An Invitation from our Friends at the Dialogue Institute of Austin:
As the St. James’ community celebrates Easter, the Muslim community is getting ready to welcome the month of Ramadan, the holiest month for Muslims. We experienced the last Ramadan, right at the beginning of the pandemic, isolated at home without the social aspects of coming together for the iftar dinners or communal prayers. It wasn’t all negative though as we experienced and appreciated Ramadan much closer with our families and had more time for contemplation and prayer than in other years.
This year, we would like to bring in some of the community aspect back into Ramadan by organizing virtual Iftar Dinners with our friends from various communities around Austin. We’re planning on arranging groups of 5-6 families from both communities combined who will meet on zoom about an hour before sunset. We’ll prepare talking points and information about Ramadan that we’ll share with participants. The program will end shortly after sunset when the fast is broken. We are going to sponsor dinner from Dimassi’s Mediterranean Buffet where the participants will be able to order using a delivery service to ensure all food and deliveries are handled professionally.
In order to participate, use this form to sign up for dinner on Saturday, April 24: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdZMbrbEo9siJiEe9uUbTbORh3mD1SGCfjEF-Zhjz75mwDm9w/viewform. Space is limited to 20 households, and registrations will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.
