Monthly Dinner Forum Builds Community
August 1, 2001
For seventeen years the Unitarian Universalist (UU) Congregation of Princeton, NJ, has held monthly dinner forums called "Food for Thought." Speakers from area universities and the 443-member congregation speak on "topics that have matured to the point that fundamental wisdom has emerged," says organizer Enoch Durbin.
Tuesday night forum topics have included "Thomas Jefferson's Search for the Historic Jesus," "The Essence of Hinduism," " The Rise of Democracy in Ancient Greece," "Henry David Thoreau," and "Zen Buddhism."
Durbin encourages other congregations to begin similar forum programs or to use these audio presentations for gatherings by hooking up a computer to a public address system. Such programs could attract and keep members, he believes. "I believe our programs can lead to profound discussions in other congregations, as they do in ours," Durbin says.
An average of seventy-five people attend the sessions at Princeton. Church volunteers prepare a $6 meal with a menu that never varies: wine, cheese, salad bar, London broil, baked potato, fresh fruit, and cookies.
People who attend often invite non-UU friends, says Durbin, noting that many people found the church through the forums.. He says speakers are drawn by the opportunity to be "vigorously probed by an alert, intelligent audience."
Find out more by contacting the Princeton congregation, 50 Cherry Hill Rd., Princeton, NJ 08540-7626; office @ uuprincetonorg
For more information contact interconnections @ uua.org.
Last updated on Friday, April 18, 2008.
