Art as resistance recognizes that when things seem bleak that is when we must begin the work of creating and imagining. Art is the work of pursuing hope rather than becoming despondent. Join us on Sunday, April 14th from 5:30-7:00 PM as Rev. Dr. Levi Jones facilitates this time discussion.

Event Cover Photo Credit: Rev. Dr. Levi Jones

Every quarter at The Open Table we like to slow down, take a deep breath and recenter ourselves. Join us on March 10th at 5:30 pm for a refreshing, contemplative gathering in the spirit of the Taizé community. It is an intentional time devoted to silence, healing, chants and songs based on Scripture. We’ll be having a Salad bar for dinner. Please bring a side dish or dessert to share.

During the season of Lent many choose to give up things like alcohol or chocolate. We are choosing to engage in a season of resistance. We will be learning how rest is a tactical strategy against the Empire and practicing ways to rest. Join us on Sunday, February 25th from 5:30-7PM as Rev. Letiah Fraser, Rev. Jessica Williams and Cecilia Ananya facilitate this time of discussion and practice.

We are NOT Machines! In our industrialized capitalist society we have to both be aware of the ways the system is structured to program humans into non-thinking machines and learn ways to reclaim our humanity. Join us on Sunday, January 28th from 5:30-7PM as Rev. Letiah Fraser and Rev. Jessica Williams facilitate this discussion.

As we begin a new year, we want to take the opportunity to reflect on the previous year and set our intentions for the coming year. What went well? What challenges did you face? What are you hopeful for this year? Setting intentions directs the mind and gives us purpose. Join us VIRTUALLY on Sunday, January 14th @ 5:30-7 PM as Eric and Stephenie Godfroy lead us in exercises to help us look back and look ahead for the new year.

Please note, due to the forecasted potential winter storm, we will be meeting virtually, on Zoom. Click here to join the gathering.

In the busyness of the holiday season, you are invited to spend an hour on Christmas Eve to slow down, sing some Christmas Carols, sip some Cocoa and eat some holiday cookies. It’s a simple way to reset your body, mind and spirit in preparation for the holidays and the New Year. We will meet on Christmas Eve, Sunday, December 24th from 4-5PM

Sugar & Spice Holiday Cookie Decorating is a fundraising event on December from 6:00-8:00 PM benefitting The Open Table! There’s no tastier way to show your support than an icing bag in one hand and a drink in the other! It’s the perfect date night, friend hang or solo learning experience. Feel free to bring snacks to share with your table. The event will take place at 318 E 55th St KCMO. Please enter through the north door near the playground, which is also an accessible entrance.

Single tickets can NOW be purchased for $55 each. OR Reserve a whole table of 6 for $300 and invite your friends. Each table seats 6 people. Tables will be reserved under the purchaser's name. Your ticket includes entry, all supplies, a dozen cookies to decorate and take home, and one drink ticket. Additional beverages will be available for a suggested donation of $5 at the event. You can also purchase extra kits to take home to share with family and friends. Take home kits can be purchased for $30. All tickets and kits must be purchased by December 11 to ensure we have enough supplies for everyone.

Click here to purchase your ticket, table, or take home kit.

The holidays can bring a range of emotions, including grief, sadness, and loneliness. This service of contemplation and music offers a space for inward reflection and hope to be found.

This is a combined service with Second Pres and The Open Table.

Having critically explored the war in Palestine from various perspectives, Join us December 10th @ 5:30 PM as we will reflect on these critical conversations through the lens of the Christmas story which also occurred during a time of intense political conflict. The gospel birth narratives over and over announce that the birth of Jesus will mean peace on earth. These anti-imperial messages of peace were in direct contrast to the Pax Romana, the so-called peace of the Roman Empire which was actually a time of intense violence and conquest. Join us as we explore how to build the peace of the kingdom of God, not that of empires.

The ongoing confrontations in Gaza reach deeper than a mere territorial dispute. The narrative isn't about aligning with one side or the other; it's about acknowledging a history marked by colonial ambitions and grappling with a present distorted by the pervasive influence of white supremacy.

The structures of white supremacy have historically played a substantial role in shaping global relations, perpetuating a culture that both overtly and covertly manipulates conflicts, ensuring the endurance of a power dynamic that benefits the colonial frameworks and their descendants. This has had a catastrophic effect, fostering conditions that devalue the sanctity of life in the pursuit of control.

To genuinely address the implications of white supremacy and its intersection with colonialism, we must reassess our perspectives and strive for an authentic peace—a peace that does not simply mask the symptoms but seeks to heal the deep wounds inflicted by oppressive power systems.

We invite you to a critical examination of these issues on Sunday, November 26th , from 5:30 to 7:00 PM. In this session, Moe Hamid will guide our conversation, which will critically look at how the doctrines of white supremacy and the shadows of colonization continue to influence the strife between Israel and Hamas, and by extension, the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Bring your Thanksgiving leftovers to contribute to our community Thanksgiving themed dinner.

Join The Open Table for a trivia night fundraiser on November 11th at 4-6pm. There will be trivia, drinks, raffle prizes, and much more! All proceeds will support The Open Table

Single tickets can be purchased for $25 and a table of 6 is $125 ( 6th person is free) Raffle tickets will be available along with many prizes! Bring a snack to share with your table.

Tickets can be purchased online using this link: https://secondpreskc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/394/responses/new

The Myth of Manifest Destiny is deeply rooted in our country's history and narratives and is intricately connected to how white Christian nationalist ideology is spreading today. Join us on Sunday, October 22nd at 5:30-7 PM as we work to dismantle the myth of manifest destiny while exploring its impact on the poor and dispossessed throughout history and today. Rev. Jessica Williams will facilitate the conversation.

During the month of October, Indigenous Peoples Month, we are learning and listening to the REAL history. Melissa Garret, a second generation storyteller, who comes from the Cherokee, Quapaw, and Seneca Cayuga people, will weave the story of her history and her faith, taking us on a journey that her grandmother often described to her as the story of “the one drop of blood that got us through the Trail of Tears and Jesus got us through ever since.” Join us as Melissa Garrett tells her story. Sunday, October 8th @5:30-7PM

*Please note the new time of the gathering.*

Dinner will be a sandwich bar. Please bring a dessert or a side dish to share.

Photo:

This photo was taken near Melissa Garrett's tribes' land; Seneca Cayuga in Grove Oklahoma

Freedom Churches have existed throughout history as a prophetic challenge to oppressive systems, including the institutional church as a place to learn how to challenge the religion of empire, to organize and build power and community and to care for the needs of ourselves and others. Join Rev. Letiah and Rev. Jessica on Sunday, September 24th @ 6PM as we dive into our history to gain wisdom for this present moment. We will be having soup for dinner. Please bring a side dish or dessert to share.

Throughout history and in our present day, we have been conditioned to believe darkness is bad and evil. We will explore the goodness of darkness through a sacred story, a children’s story and through poetry. Join us on Sunday, September 10th @ 6:00PM as Rev. Letiah facilitates this discussion. We will be having salad bar for dinner. Please bring a side dish or dessert to share.

The process of dismantling White Supremacy Culture is both an external and internal work. Racial caucusing is one way to begin to notice and interrupt it in ourselves and in others. Join us on Sunday, August 27th @ 6 PM as John Tramel and Cecilia Belser-Patton facilitate this discussion.

Every quarter at The Open Table we like to slow down, take a deep breath and recenter ourselves. Join us on August 13th at 6pm for a refreshing, contemplative gathering in the spirit of the Taizé community. It is an intentional time devoted to silence, healing, chants and songs based on Scripture. We’ll be having a Salad bar for dinner. Please bring a side dish or dessert to share.

We're having our community picnic at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art Lawn Party. Let's gather for a fun-filled evening of conversation, enjoying nature, live music, food trucks, art activities and lawn games. The event location stretches from the Donald J. Hall Sculpture Park to Brush Creek. Bring your own food and drinks to enjoy or grab dinner from an on-site food truck! We will have sack dinners made for those who need it. We'll enjoy time spent together in community with no planned agenda. Join us on Sunday July 23 @ 6-7:30. The address for the museum is 4525 Oak St, Kansas City, MO 64111.

Sugar & Spice Happy Hour is a fundraising event on July 11 from 6:00-8:00 PM benefitting The Open Table! There’s no tastier way to show your support than an icing bag in one hand and a drink in the other! It’s the perfect date night, friend hang or solo learning experience. Feel free to bring snacks to share with your table. The event will take place at 318 E 55th St KCMO. Please enter through the north door near the playground, which is also an accessible entrance. Purchase tickets here: Sugar & Spice Happy Hour Tickets

The Divine Connection is not only to be encountered in our minds and hearts, but it is to be experienced in our bodies. Join us as we engage in various practices together. There will be an art, mediation/movement, journaling and music stations as portals through which we will be invited to engage the divine in community. Join us Sunday, July 9th from 6-7:30 PM. We will have a baked potato bar for dinner. Bring a side dish or dessert to share.

Note: This is a change from our bulletin/announcement at our most recent gathering. The community picnic will be July 23.

Why do we value community and meeting together as a church? How does prayer affect ourselves, our community and our relationship with the divine? We’ll be exploring these questions and also how to practice both community and prayer together.

Join us on June 11th @ 6-7:30 PM as Chi Nguyen, Louisa Martin & Cecilia Belser-Patton will be facilitating the gathering.

What IS the Church? What on Earth IS the Church For? These two little questions are first and foremost about the nature and mission of God. Why do we confuse and conflate these with the institutional Church? Do we view the church as God’s new Beloved Community or the manifestation of God in Christ? Perhaps, St. Irenaeus offers help in his saying, “Wherever the Spirit is there is the Church of Christ.” So what does it mean to say that the Church is God’s New Way of being in the world for its life. And what does it mean to say “We are the Church?” These are a few questions we will be exploring while we address the failure of the institutional Church and Christianity. Join us on June 11th @ 6-7:30 PM as Steve McCormick will be facilitating the discussion.

The Bible has been used to justify every form of systemic oppression in history, from racism and poverty, labor exploitation, ecological devastation and the genocide of indigenous peoples. It is a huge part of the mental terrain of the U.S., and we are all impacted by toxic Christian narratives and misinterpretations of Christian texts, no matter what faith tradition we come from or if we come from no faith tradition at all. Understanding how these narratives impact the policies that cause systemic injustice is central to building a social movement for justice, and returning to liberative ways of reading Christian Scripture can be a means of healing ourselves and our society. When we read the Bible together, with a diversity of voices, and connect these teachings to real life people today, we join the transforming work of God in our world. Join us on May 14 @ 6-7:30 PM as Katrina Zezza, Religious and Cultural Organizer for the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights and Social Justice, and the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival will be facilitating the discussion.

Would faith communities lose anything if we simply gave up the practice of reading Scripture together? What "Bible" are we talking about? What "reading strategies" do we have in mind? How would we read the Bible responsibly, given how it has been used to harm and shame? Join us on April 23 @ 6-7:30 PM. Jared Witt, transitional pastor of Second Presbyterian Church will be facilitating the discussion.

On Good Friday, the church confronts the reality that systemic evils lead to death. This is still true today. People are still being crucified by the system and it doesn’t have to be this way.

Join us as we go downtown for our own "Stations of the Cross" walk through the city. The walk itself is about 1.5 miles. During the walk, we will pause at many different sites in KCMO, lamenting the many ways Jesus still suffers today.

Friday, April 7th at 5PM. Meet at Ilus W. Davis Park in KCMO, at the intersection of Oak St. and E 11th St.

(This will be The Open Table's ONLY Holy Week/Easter gathering)

We have just begun a new series in which we are asking a lot of “why” questions. Has someone ever asked you the question, “Why do you still have faith?" Join us on March 26 @ 6-7:30 PM as we dialogue with Jonathan Foster as he attempts to offer some responses to the question “Why Faith?” They may not be sensible responses, but you might find them to be compelling.

We are beginning a new series in which we will be asking a lot of “Why?” questions. If the faith tradition you were raised in no longer fits the person you are today or you weren’t raised in any faith tradition at all, but you have a lot of questions or you’re pretty sure you’re done with religion or you have a little nagging curiosity, this series will ask questions like why faith? Why the Bible? Why Prayer? Why church or attend a faith community at all? How can we even conceptualize and begin to practice a faith that intentionally de-tangles itself from empire, white supremacy culture, patriarchy, misogyny, etc. We will begin with a panel discussion of folks talking about where they are on their deconstruction to reconstruction faith journey. Join panelists Delesslyn Kennebrew, Jonathan Foster, Ruby and David Munyan, Adrianne Showalter Matlock, Elyn Himi, Toni Page and Sandra Duncan this Sunday March 12th @ 6:00-7:30 PM Chidcare will be available. We are having a baked potato bar for dinner. Please bring a dessert or side to share.

What happens when it's already a few weeks into the New Year and your newly professed resolutions are already on shaky ground? Come join the dialogue, share some of your unique coping and unique resilience "tools" that we carry, and be an encourager for yourself and for others as we journey individually and collectively. Join chaplain Joel Carmer on February 26 @ 6-7:30PM. We will be having chili for dinner. Please bring a side dish or dessert to share.

The Open Table will be hosting our second annual community game night. Bring your own board/card games, and bring your own non-alcoholic drinks and snacks. We will have beer for sale. Let's hang out together. The Super Bowl will also be on the television.

Every quarter at The Open Table we like to slow down, take a deep breath and recenter ourselves. Join us on January 22nd at 6pm for a refreshing, contemplative gathering in the spirit of the Taizé community. It is an intentional time devoted to silence, healing, chants and songs based on Scripture. We’ll be having a baked potato bar for dinner. Please bring a side dish or dessert to share.