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TORKELSON: Different faiths, one brunch table

By Jean Torkelson, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published September 3, 2007 at midnight

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Most folks spend Labor Day weekend lazing with friends and family. But four Colorado couples took a gutsier approach at brunch Sunday.

They were near-strangers who risked finding out that they had zero in common - especially in their religious beliefs.

"For us, it's a great way to meet people we wouldn't meet otherwise," said Ernie Huff, who with his wife, Cheryl, opened their Highlands Ranch home to a new interfaith movement, Common Tables.

"I don't want someone to tell me I have to convert, but I'm curious about what people believe," said Kathy Cranmer, who came with her husband, Mike.

The idea: get four couples of different faiths, all strangers, to gather in each other's homes for food and fellowship. In a few months, Common Tables has signed up 100 participants and gotten hits from 27 countries on its Web site, commontables.org, says Dave Corby, a co-founder with his wife, Kay, and two other Colorado couples.

"If we just sat down and talked and erased the boundaries that exist, it could do a lot of good in the world," Dave Corby says. For more information, go to the Web site or call 303-690-3900. It costs $25 to join for a year of match-ups.

Meet Sunday's guests: The Huffs are members of the Mile Hi Church of Religious Science in Lakewood. Mike Cranmer also goes to Mile Hi, while his wife, Kathy, attends First Unitarian Church in Denver.

Bob and Nancy Hoffmaster are from Calvary Baptist Church in Denver. Miriam and Jeff Geller hail from Denver's BMH/BJ synagogue.

The couples met briefly ahead of time to lay ground rules like dietary needs. The Gellers, for example, keep a kosher home, so pork was off the table. In other pairings, alcohol may be a religious no-no.

Despite differences, "we all have similar attitudes - acceptance," said Bob Hoffmaster.

The first get-together was spent mostly talking about families and interests, and very little about religion: "It's not so much learning about everybody's faith, but how has your faith shaped you as a person," Cheryl Huff said.

Yet faith questions filtered through. Jeff Geller helped Cheryl Huff understand a Jewish prayer she read in a novel. The group touched on Mother Teresa and her recently revealed "dark night of the soul."

It shows, said Jeff Geller, "Everybody has doubts no matter who you are."

"But she never strayed from her path," Mike Cranmer observed.

In six months, everybody will be assigned to a new group, which could be atheists, Buddhists or Muslims.

And the original eight may continue their relationship as friends: "Though after several years," quipped Nancy Hoffmaster, "we may get tired of cooking."

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