On The Table

Hey church,

As we slog toward the solstice, hope your Advent is bright! We have three items on the table for this week:

First, our new-ish Mid-Week Gathering is getting together tonight (Thursday) evening at about 7pm, and we're going Christmas caroling! We might also do some personal storytelling. And there will certainly be cocoa. And prayer! If you'd like to join us tonight, or you want to find out more about these gatherings, give us a shout - we don't always mention them here due to timing and changing plans, but we can get you in the loop.

Second, on Saturday we will NOT have our annual CT Christmas Party! (The winter storm has stopped us.) :-(

Third, we will NOT gather for worship at 10am on Sunday at Jammin' Java. If we had, here's what Amy Moffitt had to say about the service:

We're wrapping up our 3 part Advent series on waiting through Mary's eyes by pulling our focus in even further to the Magnificat itself as the battle cry of the revolutionary, a picture of God's coming Kingdom on earth... the powerful overthrown, the poor made rich. And we'll consider what it means to view Mary--and what God was doing through Mary-- through that lens, as a political rebel, and overthrower of the status quo.

Labels: Advent, Christmas, party

Hey church,

As we slog toward the solstice, hope your Advent is bright! We have three items on the table for this week:

First, our new-ish Mid-Week Gathering is getting together tonight (Thursday) evening at about 7pm, and we're going Christmas caroling! We might also do some personal storytelling. And there will certainly be cocoa. And prayer! If you'd like to join us tonight, or you want to find out more about these gatherings, give us a shout - we don't always mention them here due to timing and changing plans, but we can get you in the loop.

Second, on Saturday we NOT will have our annual CT Christmas Party! (The winter storm has stopped us.) :-(

Third, we'll (hopefully) gather for worship at 10am on Sunday at Jammin' Java. Here's Amy Moffitt:

We're wrapping up our 3 part Advent series on waiting through Mary's eyes by pulling our focus in even further to the Magnificat itself as the battle cry of the revolutionary, a picture of God's coming Kingdom on earth... the powerful overthrown, the poor made rich. And we'll consider what it means to view Mary--and what God was doing through Mary-- through that lens, as a political rebel, and overthrower of the status quo.

And fourth, well, if we don't see you before then, have a very merry and joyful Christmas! And stay tuned for deets on the great Common Table New Year's Party. It will be brought to you by the number 10 and the letter X. Get your Bert and Ernie groove ready.

Peace,
Mike Croghan

Labels: Advent, Christmas, party

Hey church,

As we slog toward the solstice, hope your Advent is bright! We have three items on the table for this week:

First, our new-ish Mid-Week Gathering is getting together tonight (Thursday) evening at about 7pm, and we're going Christmas caroling! We might also do some personal storytelling. And there will certainly be cocoa. And prayer! If you'd like to join us tonight, or you want to find out more about these gatherings, give us a shout - we don't always mention them here due to timing and changing plans, but we can get you in the loop.

Second, on Saturday we will have our annual CT Christmas Party! (And no winter storm will stop us!!) Deets:

Where: Fairfax Station Railroad Museum
11200 Fairfax Station Road, Fairfax Station, VA 22039-1011

When: 4pm - 8pm, including chili contest, gingerbread house contest, food, drink, and fellowship!

Third, we'll gather for worship at 10am on Sunday at Jammin' Java. Here's Amy Moffitt:

We're wrapping up our 3 part Advent series on waiting through Mary's eyes by pulling our focus in even further to the Magnificat itself as the battle cry of the revolutionary, a picture of God's coming Kingdom on earth... the powerful overthrown, the poor made rich. And we'll consider what it means to view Mary--and what God was doing through Mary-- through that lens, as a political rebel, and overthrower of the status quo.

And fourth, well, if we don't see you before then, have a very merry and joyful Christmas! And stay tuned for deets on the great Common Table New Year's Party. It will be brought to you by the number 10 and the letter X. Get your Bert and Ernie groove ready.

Peace,
Mike Croghan

Labels: Advent, Christmas, party

This week (Sunday at 10am at Jammin' Java) we continue with our Advent contemplation of Mary's experiences of waiting by stepping back from the mundane to the miraculous, contemplating what it was like to wait for the birth of the Messiah. We'll start by pulling Mary's very human experience closer to us by hearing from some of the Moms in our congregation about their experiences of waiting for childbirth, with all that entails: change, joy, pain, sadness, boredom, sickness and joyful anticipation... lives disrupted, shattered, turned upside down, and yes, made whole again... the eucatastrophe of conceiving and bringing another soul into our beautiful, broken world.

If you haven't had kids or can't have kids, please come out and join us anyway. You were a kid, remember? You're part of this, too.

And we'll see where that takes us.

And then we'll eat burritos.

- Amy Moffitt

Labels: Advent

Hey! It's December, and you know what that means, right? Chri--- whoa, hold yer horses, there, pardner! not so fast...

At least in our pseudo-liturgical kinda-tradition, the days leading up to December 25 are about waiting. Or, in other words, Advent. That time of year when we restrain all of our rushing toward Christmas, and encapsulate some of the unfulfilled hopes we have as we slow down and focus on the waiting that all of creation is doing for the fulfillment of God's purposes. We wait for the Christ child, and we wait for the completion of all of his hopes and dreams for the world.

So we hope you can come out and wait with us this Sunday at 10am at Jammin' Java. We'll be sharpening our sense of expectancy and sharing our hopes with one another. And, we may even let out a groan or two. It'll be fun and poignant, restrained and effusive. And we'll eat burritos afterward.

Hope to see you there,
Mike Stavlund

Labels: Advent

Hi church,

Sorry for the late post, and happy Thanksgiving weekend!!!

I don't believe we have anything in particular planned, except for time spent with loved ones, in gratitude for God's many gifts.

But here's a biggie we can add to our prayers of thanks: God's coming to us as a human being. This Sunday, the 29th, is actually the first Sunday of Advent, the season in which we prepare our hearts for the coming of God incarnate. If you feel called to do so, spend part of Sunday in worship, beginning this preparation, this waiting, this anticipation. If you want, invite us along, or tell us afterward what you heard from the Spirit and from God's people.

Almighty and gracious Father, we give you thanks for the fruits of the earth in their season and for the labors of those who harvest them. Make us, we pray, faithful stewards of your great bounty, for the provision of our necessities and the relief of all who are in need, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

In gratitude,
Mike Croghan

Labels: Advent, Thanksgiving

Hi church!

We're in full-swing anticipation mode - Advent is over half done, and we just can't resist a little premature celebration! So we have two opportunities for that this week:

On Saturday the 21st, we'll gather at the Fairfax Station Railroad Museum, 11200 Fairfax Station Rd, Fairfax Station, VA 22039 (5 - 8pm) for our annual Common Table Christmas Party! Chili cookoff, gingerbread house construction contest, fun, fellowship, and celebration! This is traditionally a time when some of CT's "extended family" join us for some Christmas cheer, so if you're reading this, you're most definitely invited! Please join us as we celebrate hope, love, and community together!

Then, Sunday morning, 10am at Jammin' Java, we'll come together for our final Advent service for this year, brought to us by our unbelievably gifted Musical Worship design team. I had the incredible blessing to sit in on their rehearsal session last night and...dudes. Dudettes. It's gonna be one gorgeous time of worship. If you'll be in town, don't miss it.

And that's it, until our Saviour gets born! Merry Christmas, everybody!

Peace,
Mike Croghan

Labels: Advent, Christmas, music

Hi church,

I'm getting this out to you as I'm still coming down from the high of the Great Emergence conference in Memphis last week. It was all kinds of awesome. Please grab Amy, Mojo, Mike, or me and we'll be glad to regale you with our tales of superlative people, ideas, and dry-rub ribs.

This week, we've got a couple things going on. First, we don't often mention them here, but some of us have been regular or occasional participants in our local Emergent Village cohorts. (These are just a place for local church practitioners to get together and chat over coffee or beer.) Both of them are meeting this week: Northern Virginia Cohort on Monday evening, and DC Cohort on Tuesday evening. Click through to their blogs for deets - if it works for you, it'd be cool to have more Commoners join the conversation.

Next, the musical service team will be meeting on Friday at 7pm at Pete and Jackie's place (12644 Stoa Court, Herndon, VA) for a jam session intended to produce music for our next Musical Worship Service on 12/21. If you have musical gifts, please join the jam! And if you have other gifts (poetry, dance, etc.) or if you just want to hang out and soak up the vibes, you're welcome too! Just be aware (as Pete said) that anything inspired you come up with might become a part of the service.

Finally, next Sunday, we'll gather at Jammin' Java at 10am for our Simple Advent service. It will be a variation on a traditional service of Advent Lessons and Carols - we'll use the traditional nine Scriptural lessons, but follow each one with a musical track chosen by one of us, and then a meditation, poem, piece of art, or other gift from that same Commoner. It should be a great time of sharing our Advent dreams with one another - hope you can join us!

And that, as far as I know, is it. May you be blessed in this season of Advent - Come, Lord Jesus!

Peace,
Mike Croghan

Labels: Advent, cohort, music, simple

Give thanks to God!

Almighty and gracious Father, we give you thanks for the
fruits of the earth in their season and for the labors of those
who harvest them. Make us, we pray, faithful stewards of
your great bounty, for the provision of our necessities and
the relief of all who are in need, to the glory of your Name;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with
you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
(from the collect for Thanksgiving Day,
Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church)

Nothing going on this weekend except time with family and time to be thankful for our many blessings! Since family most definitely includes our church family, please let us know if you're planning any opportunities for fellowship.

In particular, we will not be gathering at Jammin' Java this Sunday. Our monthly service-worship this month was combined with our All-Ages service, which centered on blessing others as we've been blessed. (And it sounds like our friend-families were as happy to receive their Thanksgiving baskets as we - Commoners of all ages - were to assemble them!)

This Sunday, however, does officially begin the Church season of Advent, in which we await the second coming of our Lord as we remember, with anticipation, his first incarnation at Christmas. In December, we'll be entering into this expectant season with a trio of different worship services, a chance to serve beyond our community, and, of course, the annual CT Christmas party! Stay tuned for deets!

Peace,
Mike Croghan

Labels: Advent, Thanksgiving

Hi church,

Well, we've come to the fourth week of Advent; this season of hopeful anticipation is about to come to fruition. Next week, we celebrate the two-thousand-somethingth anniversary of the coming of God into our world in a way that's wholly new.

Traditionally, the fourth Sunday of Advent is a time to turn our hope and expection toward the love of God, demonstrated so fully in Jesus' incarnation and life with us. On Sunday, and on Christmas Day, we'll celebrate the love that God has shown us; the love that we have for each other; and the unimaginable, not-yet-complete love that God has in mind for this world.

So it's fitting that we'll begin the weekend with a second Common Table Christmas party, celebrating the presence of our beloved friends Maggie, Schuyler, and Levi, back to visit us from the frozen suburban wastelands near Detroit. ;-) We'll gather on Saturday evening at stately Tennyson Manor (aka Maranda, Ken, and Kieran's place: 4415 Shari Ct., Catharpin, VA 20143) in the evening. Bring something yummy to eat or drink, and be ready for a low-key evening of enjoying the company of dear friends.

Then, on Sunday, we won't worshiping in the morning at Jammin' Java, but we will be gathering at 6pm in the basement of Fairlington Presbyterian Church for a joint Advent 4 / Christmas celebration with folks from some other unconventional Christian communities in the area which (like us) tend to find their congregations depleted around Christmas, as folks travel to visit far-away family and friends. Please join us!

That's it for this week, and possibly for this year - but watch this space next week for news about any opportunities to ring in the New Year together 'round the Table.

May the remainder of your Advent season be blessed, and have a very merry Christmas!

God's peace and love,
Mike Croghan


P.S., You may have seen us in a very nice cover story in this week's issue of U.S.News and World Report, on "A Return to Tradition". The article examines several Catholic, Jewish, and Protestant faith groups that are re-embracing ancient ritual and practice in innovative ways. The reporter, Jay Tolson, and the photographer, Jim Lo Scalzo, visited us on a recent Sunday morning, and Jay took the time to talk with several of us and to get to know us a little bit. There's also a sidebar article about our community in particular, called "Mixing Jesus With Java: The Appeal of New Religious Communities". If you're visiting us for the first time because you saw the articles, welcome! Feel free to take a little time to explore the web site, and we'd love to have you join us any time we gather, whether it's for service, for worship, or just for fun.

Labels: Advent, Christmas, USNWR

...okay, maybe I'm being converted towards this whole liturgical dealio...

As we journey through this season of Advent, I'm grateful for the juxtaposition of some ideas that can seem at odds: The hopes that Jesus fulfilled, and the places he disappoints. The peace he brought, and the conflict. The joy he brings, and the heartbreak he could prevent, but doesn't.

In this season of restraint and waiting, I'm glad for the chance to embrace the 'already' of Jesus' Kingdom, even as we honestly recognize the many examples of 'not yet'. This week, some of us will gather at our collaborative Advent wreath to light a candle of celebration, and others will light a candle of mourning. And what I love about this church is that those who have much to celebrate are just as likely to mourn for someone else, and vice-versa. Thanks be to God.

--------------------------------

Labels: Advent, Christmas

Labels: Advent, Christmas

I'm not liturgically reared or inclined, so the Christmas season-- er, I mean Advent-- still seems a little strange to me. I'm told that Advent is a penitential season, and so it's considered inappropriate to begin the celebration of Jesus' birth until the actual holiday is upon us. Until then, it's to be a time of waiting for Jesus, and all that he brought, and all that we're still waiting for him to bring.

Which is a pretty nice way to do Chris... --Advent, I must say. I cheat a little, to be honest (it was fun to listen to some Christmas songs at the Peruvian Chicken spot where my daughter and I had lunch yesterday, for example). But focusing on Jesus, and remembering the generations of longing that preceded his arrival is a very good practice.

At Common Table, we'll be doing our best to help in this regard. We'll have some daily meditations going out on our Core List (contact the iTeam if you'd like to be added to that busy email list). They're wordless cartoons to spur thought and to perhaps provide a way to talk to your kids about the holiday (we've got some nice tie-ins to use with the kids on Sundays, too).

On Sunday mornings, our friend Ryan P. will be leading us through a fascinating comparison of the legendary birth narratives of Caesar Augustus, and the parallels we find there to the Biblical account of Jesus' birth. It promises to be a great lens through which we can see how our own waiting for the traditional Advent themes of Hope, Peace, and Joy is both fulfilled and piqued by Jesus. Join us if you can for the next three weeks at Jammin' Java.

Please mark your calendars for the annual Christmas Party and its attendant non-competitive competitions related to chili, gingerbread, and whatever else we can throw on the fire. This is a great time to hang out, to catch up, and to see the old friends who always seem to drop by. We'll be holding it again at the Fairfax Railroad Museum on the evening of Sunday, December 16.

We're also excited to be joining forces with our friends at Fairlington Presbyterian Church and some other kindred congregations on December 23 for a Christmas Service. We'll have more details as the planning for the service develops, but if you'll be in the area for the holiday, plan to turn out for this great partnership with our friends Matt and Jan.

Wishing you fruitful waiting and fulfillment this Advent,
Mike Stavlund

P.S. from the other Mike - the one who is liturgically reared and inclined - there is a Christmas season too; it starts on 25 December and lasts for 12 days (hence the song about lords-a-leaping and French hens and whatnot). But I also cheat during Advent, and will be busting out the Christmas tunes to decorate the tree this weekend. :-)

And after that there's a season called Epiphany, but that's another story....

Labels: Advent, Christmas