On The Table

Hi church!

This isn't a "regular" weekend - but there's a lot going on, just the same!

This is the last Sunday of the month, and therefore it's the weekend when we do our monthly service-worship project instead of gathering for a worship service at Jammin' Java. But this weekend, we'll do both, sort of. How can this be? I'll tell you! Our service project this month will be cleaning Jammin' Java (starting at 10am Sunday)! We'll get to give back a bit to our very gracious, long-term hosts - and also feel a little better about our kids crawling around on the floors there. :-) So join us!

And if you're hankering for a worship experience that doesn't involve sucking black stuff out of carpets - have we got a deal for you! Two of them, actually.

At 10:50am on Sunday (yes, same time as the service-worship project), our own Jen Way will be leading worship music with the folks at New Hope Fellowship. This is a wonderful congregation, half of whom are homeless, and we are hoping to find ways to partner with this community during Lent. So feel free to join Jen and our friends at New Hope, especially if you have musical gifts (though you'll be 100% welcomed in any case!).

And then, Sunday afternoon will be your second chance to experience the special journey through music called "Love's Divine".

Drawing from a number of compelling tunes (Sade, Alanis Morissette, Death Cab for Cutie, Seal, Mute Math) which authentically express our longings, satisfaction, comfort, healing, and disappointments with love, we'll interact with the live performance of these songs and try to listen to them through the lens of our individual relationship with God, and God's relationship with us (as best as we can imagine that).

Please join us at The Worship Lab at Convergence at 5pm, Sunday the 22nd.

And that's about it for this week. Next Wednesday is Ash Wednesday and the start of the season of Lent. May we all begin that season open to God and ready to have our hearts turned radically around.

Peace,
Mike Croghan

P.S. I just noticed - this is our 100th "On The Table" since we've been doing it with this current technology. This has been your meaningless milestone advisory for the week. Carry on.

Labels: music, New Hope, service-worship

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

All right, people. Grab your daytimer or GoogleCal or iPhone or smart phone, or boot up the RAM that lives in your head. It's time for another session in the slightly unpredictable world of CT-Calendar.

Next weekend, we'll be shuffling a few events. On Saturday, November 1, we'll be getting together with some families (with whom we've connected at The Lamb Center and/or through our own friendships) at Cox Farms and the inspirational annual celebration of Pumpkin Madness. Come out to catch up and to enjoy the nirvanic pleasure of watching whole pumpkins launched from a trebuchet, and jack-o-lanterns dropped from a crane. We'll share the details when they're available.

Then on Sunday, November 2, we will NOT be at our regular venue. Instead, we're planning to join up with several local and like-minded Christian communities to celebrate All Saints Day. 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).

So what about this weekend? Well, the calendar is empty, actually. Which isn't to say you should sit on your hands (unless you'd like to do just that). It is a weekend intentionally left with some space, and the hope that you (yes, you!) will cook up some excuse to connect with your neighbors or your fellow Common Tablers. So do it!

Embracing Flexibility,
Mike Stavlund

Labels: All Saints, open, service-worship

Hey church,

This weekend is Labor Day weekend, and it's also the last weekend of the month - the weekend that we typically don't gather for a worship service at Jammin' Java, but instead gather to help some friends - we call this "service-worship" or (following the Amish) a "barn raising".

This weekend will be no exception: No gathering at Jammin' Java, but we'll be lending a hand to the mighty mighty Chapmans (Becky, Ryan, Sophie, and Grant) who just bought a house (yeah!) to clean out their old condo (in Centreville) for renting and to move into their new place (in Chantilly)! There will be opportunities to help all (long) weekend long, from moving their stuff, to cleaning out their old place, to cleaning their new place, to taming the jungle in their new back yard. There are dozens of ways to help, so if you'd like to help, please contact us and we'll hook you up.

And that's it for next week, though next week includes a return to Karaoke at the Lamb Center (6:30pm Thursday) and a return to our series of worship services on the Psalms at Jammin' Java (10am Sunday). Please join us for any or all of these gatherings.

May these waning days of summer be warm and blessed!

Peace,
Mike Croghan

Labels: Chapman, service-worship

Last weekend, I managed to indulge in both the camping trip and the pool party. Like a good father, I won't say which one I might have preferred, but I will say something noncommittal about the gorgeous weather in both the city and the country, and how fulfilling it was to just hang out with my CT peeps. If you weren't able to make it out to one or the other, I hope you at least had a nice reminder of the great importance of doing nothing.

This weekend, we're back to doing something:

On Thursday night from 6:30-8pm, we'll be piling into The Lamb Center for pizza, snacks, and Karaoke. Our energetic leader Martha is back from the beach, and says that the folks at TLC have been buzzing all week in anticipation!

This Sunday morning, we'll return to our regularly scheduled Psalm series at 10am at Jammin' Java. Stacy will be taking us on an inspiring journey to the heart of Psalm 66, and engaging us in a discussion around this audacious Psalm.

As the final weekend of the month, next weekend is our regular time to leave the comforts of Java and do a service project. It's also the anniversary of our church, which is a traditional time to eat outdoors and walk a labyrinth. So stay tuned to see if we can squeeze all of that into one (long) weekend, or if we'll need to stretch things out a bit.

Mike Stavlund

Labels: karaoke, labyrinth, lamb center, Psalms, service-worship

This Friday night, we'll be convening our second of three discernment meetings. Last week, we had a great and encouraging conversation about integrating kids into our gatherings. Next Friday, we'll look at our community budget (i.e., giving and spending). And right in between, we'll be talking about how we approach and accomplish our weekly times of worship - this Friday night at 7pm at Martha and Jay's place (at 10780 Crest Street, Fairfax 22030). If you care about CT and can make it, please join us for any or all of these times of discernment in community (or, if you can't make it, please let us know your thoughts on these topics).

On Saturday evening, we'll be getting together for a very relational Service Worship project. At last month's S-W project, we were able to do some freezer cooking for Neishia and her boys (Xander and Nicholas) who lost their husband and dad in May. Our very own Jackie has been talking with Neishia in the last month or so to try to help her make some major decisions about childcare, work, and the possibility of moving to Florida to be nearer to her mother. After meeting with Jackie on Monday, Neishia was able to establish that she'd really like to stay in the area and keep life as consistent for the boys as possible right now. So we'd really love for her to meet all of us and have the opportunity to connect with people in the area, as she does not have other family here and seems to be longing for community.

In order to have some relaxed time with Neishia and her boys, Mike and Tina have kindly offered to host us at their house (13337 Feldman Place, Herndon, VA) where we'll have a good old fashioned summer BBQ and time to get to know Neishia and the boys. The idea is to give Neishia a bit of adult contact and at the same time give the boys a night out. The boys have been asking to go see the movie, Space Chimps, (which is playing at Worldgate Theatre, around the corner from Mike and Tina's house, at 7:10 pm). So we'll gather for dinner at 5:30 and then the boys (ages 6 and 8) and some other brave volunteers will peel off to go to the movie.

Please let Jackie know if you are planning to come so that she will know how much hamburger and hot dogs to get, and please bring a side and/or drink of your choosing with you as well. (If you don't have Jackie's contact info, give us a shout and we'll hook you up.)

Down the Road:
Next Sunday, August 3, Mighty Mike Croghan will be looking at an ancient use of the Psalms in Christian spirituality: The Daily Office, aka the Liturgy of the Hours, is a method of praying with the Psalms that goes back at least to St. Benedict and the beginnings of Christian monasticism.

And after that, on August 10, The Amazin' Amy Moffitt will be putting the Psalms back to music!

Hope to see you this weekend,
Mike Stavlund

P. S. Still rollin', right around the bend: Thursday night!

Labels: congregational meeting, Psalms, service-worship

Our monthly attempt to 1.) mix up our schedules, 2.) get out of our Sunday seats, and 3.) engage with our neighbors, is doubly successful this month. We'll be gathering at the Doans' place in Chantilly to work on two separate projects:

1. As our regular Service-Worship Project, we'll be doing some mass prepping and freezing of some meals for a family with whom we're connected. This family of four recently lost their husband/father to cancer, and will be moving to Florida sometime next month. As that date approaches, we'd like to help them in packing up their apartment and getting ready for their move in other ways. But in the meantime, we thought it'd be nice if we could help them out with some simple and nutritious meals as they try to navigate their new and challenging life together.

2. At the same time, we'll be doing our second installment of our summer experiment in 'Barn Raising'. But since none of us have barns, we're planning to convene some crews to do some labor-intensive projects at our various places of residence. (It's also a thinly veiled effort to hang out with one another ;-) Tomorrow, we'll be replacing the boards on the Doans' deck. Bring appropriate tools if you've got 'em, or just bring yourself and your willingness to work.

If you're a morning person and/or you want to beat some of the heat, we'll be starting demo on the deck at 8:30am, and continuing work most of the day. If you'd like to come later, you'll be more than welcome to do so. And if you'd rather come to cook, the kitchen crew will be convening at 10am.

Hope to see you tomorrow (Saturday the 28th)!
Mike Stavlund

PS. It's not to late to vote: JfP!

Labels: barn-raising, Doan, Jesus for President, service-worship

Hi church,

For those keeping score at home - if you were bummed that you had to miss this past Sunday's worship service in the Anglican tradition, I have good news. Plans changed, and we'll be doing that service some time in June instead. (In place of the previously announced service, we shared a contemplative appendix to our series on St. Paul's Letter to the Romans, and, among other things, created this community response to that book of Scripture.)

As for this week, it's the fourth weekend of the month, and hence our monthly Service Worship weekend. It's also Memorial Day weekend, so we'll be gathering on Monday the 26th for a combined cookout / block party / woods and stream cleanup in the woodsy common area near Tina's and my house in Herndon. Here are the deets:

Please join us on Memorial Day, Monday, the 26th of May, starting at 2pm, for a combined "block party", Memorial Day cookout, and litter cleanup in our shared woods and stream (near the playgrounds). We'll grill hot dogs and hamburgers, share snacks and drinks, play some games, and spend a little time picking up the litter in our wooded common area.

You can find us at Mike and Tina's house (13337 Feldman Place, Herndon, VA) or in the common area near the playgrounds you'll see if you walk to the back of the parking lot and keep going. We'd love for you to contribute:

- Hot dogs, hamburgers, or other picnic foods or beverages.
- Paper plates, cups, or plastic ware.
- Trash bags to put litter in.
- Frisbees, balls or other toys for kids and kids that never grew up!

But if you can't, you're welcome to share ours!

Everyone is invited, including kids! Please come and enjoy good food and fun, get to know our neighbors, and help make our shared woods and stream cleaner and more beautiful!

* Rain or shine! (But if it's raining, we might cook inside.) *

And that's about all for this week. Take care, and may the wind of God's Spirit blow through you in this season of Pentecost.

Peace,
Mike Croghan

Labels: Romans, service-worship

Hey church,

This past Sunday was Pentecost, and in our joint service with Convergence and Holy Grounds felt like a beautiful and powerful release of the Spirit into our chaotic collaboration, and into the world through us, the people of God.

Now, we begin the season after Pentecost. Like the season between Christmas and Lent, this part of the Church year is often referred to as "Ordinary Time" - where "ordinary" refers to the numbered weeks, not to any humdrum quality of this season. (And who ever said that God isn't powerfully present in the "ordinary", anyway?) But in any case, I really prefer to think of this time as the season of Pentecost, a season which invites us to live in vibrant consciousness of the indwelling Spirit, who sends us out into the world together to share our gifts with reckless abandon.

Our first opportunity to do that this week will be at this Thursday's Karaoke Night at The Lamb Center (6:30 to 8pm). The Spirit is always present in these gatherings, as homeless guests and volunteers of every age (including kids) share their gifts in song, friendship, and prayer. It never fails to be a powerful experience, and powerfully fun, too!

In the Anglican Church calendar, the first Sunday in Pentecost is Trinity Sunday, the day when the church particularly celebrates the relational dance of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And we'll celebrate that dance together this Sunday as we negotiate the mambo of ancient liturgy in another of our occasional series on the faith traditions that formed us and that bless our community through us. This time we're exploring the Anglican/Episcopal tradition that provided much of the "DNA" for our church through its founding pastor, Doug Gray. Please join us at Jammin' Java at 10am.

Finally, just a heads up: next weekend, Memorial Day weekend, will also be our service-worship weekend for this month. So instead of gathering at Jammin' Java, we'll be out trying to bless our wider community. Specifically, you're all invited to a combination community woods-and-stream cleanup, block party, and Memorial Day weekend cookout at Tina's and my place in Herndon. We're inviting all our neighbors, and we'll spend some time together cleaning up the massive amounts of litter in the woodsy common area in our housing community. And then we'll eat, drink, and meet new friends. Look for details as soon as we figure them out!

And that's it for this week, I think. Keep your ears and heart open for the warm, rushing wind of the Spirit this season...I think it might be a wild one.

Peace,
Mike Croghan

Labels: Anglican, karaoke, lamb center, service-worship

Hey, Church--

Once again, we are enjoying one of those strange Common Table weekends where we kinda turn 'church' on its ear, to simultaneously give ourselves some rest and to challenge ourselves to put our words into action. If you haven't participated in this dance before, don't worry... I'll do my best to show you the steps.

Step One: we will NOT be meeting at Jammin' Java on Sunday morning. Or anywhere else, for that matter (though you can certainly get together with anyone you'd like ;-). Instead, you are encouraged to take this one Sunday each month to do something sabbathy and restful-- sleeping, eating pancakes, going for a walk, and reading the newspaper are all popular choices. Take a breath, shrug off that guilt, and enjoy your Sunday morning. Amen.

Step Two: we WILL be getting together, though. This month, we'll be joining The Amazing Martha at The Lamb Center, where we'll help with breakfast and cleaning and laundry, and where we'll be taking every opportunity to connect with these good folks who live outdoors and/or who are making huge transitions toward housing and employment. The Lamb Center is open from 8am to 12:30pm, and our team will be joining them for those hours (though if you'd like to come at 7 to help set up breakfast, you're welcome to do so). They've asked us to limit the size of our group, so if you're interested, please email the GNU Team so that we don't overwhelm them with our kindness! (If too many people sign up, we'll have an alternate service project.)

Step Three: after that project, anyone who's interested can join us at Mike and Tina's place for a little lunch and our Congregational Meeting. If you're interested in CT, we'd love to have you contribute as we update everyone on our community, and as we look toward our future together. These meetings have a very open format, though we do try to conclude them in 90 minutes or so. Hope to see you there.

Mike Stavlund

Labels: congregational meeting, lamb center, service-worship

Hello, Church:

He is (almost) Risen!

I just finished a great book in preparation for Easter, wherein a high-church, British Anglican takes Christians everywhere to task for their sedate celebrations of Easter. Rather than lighting a few candles, he commends the commissioning of every man, woman, and child with a candle, until the churches are luminous! Instead of a single morning of celebration, he wants to continue the party for days and weeks! He wants the celebration of Jesus' resurrection to overflow the confines of Easter and to change the very nature of our world.

Well, I can't promise any dancing in the aisles, but we're definitely going to pull out a few stops this Sunday. With the fasting and repenting and re:Lenting of the Lenten season behind us, we'll turn on the lights and spend some time reveling in the resurrection as we celebrate a unique 'Stations of the Resurrection' together. We've found (and adapted) a really interesting Catholic liturgy, and we'll be pairing it with music and visuals and other surprises for a rich experience of Easter. Hope to see you at Jammin' Java at 10.

On the following weekend, we'll be practicing resurrection as we step away from Jammin' Java and head over to the Lamb Center on Saturday morning to join with our friends there. We'll plan to have lunch together afterward, then have a Congregational Meeting during the early afternoon. Stay tuned for more details to follow about that Saturday from the GNU Team and the Leadership Team.

Eagerly,
Mike Stavlund

Labels: Easter, lamb center, service-worship

This weekend, we begin our final steps in this journey of Lent, as Jesus enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and the holiest week of the Christian year begins. This coming Sunday (10am at Jammin' Java), we'll gather for a Palm Sunday worship service that looks at Jesus' entry into the holy city, as well as several peculiar interactions between our Lord and fig trees. Please join us as we continue our Lenten journey in repenting of our safe and tame ideas about the Nazarene.


As Holy Week continues, we aren't planning any specifically Common Table gatherings for Maundy Thursday or Good Friday, but if you're looking for a deeper experience of Jesus' journey from Palm Sunday to Calvary to the great reversal of his Resurrection, let me know - as our resident (Anglo-)catholic, I can hook you up with some options for liturgical worship.


Looking further out, the last weekend in March will bring us our monthly service-worship (it sounds like we'll be working with our friends at the Lamb Center - stay tuned for deets from the GNU Team) as well as a congregational meeting to discuss, among other things, what God is calling is to do with this newly debt-free community of ours.


Peace,

Labels: congregational meeting, Holy Week, service-worship

This week, we'll continue with the Lenten practices we began last month. On Sunday morning, we'll meet at Jammin' Java for another go at repenting of our lame and tame ideas about Jesus through listening freshly to his words. This time we'll look at what many call the parable of the unjust judge - but I like to think of it as a story of one reLENTless widow. Don't miss meeting her at 10am.
Afterward, we'll once again give up our customary Chipotle burritos (donating what we would have spent to a friend who can use it) and gather at Tina's and my house for simple fare - or possibly not-so-simple fare, depending on the success of our...uh...(sub)urban gleaning. (There will be non-gleaned options for the squeamish.)


Finally, please note that a wonderfully full and busy weekend is just a week away:


That same evening, some of us will be gathering in Vienna to experience some Deep Shift with Brian McLaren and friends. This event will continue on Saturday, March 8, as well.


And that's all, as far as I know. Seems like plenty to me!

Mike Croghan

Labels: Cobalt Season, Deep Shift, Doan, lent, peace, service-worship

I want to extend a personal "thank you" to everyone who made me deeply, deeply regret going out of town this past weekend. The third worship service in our current "Space" series was, apparently, most righteously awesome. The good news is that thanks to the hard work of our rockin' Design Team, our sensational sound crew, and master blogcaster iPete, you and I can check out the virtual "Space" experience on our blogcast site, or listen to podcasts of the services on Gcast or through iTunes. (Your mileage may vary with that iTunes link.) And, we'll come back to Jammin' Java in two Sundays (February 3rd) for one more trek into Space before we begin the journey of Lent. And as cool as the blogcast is, I'm not missing that one!


Looking ahead, on March 7, people from all over the country will be converging on Washington, DC to advocate for peace as we remember the anniversary of the War in Iraq. This year, various faith communities will be gathering in their respective places at noon, followed by a procession to the Capitol for a larger witness in the afternoon.


That same evening, some of us will be gathering in Vienna to experience some Deep Shift with Brian McLaren and friends. On Friday and Saturday, March 7-8, we'll be joining some like-minded friends to consider how Jesus' Kingdom message might be the most helpful response to the many varied global crises we face. If you'd be willing to help out with the effort, a conference discount and free book can be yours through the DC Emergent Cohort.


Peace,

Labels: blogcast, Deep Shift, peace, podcast, service-worship

Dear Church--

Once again, in our semi-regular way, we're going off the grid over the next couple of weeks, to keep our life together non-routinized, and to focus on relationships within our body and service to our neighbor.

This weekend, November 16-18, we'll be away at our annual retreat, and so not meeting at Jammin' Java. But we won't be far, so if you're in the area, please stop by Algonkian Park in Sterling, VA to hang out in one of the cottages. We'll be there from Friday evening until 11am on Sunday, eating and walking and sleeping and staring at the Potomac and doing life together. It'd be great to have you join us.

Due to the upcoming holiday weekend, we've moved up our regular service-worship project to this Friday night, when we'll be assembling some yummy Thanksgiving food baskets (thoughtfully delivered in multi-functional laundry baskets!) for some local families. We may also make a couple of extra pies for our own consumption (call it quality control!).

Tonight (Wednesday the 14th), a bunch of us will be gathering at The Lamb Center, a daytime gathering point for the homeless and those in transition. Martha and Jay are rallying folks to bring a fun night of Karaoke for our friends there between 6:30 and 8pm, and your voice is needed! Plenty of parking is available at the Asian market a couple of doors down, or across the street at The Home Depot. It's the next best thing to American Idol, and you just might spot Jesus there.

Okay, I need to get back to serenading my daughter with my set list for tonight, and with excitedly plotting our menu for a couple of meals this weekend. Hope you're doing the same...

Mike Stavlund

Labels: Jesus, lamb center, retreat, service-worship

Hi church,

Whoopsy - this week's update is going out a bit late - sorry!! Thankfully, the Wiser Mike put just about everything you need to know in last week's update. So here's the scoop, with some added details.

Our friends Ryan and Holly Sharp (aka, The Cobalt Season) are currently touring the country in their Prius (with their one-year-old!). They'll be doing a house show in DC on Friday, November 2 at 8pm. It promises to be a soul-stirring night of great music, and a chance to connect with interesting people from around the Metro area.

Saturday, November 3: We'll be hosting several FACETS families on a trip to Cox Farms from 10am to 2pm. It'll be the annual weekend of post-Halloween Pumpkin Madness, so you won't want to miss the big, splattery mess. Fun for the kids and the young-at-heart. We'll be meeting at the Breezeway Motel in Fairfax to pick up our guests ay 9:30 Saturday morning, and driving to Cox Farms in Centreville. We'll hang out (enjoying the Cox Farms activities, each other's company, and some bag lunches we'll bring) until 2pm, and then head back to Fairfax to drop off our guests. If you can help with transportation, please let Israel know (540-287-4154) ASAP.

Sunday, November 4, we'll be meeting at Jammin' Java to join Kriss and Ben Buss on an exploration of Holden Village for our current series on Christian communities and cultural context. Also: It's "Wear Your Boots to Church" week. Why? Don't ask me. Ask iPete.

Finally, a reminder:

November 16-18 - Common Table Retreat: Cost will be $50/adult, payable to the church (please write a separate check, as the retreat will not be tax-deductible).

I think that's all the news fit for pixels. Hope you had an appropriately spooky All Hallows' Eve, and may all saints - and all souls - be blessed this week.

Peace!

- Mike (Croghan)

Labels: context, service-worship

I just received a friendly call from a very nice lady inquiring about visiting our church. I kindly directed her to our website, gave her some cautionary warnings about our frequent, intentional displacement, and asked when she would be in town.

"This coming weekend!"

Oh. Sorry.

Which got me thinking... we might use a kind of tripartite division for our meetings:

1. Regular (though not exactly consistent or predictable): when we meet at Jammin' Java for worship.
2. Irregular (though kind of consistent, when you think about it): our off-site service worship projects, where we put our money where our mouth is in an attempt to give ourselves away.
3. Unregular: many meetings with "unofficial", but not "unimportant" status.

This week falls into the third category. Because our service worship project for October is more helpfully held the following weekend, and because it is our 'away' week from Jammin' Java, this weekend's events are a bit more free-form:

There's a great, super-affordable conference being organized by our friends at Fairlington Presbyterian Church, and held at Falls Church Presbyterian Church on Saturday, October 27. The line-up of speakers is quite impressive (Sally Morgenthaler and Tony Jones), as is the gravitas of the assembled Common Tablers. If you'd like to get in on a lunch with Tony Jones, National Coordinator of Emergent Village, just show your Common Table ID card and jump on in ;-).

It's looking like a few social events are brewing for this weekend, as well. Keep your eye peeled for more information on that, or suggest your own!

Naturally, the following weekend will be a little more eventful:

Our friends Ryan and Holly Sharp (aka, The Cobalt Season) are currently touring the country in their Prius (with their one-year-old!). They'll be doing a house show in DC on Friday, November 2 at 8pm. It promises to be a soul-stirring night of great music, and a chance to connect with interesting people from around the Metro area.

Saturday, November 3: The GNU team is working out the details of hosting several FACETS families on a trip to Cox Farms from 10am to 2pm. It'll be the annual weekend of post-Halloween Pumpkin Madness, so you won't want to miss the big, splattery mess. Fun for the kids and the young-at-heart.

Sunday, November 4, we'll be meeting at Jammin' Java to join Kriss and Ben Buss on an exploration of Holden Village for our current series on Christian communities and cultural context.


Later,

Mike Stavlund

Labels: context, service-worship

**UPDATE: please note change of venue for Congregational Meeting

Hi, church--

After being away from home for several weeks (where I've heard plenty of praise for our small church!), I'm pleased to see so much fruit borne by our GNU team and others as we continue our effort to push ourselves outside our smaller circle to know and love and serve those in our wider community. One example of this is happening this Wednesday, when a bunch of us will be getting together at The Lamb Center to host a celebration of the rich cultural artifact known as Karaoke between 7:30 and 9pm. If you'd like to lend your applause or (better yet) your voice, be sure to stop by.

This Sunday, October 21, our own bona-fide expert on religious movements, John Bozeman will be leading us in a look at the Jesus People. This is a group which was founded in the early 1970's, and one that's found a way to develop a strong core (members actually live together in a high-rise in Chicago) and an expansive engagement with their community (both in outreach and in the operation of several businesses staffed by members). It promises to be a rich morning, as John shares from his wealth of knowledge and experience with this pioneering community.

**After first church, we'll repair to Jack and Pete's place to hold a Congregational Meeting, where we're planning to hear a financial update, talk about plans for Sunday mornings, get an update from our GNU Team, and anything else you'd like to discuss. Please plan to grab your Chipotle at the spot a block from their house, or dare to try a place which Pete hesitatingly describes as 'even better than Chipotle'. Take your food 'to go', and let's meet up to start our meeting at 1 or 1:30. Also, note that while their place is very kid-friendly, we don't yet have any formal child care plan organized.


Our friends Ryan and Holly Sharp (aka, The Cobalt Season) are currently touring the country in their Prius (with their one-year-old!). They'll be doing a house show in DC on Friday, November 2. It promises to be a fun night of great music, and a chance to connect with interesting people from around the Metro area.

Saturday, November 3: The GNU team is working out the details of hosting several families on a trip to Cox Farms from 10am to 2pm. It'll be the annual weekend of post-Halloween Pumpkin Madness (my favorite methods of destruction being the trebuchet and the crane-drop), so you won't want to miss the big, splattery mess. Fun for the kids and the young-at-heart.


Later,

Mike Stavlund

Labels: congregational meeting, context, GNU Team, service-worship

We are excited to give our service worship a little twist when we simply share a meal together with them on Sunday, September 30, in order for the rest of us to meet them and learn to know them and perhaps hear a little more about their story. The hope is that by cultivating this relationship with them, we may be able to more naturally find ways to extend our support network to them. Building relationship is key in their culture, and it is our hope to honor that by taking the time to develop relationships before we try to take on any of their needs collectively.


Next Sunday (October 7th), we'll be back at Jammin' Java for the next in our ongoing "Context and Communties" series of worship services, as Jen Way leads us in a look at the life-changing communities of Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step programs. Hope you can join us!
Also, you might say a prayer for safe travel and fruitful relationship-building as the Three Stavs and I travel to Glorietta, NM next week for the Emergent Gathering.

Labels: service-worship