… pleasant dreams thrall your spirit, like the smoky atmosphere that bathes the landscape of an August day.

                                                                                                                                         Donald G. Mitchell

Do you remember those last couple of weeks in August before school started?  That frenzy of buying school supplies, the ones you needed but also the ones you wanted; trying to enjoy those last few, relaxing, summery things?

It seems we have inadvertently embraced the summer spirit for the next two Sundays at The Gathering Place – a bit more “vacation Bible School” for the young at heart than usual. Both at 10.30 a.m. of course.

Jo’Anna Carter is putting together our Service for August 23rd with special musical guests, The Proverbs, a contemporary southern gospel family group; the current line-up is husband and wife Dave and Kathy Daw along with their youngest daughter Natasha. Singing together since 1967, The Proverbs have been voted “Canada’s Top Mixed Gospel Group” more than a dozen times by the Canadian Gospel Music Association. There’ll be a Special Offering to help cover their expenses from eastern Ontario to lovely Port Colborne. Call Jo’Anna for more info: 905 329 4035.

Did you know that the World Council of Churches has recently added “The Feast of Creation in Christ” to the Common Lectionary?  I know. It doesn’t usually come up over coffee at Timmie’s, but it does mean that Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Orthodox churches all consider September 1st as the beginning of The Season of Creation (to October 4th).  I’m putting together the Service for August 30th. All you need to know is that the theme is Creation and that I was Arts & Crafts Director at Cave Springs Camp one summer.

Don’t forget our plans for a Philosophers’ Café, a series of three evenings at The Gathering Place: August 20th, September 10th, & 24th at 7.00 p.m.  Byung-Chul Han’s book “The Tonality of Thought" is the topic of conversation; you can order it at Piccadilly Book Store on West Street, or elsewhere, but you don’t need to read it to come. The book addresses how we think about others and phenomena. It free, and there’ll be snacks to fuel discussion.

More generally …

Our table at the Farmers’ Market is doing sterling work and set a 2026 record! The Food Bank was happy to receive a total of 799 pounds of fresh produce (including 19 pounds of cucumbers)! Thanks to all – locals and summer visitors!

So enjoy these last August days and join us if you can for creative endeavours and philosophical debate and sharing the summer bounty.

                                                                               We come from the Creator with creativity. I think that each one of us is born with creativity.
                                                                                                                                          Maya Angelou