The Root Cellar is an inner city ministry in Maine's second largest city of Lewiston.  It is located in a low income neighborhood, made in large part of African immigrants and refugees, many of whom are Muslim.  In fact, Lewiston currently has the highest per capita Muslim population in the United States.  Last week, my middle school juggling team did a show at the Lewiston Root Cellar, and several members of my home church prepared a meal for the folks of the neighborhood.

A lady from our church, Maria, headed up the kitchen crew, and six other women, including my wife, Sue were involved in the  preparations. They made chicken friccazzi , salad and brownies.    Others, including our pastor and several teens, served the meals to the guests. It was enjoyed by everyone, and there were plenty of leftovers to bring home. 

Meanwhile, LOL performed their juggling, magic, drama, and dance routines.  Dinner theatre was new to the kids, but they handled it well.  In truth, there were very few interruptions, but there was a certain amount of distractions as people asked for seconds, got up to get a cup of coffee, etc.  Judah did his first under the leg throw with clubs, Emillee juggled three tennis rackets flawlessly, and Adam, filling in for Alex with the rabbit production, was hysterical.  The audience - all ages - was riveted to the show most of the time.

I would estimate that 2/3 of the audience was African, and most of them were Muslims.  I can only make that assumption based on the dress of the women.  While our show intentionally avoided potentially confusing concepts such as the Trinity and Jesus being "the Son of God", we did not compromise the overall message, which is the life of Jesus.  While the Koran and the Bible agree on the virgin birth and many of Jesus' miracles, the Koran claims the crucifixion and resurrection are untrue.  That notwithstanding, it is always such a wonderful experience - especially given the present atmosphere - when there is an atmosphere of mutual respect such as was present last week.  They knew that we were a Christian group (as is the Root Cellar itself) so we did not blindside them when we did a routine about Easter.  On the other hand, we knew many of the neighbors are Muslims, so our cooks made sure there was nothing in the meal that was against Islamic dietary laws. 

First and foremost, in my mind, our LOL shows are about what my students learn from the experience.  After discussing the show the next day at school, it was clear they had taken a lot in.  Maybe there's hope for Christian - Muslim relations after all.