the virtual sol cafe

Sunday, August 24th

2008-08-21T08:35:00.005-06:00

This Sunday, since Cafe Dabar will be closed, we will be meeting at 5pm at Jacquie and Winston's house. If you need the address (if you are not on the regular mailout) please e-mail us at info@thesolcafe.com and we will e-mail you out directions!

We will be having an end of summer BBQ, communion, and talking a bit about our Christian heritage, looking mostly at the lives of two brothers - John and Charles Wesley. Also, we will be having a bit of a Sol celebration for two of our regulars who just got hitched! Congratulations Kevin and Sherry!

Hope to see you there!

Sunday, August 17th

2008-08-14T00:09:00.002-06:00

This Sunday, Sol Cafe will be meeting at Cafe Dabar (10816 Whyte Ave) around 4ish to listen and interact with Dr. Denis Lamoureux. Denis is an expert in the fields of biblical studies and evolutionary science, and his new book Evolutionary Creation details how he came to peace with the two sides of the science/religion debate. Denis has a Ph.D. in theology, a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology, and is a dentist to boot! He is also the associate professor of science and religion at St. Joseph's College at the U of A.

Hope to see you there!

Sunday, August 10th

2008-08-05T08:03:00.002-06:00

This week, due to one of our regulars getting married in Saskatchewan and most of the church going to attend, our meeting will be more informal than it has been of late. We will meet at Cafe Dabar (10816 Whyte Ave) at around 4:00ish.
We will spend some time in prayer, and some time in the Revised Common Lectionary readings for the week. Apart from that, it will simply be time spent drinking coffee and talking to one another.

The RCL readings for this week are:
Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28, Psalm 105:1-6, 16-22, 45b, Romans 10:5-15, Matthew 14:22-33

Hope to see you there!

Sunday, August 3rd

2008-07-30T12:41:00.002-06:00

This Sunday, Sol Cafe will be meeting at Cafe Dabar (10816 Whyte Ave) at around 4:00ish to speak look at a subject that is going to continue for at least two weeks. In preparation for Denis Lamoureux's visit on the 17th looking at creation and evolution, we will take a look at the early chapters of Genesis and ask questions like "Who cares?" and "How is the Bible true?". Come out for what will surely be an interesting discussion in an atmosphere that does not like polarizations, dichotomies, or stereotypes.

Hope to see you there!

Sunday, July 27

2008-07-27T16:00:00.001-06:00

This Sunday, the sol cafe will be gathering at Cafe Dabar (10816 Whyte Ave) at 4:00ish to hear from a special guest speaker John Pattison. He's coming to speak about his overseas work, and to share generally on a Christian's response to helping the poor in developing countries, linking the human element (Christ's call to love and help the poor) with the environmental element (stewardship issues). It's also called "peoplekeeping" and "earthkeeping", which John has been doing in Uganda.

The RCL readings for this week are:

Genesis 29:15-28
or
I Kings 3:5-12

Psalm 105:1-11, 45b
or
Psalm 128
or
Psalm 119:129-136

Romans 8:26-39

Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

Hope to see you there!

Service Sunday :: July 20

2008-07-20T16:00:00.000-06:00

This Sunday the sol cafe will be gathering at the Stollery Children's Hospital (8440 - 112 Street) to do cleaning, and other miscellaneous tasks. We will be meeting on the 4th floor on the pedway with the airplanes and planets at 4:00 pm. If you cannot find us or you're late please page Shirley. Service is an integral part of what we do at sol cafe. It is a way for us to look beyond ourselves, and bring tangible help to those who surround us.

We hope to see you at 4:00 at the Stollery!

Sunday, July 13th

2008-07-09T12:44:00.002-06:00

This week, Sol Cafe will be meeting in Cafe Dabar (10816 Whyte Ave) to continue our discussion of Romans. Last week, we did an introduction to the major themes in Romans: covenantal faithfulness, people of God, and the theme of resurrection or return from exile.

This week, we will be looking specifically at Romans 4 as a type for the whole letter.

Hope to see you there!

Sunday, July 6th

2008-07-02T15:00:00.002-06:00

This Sunday, Sol Cafe will be gathering at Cafe Dabar (10816 Whyte Ave) at 4:00pm (remember the time change!) to discuss the book of Romans. Since the Revised Common Lectionary which we follow has been working through this book, we will be discussing the implications of ideas like covenant, resurrection, faith, calling, and law, which work their way through the book as a whole.

The Revised Common Lectionary readings for this week are:

Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67

Psalm 45:10-17

Romans 7:15-25a

Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

Hope to see you there!

June 29th - Replay

2008-06-30T08:29:00.002-06:00

Due to car problems, our guest speaker John was not able to come and had to reschedule. So instead, we sat down with some coffee and spoke about how we understand God to be at work in the world, and evaluated the value of words like "intervention", "interaction", and "process". The idea that if God was indisputably evident, it would sabotage the work of faith, also came up. We then evaluated Charles Williams' phrases of co-inherence: that in all things "This also is Thou" and "Neither is this Thou".
Finally, we had another guest drop in named Christina Chaput. She is a PAOC missionary to the Slovak town of Nitra, and was only in Edmonton for one day but dropped in to visit Sol, and ended up sharing about a project that she is working on: A coffee shop in Nitra where people can come and find out about Jesus. You can find more out about Christina here.

Sunday, June 29

2008-06-25T15:45:00.003-06:00

This Sunday, Sol Cafe will be gathering at Cafe Dabar (10816 Whyte Ave) at 4:00ish to hear from a special guest speaker John Pattison. He's coming to speak about his overseas work, and to share generally on a Christian's response to helping the poor in developing countries, linking the human element (Christ's call to love and help the poor) with the environmental element (stewardship issues). It's also called "peoplekeeping" and "earthkeeping", which John has been doing in Uganda.

Please keep in mind that we have changed our regular meeting time from 5:00pm to 4:00pm in order to better accomodate for families.

Hope to see you there!

Play by play: June 22nd

2008-06-22T22:51:00.002-06:00

We met together around 5ish at Sol Cafe to discuss, pray, reflect, and learn.

In the first round, there was a recap on our family meeting two weeks ago. It was brought up that maybe we could open ourselves up to teaching/preaching during the year by advertising with seminaries and colleges around the city. We also spoke about our visibility within the Edmonton community, and discussed different ways to let people know we exist.

During the second round of the bout, Sol decided that due to the summer solstice passing, we have to readjust our church clock and start meeting an hour earlier at 4 o'clock. If this logic makes no sense to you, you should come and find out who we are, and it suddenly will all come together.

In the third round, Shirley shared about her journey this past week, and spoke movingly about the need for vulnerability and honesty within community. Communion was then shared, after reading the classic passage from 1 Corinthians 11.

In the fourth round, Bethany took us back in time to the Council of Nicea and the great theologian Athanasius. We found out about the huge implications one letter can have if the words you are looking at are "homoousia" and "homoiousia", and saw how one man's faith and perseverance have shaped the Christian faith forever.

In the fifth and final round, Shirley pulled out her guitar and played for us, while we discovered that one of our regulars won't be around for the rest of the summer. We'll miss you Ravenne!

Sunday, June 22

2008-06-18T11:34:00.003-06:00

This week, Sol Cafe will be meeting around 5ish at Cafe Dabar (10816 Whyte Ave). We will be celebrating communion, doing a re-cap on our family meeting, hearing from Shirley, and learning a little about one of our predecessors in the faith, Athanasius.

We will also discuss if we should move our meeting time to earlier in the day, as was brought up at our family meeting.

The RCL readings for this week are:

Genesis 21:8-21
Psalm 86:1-10
Romans 6:1b-11
Matthew 10:24-39

Hope to see you there!

Service Sunday - June 15th

2008-06-11T15:36:00.002-06:00

This Sunday the Sol Cafe will be gathering at the Ronald McDonald (7726-107 Street) house to do some cooking, cleaning, and baking. The home houses families with sick children, so that they can stay in the city at minimal cost while their children receive medical treatment. We will be changing from our normal meeting time to 4:30 for this week, so that we can get supper on the table by the house's normal dinner time.

The plan is to cook supper for all the families that are staying there, and bake some treats to leave behind. Also, we'll help out with any cleaning or other routine duties that the staff need help with.

Service is an integral part of what we do at Sol Cafe. It is a way for us to look beyond ourselves, and bring tangible help to those who surround us.

We hope to see you at 4:30 at the Ronald McDonald house!

Family Meeting

2008-06-04T16:24:00.002-06:00

This week, the Sol Cafe will be getting together around 5ish at Cafe Dabar (10816 Whyte Ave) to have a family meeting, led by Winston, one of our regulars. We will be discussing ideas for the future and addressing some of the changes that are in the air.

The verses for this week from the Revised Common Lectionary are:

Genesis 12:1-9
Psalm 33:1-12
Romans 4:13-25
Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26

These may or may not be included in the discussion, but do take a look at them before you come!

We hope to see you there!

A Genesis discussion

2008-05-28T12:55:00.003-06:00

On Sunday, June 1, the sol cafe will be gathering around 5ish at Cafe Dabar (10816 Whyte Ave) to have a thoughtful discussion on this week's selection from the Revised Common Lectionary.
The texts are:

Genesis 6:9-22; 7:24; 8:14-19
Psalm 46
Romans 1:16-17; 3:22b-28, (29-31)
Matthew 7:21-29

Discussion will centre on the Genesis passage, as we continue our talk about biblical interpretation, and the culture and worldview of biblical authors.

Hope to see you there!

sol cafe thought for food

2008-05-17T20:10:00.002-06:00

On Sunday, May 18, the sol cafe will be gathering around 5ish at Cafe Dabar (10816 Whyte Ave) to gather together for a little thought on food. We will spend a little time talking about where food comes from, consumption habits in Edmonton, and how the Bible can interact with what we think about food. And it will, of course, involve some eating!

It doesn't seem to relate directly to this week's readings from the Revised Common Lectionary, but here they are for your self-directed study:

Trinity Sunday
May 18, 2008

Genesis 1:1-2:4a

Psalm 8

II Corinthians 13:11-13

Matthew 28:16-20

Hope to see you there!

a sol cafe Sunday

2008-05-07T10:06:00.003-06:00

On Sunday, May 11, the sol cafe will be gathering around 5ish at Cafe Dabar (10816 Whyte Ave) to hear from one of our "roaming regulars", our good friend Ryan. One of the original sol cafe patrons, Ryan went on to do several years of work overseas and more recently has taken on Youth Pastor duties at another local church. But like other sol cafe regulars who now roam the world, you can take the person out of the cafe but you can never quite get the cafe out of the person. We're not sure yet what Ryan will be presenting, but we'll post details as soon as we get them.

It may or may not relate directly to this week's readings from the Revised Common Lectionary, but here they are for your self-directed study:

Day of Pentecost
May 11, 2008

*Acts 2:1-21
or
Numbers 11:24-30

Psalm 104:24-34, 35b

I Corinthians 12:3b-13
or
Acts 2:1-21

John 20:19-23
or
John 7:37-39

Hope to see you there!

Voices for Habitat

2008-05-01T17:00:00.000-06:00

On Sunday, May 4, the sol cafe will be doing a change-up on its "usual" (if such a thing exists) Sunday evening gathering. Instead, the sol cafe will be joining in supporting the "Voices for Habitat" fundraising concert being held starting 7 pm at St. Timothy’s Anglican Church, 8420-145 Street, (which also happens to be home to sol cafe irregular Joe Walker). Full details on the event can be found by clicking here.

Come for the concert, or contact us if you're interested in volunteering and we'll get you in touch with the concert's volunteer coordinator. We can also help pick up tickets if you let us know that you plan on coming.

It has all the makings of a great evening of music and fellowship, in support of a great cause. Hope to see you there!

God's little bricks

2008-04-20T17:00:00.005-06:00

On Sunday, April 20, 2008, the sol cafe will be doing something a little different... a bit of volunteer work perhaps atypical of a church, but a service to our community nonetheless.

Instead of being in our usual coffee shop location, we'll be meeting at 5 pm in the main lobby of the Telus World of Science Edmonton, 11211 142 Street. They need some help taking apart a Lego® sculpture that was made over the summer and sorting the bricks into colours.

Our church's connection is that one of our regulars works at the Telus World of Science, saw a need and made the connection. She has a cousin who said he would come if she could convince him how Lego® is connected to Church. She told him that we are each God's little bricks and by connecting us together He creates incredible things.

Perhaps more profoundly, this is, for her, a public declaration of her faith, in her workplace no less, and a place where faith is not often the first thing on the agenda. Perhaps the question should not be about how Lego® is connected to Church, but how she is.

Hope you can join us and be a part of building some connections with our community, building memories with one another, and building God's church. If you are a bit late, just tell the Box Office you're there for the sol cafe. They'll know where we are. We will read scripture and pray together and dwell among the brick.

The verses for this week from the Revised Common Lectionary are:

Fifth Sunday of Easter
April 20, 2008

*Acts 7:55-60

Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16

I Peter 2:2-10

John 14:1-14

Reflections from Japan

2008-04-13T17:00:00.001-06:00

On Sunday April 13, the sol cafe will be gathering around 5 pm at Cafe Dabar (10816 Whyte Ave) for an evening of reflections and inspirations from sol cafe regular Gou from his recent trip to Japan. The evening will also include the sharing of communion. Hope you can join us!

The readings from the Revised Common Lectionary for this week are:

Fourth Sunday of Easter
April 13, 2008

*Acts 2:42-47

Psalm 23

I Peter 2:19-25

John 10:1-10

Casual Sunday

2008-03-30T17:00:00.000-06:00

On Sunday, March 30, at around 5 pm, the sol cafe will be gathering at Cafe Dabar (10816 Whyte Ave) for an evening moved by the Spirit. We will start it off by reading our week's verses from the Revised Common Lectionary, a shared calendar of Bible readings:

Second Sunday of Easter
March 30, 2008

Acts 2:14a, 22-32

Psalm 16

I Peter 1:3-9

John 20:19-31

Or maybe we will be moved in a different direction altogether. Just come with an open heart and an open mind and a spirit of worship and the evening will most certainly turn out the way it should. Hope to see you there!

Easter Sunday

2008-03-23T17:00:00.000-06:00

The majority of the group is off spending time with family on the Easter Weekend so there will be no official meeting at the Cafe. Have a fabulous weekend and see you the next Sunday.

Kevin's Homework

2008-03-16T17:00:00.001-06:00

Bundle up! This week we're going out into the community around Whyte Avenue to observe and interact with those who call the area home. We will be acting as Kevin's eyes and ears around Whyte as he puts together a report on the role of our church in the community. As we go out, feel free to pray for the people who walk the avenue on a regular basis and ask God what our role can/should be within this neighborhood. We will be meeting at 5ish at Cafe Dabar (10816 Whyte Ave) and then go out from there.

Casual Sunday

2008-03-09T17:00:00.002-06:00

On Sunday, March 9, at around 5 pm, the sol cafe will be gathering at Cafe Dabar (10816 Whyte Ave) for an evening moved by the Spirit. We will start it off by reading our week's verses from the Revised Common Lectionary, a shared calendar of Bible readings:

Fifth Sunday in Lent
March 9, 2008

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Psalm 130

Romans 8:6-11

John 11:1-45

coming soon to the sol cafe

2008-03-09T16:59:00.000-06:00

A lot of what we do at the sol cafe happens on a wing and a prayer. We like to think of it as a practical expression of our belief that God leads this church.

However, in an effort to not be completely chaotic, the sol cafe follows the Revised Common Lectionary, a shared calendar of Bible readings that covers the entire Bible over the course of a three-year cycle. Please feel free to read ahead and come with any thoughts or questions that might result.

We'll post any further details about our activities if and when we get them!

Second Sunday in Lent February 17, 2008	Genesis 12:1-4a	Psalm 121	Romans 4:1-5, 13-17	John 3:1-17 or Matthew 17:1-9

Third Sunday in Lent February 24, 2008	Exodus 17:1-7	Psalm 95	Romans 5:1-11	John 4:5-42

Fourth Sunday in Lent March 2, 2008	1 Samuel 16:1-13	Psalm 23	Ephesians 5:8-14	John 9:1-41

Fifth Sunday in Lent March 9, 2008	Ezekiel 37:1-14	Psalm 130	Romans 8:6-11	John 11:1-45