I grew up working for my dad’s construction company. At one point, he employed an older man who had spent most of his life working for the railroad. This guy knew how to work hard. Hand him a shovel, and things happened. He’s the person that taught me that when you are laying out your work for the day, you should try to do the hardest, least desirable tasks first. So…let’s start with a mea culpa (latin for “my bad”).

Hey folks. Some of you may have noted the headline that the Oxford English Dictionary team said we learned so many significant new words this year that they couldn’t pick just one so they noted several, including “doomscrolling”. No definition required for that one, it seems to me. FYI- this email includes enough information that some scrolling may be required, but none of it is about doom. Just wanted to mention that in case you could use a break from the aforementioned pastime.

Talky Bit: If we think about it at all, we are most likely to think about the way we perceive the world around us as “reality”. We continue to hold this perspective despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary. In fact, we’re so committed to this understanding that we can use a phrase like “common sense” with a straight face. (Essayist G.K. Chesterton once said that the problem with common sense is that it isn’t common. Not quite on point, but a pithy quote.) If we want to learn how to love one another as disparate human beings with differing perspectives, we need to start exercising our new-point-of-view muscles. We need to learn to see the world through lenses other than the ones that define reality for us. Hard work sometimes, to be sure – but also interesting, engaging and enlarging. This week in the Talky Bit we’ll consider someone else’s picture of how we might imagine what humans have in common. Hint – it has something to do with the subject line.

I find it gently ironic that the subject line gestures toward NSFW on the same Sunday that we have something special for the littles. 

One of the key ways we learn as humans is imitation. We see, we mimic, we build on the direction that sets. While that is most pronounced when we are young, it’s a way we continue to be formed throughout our lives. When it comes to what we are being given to learn from in the realm of civil discourse (which includes having conversations with people that see the world differently than we do) , there doesn’t seem to be a lot that calls us to “rise above”; to find the better views of the world, of one another, of the mysteries beyond what we can see and touch. Often, it feels more like we’re being schooled in how to enact the lowest common denominators of human behaviour – me / mine first, I’m right / you’re wrong, there is nothing I need to learn from you, and so on. The results are easy to see, and they’re not good. In fact, not only are the results not good; they point to the profound erosion of what we might call a “common good”. This week in the Talky Bit I want to begin an exploration of the necessity of that notion of common good. As you can imagine, that’s a big topic so we’ll just have to see how things unfold. As usual, I’m not headed toward a “one right answer” sort of destination and I’m committed to not stopping when I hit the first familiar feeling landmarks. I just want to get started and see where we end up. I hope you’ll join me, and that we can explore together.

Owing to upload limitations, we had to break up the talkie bit this week, so here is part two of Sunday’s podcast, technically part three of the whole series.

Hey folks – last week we started an exploration into how our emotions work in our bodies, and especially how the emotion of stress (one we probably all have in common these days) functions. We left off our last Talky Bit with bad news – what happens inside our bodies if we don’t learn how to move all the way through the “stress tunnel” to the light at the end. This week we’ll start with a short summary of all that, then dive into the practical (and oh-so-applicable) things we can do to get unstuck. Whew…there might be a light at the end of the tunnel after all! 

I’m not meaning to intentionally mislead so let me clarify – that subject line is NOT about the pandemic. It’s about something that is both unique to this time and trans-pandemic – stress. Yep, it’s time to name it, see if we can learn something more about it, and get a better handle on how to deal with it. While we’re at it, we’ll take a poke into the the Christian religions history of problems with the human body in  general, and see if there’s a meaningful connection between ways we misunderstand or respond poorly to stress, and that history. All in thirty minutes? I don’t think so. This will take more than one Talky Bit. But hey…I’ve been told that my voice, as mediated through small speakers, is soothing. It apparently puts both young children and dogs right to sleep. Maybe it does the same for adults, and they’re just not telling. So if the ideas don’t hold your attention, you could just fire up the Facebook page and get some extra rest. Probably not a bad idea, especially if you’re under a lot of stress. 

Last week I wrote a long blurb – too long for anyone to fit on their phone screen So as an act of virtual contrition, this one is short.

Also, this is the Sunday when the Kids Table has something special going. Here’s Arielle:

I was in a grocery store a while ago and one of those “we’re trying to sound like your friend” announcements about Covid protocols came over the sound system. It was a smooth voice; professional, soothing, even slightly silky, telling me that “we” are settling into a new normal, but while we do we should make sure to do all the things we’re being asked to – wear our masks, keep our distance, wash our hands. I have no personal objections to those protocols. In fact, I’m fully on board, but there was something about that “new normal” part that rubbed me the wrong way. In terms of generic public announcements, I feel like I get it. I mean, what DO you say to a store full of strangers under these circumstances?

However, I want to do my part to contribute to rebelling against the idea that the best way to think of this moment in history is as a new normal. No, no, no. A disruption, yes. A global upheaval, for sure. An opportunity to deeply consider what’s broken about the ways we’ve been operating, absolutely. If I can say so without sounding indifferent to enormous suffering, an opportunity for change? Yes.

Hey folks – I had the pleasure of an IRL conversation with someone from The Table today, (all safe and masked and distanced, but still) and it reminded me in a fresh way how deeply I miss being able to touch base with people while we’re just hanging around before or after gathering. It’s a feeling that is only made stronger when I think about the Zoom conversation we had on Sunday. It was delightful to see faces, hear voices, have conversations. So good!

So I want to offer us more opportunities to do that sort of thing. Here’s where I would like to begin – starting this Sunday, I would like to make the “And Lunch Afterward?” Zoom gathering a regular feature. Every Sunday at 12:30 (long enough after our gathering to get your lunch sorted, if you wish), we’ll have a chance to hang out in a Zoom meeting. I’ll set it up. If you want to drop by to chat, do it. If you can come and stay a while, that’s great. If you need to just pop in to say hello and then dash, do that. I’m not sure how long these hang-outs will be; I think we’ll just play that by ear. Littles are more than welcome (gotta say, as much as I like the adults in our community, I miss your kids every bit as much as I miss you).

Also, because one time is not likely to suit everyone, I’ll set up the same thing on Wednesday evenings at 7:30 p.m. I’ll include the Zoom invitation info at the end of this email. Again, we’ll just make it up as we go when it comes to how long we hang out. I’m sure we can figure that out on the fly. It’s all an experiment, like the whole rest our culture is at this moment. If there’s uptake, we’ll keep it going. If there isn’t, we’ll think of something else to try.

This Sunday morning we’ll meet online at our Facebook group as usual for some music and Community Time at 10:45 a.m., then on to the Talky Bit. I’ll be exploring the overlap between the contemporary study of building resiliency and an ancient prophecy given to some Israelites that had been exiled to Babylon. I think it’s super intriguing how very old wisdom and modern research sometimes end up in the same space if we’ll let them, and can even play nice together in ways that teach us how to live wiser, more whole lives, even under difficult circumstances.

Here are the Zoom invites – first the Sunday one, then the Wednesday one. They are recurring meetings, so you can use the same meeting info any week you want to drop by.

Topic: And Lunch After? The Table Zoom Sunday Hang Out

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83770920251?pwd=a0dZbU1CaXgrYTNNcEkydE1hdTNRQT09

Meeting ID: 837 7092 0251

Topic: The Wednesday Evening Table Hang Out

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85777988652?pwd=UGR2ZkxtWklEaFZ5bXE1b3RkdUJXdz09

Meeting ID: 857 7798 8652

I’ll sorta see you on Sunday…