On The Table

Hi church,

Well, it's a big weekend around the Table, and in wider circles too. Pumpkins and spooks and saints - oy vey!

First of all: This Saturday, we'll meet at Cox Farms at 10:30 a.m. for the anticipated "Pumpkin Chunkin" day and our monthly service-worship. Joining us will be some long time friends, and possibly some other new friends from FACETS. We'll set up a central meeting area/hang out spot at a group of picnic tables (in front of the stage) with some refreshments for our guests. If each of us could bring something to drink and/or a snack to share with everyone, we'll have an additional way to offer hospitality to our guests and make them feel welcome. It should be a fun day of rides, slides, and smashin' pumpkins - see you there!

No sooner will we be done with cider and hayrides than we'll head off to the Tennyson home for a Halloween costume party (costumes are mandatory!) Here are the deets:

5pm-6:30pm Kid oriented party, fun games, music, etc.
6:30pm-7:30pm Halloween potluck
7:30pm-? Adult oriented party

Please bring a dish for the potluck, either a main dish or a side. Optional items are snacks, desert or candy. It'll be a ghoulish good time!

But wait - after all that fun, there's more! The name "Halloween", of course, means "All Hallows' Eve", and November 1st is All Saints' Day. And we'll be celebrating (on All Saints' Sunday, the 2nd) in appropriate fashion with a motley collection of saints from around the DC area.

We will NOT be gathering at our regular venue, Jammin' Java. Instead, we're planning to join up with several local and like-minded Christian communities to celebrate the cloud of witnesses to the humble power of Jesus, of which we're a part. Church in Bethesda has graciously offered to host, so we'll be gathering there at 11am (we're hoping the later start time will allow for both Daylight Savings Time and the short drive to Bethesda). All of us saints will have a chance to share bits of our journey with God, and to catch a glimpse of how those rough and "random" bits form a greater whole in the communions of saints.

And that's it! It'll be a full weekend of celebration, as we thank God for the blessings of friends to share with, to be silly with, and to testify to the power of God in our lives.

Peace,
Mike Croghan

Labels: All Saints, service-worship, Tennysons

Hi church,

Wow - lots to report this week! So I'll try to be brief. (Stop snickering. I am capable of brevity. With God's help.)

First: this Thursday night, we have two (2) awesome options for song and fellowship! First, it's Karaoke night with homeless guests and volunteers of all ages at The Lamb Center (6:30 to 8pm)! Come out for an evening of fun, pizza, mutual blessing, and song.

For song of a more rarefied caliber (but sacrificing the chance to rub elbows with our Lamb Center friends), the other option for Thursday evening is to join the awesome Amy and the singular Cindi for their final scheduled gig performing their own original music at Bangkok Blues in Falls Church. They're on from 7 to 7:30, but we should plan to stay for yummy Thai food and a variety of great acts, all part of the Songwriters' Association of Washington.

Moving on to Friday, we'll be gathering at Tina's and my place (13337 Feldman Place, Herndon, VA) at 7pm for the first of three follow-up meetings to our congregational meeting this past Friday evening. That gathering was vibrant with the conversation of a deckful of engaged and jovial Commoners sharing hearts, minds, and cold beverages - and we identified three major, interconnected areas in the life of our community where we are clearly sensing that some change is necessary:

1) How we integrate our kids into our community,
2) How we approach and accomplish Sunday morning worship, and
3) How we approach our community budget (i.e., giving and spending).

So we agreed to have, at least initially, three follow-up meetings on Friday evenings to continue conversation and discernment on these three topics. This coming Friday (the 18th): Kids. The Friday after that (the 25th): Sunday mornings. The Friday after that (the 1st): Money. If you care about CT and can make it, please join us for any or all of these times of discernment in community. This week's meeting at our place might be held down by the playground - an appropriate location for discernment about (and with) the littlest Commoners.

Then on Saturday, there's a good-looking event on Jubilee Economics coming to the Servant Leadership School of Church of the Saviour. A few CT folks are going, and several of us will be talking about our relational redistribution network (The GNU Team) in the afternoon there. Come on out, if you're interested and available.

Also on Saturday (afternoon/evening), at the Tennysons have invited us over for beer and barbecue! (And also to help move Ken's siblings' stuff from their place into a U-Haul.)

Last, but not least, please join us on Sunday at 10am at Jammin' Java, when we'll be continuing our Summer Psalms series. Our very own ErinPoetChica will lead us as we look at and experience that elusive and evocative form of discourse known as poetry - a form that encompasses every Psalm in the Bible, not to mention the Song of Songs, the works of T.S. Eliot, and those of the Bobs: Dylan and Marley.

And that's it! If you're at a loss for something to do this week, don't blame us. :-)

Peace,
Mike Croghan

P. S. Still rollin', July 31.

Labels: Amy, jubilee, karaoke, lamb center, poetry, Psalms, Tennysons