The Table Winnipeg: Recent Episodes
The Table Winnipeg
The Table uploads a Podcast of their weekly services to make it available for their listeners. Enjoy!
At The Table, we like to explore what we believe. It’s why we exist. We spend a lot of our time considering ideas, reflecting, discussing, questioning. But how much attention have we paid to the quality of the questions we’re asking? Since we’re on the topic of questions (I know, I know…I chose the topic), […]
Hey folks – a short blurb this week, but with an important housekeeping item in it. Details first. We’ll meet at our home at 10:45 am (e-mail me if you need the address or a ride), livestream here, podcast here. We’ll share some Community Time, then go exploring in the realm of childhood and belief formation. […]
Hey all – When we gather this week we’ll be continuing our exploration about systems of belief with a bit of a deeper dive into those mysterious, below-the-waterline things called “Core Beliefs”. In the model we have used so far we’ve referred to this piece of the system as “Core Assumptions,” and I’ll expand a […]
Hey folks – it recently occurred to me that although this community has been exploring beliefs for years, I don’t think we’ve ever explicitly considered how they are formed. We’ve kind of treated them as though they simply “are”. And that might be a bit ironic, considering that when we treat our beliefs as “givens”, […]
Hey folks – as promised, our series on religious trauma and Religious Trauma Syndrome is drawing to a close. It’s been a while coming, for sure, but I’m glad to be turning the page into this chapter. As we will discover together, reconstruction isn’t simply substituting one belief system for another, but rather the choice […]
Hey folks – last week we planned to explore the place that anger has on the road to recovery from religious trauma and Religious Trauma Syndrome. And we almost did. 🙂 However, as sometimes happens, our Community Time conversation expanded and “poof” – it was time to go home! I want to acknowledge that there is some tension […]
Sorry/not sorry – I couldn’t resist adding the all-caps “MORE”. I think it’s because the subject line was starting to sprawl… In any case, that is also all true. This Sunday, we’ll gather at the Plett house once again (details below). We will start with an Easter Egg hunt for the kids. For those joining us online […]
Hey folks—last week’s blurb was long partly because I needed to provide a lot of details about the “where” part of our gathering. There will be some of that in this one as well because the search for our next gathering space is ongoing. Some of you have sent suggestions – much appreciated, and be […]
As most of you may know, VA Cafe has closed. That’s sad for several reasons, one of which is that we now have no gathering space. We’re working on that but it might take a bit of doing to find our next “home”. In the meantime, we still exist to make room to explore what we believe, […]
Hey folks – we’ve taken a bit of a breather from our exploration of religious trauma and RTS (religious trauma syndrome) for the past couple of weeks, and (as promised) we are now returning to this topic. In particular, we’re going to move into some consideration of what healing might look like. I’m not going to […]
Hey folks – for those of you that follow along, you’ll be aware that last week we explored the “do” part of “doing and being” in times of transition. So, as promised, this week we’re planning to consider some of the “be” part. I’ve already used up my pun quota, so all I’ll say is that […]
As you may know (and as Jimmy Kimmel recently reminded many of us), we sometimes have strong feelings about being interrupted. It would be easy to assume that those feelings are always unpleasant, but that’s not necessarily the case. As you may recall, three weeks ago the Talky Bit was queued up to be about thriving […]
As some of you know, last week I had the opportunity to see the play “Glory!”. I’ve been struggling ever since with how to put words around that adventure. It’s not so much that I feel compelled to explain it (I’m not sure I could), but the experience was remarkable and I want to invite […]
There’s a Scottish mountain biker named Danny MacAskill whose skills I admire. To be clear, I’m not delusional enough to try to emulate him. It’s appreciation at a great distance. (For that string of sentences to truly make sense, check out this link to view a very fun doc about a project of his centred around doing […]
So when I looked up the word “leisure” in the Oxford English Dictionary, the definition that came up simply said, “free time”. Remarkably succinct in any context, but almost startlingly so in the setting of the Oxford Dictionary. With that definition in view, the question I want to explore in the Talky Bit this coming Sunday […]
I’m excited to be back at The Table this week! It’s been lovely to have some time away, and it also feels good to be home, including the part of “home” that is The Table. A big thanks to James and Tim Penner for taking on these past two Sunday mornings. I’ll say more about that […]
Tim is away this week, and he’s handed things over to me. We’ll be meeting at our usual time and place (10:45 at the VA Café) for a bit more of a streamlined Sunday: some music, some talkie bit, and some discussion. I’ll be talking about the Judas problem by considering the way it’s been […]
Hey folks – as those of you familiar with The Table will know, we change things up in the summer. We don’t gather on the long weekends (if you are able, get outside!), and what we do from week-to-week can vary considerably. We will still endeavor to livestream and podcast, making the Talky Bit part […]
Hey folks – I know I speak with considerable privilege when I say that I had a good relationship with my dad. It’s not something I take for granted. When we gather this week (at 10:45 a.m.,, VA Cafe) we will explore some of the implications of a couple of lessons I learned from my dad. Not “how to be a dad” lessons – just “how to live” lessons that can be applied in many different settings. There will also be Kids Table, and good folks to journey with. Personally, I think that might be the best part.
Also, for those who may find the late arrival of this blurb disconcerting, my entire explanation is that it was one of those weeks where I had a hard time deciding which path to take in a Talky Bit. I’ll unpack that a bit more when we’re together.
I’ll see you on Sunday.
Peace,Tim Plett
Hey all – we’re back at VA Cafe this week, in person. 10:45 a.m., Kids Table, Community Time, tunes, coffee available upstairs, and a different way of thinking about changing beliefs on tap downstairs. We’re gettin’ practical, folks.
Speaking of practical, here’s a reminder of some dates to put on your calendar.
- No gatherings on June 29th, August 3rd, and August 21st (the summer long weekends).
- Upcoming Talky Bits with folks from the community we don’t often have the privilege of hearing from: June 22nd – James Neufeld, July 6th – Tim Penner, and July 20th (t.b.d). More information on what they are planning to share is still to come, but I know enough about both to confidently say that I’m very intrigued!
And while we’re on the topic of summer Talky Bits…if you’re part of the community and you’ve got something you think it would be fun to share on July 20th, let me know. It doesn’t have to fit any particular framework or format, other than happening on that date at our usual time. Seriously…open season! Be in touch.
I’ll see you on Sunday!
Peace,
Tim Plett
Hey folks – this is a Full Circle Sunday, so we can all look forward to some Community Time, some music, and Kids Table. And, of course, to one more Sunday “in hell”. Or maybe “adjacent to hell”. I guess it all depends on what you mean by “hell”, right? And that’s exactly what we’re exploring, so that works out nicely. This week we’ll spend a little more time considering the influence of Dante, as well as some contemporary ideas about hell from various perspectives. And (do I dare commit to this?) that should bring us to the end of this particular series.
Next Sunday will be our annual field trip to take in the Pride Parade. More details on that in the blurb next week.
Also, a reminder regarding our summer schedule: there will be no gatherings on June 29th, August 3rd, and August 21st (the summer long weekends).
We’ll meet at 10:45 a.m. at VA Cafe. Bring your hope with you, and we’ll talk about hell.
Peace,
Tim Plett
And also a (very) short blurb! This week, we’ll be continuing our exploration of the history of human ideas about hell. It’s an alt.Sunday with something scheduled for Kids Table participants. We’ll have a chance to check in with one another, to offer care and support, and to work together to provide a safe space in which to explore what we believe.
Because that’s why The Table exists, remember? To make room for anyone who wishes to explore what they believe, and to do it so that no one has to explore alone. Unless they choose to, which, as we shall consider on Sunday, is some thinker’s version of hell itself.
On that happy note, I’ll see you on Sunday.
Peace,Tim Plett
Hey folks – for those of you expecting Part 2 of A (very) Short History of Hell, I’m sorry to disappoint. However, this Sunday is Mother’s Day. I initially thought it might be an interesting challenge to combine topics, but more worthy thoughts won out. We’ll return to that topic another time.
This week we’re going to explore the noteworthy absence of “mother” images for the Divine within the context of the prevailing religious traditions that have formed much of the thinking about “God” in this part of the world, and consider how at least one exemplary parable might be different if we made some adjustments.
All of this and Kids Table, music and Community Time. If your plans for the day permit, please join us in-person at VA Cafe at 10:45 am this Sunday. You might have to forgo brunch, but I promise to be diligent about trying to end on time.
I’ll see you on Sunday.
Peace,
Tim Plett
Given the subject line, I feel as though some explanation of how I decide what to explore in a Talky Bit might be in order. You might recall that a few months ago I asked for input from the community on what you think might be interesting to explore. I didn’t get a lot of responses and I would love more, so if you’ve got anything (and I mean anything) you think might be intriguing, please let me know. Otherwise, I’ll keep “following my nose”, as my mom would have said, and it might not lead me anywhere you find interesting. To put it another way, if you don’t like what I’ve been exploring, you can change it just by telling me what interests you.
Having said that, one of the suggestions I did get was to explore the history of the ideas of heaven and hell. I figure we might as well start with what is generally considered the “bad news” location, so this week I would like to offer a whirlwind tour of the history of human ideas about hell. There will be lots of stops along the way, but there are enough specific points of interest that we won’t spend long at any one of them. And (spoiler alert?) many of them may not be what we’re most familiar with.
So…show up at VA Cafe at 10:45 am on Sunday, We’ll take some time to check in with one another then go exploring (I almost said “in hell”, but that didn’t read quite right).
I’ll see you on Sunday.
Peace,
Tim Plett
Hey folks – if your world is anything like mine, people have been wishing you a “Happy Easter” this past week. As someone who grew up in a religious culture in which Easter was a big deal (I mean, resurrections don’t happen every day, right? Or do they?), having folks that I know are irreligious saying “Happy Easter” feels like it’s in a category adjacent to being wished a “Merry Christmas” by people for whom the Christian story is, at best, a distant and irrelevant echo. To be clear, it doesn’t bother me in the least. However, I do find it interesting. What does it mean? Does it mean “Enjoy the long weekend”? Perhaps. Does it mean, “I hope this is like Thanksgiving and all your kids are around for dinner”? Maybe. Does it mean, “2000 years ago the Romans tortured a Rabbi to death but there’s this story saying that he didn’t stay dead, so let’s have a party”? Well, maybe to some but not to most of the folks that I’m thinking of.
All to say, “Happy Easter” can (and does) mean lots of different things. The question I plan to explore this Sunday is, “how can we take something familiar that could be approached in many different ways and make it our own?”.
We’ll start at 10:45 at VA Cafe, share some music and Community Time, KIds Table will be doing something creative in the next room over and keeping us smiling with their joyful conversations – all of us exploring what we believe in a space where we don’t have to be afraid of “getting it wrong”. How delightful! Happy Easter indeed.
I’ll see you on Sunday.
Peace,Tim Plett
Housekeeping P.S.’s
– We could really use financial support right now. If you are able to participate in this way, that would be very helpful.
– Next week will be a Souper Sunday. Food of any and all shapes will be welcome. (If you get that sentence, it means you’ve been reading the previous blurbs. Good for you!) More details in the blurb next week.
This Sunday – Community Time, Music, Kids Table and a Talky Bit that explores happiness from the perspective of what motivates us as human beings. Boom…done…next – because sometimes I like to write a blurb that’ll fit on the screen of a phone.
Details: Sunday – 10:45 a.m. at VA Cafe (171 McDermot Avenue)Important upcoming dates:
- Sunday, April 6th – AGM and circular foods (?) potluck (details closer to the date)
- Sunday, April 27- Souper Sunday, with food of all shapes (details closer to that date as well)
I’ll see you on Sunday.Peace,Tim Plett
Hey folks – this blurb has a few additional details at the end, so I would invite you to take the moments needed to read the whole thing.
Let’s start with the details about this Sunday. We’ll gather at VA Cafe at 10:45 am for some music, Community Time and a Talky Bit. In a slight change from our typical rhythm, there will not be any Kids Table program this week but the usual space will be available for our creative youngsters to hang out. In the Talky Bit, we’ll take a break from our inquiry into ethics beyond religion to consider what “back to basics” might look like for a community like The Table. We’ll livestream here and podcast later in the week here.In other news: This Sunday is the time change (spring ahead!). Yes, I know your phone will make the change automatically, but your body and mind might not. Hence, a reminder. * Upcoming events to put on your calendar include our AGM and Pies Only potluck on April 6th. Justin will tell us where the money goes and may use pie charts to do so. The rest of us are invited to bring pies for an “only pies” potluck. More details closer to the date, but for now I’ll address the concern of anyone who thinks that means an “only desserts” potluck. “Pies” simply indicates shape, not contents (see above re: pie charts). Nutritious pies will be just as welcome as less-nutritious, sugar-laden, covered-in-meringue pies. (But really – which of those descriptions made you salivate?) * And just in case we find that too limiting, we’re going to have a “normal” Souper Sunday on April 27th*. Because humans like food and hanging out together and we are (first of all) humans.
I’ll see you on Sunday.Peace,Tim Plett
Hey folks – housekeeping first. As you may have noticed, we just had two alt.Sundays in a row, but with Kids Table for both. This Sunday, which would normally be an alt.Sunday, kinda isn’t. We’ll have Community Time, music, and a Talky Bit…but no Kids Table programming. Let’s not call it anything, and just get together and enjoy having good company on the journey of exploring what we believe. Sound o.k. to you?
In the Talky Bit we’ll be continuing our musings about ethics that everyone can share in by examining what we actually all have in common. It’s a bit trickier question than it might first seem, and I’m looking forward to digging into it.
We’ll meet at VA Cafe at 10:45. Come for the coffee and the hang, and stay for the stuff that might make you reconsider how you think / feel / act. It’ll be fun…:)
I’ll see you on Sunday.
Peace,
Tim PlettP.S. – a reminder that we’re looking for a couple of folks to join our leadership team. If you are at all curious, ask me about it. Also, this is a time of year where we often find it especially difficult to bring in enough funds to keep the ship upright. Your gifts of every kind are gratefully received, and if you are able to give financially this is a good time to do so.
Let’s get together at VA Cafe (171 McDermot) at 10:45 a.m. to see if we can make sense of that subject line. I’m not going to unpack it at all in this email, because…that would be the whole Talky Bit.
Come with your mind and heart open to sharing a slice of your life with others, making some music together, exploring the relationship between religion and ethics, and (if you’re a Kids Table person), exploring something just for you.
Also, on a “housekeeping” note, we’re looking to grow our leadership team. If that interests you at all, talk to me. I promise to treat your interest as curiosity and not signing up.
I’ll see you on Sunday.
Peace,
Hey folks – Just a quick note this week to let you know what’s up in our gathering this week. Most of you already know the logistics (10:45 a.m, VA Cafe, livestream here, podcast here later in the week). It’s officially and alt.Sunday, but because we had music last week, we’ll have a Talky Bit this week. You don’t need to care about this, but I like to let folks know just in case it matters. We’ll be returning to our sometimes-series on Ethics Beyond Religion, considering both some of the merits and some of the limits of science as a story that can provide ethical guidance in our world. Big topic, short talk. As always, come prepared to think for yourself.
I’ll see you on Sunday.
Peace,Tim Plett
Hey folks…I expect I’ll have some company when I say that I’m tired of all the hate that seems to dominate our media spaces these days and that seems in danger of poisoning the water of our “every-day-ness” as well. One of my friends likes to say that “the antidote to bad culture is good culture”, so I’m going to take a cue from that to muse a bit about what substantial love looks like. You know, something along the lines of “the antidote to hate is love”, but not the fluffy kind of love that only lasts for the weekend. With apologies to John Mayer – it’s a good pop tune, but that version of love is not the antidote to hate. When you’re taking on hate, you need a more robust version of love than that.
This is a Full Circle Sunday, so we can look forward to some Community Time, some music, something for the Kids Table crowd, and the good company of fellow explorers. I’m looking forward to being together.
We’ll meet at 10:45 at VA Cafe, livestream here and podcast later in the week here.I’ll see you on Sunday.Peace,Tim Plett
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, it’s something in-between; a complicated mix of obligations and opportunities. The constant bombardment of ads that suggest we can spend our way into happiness and bring our loved ones along for the ride can be wearisome, and the literal darkness of winter adds to the challenge. What can we learn that might help us navigate this season better? That’s what we’ll be exploring in the Talky Bit this Sunday.
Kids Table is on. I won’t give anything away, but I can confidently say that if the walls of Darling Bar could speak, they would say that they have never heard anything like what will happen on Sunday.
The “not kids” will enjoy some Community Time, some music, some musings. We’ll start all of this at 10:45 a.m. at VA Cafe (171 McDermot Ave), livestream here, podcast here.
Not Quite Christmas info:
Where – VA Cafe
When – Sunday, December 22nd, 10:45 a.m.
What – Much of what we want most as humans; food, connection with others, some time out of the storm. Details below.Program Details:
Our theme will be “Look What The Light Did Now”. We’ll unpack that on the day, but for now I would invite you to reflect on that from two possible perspectives. First of all, what are some things that feel like “bright spots” in your life right now? Places, people, experiences, ideas, beliefs…anything that feels like it brings light into your life. Second, can you think of any occasions where a surprising or unexpected change in your life turned out to be a good thing? Once again, this can be about anything.I will make space for people to share these with the community as part of our gathering. If you don’t feel comfortable sharing in person, or perhaps can’t attend, please email your reflections to me and I’ll read them as part of our time together. My email is tim@thetablewinnipeg.com, for those who might be seeing this on our website.
Food Details:
For those who take joy in thinking about and planning / preparing food, the format will be potluck, the theme will be “Holiday Brunch”. If you don’t care about the theme, ignore it and bring whatever you want. Or just bring yourself. The Table will provide ham and perogies (because that’s what Santa eats for Holiday Brunch), drinks and paper service. We won’t go home hungry.
Also, this can be a lovely occasion to invite a friend. In a world of big seasonal productions (and those can be wonderful, of course), I think our relatively intimate and informal marking of this time can feel like a simple way to come in from the dark for a hour or so, be with some lovely people, enjoy a good meal, and not feel like you had to pretend to be someone you’re not. I’m already looking forward to it.
I’ll see you on Sunday.Peace,Tim
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 food “spiritual”. And then we will eat whatever we brought to share. Please come whether you have food to bring or not. One of the things we can learn at a potluck is that there is an important linkage between the idea of “enough” and generosity. Its a lovely thing to explore with a plate of food in your hand. And next Sunday we are going to something we haven’t done for a while and host Table Top Sunday. If you don’t know what that is, watch for more info in the blurb next week.I’ll see you on Sunday.PeaceTim PlettPS-drinks and paper service will be provided. If what you are bringing requires serving utensils, please bring those with you.
Sent from my iPhone
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 that compassion might be the centrepiece of such a notion, and also what some of the challenges to that idea might be.
We’re also getting close to our Pie In Your Face fundraiser. (November 3rd). This short video featuring the creative kids of our community recaps how this whole thing works. Please be in touch if you have any questions. Feel free to share the link with anyone that might be interested.
We’ll gather at 10:45 a.m. at VA Cafe. We’ll livestream here and podcast here..
I’ll see you on Sunday.
Peace,
Tim Plett
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 Bit, we’ll be starting an exploration of the possibilities of what might form the basis for a wider “human ethics” in a world where that is no longer primarily something given shape by religions. It’s an intriguing question, and one that I believe many “post-religious” travelers can find a bit challenging. I think it’ll be interesting to explore.
And about that survey…We’ve done very little over the years to deliberately ask folks what is working well and not so well for them at The Table. I think that’s been quite consistent with our commitment to making a space where people are not being (or feeling) watched or judged. However, it also means that we don’t know very much about those things. So we’re going to see if we can do something about that, ideally without assailing those other positive values.
Now…I suspect there might be some concerns about this, but let me see if I can put your mind at ease. The survey is online, short, completely voluntary, can be completed anonymously if you wish, and is all reflective, qualitative questions. In other words, we’re listening for experiences and opinions more than gathering data. Think of it like when we sit in a circle for Community Time, but with the circle being online so it can reach more people, and be accessed at everyone’s convenience. In terms of process, I’m going to provide this info now so people can ask their general questions or express their concerns over the coming week (you can always reach me by email at this address, and of course I’m pleased to connect in person), and then next week I’ll provide a link to the survey. Please do reach out if you have any questions.
I’ll see you on Sunday.
Peace,
Tim Plett
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 guides. Details as follows:
For anyone that was not able to join us last year, the forest is located in St John’s Park, near the corner of Fowler St and Anderson Ave – across from St John’s Cathedral. I’ve included a Google link to that location at the bottom of the email. If you are new to the Healing Forest, or simply want a refresher in advance of our gathering, there’s more info in the rest of the blurb.
This is how the keepers of the Kapabamayak Achaak Healing Forest describe the reason it exists:Kapabamayak Achaak Healing Forest honors Indigenous children lost to or affected by the residential school system, and offers a place for learning and teaching about all injustices from colonialism and racism, past and present. The sharing of our collective stories is a pathway to understanding All Our Relations.
We will be guided in our learning this Sunday by both a “forest keeper” (in this case, Kyle Mason, who was with us last year), and by Elder Don Robinson. Don is an Elder who has been an important person in Theresa’s journey, and is someone I believe will have some deep wisdom for us to learn from.
Other details:
Time: We will meet at the location described above (and linked at the end of this email) at our usual time – 10:45 a.m.
Environment: This is what people in the concert industry call an “all weather event”. We will be outdoors the entire time, so plan things like how you dress, what the Little’s needs might be and what you bring accordingly. There is a fair bit of built-in seating in the space, but you may also wish to bring a blanket or lawn chairs to augment what is there.
Agenda: The content of our time will be guided by the Forest Keeper and Elder. It’s hard to say precisely how long it will be, but we will be done no later than 12:00 noon.
Parking: There is free parking on the streets right beside the park
Bathrooms: There are bathrooms available in the church that will be accessible for our use, as required. They are nearby, but not directly beside the healing forest so wear your comfy shoes.
Additional Information:You can learn more and get a look at the space here.
For a Google link to the location, click here.
I am very excited about this. I know it can be a bit of an “extra” to come to a new location, be outside, etc, but I also know that our time together last year was a very meaningful one that I still often reference in both my own thinking and my interactions with others, particularly regarding matters of reconciliation. My thanks to Brent Johnson who has taken the lead on this from the start, and to Theresa for connecting us with Don Robinson and continuing to keep these themes in view in our life as a community.
If you have any questions, please be in touch.
I’ll see you Sunay.Peace,Tim Plett
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 make religions. More stories than philosophy in this one, I think, if that appeals to you.
For those not able or inclined to join us in person, we’ll livestream here and podcast the Talky Bit later in the following week here. Join as you are able, reflect at your leisure. How lovely.
I’ll see you on Sunday!
Peace,Tim Plett
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 adventuring while away), because Tim Penner already did that like a rock star on behalf of Ireland. The details differ and the politics are unique to the locations, but when it comes to religious conflict in particular there is a fair bit of overlap. Catholic vs. Protestant, Protestant Version A vs. Protestant Version B, shake, stir in violence, repeat. I’m not trying to diminish the harm, just pointing out that the themes are familiar. The net result often feels like the near-annilation of something filled with good potential – communities of love and kindness caring for one another and those around them, and the leaving behind of only the physical spaces. In many cases. even those feel like they have survived despite religionsly motivated attempts at destruction.
Pretty grim perspective, I realize. However, on this particular trip I kept bumping into what felt like possible signs of life, something like a gentle sort of ressurection of the best of what religion might have to offer and a diminshment of the kinds of indentity-motivated animosity that have done so much harm. That’s what I’ll be exploring in the Talky Bit.
We’ll start at 10:45 at VA Cafe with some music, some community time, and then the Talky Bit. We will livesteam here and poscast here.
I’ve enjoyed the privlige of travelling, am grateful for all the people who have stepped up and taken on extra responsbilities over the past weeks, and I’m looking forward to bringing home some stories that I hope will be encouraging for all of us.
Peace,
Tim Plett
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 The Troubles. If you don’t know what that is, and you want to, show up, and you’ll find out. With a little help from the music of a local Irish band, we’ll sort through concepts of division, political ideology, and the faint possibility of peace.
We’ll be in person downstairs at the VA Café (171 McDermot Ave) on Sunday morning at 10:45 and we’ll stream on the Facebook page.
Hope to see you there!
– Tim Penner
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 doing some work in this area and I want to take a look at it from a more wholistic/spiritual perspective. I will share some tidbits about how to use it if you want to but also its potential impacts – both positive and how it can and is being used for malicious purposes in the wrong hands.”As usual, we’ll meet downstairs at the VA Cafe, 171 McDermot Ave, at 10:30. Grab a coffee on your way down.
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”, what I’m imagining is taking in those Talky Bits (in person if possible, but many of them will also be available as podcasts / livestreams), and then letting them simmer over the long weekends. It’s almost like we built the possibility of the balance between deliberate engagement and purposeful disengagement right into the schedule.
This Sunday we’ll enjoy some music and Judi will be leading the Talky Bit. Following is some info from her about what she’ll be exploring.
I’ll be looking at the ideas in the book “The Coddling of the American Mind” by Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff and thinking of how these ideas might relate to our spiritual endeavours. The book talks about the negative changes to mental health in younger generations, especially as the authors were seeing this on college campuses. They hypothesize what might be the influences on these generations and show how cognitive behavioural therapy can make sense of these mental health problems. I am taking these observations into the realm of our faith, exploring how the ideas and beliefs we form could affect our well-being. (Judi)You can check out the livestream here and the podcast archive here.And just a reminder – there will be no in-person gathering on June 30th (the long weekend) but we’ll be back in action on July 7th.
Peace,
Tim Plett
Note: this is a longer blurb so read past the bottom of the intitial screen if you want all the info. This week is a regular gathering at VA Cafe (171 McDermot Ave) at 10:45 a.m., with a livestream and a podcast.
My dad was a subtle teacher. I can’t remember a single formal “son, let me tell how things really work” speech from him. He wasn’t perfect, of course. That’s a burden no human should carry, even after they are gone. So sometimes he lost his patience and leapfrogged right over teaching to just do what needed to be done. He didn’t announce his wisdom, one effect of which is that some of his lessons are still emerging for me. In the Talky Bit this Sunday, I will reflect on some of those “still coming into view” insights.
It’s almost officially summer (in case you care, in astrological terms it starts at 3:50 p.m. on Thursday, June 20th with a day that has over 8 hours more sunshine than the December solstice!) and that means longer summer evenings, literally greener pastures, music festivals and a less predictable schedule for all things “Table”. With that in mind, here are some items to note and look forward to over the coming months. As has been our summer custom, we will not be gathering on the long weekends. Details as follows:
June 23 – Judi is taking the Talky Bit. There’s a note at the end of this email about what she will be exploring.
June 30 – long weekend (no gathering)
July 7 – business as usual.
July 14 – Misty is taking the Talky Bit; info to come.
July 21 -Tim Penner is taking the Talky Bit. He’s been travelling (calling it “work”, but come on…), so maybe some tales of international intrigue.
July 28 – Tim Plett will be back from some time away (not working) , which might mean “what I did with my summer vacation” stories. No promises…
August 4 – long weekend (no gathering)
August 11 / 18 / 25 – regular gatherings with possible irregular (in a good way) features because…summer!
Sept 1 – long weekend (no gathering)
Here’s more from Judi on what she will be digging into on June 23rd.
I’ll be looking at the ideas in the book “The Coddling of the American Mind” by Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff and thinking of how these ideas might relate to our spiritual endeavours. The book talks about the negative changes to mental health in younger generations, especially as the authors were seeing this on college campuses. They hypothesize what might be the influences on these generations and show how cognitive behavioural therapy can make sense of these mental health problems. I am taking these observations into the realm of our faith, exploring how the ideas and beliefs we form could affect our well-being. (Judi)
Peace, everyone. I’ll see you on Sunday.
Tim Plett
Hey folks – after our field trip to the Pride Parade and Festival last week (we were there for the nicest part of the day!), we’re back at VA Cafe (171 McDermot Avenue / lower level) this week. Kids Table is on. Music is on. Community Time is on. In the Talky Bit we’ll be exploring an idea that might actually be somewhat novel – the possibility of a construct that could meaningfully be called “spiritual intelligence”. Bring your inner armchair-psychologist and your curiosity with you.
We’ll start at 10:45 a.m. We’ll livestream here and podcast the Talky Bit here later in the week.
Coffee and goodies available upstairs at the VA Cafe. Do them (and us) the courtesy of purchasing your hot beverages at the venue. It helps keep the doors open for everyone.
I’m looking forward to seeing you on Sunday.
Peace,Tim Plett
This is the podcast of what we did at The Table for Mothers Day. It’s not typical of the occasion because although it’s about the impact of mothers, it’s also about the ripple effects of change including the reconsideration of what we beleive about all sorts of foundational matters, such as the shape of the universe. Enjoy!
Peace,
Tim Plett
Hey all – I ‘ve heard from a couple of folks this morning who got the second and third emails for the week, but not the first one. My mom would have said something like, “What a shmoz”. (I don’t know what that is exactly but it’s something like this.) So – here’s the first email but modified so it’s up to date.
The previous subject line was “Seeing the Light of Love, An AGM Recap, and More!”. Turns out the “more” was truer than I knew. Here we go…
I couldn’t resist the “and more”. If that feels too much like an advertisement to you, just know that I did it with at least a modicum of irony. And also, there is more!
We’re mixing things up a bit this week because of some folks’ schedules. The first Sunday of the month would most often be an occasion without Kids Table or live music, but this week we’ll have both of those things. We will also have Community Time and a Talky Bit. The previously promoted Kids Bike Clinic has had to be postponed at the last minute because Horst woke up this morning (Saturday) with a flu bug. Stay tuned.
A quick update for those not able to attend our AGM last week. You missed a most excellent potluck, and also a report complete with a “donut chart”. Kinda like a pie chart, but more hole-ey. (Ack…not my best work, but maybe still a wee bit funny??) The gist of the financial part of the AGM could be summed up as follows:
- We met all our obligations in 2023. That’s no small matter for a numerically small community, and it points to a couple of things worth mentioning. The first is that we continue to operate a very lean and focused organization. We’re doing what we say we’re here to do – making room for explorers to gather to dig into what we believe, and we’re doing it without any padding and very little room for error.
- The second is that we didn’t generate enough donation income from within the in-person community to pull that off. In particular, a couple of very kind donors that know us well came through with generous gifts. I am (and I would be quick to say, we should all be) grateful for each and every gift that helps us to carry on, both the regular and exceptional. My thanks also to the owners of VA Cafe, who continue to host us out of the goodness of their hearts. Extraordinary!
- We usually see a slump in giving in the summer months. This year we appear to be hitting that slump earlier than usual. If you have the capacity to respond to that need financially, please do. You can find information about ways to do that here. Donations over $10 will receive a tax deductible receipt at year end.
If you support the life of this community in other ways, my thanks to you as well.
The community is what the community makes, and I’m grateful to each person who gives The Table the unique shape that it has.In the Talky Bit this week we’ll be exploring the intersection of love in general and some of our ideas about divine love. If you want to ruminate in advance, you could muse on this:
“A culture that is dead to love can only be resurrected by a spiritual awakening.” (bell hooks)
We will livestream and podcast in the usual places.
I’ll see you on Sunday.
Peace,
Tim Plett
Hey folks – it’s time to get your winter self out from under the covers to be with people! Or, if that’s not your story, it’s another opportunity to get together to explore what we believe. Either way, it would be lovely to see you at VA Cafe this Sunday at 10:45 a.m. We will have a chance to share a slice of our lives with one another, to sit in silence for a bit, to vibrate together by making music, and to consider why it can sometimes be difficult to be compassionate with ourselves. Also, Kids Table is on this Sunday as well as the two following Sundays.
For those not able to join us in person, we will livestream here and podcast the Talky Bit here. Please don’t hesitate to reach out via our Facebook page if you have something for Community Time but can’t be there to share it. We will hold space for you and what is going on in your life, whether it’s good, bad or otherwise.
I’ll see you on Sunday.
Peace,Tim Plett
Hey folks – this coming Sunday is, of course, Easter. Although ancient liturgical calendars don’t mention this fact, it’s also an alt.Sunday. So, because in the unique orbit of The Table an alt.Sunday means anything could happen, we’re going to have some breathing, some Community Time, a short Talky Bit and a long feast and hangout time. A very “Table Easter”, it seems to me. I won’t say more right now about the Talky Bit – see the title above for the general gist. It might include a picture of a tree, but not “that” tree, if you know what I mean. More details on the feast as follows:
- First, and most, of all – come with or without a food item. Honestly, we’ve been doing this for over a decade and never once have we not had enough. That said, a couple of details about food items as follows:
- There is no oven at this location, but there are lots of plugins, so if you have an item that needs to be kept hot bring it in something that can be plugged in.
- The Table will provide the paper service, disposable cutlery (we do wash it and reuse it, fyi) and juice.
We will meet at our usual time and place (10:45 a.m., V.A. Cafe). We will stream the first part of the gathering but not the potluck (because that just feels unkind to people that can’t join the feast). We will podcast the Talky Bit the following week.
I’ll see you on Sunday!
Peace,Tim Plett
Ah yes. This is the weekend to “spring forward”. I will confess that I wasn’t exactly feeling spring vibes while I was clearing our most recent snowfall, but the pragmatic part of me knows that the earth needs the moisture. And I do long to see the green things again, so let it snow, let it snow, let it snow – as long as it’s followed by let it melt, let it melt, let it melt.
We’ll meet at (the new and improved) 10:45 a.m. at VA Cafe ( 171 McDermot Ave) . We’ll sing some, breathe a bit, share a slice of our lives with one another in Community Time, and consider what we can learn from love that is silent, or at least not readily audible to our ears. (It’s a metaphor, of course). Kids Table is on (2nd, 3rd and 4th Sundays now!), the cafe is open upstairs with warm and delicious offerings, and the people are looking forward to being with you.
We will livestream here and podcast the Talky Bit here for those that are not able to gather in person.
I’ll see you on Sunday.
Peace,
Tim Plett
Hey folks – with my apologies for the late notice, this is both a Full Circle Sunday (Kids Table is ON for the third week this month!) AND a Souper Sunday! So many good things at once!
Something I was reading this past week posited the idea that our increasingly fractured culture could be mended in no small part by us learning how to talk with one another again, and to do so in a rational, thoughtful and kind manner even when we disagree. Sounds like a normal community to me, but I am also aware that this sort of interaction is discernbly in decline. All to say…show up if you are able, prepared to share a meal and practice the art of conversation and community. It matters.
We will meet at our usual time and place (10:45 a.m., V.A. Cafe), take some time to check in to breathe together, check in with one another in Community Time, sing a bit, have a short Talky Bit and then eat together.
Souper Sunday (a potluck by any other name is still a potluck, right?) Details:
– bring whatever you want
– come whether you have something to bring or not
– we will provide cups, paper service, cutlery and beverages
– there isn’t an oven or other kitchen appliances at this venue, but we have plenty of places to plug in things like crock pots, just in case your favorite potluck item is a warm one
Let’s gather to share ideas, lived experiences and good food. It will be good for our bodies, minds and spirits.I’ll see you on Sunday.Peace,
Details first – this Sunday will be a Full Circle Sunday. I know…that’s a change in rhythm. If the regular pattern of second and fourth Sundays being Full Circle is one you plan around, regard this as an exception. So – here’s our schedule for the balance of February, including info about Kids Table dates:
Feb 4th (this Sunday) – Full Circle Sunday (with Kids Table)
Feb 11th – alt.Sunday (no Kids Table)
Feb 18th – alt. Sunday (with Kids Table)
Feb 25th – Full Circle Sunday (with Kids Table)Whew! Got it? Next month we are planning to be back to the regular rhythm of the second and fourth Sundays being Full Circle, with Kids Table on the second, third and fourth Sundays of the month.We will meet in person at VA Cafe at 10:45 a.m. for some Community Time and tunes, livestream here and podcast later in the week here.In the Talky Bit we’ll be considering the relationship between love and justice, particularly as we might have learned about it as kids, and how that can impact what we come to regard as believable or achievable when it comes to practicing loving justice in our own lives. And yes, we’ll explore that giant topic in about half an hour. (Obviously, we’ll just get started…but that’s the way this usually works, right?)I’ll see you on Sunday!
Peace,Tim Plett
Hey folks – it’s a rhetorical question, but have you ever felt misunderstood? It can be rather painful, especially if we’ve extended ourselves on someone else’s behalf and it fell flat, or even worse seemed to cause hurt or harm. When it comes to living love, learning how (and why) to address the gap between what we intended and what someone else experienced is crucial. That’s what we’ll be exploring this Sunday.
We’ll gather at 10:45 a.m. at VA Cafe, share some Community Time, some music and some musing. There will be something cued up at the Kids Table, and (as always!) good beverages available in the cafe upstairs. If you are not able to attend but want to let the community know about something in your life (good, bad or otherwise), you can post it here. There will be a podcast of the Talky Bit posted later in the week here.
I’ll see you on Sunday!Peace,Tim Plett
Some days I feel like we’re surrounded by hate. My head knows that isn’t true, and I’m grateful to say that my life experience also tells me that isn’t the whole story. But if I choose to attend to the news or even to what sort of topics of conversation seem to come most quickly to many of us, a strong feature is often world events that appear to be fueled by hatred. So while it may not be true that we’re surrounded by hate, I think we could argue that as a species we seem to be moving away from love and toward…well, toward “not love”. I read someone this past week who said that when we turn away from love we risk moving into a wilderness of spirit so intense that we may never find our way home again. I’ve never felt it more strongly than I do these days…we need to return to love.
So, in an attempt to help us lift our heads up and keep us facing forward with some hope, I want to spend the next while exploring different aspects of love. We will dip in and out of other matters, of course – our commitment to alt.Sundays will make sure of that. But, for a while at least, I think we’ll keep returning to an exploration of love. There’s plenty we could learn, it seems.
We will meet at the VA Cafe on Sunday at 10:45 a.m. There will be something planned for our young ones. We are continuing to try to solve the livestream issues in this space (my apologies for the protracted nature of this problem), and are hoping to either livestream to our Facebook page or post a recording to that space after the fact. In either case, the online location will be here. There will also be a podcast of the Talky Bit later in the week, which can be found here.
So grab your snow shovel and make a path to VA Cafe so we can talk about love. Let’s see if we can work together to find a way to circumvent the wilderness of hate and find our way home.
I’ll see you on Sunday.
Peace,Tim Plett
Hey folks – I’m going to put several details at the end of this blurb, and I would encourage you to read it all because it contains particulars about our seasonal gatherings that you should be aware of.
I’m not sure how it works in your space, but in ours it is around this time of year that gifts start showing up. There’s a bit more secrecy about what came in the mail, and a room where people are sometimes told not to look. It’s done mostly in the interest of being able to provide a joyful surprise; a moment of delight when the gift is unwrapped. I know not everyone will share this perspective, but for me that experience has a little extra kick when the gift is one I really like or need, but didn’t see coming. In this Talky Bit, I’m going to explore the possibility that some of the traditional Christmas stories might contain such gifts. Complicated? Perhaps. Possible? Well, only you can decide that. I’m looking forward to being in the room for the unwrapping.
This is a Full Circle Sunday, which means there will be something special for the youngest members of the community. (I know what it is, but can’t say lest I be banished.) We’ll start at 10:45 a.m. at VA Cafe. We’ll have some music, some Community Time, and a Talky Bit. You can come when you are able and leave when you need or want to, and we’ll generally aim at wrapping up the planned part of our time together by noon.
The details:
Our Not Quite Christmas gathering will take place at our usual morning time on December 17th. It’s going to be a time focused on stories, songs and…food. (I really wanted to alliterate that but couldn’t think of an “s” word for food.) The food will be potluck with the general theme being somewhere in the realm of brunch / lunch, with just a little tilt toward dinner. So…whatever you want to bring is fine, really. We won’t go home hungry. Paper service and beverages will be provided.
Beep Beep Beep – change in pattern alert! Our final gathering of 2023 will take place on Saturday, December 30th, not on Sunday. There’s a whole story there I won’t bother you with, but the plan is to meet at VA Cafe at our usual time (but on Saturday), get some beverages and sit together to reflect on the year past. If space permits, we might just take over the back room upstairs for a change. In any event, we’ll still plan to start at 10:45 a.m., but it’ll all be pretty casual. Think “meet a bunch of your friends for coffee”, and you’ll be on the right track.
And, on the topic of pattern changes, we will not have a gathering on the morning of December 24th.
Year End Donations: The Table is sustained as an entity by your presence, and is funded by your donations. We wouldn’t exist without both. Please consider doing what you are able by way of a financial gift in the weeks to come. I realize these are challenging financial times for many of us, and I want you to know I mention this with that very much in mind. If receiving a tax receipt for a 2023 donation is important to you, the donation must be received by end of day December 31st. Thank you for giving this your thoughtful consideration.I’m looking forward to our time together. I’ll see you on Sunday.Peace,Tim Plett
Hey folks – this week we’re going to dive head first into a couple of ancient examples of the evolution of belief as well as touching on some contemporary examples of what can happen when we hold old ideas as non-negotiable, even in the face of mounting evidence that they need to change. I won’t unpack that in the blurb – that’s what the Talky Bit is for.
We’ll start at 10:45 a.m. (come a bit earlier than that if you want to buy something from VA Cafe before the start time – we’ve been keeping the lone barista jumping in the morning!) with some music and Community Time, then on to the Talky Bit. I expect this one will mostly use up the time before 12:00, but (as always) people are free to come and go as they are available, and we can always hang around and connect after noon.Crowdsourcing Projects:Project #1 – Ribbon for a Kids Table project. Fabric ribbon scraps, any color, 3/8″ wide or less. Contact Corinne or bring what you have on Sunday.Project #2 – Song Suggestions. What songs do you want to sing as part of our Not Quite Christmas gathering on December 17th? We can’t promise to sing every suggestion (who knows how many songs that might be?), but we can promise to refer to this list first when choosing tunes. Send your suggestions to this email address, or text Tim (204 232 4574). Please.
Hold The Date: Our annual “Not Quite Christmas” gathering and potluck will take place on the morning of December 17th. We are not planning to gather on December 24th (Christmas Eve), but are planning a gathering at our usual time on December 31st. It’ll be the perfect occasion to bring extra seasonal baking, it seems to me. Can’t have those cookies getting stale now, can we?
I’ll see you on Sunday. We’ll go exploring together.
Peace,
Tim Plett
Hey folks – this is an alt.Sunday. To me, that feels a bit like an occasion for opening a gift – one where you know it’ll be good because it’s been thoughtfully chosen with you in mind, but you don’t know what it actually is until you tear off the paper. This Sunday, the gift comes to us courtesy of Karen Johnson.
Karen will be taking us for a walk through a course she completed on The Science of Well-Being. Through an abbreviated course summary, we will look at some of the how and the why of the pitfalls that don’t lead to happiness, and how we can recalibrate to get back on the path to making happiness. So get a good night’s rest on Saturday night, go for a walk early on Sunday morning, and then meet us at VA Cafe for some thoughts to consider. We will start at 10:45 a.m. and end noon-ish (see last weeks blurb for a fuller explanation of the “ish” factor).
And while we’re speaking of the making of happiness, let me add some info about our upcoming gatherings. We want to both provide opportunities to gather as a community and also deliberately stay clear of overloading what can already be a busy time of year. To that end, note the following:
–We will have our “Not Quite Christmas” gathering on the morning of Sunday, December 17th. It’ll include a potluck meal and lots of time to just hang out and connect and (of course) some of the music of the season. More info on all of that in the coming weeks.
Last but not least, a reminder that your donations are what make it possible for The Table to exist in the forms that it does, including our online presence and podcasts. If you are able to offer financial support, the details of how to do that can be found here. Tax reciepts will be provided. If you have any questions about how your donated funds are allocated, just ask.
I’m grateful for what each person brings to The Table, and there is nothing that matters more than bringing your self and your willingness to explore what you believe together with fellow adventurers. In that spirit, I’ll see you on Sunday.
Peace,Tim Plett
Well now…might as well launch right into the fall with a big ‘ol question. In this case, it’s a question that can take us many places, including deeper into our exploration of rest as resistance and healing. By way of outlining some thoughts about possible answers to that question, here’s a response from Tricia Hersey, […]
Hey folks! I was in Staples earlier this week and found myself surrounded by parents with school age kids and all of a sudden the penny dropped. We’re coming up on the last Sunday in August! People are coming back from holidays, maybe we’re starting to feel the incoming changes of rhythm that go with September. […]
Hey folks. Just a short blurb this week, to make some breathing room in your inbox after last week’s double dose. 🙂 This is an alt.Sunday, and we’ll be exploring the value of daydreaming. I realize that might sound a bit “insubstantial” to some of us, but in the context of “rest as resistance” this […]
Hey folks – I’m looking forward to being back with you in person this Sunday, and I hope the long weekend was a good one for each of you. This is a Full Circle Sunday, so we can anticipate some music, Community Time, a Talky Bit, and fresh coffee (or other tantalizing beverage) should you […]
Hi everyone! This week is a Full-Circle Sunday, and we’re going to be hearing from Misty! Here’s a little bit of what to expect: “Misty here: I’ll be doing my best to fill in for Tim Plett this week as he is on vacation. As she usually does, Judi’s talk got me thinking. Judi talked […]
Hi all! Tim Plett is back on vacation for the next three weeks, and so some of us from the community will be taking over the talkie bits. I’m up this week, and I’ll be talking about the in-between places, the dark nights of the soul, the wildernesses, the deserts, the intermingled messes that exist […]
Hey folks – I’m sending this email again with my apologies for the inbox clutter. The previous version was pretty much unreadable on my phone (the byproduct of working on one device and sending on another, perhaps), so I thought I would send a readable one. If you wrestled your way through the other one, ignore […]
Hi All, Sorry for the lateness of the blurb, but sometimes when Tim Plett is away, things go awry, as is the case this week. Tim’s absence, however, means that we get to hear from Judi! Here’s what to expect: Sunday morning I’ll be talking about thoughts I have had about building community during a […]
Hey all – lots of content in this blurb so top up your beverage, get comfy, and read on… This week marks the second gathering at our new address – 171 McDermot Avenue, the everyday home of VA Café and the weekly home of The Table. Our first visit last week solidly confirmed a couple […]
Since we’re speaking of exploring, let me begin with something both exciting and necessary – info about our new venue! This Sunday (June 11th) will be our first gathering at VA Cafe, 171 McDermot Avenue! You can find a link to the location on Google Maps. We will meet at our usual time (10:45 a.m.). Our plan […]
*Hey folks – it’s an in-person Sunday at 170 Scott, starting at 10:45 a.m.* We will have music, Community Time, and…the Parent Panel! All five of our panelists from the first Parent Panel are able to be present for the second portion (no small feat – a huge shout-out to Jane, Shereen, Karen, Theresa and Roanna for making it work!), so we can pick up where we left off and get beyond the surface-scratching I was lamenting about.
There are still a couple of details pending, but it is a real possibility that this will be our last morning together at that venue. It’s been a good home, and I’m glad we get to leave it filled with the echoes of a group conversation about the exploration of beliefs – the very thing we exist to do.
Next week (June 4th) we will be in the great outdoors at the Kapabamayak Achaak Healing Forest. This is how the keepers of the space describe its mission:
Kapabamayak Achaak Healing Forest honors Indigenous children lost to or affected by the residential school system, and offers a place for learning and teaching about all injustices from colonialism and racism, past and present. The sharing of our collective stories is a pathway to understanding All Our Relations.
You can learn more and get a look at the space here. The forest is located in St John’s Park, near the corner of Fowler St and Anderson Ave – across from St John’s Cathedral. Here’s the location on Google:
Kapabamayak Achaak Healing Forest Winnipeg
https://maps.app.goo.gl/9dibo1GpYVdKXzN17?g_st=icI would encourage you to mark this date and attend if possible. It might also be an excellent occasion to invite someone who is unfamiliar with The Table. Final details will be in the blurb next week.I’ll see you on Sunday.Peace,Tim Plett
Hey folks – This week is an “Online Exclusive” Sunday. We’ll gather on our Facebook page here at 10:45 a.m. If you have anything you want to share with the community (it seems like several of us are dealing with the challenges of providing care for aging parents these days, for instance), please post it to our Facebook page (same link as above) so I can share it on Sunday morning. We’ll go from that to the Talky Bit, which will also be recorded and podcast later in the week. You can always find the podcasts here.
We continue our efforts to raise the necessary funds to operate and welcome any and all contributions. Gifts are eligible for a donation receipt. Information about ways to donate online or to set up a regular auto withdrawal can be found here. Options include Paypal, etransfer and good old fashioned cheques. If you have any questions pertaining to this part of our life together, please don’t hesitate to ask. Transparency is a high value for us, and we welcome your inquiry.
Next Sunday (May 28th) is a Full Circle Sunday. I’ll send out more info about that in the blurb next week.
The week after that (June 4th) is an alt.Sunday. As usual, we have something completely different lined up. We’re planning to meet at the Kapabamayak Achaak Healing Forest that morning. This is how the keepers of this space describe its mission:
Kapabamayak Achaak Healing Forest honors Indigenous children lost to or affected by the residential school system, and offers a place for learning and teaching about all injustices from colonialism and racism, past and present. The sharing of our collective stories is a pathway to understanding All Our Relations.
You can learn more and get a look at the space here. The forest is located in St John’s Park, near the corner of Fowler St and Anderson Ave – across from St John’s Cathedral. Here’s the location on Google:
Kapabamayak Achaak Healing Forest Winnipeg
https://maps.app.goo.gl/9dibo1GpYVdKXzN17?g_st=icI would encourage you to mark this date and attend if possible. It might also be an excellent occasion to invite someone who is unfamiliar with The Table. I’ll send out more info in upcoming blurbs.
In the meantime, I’ll see you on Sunday!
Peace,
Tim Plett
MissionKapabamayak Achaak Healing Forest honours Indigenous children lost to or affected by the residential school system, and offers a place for teaching and learning about all injustices from colonialism and racism, past and present. The sharing of our collective stories is a pathway to understanding All Our Relations.
It feels to me as though there are some particular dates that are especially fraught. I would like to blame it all on marketing, but that’s probably an oversimplification. Maybe it’s a more complex phenomenon that occurs at the very busy and poorly signed intersection of marketing, relationships, history and wishful thinking – a place just waiting for an epic pile up to happen. Mother’s Day strikes me as just such a date. I would like to tell you that I’ve figured out exactly how to navigate that intersection and I’m eager to share the magic, but both reasonable scepticism and the witness of actual people that know me would quickly reveal that to be untrue. So, instead of that, I will have the honor of inviting a panel of people who travel in this space to share some of what it feels like to do so.
This Sunday (an in-person, Full Circle Sunday at 170 Scott Street) will bring us music, Community Time, Kids Table (something special brewing there too, but I can’t say anything more or there will be consequences), and a Talky Bit. The Talky Bit will feature “The Parent Panel – Mother’s Day Edition” – a conversation with several people in our community whose lives include parenting, and in particular an experience of being “moms”. We’ll be exploring what it’s like to navigate the dynamics of influencing / being present to the formation of the beliefs of your kids while simultaneously exploring your own.
An important acknowledgement and caveat – for many people, Mother’s Day is just plain difficult. There are lots of possible reasons for that, of course. For what it’s worth, we’ll do our best together to traverse this ground in as safe and sensitive a manner as we can. Celebration and grief use the same emotional muscles, and my hope is that we can live productively together in the tension of that, celebrating what is joyful while also naming and grieving what is not. We will livestream this conversation, and (if possible) also produce a podcast version of it for those who are unable or who choose not to attend in person.
We’ll get underway at 10:45 a.m. and wrap up around 12:00 noon, just in case you are trying to coordinate this with other plans.
I’ll see you Sunday.
Peace,Tim Plett
In a rare quirk of the calendar, this Sunday (May 7th) will be a second consecutive alt.Sunday. Last Sunday was our first ever “Table Top Sunday” – all games, almost all the time, except we also tucked in our AGM. Not typical, granted, but the most delightful context I’ve ever encountered for a business meeting.
We’ll take the majority of our time together for what promises to be a very intriguing exploration led by Misty, in part addressing the subject line of this email. Here is Misty’s description of what she has planned:
There is a largely unsubstantiated theory that Jesus travelled to India between the time he was 13 and 33. Whatever the case, when Jesus was alive, yoga had already existed for at least 2500 years. As I have been studying yoga, I have noticed that the teachings are actually really similar to Christianity.
This week I will share some of my learnings. Then we will do a short yoga offering. Yoga is much more than the physical practice, so I’m not going to ask anyone to stand on one leg, on your head, or do any other weird movements. We will spend some time breathing together. We will spend some time in self reflection and we will do a short physical practice from our chairs. As always everything is an invitation not a requirement. You don’t need to bring anything. We won’t be getting on the floor. I hope to see you all on Sunday.
Doesn’t that sound intriguing?! I do hope you can join us in person at 170 Scott (The Rainbow Resource Centre), but for those who can’t we will be livestreaming the morning here starting at 10:45 a.m.
Next Sunday will be a Full Circle gathering, complete with Kids Table, Music, Community Time and a “normal?” Talky Bit.
Finally, I don’t want this message to become invisible because of repetition but would be remiss if I didn’t let you know that our need for donation income remains urgent. If you are able to give, now would be an excellent time to do so. As always, thanks for whatever ways you are part of making a space where we can all explore what we believe, together.
I’ll see you on Sunday.
Peace,Tim Plett
OK…let’s get this over with. Errors first. Mea Culpa, and all that. (Did you know that in a religious context, “mea culpa” – which is basically latin for “through my fault” and comes from a Catholic prayer of confession – may be accompanied by beating upon your breast? I didn’t either, and I’m not planning on doing so, but it felt like a curiously middle ages detail). Also, no juicy scandal…I just got a date wrong. As follows:
This Sunday (April 23rd) is a Full Circle Sunday. A normal one, with music and Community Time and Kids Table and a Talky Bit. It is NOT the alt.Sunday during which we will play games, eat snacks, and have the world’s shortest AGM. That would be next Sunday, April 30th. Sorry for any confusion caused, and my particular apologies to any game enthusiasts who must now curb their enthusiasm for an additional week. Same for any AGM enthusiasts. You know who you are.
We’ll meet at 170 Scott, start at 10:45 a.m., stream it all here, podcast it later here. In the Talky Bit, I’ll dig into Part 2 of the exploration we started last week regarding the difference between the ways we hold values and the ways we hold identity. There will be enough continuity that you won’t need to have heard Part 1, even though it was pretty awesome.I think that’s it for now. I’ll see you on Sunday. Don’t bring your games.Peace,Tim Plett
For starters, a reminder that this is an Online Exclusive Sunday. We’ll still start at 10:45 a.m. but only online. Our virtual location will be our Facebook page. There will also be a podcast version of this Talky Bit posted early the following week here.
In the Talky Bit this week I’ll be exploring various understandings of what it is that keeps us “looking for a sign”, and how considering that topic might also begin to equip us to parse the difference between religious beliefs and religious identity. Sounds simple, right?
Next week (April 23rd) will be a Full Circle Sunday at 170 Scott Street. The week after that (April 30th) will also be in-person at 170 Scott, but it’ll be completely different. Because it’s the fifth Sunday of the month, it’s a bonus alt.Sunday, and as you may know by now that means anything could happen. For now I’ll just say “be ready to play” and fill in the details in next week’s blurb.That’s it for now. I’ll see you online on Sunday.
Peace,
Tim Plett
The following podcast is the edited version of a conversation between Judi and Misty, two thoughtful people who are part of the community at The Table. It took place at one of our in-person Sunday morning gatherings. In the interest of having The Table be a safer place in which to share our own thoughts and experiences, this podcast does not include all of the preamble nor the lively discussion that followed. To share those experiences, you have to be in the room. That said, our hope is that this podcast will encourage you to continue to explore what you believe, and perhaps (if you are able) to drop by sometime. You can find information about our in-person gatherings on our website
Hey folks – please read this blurb right to the end. All the info (even if it doesn’t fit on the screen of your phone) matters.
This week is a Full Circle Sunday. There will be music, Kids Table, and a unique Talky Bit (see below re: The Judi and Misty Show). That will all happen at 170 Scott starting at 10:45 a.m. Just a small detail FYI – there won’t be any sandwich board signs put out this week, but don’t let that throw you off. It’s an in-person Sunday. Period. We’ll also livestream the morning.
Here’s some more about the Talky Bit from Misty:
I think I will always notice the date March 12. This is the day the first case of COVID was announced in Manitoba and Sophie Trudeau tested positive. I was home sick, having just started a new job. By the time I was feeling like I could go out our office was closed and everything was almost apocalyptic. Remember going to the grocery store those first few weeks?I wanted to do some exploration about what the last three years has meant. When the opportunity came up for a Talky Bit, I hoped Judi would agree to resurrect the Judi and Misty Show and she did. Looking forward to seeing you on Sunday. It’s been a while!Community Update About Finances – A message from the Leadership Team:
At this week’s Leadership Team meeting we reviewed our finances and saw that our current situation is concerning. We don’t have enough money to meet our expenses in the near future. Without a change we will be in a situation of having to make some hard decisions about the future of The Table. What we are hoping is that if this community is meaningful and helpful to you in whatever form you take it in, in person or online, that you’ll consider supporting what we are doing. It’s particularly helpful if people can set up pre-authorized donations as it enables us to know what amounts are regularly coming in. Thank you for giving this your thoughtful consideration.Justin will be on hand this Sunday to answer more detailed questions in person. If you want to reach out by email, you can do so by replying to this email and I’ll make sure your message makes it to whomever it needs to. I won’t be there this Sunday, but that has nothing to do with this announcement. I’m simply off on a short holiday with Corinne and I’ll see you next week! :)Peace,
Tim Plett
Hey folks – Happy Friday! There have been a couple of moments this past week where I found the notion of spring believable, and that feels good. I hope you felt some of that warmth as well, and that it stirred a bit of hope or joy.
This is an “Online Exclusive” week. We’ll only meet online at our Facebook page at 10:45 a.m., and jump right in with some breathing and Community Time, followed by the Talky Bit. For those not familiar, think “livestreamed podcast” and you’ll be on the right track. I’ll be exploring the last of the near enemies of fierce compassion, pity. Among the other aspects of that exploration, we’ll consider the strong connection between some common religious perspectives and pity, in the interest of continuing to grow in our understanding of our own experiences and exploration of beliefs.
Next week (March 26th) will be a Full Circle Sunday. In case you missed it, that means an in-person gathering at 170 Scott Street, complete with music, Community Time, Kids Table and a Talky Bit. See what I mean? Full Circle. On this particular Full Circle Sunday we’re going to bring back the “Misty and Judi Show” for a conversation about…well, they’ll tell us more about that in the blurb next week.One final detail – Kids Table could still use a couple more yoga mats. If you’ve got one you want to donate, bring it along to any in-person gathering and we’ll put it to good use.I’ll see you (online) on Sunday.
Peace,Tim Plett
Well, the rumours turned out to be true. Just in case you missed it, I’m referring to the rumours about bacon. The truth is, this is a community that takes its bacon seriously. Not only was there bacon to go with the waffles, but THREE KINDS of bacon. And a table full of other good toppings, including the healthy kind. Also, a lot of good conversations and hanging out, including an extended game of hide and seek in which the kids hid in places I didn’t know a human could fit. Pretty great…
This Sunday…well, it’s hard to compete with waffles and bacon, but here goes. 10:45 a.m. at 170 Scott will see us getting underway with music, Community Time, Kids Table and a Talky Bit. We’ll livestream here and podcast here. It’ll be just as good as last week, but it might not smell quite as tantalizing. Come and see for yourself.
A couple of additional details:
-Kids Table could use a couple more yoga mats. Used ones are excellent, and we won’t assume you’re handing it over because you’ve given up on yoga. Even if its true…
-Next Sunday is online only, so mark your calendar for a mellow start, feet up with your coffee in hand for the simple, carved down version of The Table. We’ll still start at 10:45 a.m. You’ll be able to find the livestream here and the podcast here. The Table, but so compact it’ll fit inside your phone. and your other Sunday plans. Nice…
-Also, I believe we’ve reached a decision about the name for the version of our gatherings that align with the 2nd and 4th Sundays. I’ll announce that when we’re together on Sunday.
I think that’s got it for now. I’ll see you on Sunday.
Peace,
Tim Plett
Headlines first:
-In person at 170 Scott, 10:45 a.m., Kids Table, Music, Community Time – all the moving parts! Also, we’ll livestream to our Facebook page here, and post a podcast to our website here.
And now, the details:
First of all, check out the poll on our Facebook page to weigh in on naming this particular iteration of our gatherings. Yes, we’ve launched a fully democratic process for making this decision. If you grew up in a congregation-led church (you know who you are), this is as close as it gets at The Table. Be a good citizen and only vote once. Last time I checked in it was a dead heat. You might have to scroll down a bit to find it, but it’s there. The winner gets bragging rights and a chance to pick a Timbit before the Littles get their wee paws in the box.
We’ve updated the “About” section on our website. Check it out and send me feedback if you wish to. We all know The Table can be an interesting place to describe, not least of all in print, so revisions are ongoing. This is one of the first places people go to check us out online, so try to see it through that lens. Also, if there are any aspiring designers out there that want to have a shot at making a rainbow version of our main logo, let me know. I think that might help clarify what I’ve written regarding gender and sexuality on the site.The Talky Bit this week will be parsing the last of the “far enemies” of compassion, which is hostility. We’ll take a bit of a detour through some consideration of what constitutes kindness, because it turns out that’s part of the antidote to hostility. How about that…:)Next Sunday is an alt.Sunday, and it’s “waffle time”. Show up hungry for breakfast and conversation, because that’s what’s on the menu. For those with some institutional memory, this is kind of like a “Souper Sunday”, but without soup. I’ll send out more foodie details in the blurb next week, but the biggest piece is already in place because Judi has volunteered to make us all waffles. If anyone has gluten allergies or sensitivities, please let me know by replying to this email so we can make sure we have some waffles that won’t take you out.That’s it for now. I’ll see on Sunday.Peace,Tim Plett
The last several blurbs have been rather lengthy, so I’ll keep this one short and sweet. This is the third Sunday of the month, which means it’s an “online exclusive”. We’ll meet online here at 10:45 a.m., start with some Community Time and cut right to the Talky Bit. If you want to bring something to the community’s attention (good, bad or otherwise), post it to the facebook page and I’ll share it. This is all part of our larger shift to gatherings that vary in form. We’ll post a podcast early the following week as well, which you can find here.. I’ll be continuing our series on Nuanced Compassion, with the emphasis this week being on what sorts of perspectives might help us stay open to the suffering of others, especially those we might not feel deserve compassion. Tricky stuff, but also essential if we wish to take our commitment to being compassionate people seriously.
Details about upcoming Sunday gatherings:
Next Sunday (February 26th) – We’re still working on what to call this one. Watch for more details on that shortly. For now, it’s important to know that we’ll have music, Kids Table, a Talky Bit and time to connect with others. We’ll live stream and podcast. If someone brings snacks, we’ll have snacks. It’ll be awesome! Tell your friends. 10:45 at 170 Scott Street (the Rainbow Resource Centre).
March 5th – alt.Sunday, This one’s going to be all about eating and hanging out. Judi says she’s going to make us all waffles (details in the blurb next week) so we can share food, conversation and connection. These are exactly the sort of times together that have gone missing during the pandemic, so (if you want) you can think of this as something like “waffle recovery therapy” (not an official thing as far as I know, but maybe history will say we started a trend). We may also experiment with “speed waffling”. And no – I’m not going to explain what that is.
More to come, but in the interest of honoring my commitment to keeping it short, that’s it for now.
I’ll see you on Sunday.
Peace,
Tim Plett
All right- you already know I can’t do math. But I’m usually all right with it as long as the numbers don’t exceed the total of my fingers. However, in this case even my rudimentary math isn’t cutting it. I did a “Part 2” on this topic a couple of weeks ago. And then I did a Talky Bit called “The Art of Life”, which was on the same topic but didn’t get included in the numbered series. So now I can’t tell if this should be “Part 3” or “Part 4”. It’s not yet reached the level of existential crisis, but it is bothering me. So you decide. In either case, in the Talky Bit I’ll continue our exploration of the near and far enemies of compassion.
Also, in the new “doesn’t feel like a rhythm yet” of our variety of gatherings, this is a “full meal deal” Sunday. (Please…help me think of another name. I’m begging now…). What that means is that we’ll meet at 170 Scott at 10:45 a.m., we’ll enjoy some music, Community Time, and there’ll be something organized for the Littles. Also, we’ll livestream the whole thing on our Facebook page, which you can find here. We’ll also have a podcast posted early the following week, which you can find here.
And because, in a way that is both mysterious and that the brain-science folks feel they can adequately explain, we do tend to see what we’re looking for. So keep looking for folks that could help us out with music, Kids Table, and who would just generally appreciate what’s happening at The Table. And then let them know we exist and that they would be most welcome. You know…invite them to come check it out.
Just to help us all keep this straight, and to prevent anyone from showing up and finding no one home, a reminder that next week is an “online only” gathering; no music etc…just community time drawn from whatever people post online and a Talky Bit.
All righty…that’s it for now. I’ll see you on Sunday.Peace,Tim Plett
Hey folks…as always, details first:
-This is an “in person” gathering week, so we’ll get underway at 170 Scott at 10:45 a.m. with some music and Community Time, followed by the Talky Bit. Next week is also in person. As always, we’ll livestream here, and podcast later in the week here.
I’ll try to keep this next bit short, because – phone screens. Short version – the community is what the community makes. This community, if it’s going to be healthy, needs to make things with the resources it has, with a sense of joyful possibility rather than grim obligation. Right now, our community needs more resources in a couple of key areas if we want to continue to make what we have made in the past, or to expand on those things. In the meantime, until we (together) figure out where to find those resources, we need to adjust what we’re making, at least for a season.
Short version again but with some details – if we want to have regular Kids Table gatherings, we need a couple more (occasional) volunteers to bolster the folks that have already stepped forward. If we want to have music each time we gather, we need some more musicians. Right now we have the resources to have music twice a month, so we’re going to adjust accordingly. We also need, to put it bluntly, more people showing up. It’s from the collective community that the needed resources (of every kind) come. Without growth, the demands on those already present tends to become onerous over time. More nuanced details about all of that on Sunday, but let me repeat something – this is about being freed to create what we can, with joy, not about coercing people to do something they do not care to do. So, in that spirit, do be in touch if you have further thoughts about all of this.
And as long as we’re on the topic of nuance – the Talky Bit will be some further exploration on the subject of compassion, which we started to consider two weeks ago. In particular, we’ll begin to lean in a bit more regarding the enemies of fierce compassion – the things that can knock us off track if compassion is the practice we want to see more of in our lives.
I’ll see you on Sunday!
Peace,Tim Plett
Note: this is an “online only” Sunday, so do NOT show up at 170 Scott unless what you really need is some quiet time in a snowy parking lot. We’ll be back there in person next week, but this time we’re meeting on the wide web of the world. Details later in this email.
This week I would like to expand a bit on some of the ideas we considered in our first gathering of 2023. In particular, I want to begin an exploration of the idea of compassion as a defining characteristic of a community. We’ll start with some history of the idea, including some of its unique twists and turns as part of the Judeo-Christian story. Honestly, it’s both more complicated and more interesting than I expected. I hope you’ll feel the same, but if you don’t you already know how to proceed – if the bag isn’t for you, don’t pick it up.
One unusual part of this Sunday’s gathering is the bit that comes afterward. As I mentioned in the blurb last week, I’ll be hosting a zoom hangout starting at 12:30, the focus of which will be hearing what you (and your littles, if that applies) value and imagine for the future of The Kids Table. Also, starting this evening, there is a dedicated email address set up for the express purpose of gathering that same kind of feedback. We’ll also be making this conversation the focus of our in person gathering next Sunday (the 22nd), so come prepared to be part of a community conversation on this topic in particular, and more generally on the topic of imagining some possible shapes for the future of The Table in general. As I said last week, these are not “planning” conversations. They are opportunities to enter the generous space of an uncertain future and let our imaginations run around a bit to see what we might discover.
And now, the details:
This Sunday – 10:45 a.m., online, on our Table Facebook page. You can find that here. Afterward (starting at 12:30), a zoom hangout / consultation as described above. You can find that link at the end of this email.
The email address for adding your ideas to the conversation is **kidstable2023@gmail.com**, and it’s open 24/7. I won’t be replying to emails at that address; it’s more like an “idea drop off”. However, whatever you submit there will be taken into account as we work together at imagining the future.
Alrighty…I think that’s it for now. Fire up your browser and I’ll see you on Sunday.
Peace,
Tim Plett
Zoom Hangout URL:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81978070666?pwd=aWc2SjFWWE1sZUVMNG5IUi9VQ0duZz09
I suspect that most of us like the idea of the New Year offering a sort of blank page, an opportunity to make something fresh and new. Maybe we’re motivated by the desire for a “do over” because of something in the past. Perhaps we find ourselves wanting to move something we’ve already started forward. It might be that we have a sense of not being done evolving ourselves, and we want to press deeper into what we hope is next for us. That’s not an exhaustive list, of course.
Whatever it is that calls out to us with a voice of hope as we enter the New Year, it’s important to remember that change starts with imagination. As the quote I shared last week says, “Change that counts in revolution takes place first in the imagination.” With that in mind, what I want to offer us in the Talky Bit this Sunday are a few different metaphors for The Table; ways to imagine who we might be as a community that can help us move further in our shared commitment to making room to explore what we believe.
One very important part of our life together that is clearly in a state of change is The Kids Table. We said goodbye to Amy at the end of 2022. That was / is sad and difficult. That said, disruption is also the ground in which change can grow. But first, we need to imagine that change. Ideally, we imagine it together- we contribute to the change by helping to form a picture of what could be. To help us do that, we want to offer three different ways that parents, kids and the community in general can talk about what they would most value at The Kids Table.1. A Zoom “consultation hang out”. (Bet you haven’t seen those ideas combined before.) More info to follow on this in the blurb next week.
- A custom email address where you can send your ideas and know that they will be taken into consideration as part of imagining “next” for The Kids Table. Once again, more details and direction about what we’re looking for by way of input next week.3. A Sunday morning Talky Bit conversation dedicated to the consideration of the future, focused in particular on what it might look like to provide the setting in which the next generation can explore what they believe. At this point we’re planning to do this on Sunday, January 22nd.Corinne Plett has offered to help with this process, and also to take our combined input and put something together for at least some of our Sunday morning Kids Table gatherings. My hope is that this process will help us start to give shape to the future of not only the Kids Table, but to a longer view for the community.Some Details:
-this Sunday is “in person” at 170 Scott (The Rainbow Resource Centre). We’ll start at 10:45 a.m. If you can‘t make it out in person, join the livestream here. We’ll put up the podcast the following week here.
-the week after that (January 15th) will be online; same time, but watchable world-wide because of the magic of the internet. That’s it for now. I’ll see you on Sunday.
Peace,Tim Plett
Well, that subject line is long enough that we probably don’t need the blurb. A few more words about endings and beginnings, as follows:
This Sunday is a Kids Table Sunday. That’s always an occasion, and this week it will also mark a kind of ending. This will be Amy’s last Kids Table Sunday with us. We’ll talk more about that in Community Time, but for now I would invite you to give some thought to what you might want to share in appreciation of all the years that Amy has provided such consistent, creative and thoughtful care for the youngest of our community. If you can be there to share in person, awesome. If you can’t, please feel free to post on our Facebook page or send me an email to share.
Next Sunday is our last before Christmas, and the occasion for our “Not Quite Christmas” celebration. The format will be a bit different than usual, most notably by the inclusion of a lot more music and a lot less talking, as well as FOOD! We’ll meet at our usual time (10:45 a.m.), but our gathering will end with a Souper Sunday potluck. Feel free to come for only part of the time if that helps, and to leave whenever you need to, but please do come if at all possible. Potluck will be soups, salads, buns and goodies…or dishes that approximate that. In short, lunch not dinner. We have lots of oven and stove top space available, just so you know.
There will not be a gathering on December 25th.In the Talky Bit, the last of this series on The Pursuit of Happiness, we’ll explore a couple of stories about what we can do to continue to pursue happiness even when it feels like we are surrounded either by endings or by the threat of endings. In a somewhat curious twist, some of the stories will be about “a” Bible, but not about “the” Bible. Curious yet? Come out if you can, or plan to catch the livestream here or the podcast here.
Also, as Justin reminded us all with such clarity last week, “we’re broke”. Our financial need is pressing, so if you are able to support The Table in this way, this month would be an excellent time to do so. Information about ways to make donations can be found here, and tax receipts will be issued in advance of tax time next year.
I’ll see you on Sunday!Peace,Tim Plett
I didn’t call last week “part something”, so I’m making up lost ground. First the details, because there are exciting things coming up!
We will be having “in person” gatherings all through December – on the 4th, 11th and 18th. We won’t gather on December 25th. We can look forward to something special on each of those Sundays.
This Sunday, as you may have noticed on our Facebook page, Sheryl has posted an invitation for musicians to “sit in” with the folks who are regularly part of making music at The Table; basically to come and make music together on short notice. You can find the details here.. Pretty great idea…we’ll see who shows up! Singers are also welcome – see the page for details. And while you’re there, check out the pics of the Littles smushing cream pies into the faces of the whole leadership team. Unprecedented, but in a good way.
The Sunday after that (the 11th)will be a Kids Table Sunday. Always a reason to celebrate! Go littles!! Go Amy!!And the Sunday after that (the 18th) will be our Not Quite Christmas gathering, as well as the first “Souper Sunday” we’ve had in a loooooong time. Plan to bring your favorite soup, salal or desert. We have access to two stove tops / ovens and lots of plugins, just in case your chosen feast needs to be kept warm or re-heated when it’s time to eat. We’ll gather at the usual time, but expect to stay a bit later if you want to join in the party.Oh yes…the Talky Bit. Well, let’s just say that sometimes we get stuck in our stories and need to give them a tweak. There might be some better and worse ways to do that, and I’ll be offering a couple of questions for us to consider if we find ourselves needing to make adjustments to what we believe. And, as usual, we’ll put up the podcast version later in the week.
I think that’s plenty for one blurb, don’t you?
I’ll see you on Sunday – 10:45 a.m., 170 Scott Street.
Peace,
Tim Plett
Yep…and it’s all happening at 170 Scott Street, starting at 10:45 a.m. on Sunday I guess it would be fair to say that weather and happiness are around in some form or other all the time, but flying pies are rare. If all goes according to plan, you can see the entire leadership team of […]
And also, some Christmas details! As follows: This Sunday is Online Only. If you show up at the venue there might be people in the room but they won’t be from The Table. We will gather online here at 10:45 a.m. for music and Community Time, followed by the Talky Bit. We’ll post the podcast later […]
The details – I’ll keep this short so we all have more time to shovel snow. 🙂 Gathering Time – 10:45 a.m. to noon, 170 Scott Street (Rainbow Resource Centre), livestreamed to our Facebook page here, podcast available later in the week here. Talky Bit will be about geese wearing bells. Seriously Tim? Why would I get […]
This Sunday is an in-person gathering at 170 Scott, also known as the Rainbow Resource Centre. Time – 10:45 a.m. Parking – easy, handy and free. Company – always interesting, sometimes cranky if they haven’t had their coffee. Talky Bit Topic – what to do when your metaphorical car won’t start. It’s kind of a warm-up for […]
In the continued interest of putting the bottom line in the top sentence, this Sunday is an in-person gathering at 170 Scott, our current address. Time – 10:45 a.m. Parking – easy, handy and free. Company – intriguing fellow explorers. Talky Bit Topic – the pursuit of happiness in general, and the difficulty of this pursuit when […]
It’s an “in-person” Sunday at 170 Scott. It’s Kids Table Sunday! We’re still in pursuit of happiness. It’s elusive, it’s important, it’s controversial…but is it good, and where is it hiding anyway, and how come when we see it we often turn aside? And what can we do to change that? So many questions, so little time. […]
Way back when we did a fundraiser, the payoff for which involved leadership team members getting pies in the face (delivered by our Littles). How many people got pied was dependent on how much we raised. If memory serves, the whole leadership team is still on the hook for getting pie in the face. So […]
But first, the details: We’re gathering in person at 170 Scott Street at 10:45 a.m. That’s the Rainbow Resource Centre, if you want an internet shortcut. Once you pull up, follow the signs. That’ll seem less cryptic when you get there. 🙂 It’s a good space with easy parking, a lovely room for the kids, and […]
Yep, we’re still alive and live at 170 Scott Street! 10:45 a.m., use the side entrance where we’ll put out the sign, park on either side of the building or the street, bring your own coffee, no planned programming for the littles but a great space to hang out and see what the parent co-op […]
I was (kinda) whining to someone this past week about how most folks don’t read emails, possibly including this blurb. Poor Timmy! In any case, they reminded me of the importance of putting the most critical info at the top of the page. So…WE ARE MEETING IN PERSON THIS WEEK AT THE RAINBOW RESOURCE CENTRE, LOCATED AT 170 […]
My grandmother used to talk about things happening in “fits and starts”. I’m not sure the actual word selection is ideal, but I know what it means. It means “not smoothly or continuously”. In this case, it applies to the access to our new venue. If you were able to join us when we gathered […]
We’ll get to that subject line in a moment, but first some long awaited details about the venue. This Sunday, September 11th, we will be meeting in person! I’m excited, as you may have guessed. We will also be test-driving a facility that is new to us, and that has the potential to be a longer-term […]
Hey folks…as you might imagine if you’ve been aware of my mom’s recent passing, I’m not quite done reflecting on mortality just yet. But given the potential gravity of such reflection, what’s up with the banana peel language? I would invite you, in anticipation of this coming Sunday’s Talky Bit, to exercise your imagination in […]
And neither are you. But we keep on using machine ideas and mechanistic language about ourselves. And not just when it comes to our work, where it might seem like a reasonable choice. We use it when it comes to matters of the heart as well; when we assess our spirituality. It’s no wonder we feel […]
I’m just flat-out tired of bad news. It’s not the only feeling I have, but it does keep showing up. It’s like soul-weariness. Maybe it’s akin to grief, which can be tiring even when it’s good. Now…I don’t want to paint a whole community with my emotional brush, but my thought is that we could […]
Hi all, Tim Plett is away this month, so a few of us from the community will be taking over the talkie bits for the next few weeks, and I’m up first. This week I want to explore the space for generosity and grace in the way we treat each other by considering the (often […]
Hey folks-big pieces first. This is an in-person gathering. We will be at the Bourkevale Community Centre, 100 Ferry Road, getting underway at 10:45 a.m. I can think of lots of reasons it would be worth showing up, but top of mind might be the fact that this will be our last in-person event until […]
Hey all…if this seems a bit too “heady” for summer, just remember that you can always come back and listen to the podcast on some rainy, chilly fall evening. Maybe it’ll feel just right for that. But just in case you’re planning to drop in on Sunday, here’s where I’ll be headed. We’ve touched on […]
See what I did there? I made the series shorter. 🙂 We’ll get to what that’s about in a moment, but first the big news: this week is an in-person gathering! I know we’ve been doing these off and on for a while, but somehow every one still feels momentous to me. The simplest way I know […]
Hmmm…maybe this title should say “part 1”, because this particular portion of our exploration is very much in two segments. How about “part a”? Yeah, I like that. Also, it’ll make the series seem shorter, which for some reason feels important to me. So, in “part a”, we’ll consider how at the heart of most religions […]
Wow…that’s a lot of religious-sounding language for such a small space! Fear not – we’re still exploring religion(s), and sometimes that will take us into the terrain of language that is recognizably from such spaces. But as with anything that is rooted in cultural and linguistic traditions, words evolve and it’s important to pay attention […]
One of the things I’ve learned (and keep re-learning) in my conversations with people is the power of a compelling and timely question. At The Table, asking questions “is us”. I’ve got a sticker on my desk, a gift from someone in this community, that says, “Questions Are The Answer”. So this is familiar terrain in some ways. […]
Yes, this Sunday is Mothers Day. It’s not too late to buy flowers. Just saying…:) This Sunday, we’ll be meeting in person. I would like to say that we’re meeting in person because it’s Mothers Day, but that wouldn’t be true. It’s been a much more pragmatic process than that. However, I think it’s rather lovely that it’s […]
Oh yeah…see that “Part 1” in the subject line? Not “Part 1 of 20”, lest you are concerned. Just a couple too many ideas to fit into one Talky Bit. 🙂 More to the point – as much as it’s a thing these days to be “spiritual but not religious”, religion and spirituality do have […]
Hey everyone – as I’m writing this, I’m looking out at (grrr) wet snow that is slowly turning to rain. There are things in life that we count on – things like the frequently cited “death and taxes” – to make the world feel a bit more predictable. “The sun will come up tomorrow” isn’t just a […]
Happy “almost Easter” to you all. I have fond memories (and I really don’t think time has burnished these into fantasy) of being outside in a t-shirt at this time of year, rather than in my winter garb following my hard-working snowblower down the driveway. Gotta say, I like the memories better. But looking backward […]
Sometimes, at least upon review, it feels like history turned on some rather individual decisions. This week we’ll be exploring a particular turn in the history of the Christian tradition, and doing some speculating about both how things might have gone otherwise, and what might happen if we act as if they did. It’s an “online” […]
Hey folks – this is an “in-person” week! This Sunday we’re gathering at the Plett house. A bit more of the snow has melted, so now the driveway is mostly muddy. Go slow and you’ll be fine. Just don’t wash your car, unless you want to wash it again on Sunday afternoon. 🙂 Come all […]
Hey folks – this week I want to invite the old-timey idiom “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater” to guide us into a renewed consideration of the ways in which we might continue to hold complicated positions in a world bent on “either/or” rhetoric and posturing. This is, among other things, one of […]
Sometimes I wish that the subject line came with instructions for preparation before consumption. As in, “season the above with a dash of hope and bake in a sauce of irony. Do not eat until cool”. Or something like that. Because the ideas that all our anxieties can be controlled or life completely mastered may be compelling […]
I can’t decide if “florilegium” sounds more like a tile cleaner or something you get done at the dentist, but it sure doesn’t have a nice ring to it. Deceptive, in this case. If you’re curious you can look it up, because these days we can look anything up without ever leaving our chair. It kinda […]
Ever have that thought first thing in the morning when you look in the mirror? “I’m a mash-up”. Probably not. Perhaps something more along the lines of “I need a haircut”? Maybe our lives would be altered for the better if we changed the first cogent thought we have in the morning into something that makes […]
One of our adult “kids” is a poet. Not a dabbler; a for-real, published-in-journals poet. I think they’re pretty darn good at it. I’m biased, of course, but find some solace regarding this opinion in the fact that the journal editors, who get hundreds of submissions but only publish a few, appear to agree with me. So there!
Now, what was my point? Oh yes…when I read poems by one of my progeny or by someone else, one of things that strikes me over and over again is how skilled poets see the same world that I do, but they see it differently. I often have a similar experience with comedians. I’ll be listening to them riff on something and find myself thinking, “Oh, I’ve seen that!”, or “I think I know that person they are talking about”. But then, they’ll just take it somewhere I never saw coming! They are looking at the same world, but seeing it differently. That’s what I want to explore in this week’s Talky Bit – the possible life and culture-changing impact of seeing the world differently. We’ll do that in part by taking a peek at the work of someone that turned out to be a game-changing organizational guru despite never setting out to do so. And we’ll connect that to the writings of someone that ended up being instrumental in founding a religion, even though that’s not what they set out to do. And no, the second person is not Jesus. But first, at 10:45 a.m. Sunday we’ll meet online here for music and Community Time, then the Talky Bit, then ALA, then maybe a big ‘ol nap, because all that talking made us feel sleeeeeeepy. And this week, we’ll also enjoy TWEZH at 7:45 p.m. on Wednesday. URL’s for those are at the bottom of this email. In the “things to look forward to” category, next week’s Talky Bit will be helmed by the always thoughtful and interesting Tim Penner. He’ll tell us more in the blurb, but I’ve got a teensy bit of insider info and I’m very intrigued! Hold the date! Peace to you all, and I’ll see you on Sunday. Tim Plett
ALA (And Lunch After) – https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81978070666?pwd=aWc2SjFWWE1sZUVMNG5IUi9VQ0duZz09 TWEZH – https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85777988652?pwd=UGR2ZkxtWklEaFZ5bXE1b3RkdUJXdz09
A statement like the one in the subject line might elicit a knee-jerk reaction along the lines of “Of course we can believe things that aren’t true!”. Most of us can think of some instance or other where we believed something that seemed plausible to us, but that later turned out to be untrue. We might feel somewhat differently about the “easy” part of the statement, preferring to regard ourselves as those not so readily duped; the thinkers, the clear-headed ones, the “seekers-after-truth” segment of the wider, more gullible population. As we will explore in the Talky Bit this Sunday, all those descriptors might honestly represent something about us…and it can still be easy to believe what isn’t true. That’s the bad news. There’s good news in there as well, but I’m going to save that for Sunday.
We’ll meet here at 10:45 a.m. for music and Community Time, then move along to the Talky Bit. ALA will be happening this week, but TWEZH (has anyone decided how to pronounce that yet?) will not, unless someone else is available to host it. If that idea lights you up, let me know and I’ll update that announcement on our Facebook page. (Facebook, if market dynamics are to be trusted, has fallen out of favor with the cool kids. We are languishing together in the still-gargantuan-and-unreasonably-powerful-but-no-longer-hip realm of a fading technological super giant. Quick, someone put up a Tic Toc account!) The new public health announcements have made our in-home gatherings a more probable event than would have been the case a week ago. Watch this space for updates. Here’s the URL for ALA. BYOB to ALA. Sounds like a recovery group for those not taking things seriously. Maybe it is. Show up and find out. We’ll start at 12:30, following the Talky Bit. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81978070666?pwd=aWc2SjFWWE1sZUVMNG5IUi9VQ0duZz09 I’ll see you on Sunday. Peace, Tim Plett
I thought I would keep it simple this week with a folk saying that explains our place in the universe…in one sentence. This shouldn’t take long. I’ll see you on Sunday at 10:45 a.m., when we’ll gather here for some music, a chance to share what’s going on in our lives, and the story I mentioned above. After I explain everything (and I mean, EVERYTHING!), we can hang out together on Zoom during ALA. And just in case we don’t quite come to tidy conclusions in that amount of time, we can get together on Wednesday evening to continue the conversation. (I trust you recognize both sincerity and sarcasm when you see them. An unlikely pair perhaps, but sometimes they do hang out together.)
We’re still working on what to do about in-person gatherings. The target keeps moving. I’ll keep you posted in future blurbs. In the meantime, here are the URL’s for our zoom hangs on Sunday and Wednesday. I look forward to getting together.
ALA (And Lunch After) – https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81978070666?pwd=aWc2SjFWWE1sZUVMNG5IUi9VQ0duZz09 TWEZH (what do you think it means?) – https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85777988652?pwd=UGR2ZkxtWklEaFZ5bXE1b3RkdUJXdz09 I’ll see you on Sunday. Peace, Tim Plett
This week’s blurb from Tim Plett:
Hey folks – I’m sitting in my mom’s living room in Saskatoon, watching her wind down the day. Of course, I’m watching her wind down more than that. It’s a deep honor to be made welcome into the space and conversations of someone you love as they reflect on both their past and present and consider the legacy those have shaped. It prompts my own reflections on many things, not the least of which is why I choose to live as I do; what beliefs give rise to the decisions and choices I make, and how I might have chosen differently if I had believed differently. All of which reminds me that an examined life, one in which I deliberately explore what I believe and am prepared to evolve those beliefs, is the one I want to continue to live as long as I am able.
This Sunday I’ll be “broadcasting” from right here in Saskatoon (the magic of the digital world!) as we dig deeper into our reflections on Personification and Reality. This week – what might we consider undeniably real, and how might that inform our ability to understand and even reconcile the realms of religion and science? Also, a rave about the wonder of this past Sunday’s ALA (see below for more info and links for this week’s zoom gatherings) and some very brief musings from Philosophy 101. I’m glad we can meet online, and look forward to the day when we will once again be in the same room at the same time. Until then, I’ll see you on Sunday here starting at 10:45 a.m. and perhaps in one of the two following online zoom gatherings. ALA (And Lunch After) – https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81978070666?pwd=aWc2SjFWWE1sZUVMNG5IUi9VQ0duZz09 TWEZH (figure it out for yourself) – https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85777988652?pwd=UGR2ZkxtWklEaFZ5bXE1b3RkdUJXdz09 Peace, Tim Plett
Well, here we go – adjusting, again. I would add a smiley face emoticon, but honestly…it’s a bit of a tough thing to smile about. That said, I remain grateful for the means of connecting we have, and for all the people that don’t live here in Winnipeg who have been able to be part of our explorations, in no small part because circumstances have compelled us to go virtual. By way of information, our plans at present are to be entirely online for the balance of January, to do a mix of virtual and home gatherings in February and March (dates to follow), and keep you posted about April. As far as the in-home gatherings go, if there is anyone else in the community that is interested in their place being one of the venues, let me know. It would be helpful to spread that around a bit if possible.
As we all know, there are lots of variables and the largest social experiment in history (a.k.a. pandemic management) continues apace, so it’s a bit hard to be dogmatically predictive. I’d ask for your continued patience, but I know that might be getting a bit tapped out as well, so instead I’ll thank you for your continued persistence. Now that I can add a smiley face to.
We’ll continue to gather online here starting at 10:45 a.m. for music and Community Time, followed by the Talky Bit (live this time). In said Talky Bit, I’ll be picking up with a further exploration of the power of personification, as well as it’s shadow side, de-personification. (Is that an actual word?) How we approach our understanding of this matter can deeply inform our interpersonal interactions, but also the way we interact with the whole world around us. It’s one way of considering why we’ve done such a terrible job of caring for the natural realm, and what we need to adjust in our thinking / believing if we want to see that change. All of this is also tied to how we imagine and relate to the divine or mystery or the transcendent or whatever language we want to use for “that which we don’t think of as us”. This week, both ALA and TWEZH are on at their usual times; 12:30 on Sunday (following our online gathering) for ALA, and 7:45 p.m. on Wednesday for TWEZH. (If the acronyms aren’t ringing a bell, see last weeks blurb for a full explanation). URL’s for both of those Zoom gatherings are below.
I think that’s it for now. I’ll see you on Sunday! Peace, Tim Plett
ALA URL: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81978070666?pwd=aWc2SjFWWE1sZUVMNG5IUi9VQ0duZz09 TWEZH URL: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85777988652?pwd=UGR2ZkxtWklEaFZ5bXE1b3RkdUJXdz09
A bit vague, perhaps? Yes. However, also like a couple of pieces of a larger, much more complex puzzle in which ancient spiritual explorers the world over started to ask similar questions about the cosmos, the Divine, and why we humans even think about things like this. We might not find it surprising that humans that had no other connection to one another would have similar questions, but it remains a curious and informative thing that in historic terms, that happened to a bunch of us at the same time. This week in the Talky Bit we’ll explore what we have in common with those explorers, and how that connects to what we do here at The Table.
A couple of details: We’ll meet online (for the foreseeable future – a phrase which seems to carry with it shorter and shorter time lines) here at 10:45 a.m. for music and Community Time. That will be followed by a pre-recorded version of the Talky Bit, because my family and I are making a quick trip to Saskatoon to visit my mom. Tim Penner will provide more details about what time that will happen, but it’ll be on Facebook as usual. And Lunch After and The Wednesday Evening Zoom Hangout are both on this week at their usual times – 12:30 Sunday for ALA (add that to your abrevs wallet) and TWEZH (??) at 7:45 p.m. on Wednesday. URL’s for those are at the bottom of this email. Finally, a quick update about our finances. Once we can do it in person, the pie will be flying everywhere! Or at least into the faces of every person on the Leadership Team. Yep, the community responded with generosity and enthusiasm to the idea of watching our kids smash pies into their elders, and that means we are heading into the new year in a relatively good position. A huge THANK YOU to all of you that support The Table in this particular way, both during special initiatives like this one, and in an ongoing way month by month. Without you, we wouldn’t get to do this together.
All righty…that’s it’s for now. I’ll (sort of) see you on Sunday. Or you’ll see me on Sunday, but I’ll be thinking about you while you do. Or something like that.
Peace,
Tim Plett ALA URL: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81978070666?pwd=aWc2SjFWWE1sZUVMNG5IUi9VQ0duZz09 TWEZH URL: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85777988652?pwd=UGR2ZkxtWklEaFZ5bXE1b3RkdUJXdz09
Well, here we are on the cusp of a new year. I know this whole calendar thing is quite arbitrary and not even shared by all cultures, but in our shared context the turning of the year still feels like we should do something to mark the moment.
Under the present circumstances, perhaps one of the things it suggests is that we pause for a “well, we made it this far” moment. The pandemic has been hard on everyone, and as is often the case with hardships, more difficult for some than others.
As a community, we have a lot to be thankful for. Our relatively uncomplicated way of operating has made pivoting to “virtual” more obvious and simpler than it might otherwise have been. Our musicians have all risen to the occasion of making their contributions from their own homes. Our Leadership Team has been united in its commitment to working within the public health guidelines, for which I am personally very grateful. Financially and operationally, we continue to creatively sustain ways of connecting and (when allowed) gathering in person.
And speaking of pausing to take note – on the matter of finances, we now have enough money in the pie fund to make a thorough mess of not only my face, but those of all the members of the Leadership Team! However the individuals in question might feel about their pending “pie-ing”, this is something to celebrate! We’ve reached the goal Atticus so creatively outlined for us, and at some point in 2022 when we can do this in person we’ll turn the Littles loose on the whole Leadership Team, pies in hand. I love it! A HUGE shout out to all those whose generosity made this, and of course our ongoing existence, possible. If you are still considering a year-end donation, you can find info about how to donate online here. Donations are tax receiptable. More info about that in the year ahead.
Another thing that often accompanies the beginning of a new year is making resolutions. I realize that practice has lost its shine for many of us, and perhaps for good reason. Deciding to suddenly “do better” on something when the clock strikes midnight on December 31st is often not only unsustainable, but not even good for our mental health. Setting long term goals without a plan or progress markers is demanding, and it frequently doesn’t work. It can create a sense of pressure to perform, to succeed, and then a cycle of defeat and shame when we don’t pull it off. We’re more likely to make meaningful changes in our lives when we mindfully build habits and routines, with plenty of time to rest and recover from new initiatives. We’re also more likely to make progress when we know what values we are building on. When we know what matters most to us, we can begin to discern and enact choices that lead us toward those values being more and more present in our daily lives. This is one of the most significant motivators for exploring what we believe – it can help us gain clarity about what we truly value, and have those values increasingly underpin the choices we make. In the Talky Bit this week we’ll be exploring one of the most basic (and also biggest) values questions we all have to answer in our daily lives – what role love will play in guiding our choices and actions. If that sounds vague, it might be because it’s so encompassing. It’s the kind of value that can embrace a great deal of complexity and nuance, and still keep calling us back to the center. I’ll do what I can to bring that into focus a bit more by Sunday. Regarding our gatherings – at the moment, we can expect to be meeting online. As the current wave of Covid unfolds and the public health guidelines evolve, we’ll keep you posted about changes. I hope it mostly goes without saying that we’re all hoping for a return to in-person gatherings sooner rather than later. However, we’ve been here (or somewhere a lot like here) before, and it seems to me that experience should remind us to hope for the future, make plans for things to go well, and hold those plans with open hands knowing that there are variables we control and variables we don’t. When it comes to values, we want to continue to practice caring for one another as well as we can. I understand that sometimes the particulars of that vary from person to person, so even once we are able to gather in shared spaces again we’ll continue to livestream, providing an option for those whose circumstances or preferences steer them away from in-person gatherings. We’ll meet online here at 10:45 a.m. on Sunday for some music and Community Time, followed by the Talky Bit. “And Lunch After” will be back at 12:30 (URL below), but the Wednesday Evening Zoom Hangout will still be on hiatus. O.k. – that’s a long-ish blurb so I’ll wrap it up. I’m looking forward to seeing you on Sunday! Peace, Tim Plett And Lunch After URL: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81978070666?pwd=aWc2SjFWWE1sZUVMNG5IUi9VQ0duZz09
Hey folks – this week is an ‘online only” morning, so make sure that if you have things you want the community to know you post them to our Facebook page. This is presently our best way of keeping one another in touch regarding our personal circumstances, challenges, joys, etc. It’s not the same thing as face to face, of course, but it’s what we have and I want to encourage us all to take advantage of it.
Ok – brace yourself for lots of details:
This Sunday we’ll start with some music at 10:45, move to Community Time (we’ll read what you posted), and then on to the Talky Bit. That will all happen here.
In the Talky Bit we’ll be considering what may be a culturally distant practice to many of us; that of using icons to deepen our spirituality. As is often the case, we’ll be considering a different point of view than the one usually present in the Christian tradition; a perspective that challenges some long-standing norms and assumptions. Not quite a typical Advent conversation, but then who says we need to do that?
Next week (the 19th), will be our “Not Quite Christmas” gathering. I’m not going to say a lot about that now, except to remind you to hold the date and time. We’ll be gathering in person at Justin’s place; doors at 6:00, getting underway at 6:30, done by around 7:30 so people with Little’s can still get the wee ones tucked in at a good time. No potluck – we’ll save that for next Christmas. We won’t have a gathering on December 26th, but we’ll plan to fire things back up in January. More specifics about that in subsequent blurbs, but in general terms we are continuing to look at venue options as well as carrying on with a mix of in-person and online, as things unfold. We’ll figure it out. And on another year-end related note, our always dapper and suave master-of-ceremonies Atticus is back with a brand new pie promotion. This one involves more people, more pies, more fun. Seriously, Atticus puts the “fun” back in “Fun-draiser”. And I’m ready for more pie, so bring it on! You can find Atticus in all his smooth-talking splendor here, and more details about making donations here. Also, for the Facebook-avoidant, Atticus is also enjoying his “youtube famous” moment here. (I just re-watched the video, and I’m still chuckling. So fine…)
Last Details: There will not be an “And Lunch After” gathering this week, but the Wednesday Evening Zoom Hangout is a go. We’ll start at 7:45 p.m. You can find that event at the URL below.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85777988652?pwd=UGR2ZkxtWklEaFZ5bXE1b3RkdUJXdz09 That’s all folks. I’ll see you online on Sunday! Peace, Tim Plett
There are so many reasons to not mark Advent. Let me mention a couple of biggies. It’s exclusively Christian in its origins. I know we now have Advent calendars of many kinds, and of course marketing folks have figured out that this is yet another way to pave the on-ramp to December 25th, but that’s still where it comes from, and as with other things “Christmas”, that isn’t everyone’s home base. Also, despite it’s Christian origins, those of us that “grew up born again” may well have been nurtured in religious environments that ignored it, because it was like a pause button on talking about baby Jesus. Or because it was a thing those Catholic / mainline church people did, and they weren’t Christians, at least not for sure. Right?
So why would I break the momentum of our prolonged consideration of the cheery topic of doubt for that? Lots of reasons, but here’s one. You may have noticed that this pandemic thing is dragging on a bit. You may be finding that disconcerting, difficult, depressing. Me too. It can be very challenging to wait something out. Waiting takes practice, and our culture doesn’t tend to offer much support for it. And Advent is about waiting. So my thinking is that, given the number of years this practice has been around, there might be some lessons on waiting stored in there somewhere, even if we don’t identify with where’s it’s come from or some of the assumptions about what it’s aimed at. So for the next couple of weeks, I’m going to see what I can find, and I invite you to join in. This Sunday is an in-person gathering at the Plett house. We’ll start at 10:45 a.m with some music and Community Time, then the Talky Bit. We’ll livestream it here, as always. Details about location, etc, as follows: -Public health regs: these are pinned to the top of our Facebook page and you can check them out in more detail there. Short version – if you are 12 or older, you need to be vaccinated to attend. Bring a mask, and expect to wear it indoors. Our kids are getting vaccinated, which I hope means we can dispense with the indoor masks in the foreseeable future, but until we make a community decision about that, masks it is. –Our address:If you are reading this on the website, contact me directy for address info. You can best do that by emailing me at tim@thetablewinnipeg.com. -Parking – our house is tucked away at the end of long-ish driveway. Come all the way down, and park either in front of the red garage or the brown workshop. -Ice, ice, baby…despite (I think heroic) efforts, our driveway is VERY slippery. Not a problem for driving as long as you don’t speed, but a bit treacherous for walking. Please, take your time and be careful. Kids Table – it’s on! Amy has a plan, and unless you go hang out with the Littles, you have to wait until they proudly bring a report afterward to find out what it is. I so look forward to that moment in our gatherings when the kids come charging back in, waving something they’ve made. (Amy…no pressure!) – Because this an “in-person” Sunday, there won’t be any “And Lunch After” zoom hang. However, there will be a Wednesday evening one. URL as follows: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85777988652?pwd=UGR2ZkxtWklEaFZ5bXE1b3RkdUJXdz09 -Next week is online only. Not Quite Christmas at The Table: Sunday, December 19th will be our “Not Quite Christmas” gathering. We’ll be meeting at Justin’s place.
Time: TAKE NOTE: – this gathering will happen in the evening. Doors at 6:00, “program” starting at 6:30. We’ll be done in time for you to tuck your kiddos in at a “school night” time. More details to follow, but for now mark your calendar and plan to attend if you are able. I’m looking forward to that time together, and to seeing some of you in person tomorrow. Peace, Tim Plett
Hey folks – this week is an on-line only gathering, followed by And Lunch After for those so inclined. Next week will be an in-person gathering at the Plett house, complete with something just for the Littles, livestreamed for those not in attendance. More details about all of that in next week’s blurb.
We’ll fire things up online at our Facebook page here at 10:45 a.m. with music and Community Time, then move on to the Talky Bit, in which I’ll be exploring the possibility that “putting the band back together” (if you know why the quotation marks are there, this Sunday just might in your wheelhouse) could be a useful metaphor for approaching faith via doubt, and taking the interpreters of the King James Bible to task for screwing up untold numbers of people by conflating the words “belief” and “faith”. Am I also on “a mission from God”? Follow the quotes as clues on Youtube, then judge accordingly. And remember; when you explore what you believe you’re not crazy, you’re not alone, and your soul is not in danger. Oh yes…that’s the other thing about this Talky Bit. I’m going to prove that Jesus would have thought the KJV boys got it wrong. Just watch me and see if I don’t…:) Here are the relevant URL’s for And Lunch After and the Wednesday Evening Zoom Hang. Lunch After starts at 12:30; on Wednesday evening we’ll start at 7:45. And Lunch After: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81978070666?pwd=aWc2SjFWWE1sZUVMNG5IUi9VQ0duZz09 The Wednesday Evening Zoom Hangout: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85777988652?pwd=UGR2ZkxtWklEaFZ5bXE1b3RkdUJXdz09
I’ll see you on Sunday! Peace, Tim Plett
If I tell you that sometimes I have moments where I feel as though I’ve touched or been touched by something my circumstances don’t fully account for, would you be able to identify with that? I think most of us would. In fact, at this point in my life I would be willing to say that I believe almost everyone alive would. We name those moments differently; we explain them in different ways, and sometimes we make things out of them that we even use to hurt other people or to exclude them from some kind of “inner circle”. But what if those sorts of moments are the times when we’re just barely getting a taste of harmony, of the greatest common ground we could ever possibly share with one another and with all that is? What if we’re touching what is REAL, or as we’ll consider in this Sunday’s Talky Bit, what is genuine.
This is an “online only” Sunday, as is next week. After that we’ll return to our every-other-week-in-person rhythm. Or at least we’ll try to. We’ll begin here at 10:45 a.m. with some music and Community Time, followed by the Talky Bit, followed by And Lunch After. I’ll put up the URL for And Lunch After at the end of this email.
Some other details:
-There will not be a Wednesday Evening Zoom Hangout this week, unless someone out there let’s me know they want to host it. If that happens, I’ll ask the new host to post their URL and time on our Facebook page. Check there for details closer to the day, and if you don’t see a new Zoom invitation, it means the gathering is not happening.
-In-person gatherings in homes – If you have any interest in hosting one of these, please let me know. Justin’s household and the Plett house are happy to continue hosting once a month each, but with more hosts on board I expect we could gather in-person more often. It could be a one-off offering, or a commitment to taking on more than one. If you are interested, please contact me at this email address.
-And Lunch After – starts at 12:30 on Sunday, which gives you just enough time to whip up something for lunch and get back to your computer. I know…the first part sounds a lot more appealing than the second part. We’ve all had more than enough screen time. However, I continue to be amazed at the variety of ground we cover in these conversations, which seem to flow from the mundane and even absurd to the personal and profound with a natural appeal that keeps drawing me back in. I long for a good ‘ol potluck at Creative, but right now this is what we’ve got, and I’ll take it. I’ll see you on Sunday. Peace, Tim Plett
Been downtown in the last 48 hours or so? Maybe to the (relatively) famous intersection of Portage and Main, reputed to be one of the coldest, least pedestrian-friendly downtown corners in the developed world? O.K. – cut me some slack and make room for hyperbole. It keeps things interesting. Point is, it’s a well-known intersection. And this week in the Talky Bit, we’ll be exploring another famous intersection (also sometimes chilly), the one where faith and data, or more typically faith and science, meet. It’s long been regarded as a high-collision location, but that’s changing. Interesting? We’ll find out.
And we’ll do that together, in person, at Justin’s place. To attend, you need to be vaccinated, (and have your proof of vaccination with you), have a documented medical exception or be under twelve, and bring a mask to wear indoors. If you can’t attend or wish to join with the community another way, we’ll also livestream the gathering. Details as follows:
Time and Location – Justin’s house in the groovy realm of Wolsley, that bastion of free-range cats and Blundstone-wearing hipsters with high-end children’s strollers. Justin is neither of those, but still pretty great. Parking is on the street. Use the front entry, and plan to take off your shoes. We’ll get started with some music at 10:45 a.m., and go from there. As always, you can find us online here.
The Littles – Kids Table is on! If you haven’t been to Justin’s yet, the space where the kids gather is lovely, bright and welcoming, and Lisa has something cued up just for our young ones.
Food and Beverage – Plan to bring your own drinks and snacks. Bathrooms are available. Last Things – There will be no “And Lunch After” because it’s an in-person gathering. However, there will be a Wednesday Evening Zoom Hangout. The time for that event will be 7:45 p.m. Here’s the URL for the Wednesday Hangout:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85777988652?pwd=UGR2ZkxtWklEaFZ5bXE1b3RkdUJXdz09 I’ll see you on Sunday. Peace, Tim Plett