The story of the Stone Soup asks readers and listeners to consider how contributing in small but purposeful ways can lead to big outcomes.
Ostensibly, the folk story relays how travellers convince a disconnected community to each place a small amount of their own food into a soup, by first placing a stone into an empty pot and then enticing curious villagers with their delicious stone soup.
Each villager who contributes gets a share of the stone soup, and by the end of the story, all of the villagers have reconnected over food.
That message of connecting, sometimes over food and sometimes through small but purposeful action, was selected as the theme of 2024-25 for the Calgary Interfaith Council (CIC) in what they’re calling the courage to connect.
“The challenges of last year with the Hamas attack and all of what has transpired since, with the devastation of what is happening in Gaza and what we experienced as an interfaith Council is we really realized that sometimes connecting isn’t easy. It really takes courage to be willing to be in the presence of, and to work with someone whom you’re not sure has the same view of life,” said Sarah Arthurs, Executive Director for the CIC.
The theme came as a result of a reading by children of the Stone Soup during the 2024 United Nations Interfaith Harmony Week (UNIHW) opening ceremonies at the Calgary Municipal Building, Arthurs said. The goal is to use the theme to guide the CIC through the next season of interfaith activity, including 2025’s UNIHW in February, and the annual interfaith breakfast in May.
“It’s going to be a recurring theme that we will visit and take into account with our programming. The other thing that’s emerged with our strategic work, is really a desire to really find the leadership of people under 30, under 40, and to become part of our organization and our programming,” said Arthurs.
She said that they would be bringing back a few favourite long-time initiatives like the food-focused potluck dinner and conversation held as part of UNIHW, as well as to find other food and faith-based activities throughout the upcoming year.
Other non-food-based activities are also planned, which will be open to anyone interested in interfaith connections to participate.
“Another thing that we’re doing is we are wanting to start supporting visits to different faith communities, so we’re planning a communities of faith bus tour on Oct. 26,” Arthurs said.
“We’re looking at doing that as another way to create an opportunity for people to come together and to visit different faith sites, and also to be in the bus together with each other as a bonding experience and another place and opportunity to talk about what people have experienced.”
A third initiative the CIC is focusing on is their evolving women of faith program, which invites women from all different faiths to gather once a month to discuss faith perspectives on a monthly topic.
All of which is aimed at strengthening and building resiliency into Calgary’s faith community, said Arthurs.
“We’ve been doing some strategic work over the last few months, and one of the things that’s become clear to us is our focus and our attention needs to be on what’s emerging in Calgary, and how we can be proactive in terms of creating relationships and action steps, and we can be there for one another when difficult or complicated things might happen against a particular faith, or between faiths in Calgary,” she said.
“That’s where our focus and attention needs to be because this is where we live, and this is where we have the opportunity to build relationships and understanding and connection.”
Anyone interested in getting involved with the Calgary Interfaith Council events, or joining as a member, can sign up at www.calgaryinterfaithcouncil.org.
The United Nations Interfaith Harmony Week is held in the first week of February annually.
