From Tim Plett:

This week, I wrote the whole blurb while feeling like we need to simultaneously move forward and completely stop to once again (and not for the last time) name the heart-rending realities represented by the most recent acknowledgment of unmarked graves of Indigenous children on a residential school site. We will all make our own choices about how to process this, of course. However, I would like to respectfully suggest that we all pause before reading the blurb to hold space for the naming of institutional evil, perpetuated by church and state, and for generations of loss, sorrow and grief denied as part of the attempted systemic erasure of a people, fueled by the hubristic conviction that there is only one right, superior system of beliefs.

(       )

I feel more and more aware of just how much upheaval exploring what we believe can cause. I don’t think that’s categorically a problem. As distressing as upheaval can be, it can also be the thing that keeps us moving forward, that keeps us growing and changing as people. To put it more broadly, change is a constant, and evolution is necessary, so learning to see the helpful side of the discomfort in that process is one way we can face the future with hope, even as we acknowledge its uncertainty.

That said, I find it much easier to acknowledge and not fear uncertainty when I have some tools for examining and even (sometimes) making sense of what I’m experiencing in the change process. So, in the interest of being better equipped to explore, this week’s Talky Bit will offer a way of thinking about change that I’ve found encouraging. I hope you will too.

-As previously mentioned, the Talky Bit is prerecorded this week, and will be posted at 11:15 a.m., following the (LIVE!) music and Community Time that will start at 10:45 a.m. All that will happen on our Facebook page, as usual.

-There will be changes to our Zoom hangs in the coming weeks, but this week will be business as usual. We’ll meet for And Lunch After at 12:30 on Sunday. We’ll also meet on Wednesday evening at 7:30 p.m.  The links for both of those are at the bottom of this email.

-There will be no Sunday online gatherings on the July long weekend or the August long weekend, which also means no And Lunch After on those dates. There will be And Lunch After hangouts on the other July Sundays. Wednesday evening hangouts will vary during this month, so keep an eye open for weekly details about those.

-Upcoming Talky Bits will feature explorations led by Tim Penner, Misty Blake-Knox and Tasha Gregory. Whoop! Fresh perspectives, here we come!