And now, the final (but actually first) email for this week
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.
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,