Accidental Courtesy – Part 1

Hey folks – welcome to winter! We’re about to embark on a calendar anomaly – two consecutive alt.Sundays. For those who may not be familiar with The Table, alt.Sundays are occasions when our exploration tends to draw in both “outside” sources, and to engage all our voices in discussion. Since we’re not a big budget operation, it’s not unusual for those sources to be on the screen. They are also often times when people from the community guide our exploration. On this occasion, we’ll be digging into a documentary that has gotten Judi’s attention. Here’s what she has to say about it:

I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.

The documentary I’m sharing with you, “Accidental Courtesy,” is not a religious one, but I think it exemplifies this well-known verse better than almost anything I’ve seen. Daryl Davis, an African American jazz musician and speaker, was flummoxed by the question, How can you hate me when you don’t even know me? When he had a chance meeting with a KKK member at a place he was performing he decided to find out.

In the last couple of months Tim has had us thinking about how we interact in the culture we are in, and I think this film can take us further in that conversation. Because the film is an hour and a half and our gatherings are not, we’re going to watch it over 2 Sundays and discuss it together. (Judi)

We’ll be meeting at our usual time and place (10:45 a.m., V.A. Cafe, 117 McDermot Avenue). We will stream a short intro and Community Time so anyone that wishes to can check in (post your Community Time items here if you have something you want to share but are unable to join in person) but we won’t stream the documentary or offer a podcast for these two weeks. However, if you want to watch the film, you can stream it for free via the Kanopy service offered by the Winnipeg Public Library.

I think this doc has the potential to be the springboard for an interesting and important conversation about many matters that are concerning in our current cultural conversations (or lack of them), and I hope you can join us for both weeks. I’ll see you on Sunday.

Peace,
Tim Plett

PS – BYOPC (Free free “bring your own popcorn”…or whatever snack feels like it fits with “movie in the morning” for you).