Hey folks…this a longer blurb than usual because it has extra info regarding Not Quite Christmas. If you care about that, read to the end. I know that we all experience this season differently. For some, it’s a time of connection, joy and celebration. For others, it’s a slog through a dark and complicated canyon of depression. And for many of us, i…

Ever wonder why we do Souper Sundays? (And yes-this week is one of those.) I suppose the answer could be “ for the perogies” and that would be enough, but I suspect there are some other human hungers that a morning like this can feed. We will meet at VA Cafe at 10:45, catch up on our lives with some Community Time, and muse a bit about what makes f…

Hey folks. This week our gathering will include music, Kids Table, some time to be still (an increasingly rare opportunity), and a Talky Bit for our consideration. In the Talky Bit we’ll be returning to our exploration of what ethics and morals might look like beyond the bounds of religion. In particular, we’ll begin to dig into the possibility tha…

Hey folks – this is a Full Circle Sunday, so we can look forward to the opportunity to connect in Community Time, sing together, have something for the youngest members of the community, and dig into something challenging in the Talky Bit. We’ll meet at 10:45 a.m. at VA Cafe. We’ll livestream here and podcast here later in the week. In the Talky Bi…

I’m guessing, but my guess is that “healing” wasn’t likely included as a reason for most of the field trips any of us have been on. Personally, I can think of one noteworthy exception, which is the last time we gathered as a group at the Kapabamayak Achaak Healing Forest. This Sunday we are planning to revisit that experience, with some additional …

Hey folks – I hope your long weekend was a good one, and I’m looking forward to being back in a shared space with you. We’ll gather at VA Cafe at 10:45 a.m. to share what songwriter Leonard Cohen once called ” a slice of…life” with one another, and to reflect a bit on some possible lessons being outdoors might teach us about our deep human drive to…

Let me start with a disclaimer. If I was asked to sit in / jam with a musical hero of mine (say, the bass player Marcus Miller), I would sheepishly decline, partly out of deference but also because I would so clearly be out of my league. I won’t be starting the Talky Bit on Sunday with a history review of Scotland (where Corinne and I have been adv…

Tim Plett is still away, so it’s my turn to take over the talkie bit. I recently spent a few weeks travelling around Ireland, and in true ‘other Tim’ fashion, I’m going to reflect on that experience a bit this week. I’m going to look specifically at the political and social unrest that defined much of Ireland’s twentieth century, commonly known as …

Hi all, Tim Plett is away this week and next, and so we get to hear from some others in the community. This week it’s Misty’s turn! Here’s what to expect: “Since ChatGPT came out a couple of years ago, there has been much chatter and perhaps renewed fear about Artificial Intelligence. Much of my work centers around computer stuff and I have been do…

Hey folks. This Sunday launches us into a season in our life together that I would love to see people take full advantage of. Over the next month or so we will experience a combination of having the Talky Bit facilitated by people we don’t often get to hear from, interspersed with long weekends with no gatherings. When I say “take full advantage of…