith Leaders Support Group
2020-12-14 19:00 - 20:30
We invite clergy and faith leaders from local congregations, communities, and spiritual assemblies to come together and support one another, both professionally and personally. We build friendships, share best practices for ministry and community formation, and we provide a space in confidence to share personal joys and concerns. We invite you to join us on Monday, December 14 from 7-8:30pm over Zoom.

Please RSVP to roederer@umich.edu if you are interested to join us, and we will send you the Zoom information. You can connect with us over video or over the phone.

Day Forum: The Spiritual Practice of Gratitude
2020-11-17 11:45 - 13:00
On the third Tuesday of each month, we invite the wider Washtenaw County community to join us for interfaith dialogue and friendship over the lunch hour. This month, we would like to explore an important question: “How is gratitude a spiritual practice?” In our shared conversation, we will voice what helps us feel thankful these days. What joys, large and small, sustain us in a time of collective stress? How do they provide meaning and purpose?
Please RSVP to roederer@umich.edu if you are interested to join us, and we will send you the Zoom information. You can connect with us over video or over the phone.

Faith Leaders Support Group
2020-11-11 19:00 - 20:30
We invite clergy and faith leaders from local congregations, communities, and spiritual assemblies to come together and support one another, both professionally and personally. We build friendships, share best practices for ministry and community formation, and we provide a space in conﬁdence to share personal joys and concerns. We invite you to join us on Wednesday, November 18 from 7-8:30pm over Zoom.
Please RSVP to roederer@umich.edu if you are interested to join us, and we will send you the Zoom information. You can connect with us over video or over the phone.

Liberating Futures: The Spiritual Practice of Imagination
2020-11-05 19:00 - 20:30
How can imagination inspire us and fuel us toward collective action? We invite you to join us for a meaningful panel discussion with neighbors who are engaging in social action within Washtenaw County. How does imagination inform their work in anti-racism, abolition, disability justice, environmental care, LGBTQIA+ advocacy, economic justice, and more?
And how might the spiritual practice of imagination spur your own calling into action?
Please RSVP to roederer@umich.edu if you are interested to join us, and we will send you the Zoom information. You can connect with us over video or over the phone.

As Election Day Approaches: An Evening of Purpose and Reﬂection
2020-11-01 19:00 - 20:00
As we make the ﬁnal turn toward the election this Tuesday, we may feel anxiety, unease, or a lack of rest. In the midst of this, we want to gather together virtually for an evening of reﬂection and connection with one another as neighbors. We will light candles in our homes and hear quotes, poems, music, and reﬂection pieces, all with an invitation to feel rooted to our deepest values and connected to one another.
Please RSVP to roederer@umich.edu if you are interested to join us, and we will send you the Zoom information. You can connect with us over video or over the phone.
