Stir the Soul Cafe
Who we are:
We are of people with different backgrounds and interests who are seeking to study Celtic and other forms of Spirituality and spiritual practice; looking for ways to remain creative, or embrace more creative forms of expression; who wish to continue learning through study, and discussion.
We gather in the Library, drink a ‘cuppa’ and just talk, laugh and cry a little sometimes:
Winter Women who meet the second Thursday of each month discuss, discern and concern ourselves with issues of sisterhood and are brought together through the study of Celtic Spirituality. This group is open to all ‘mature’ women and ones who recognize the potential of the wisdom-bringers among us.
The Creative Age-ers, open to all genders, strive to understand aging in a world which does not wish to acknowledge it or embrace it. We meet on the fourth Thursday to contemplate what we must learn, offer, and embrace.
The other Thursdays are open to all persons for various activities such as ‘bookless book’ studies, and spirited movies, and one Thursday a month we have gentle conversation while working in our Library.
What we do:
We have discussion times for Bible study, Celtic study, Spirituality study, Book study. We have meditation time for Advent, for Lent and ‘Just Because’. We host women’s retreats seasonally, including Women’s Christmas in January. We go on pilgrimage: Iona, Ghost Ranch, New York City are a few. We seek ways to be creative and to live in creative ways. Stir the Soul Café is a concept that is evolving, unfolding, and re-creating.
Come join us anytime but until Covid-19 has been managed so that we can re-open our building for face-to-face contact, we will work with email and zoom to remain in conversation. If you have any questions, email Loraine Tuenge at ltuenge44@gmail.com.
We are of people with different backgrounds and interests who are seeking to study Celtic and other forms of Spirituality and spiritual practice; looking for ways to remain creative, or embrace more creative forms of expression; who wish to continue learning through study, and discussion.
We gather in the Library, drink a ‘cuppa’ and just talk, laugh and cry a little sometimes:
Winter Women who meet the second Thursday of each month discuss, discern and concern ourselves with issues of sisterhood and are brought together through the study of Celtic Spirituality. This group is open to all ‘mature’ women and ones who recognize the potential of the wisdom-bringers among us.
The Creative Age-ers, open to all genders, strive to understand aging in a world which does not wish to acknowledge it or embrace it. We meet on the fourth Thursday to contemplate what we must learn, offer, and embrace.
The other Thursdays are open to all persons for various activities such as ‘bookless book’ studies, and spirited movies, and one Thursday a month we have gentle conversation while working in our Library.
What we do:
We have discussion times for Bible study, Celtic study, Spirituality study, Book study. We have meditation time for Advent, for Lent and ‘Just Because’. We host women’s retreats seasonally, including Women’s Christmas in January. We go on pilgrimage: Iona, Ghost Ranch, New York City are a few. We seek ways to be creative and to live in creative ways. Stir the Soul Café is a concept that is evolving, unfolding, and re-creating.
Come join us anytime but until Covid-19 has been managed so that we can re-open our building for face-to-face contact, we will work with email and zoom to remain in conversation. If you have any questions, email Loraine Tuenge at ltuenge44@gmail.com.
Our motto for this year for Stir the Soul Café Ministries:
“In times of bleakness, darkness, fear, hopelessness,
there is God, present in blessed acts of Incarnational Work.”
“In times of bleakness, darkness, fear, hopelessness,
there is God, present in blessed acts of Incarnational Work.”
July 16, 2021
Dear Friends,
It seems that the sand in the hour glass is flowing faster and faster. Here it is - mid-July - and I have not yet accomplished half the stuff I wanted to do before summer's end. I would like to have just one full 24-hour day to get caught up. Or perhaps I could better manage my time...not allow interruptions, diversions, or siren calls to draw me away from the path. Yet all that is part of living. Or maybe it is the whole point of living - to be distracted and pulled away from 'me-ness' and to settle on 'us-ness' instead. Who cares if the time passes quickly if we are involved with we are journeying with others.
So having said that, Stir the Soul will not be attempting to meet before September. Creative Age-ers and Wise Women will again engage in study and prayer, the Bookless Book Club and Spirited movies will reconvene - on variousThursdays, 1:30 in the Library. Watch for expanded programming including monthly Celtic Worship.
In August and early September, I will vacationing in Michigan and Maine, to spend time with family and friends who I have not had a chance to see for over two years. So nothing will happening even informally on Thursday for those three weeks. HOWEVER, July 22, 29, and Aug. 5 and 12 you are invited to join us as a group of us will continue working on the CE Room: getting it ready for Fall classes, and picking up the Library which is going to put on its best face to welcome everyone as more and more us are returning to the building. Stir the Soul Cafe is calling...come play with us.
Stirring Amongst the Stacks: I have a new Facebook group for you to explore: Godspace Light Community. Following is a poem written on July 14 by Mary Elizabeth Todd:
'I wrote this poem just a few moments ago,' she says:
Storms, not a reason to exit…
My life has been a series of storms of late.
It is like the end of the major storm
That hit me a year ago…
It has worn me down.
It is chaos,
And I prefer cosmos
To chaos.
I took a short ride
In yesterday’s sun
To clear my head of the storms
That were shaking my life
Like a series of tornados.
As I was driving home…
I stopped on my driveway…
Where the giant trees
Were battered
By the blows of a tornado
A quarter century ago.
I remember that night,
And the destruction
I saw the next morning…
For I was sure my forest
Would die.
I was wrong.
I stepped into the sunlight,
And felt it dapple my skin.
I looked at the tall giants,
Damaged by that storm,
But still standing.
Strong, tall,
Reaching for the light.
It was peaceful…
They were peaceful…
Scars were there,
For life often scars us.
There was also life…
Seeking out
The good in the air,
And the sunlight on their leaves
Looking as a cathedral
In an ancient gothic church.
It is a holy place,
My forest,
For God walks
In the gardens of His creation.
There is cosmos
In the gardens, and
I found it as I stood there.
Earlier
I had wanted to give up
And stop fighting,
But looking at these tall giants…
In the heart of my forest,
I knew, storms are
No reason to exit,
Or to give up,
But only give us strength
To continue to reach for the light.
I took a few photos,
But knew they would never expose
The cosmos of that moment
As I stood with God
In His cathedral
Created by His love.
Dear Friends,
It seems that the sand in the hour glass is flowing faster and faster. Here it is - mid-July - and I have not yet accomplished half the stuff I wanted to do before summer's end. I would like to have just one full 24-hour day to get caught up. Or perhaps I could better manage my time...not allow interruptions, diversions, or siren calls to draw me away from the path. Yet all that is part of living. Or maybe it is the whole point of living - to be distracted and pulled away from 'me-ness' and to settle on 'us-ness' instead. Who cares if the time passes quickly if we are involved with we are journeying with others.
So having said that, Stir the Soul will not be attempting to meet before September. Creative Age-ers and Wise Women will again engage in study and prayer, the Bookless Book Club and Spirited movies will reconvene - on variousThursdays, 1:30 in the Library. Watch for expanded programming including monthly Celtic Worship.
In August and early September, I will vacationing in Michigan and Maine, to spend time with family and friends who I have not had a chance to see for over two years. So nothing will happening even informally on Thursday for those three weeks. HOWEVER, July 22, 29, and Aug. 5 and 12 you are invited to join us as a group of us will continue working on the CE Room: getting it ready for Fall classes, and picking up the Library which is going to put on its best face to welcome everyone as more and more us are returning to the building. Stir the Soul Cafe is calling...come play with us.
Stirring Amongst the Stacks: I have a new Facebook group for you to explore: Godspace Light Community. Following is a poem written on July 14 by Mary Elizabeth Todd:
'I wrote this poem just a few moments ago,' she says:
Storms, not a reason to exit…
My life has been a series of storms of late.
It is like the end of the major storm
That hit me a year ago…
It has worn me down.
It is chaos,
And I prefer cosmos
To chaos.
I took a short ride
In yesterday’s sun
To clear my head of the storms
That were shaking my life
Like a series of tornados.
As I was driving home…
I stopped on my driveway…
Where the giant trees
Were battered
By the blows of a tornado
A quarter century ago.
I remember that night,
And the destruction
I saw the next morning…
For I was sure my forest
Would die.
I was wrong.
I stepped into the sunlight,
And felt it dapple my skin.
I looked at the tall giants,
Damaged by that storm,
But still standing.
Strong, tall,
Reaching for the light.
It was peaceful…
They were peaceful…
Scars were there,
For life often scars us.
There was also life…
Seeking out
The good in the air,
And the sunlight on their leaves
Looking as a cathedral
In an ancient gothic church.
It is a holy place,
My forest,
For God walks
In the gardens of His creation.
There is cosmos
In the gardens, and
I found it as I stood there.
Earlier
I had wanted to give up
And stop fighting,
But looking at these tall giants…
In the heart of my forest,
I knew, storms are
No reason to exit,
Or to give up,
But only give us strength
To continue to reach for the light.
I took a few photos,
But knew they would never expose
The cosmos of that moment
As I stood with God
In His cathedral
Created by His love.