On The Table

Dear Church:

I hope you can join us this Sunday, as we conclude our series on 'Context and Community' by looking at L'Arche (French for 'The Ark'), a network of communities which serve adults with developmental disabilities. One of the many things to learn from and love about them is their upside-down structure: the disabled adults are called 'Core Members', and those who serve them are called 'Assistants'. And though they have much success at helping their Core Members find a fuller life, what they seem to spend much more time talking about is how transformative the experience is for those who come to 'help'.

We're especially honored to be joined by Jen's friend, Mandy, who is an Assistant at L'Arche of DC. She'll be sharing about her experience there over the past two years.

For your own chance at upside-down living, come out next Wednesday the 14th, to join the mighty Martha (and the team she and several other Commoners lead) for the second ever Karaoke Night at The Lamb Center (Fairfax county's only daytime homeless shelter), from 6:30 - 8pm. Last month's event was full of song, joy, and the presence of Christ, as Lamb Center clients and teen and adult volunteers alike got in touch with their inner ham. Don't miss it!

Next weekend, we're off to our church retreat. There's still room, especially if you're one of the readers of this email who has yet to join us in actual, physical time and space--it'd be a great time to get to know us, and vice versa. Please make out a check for $50 per person (kids are free) to the church, and prepare to be dazzled by my Swedish pancakes ;-).

Stavlund
(that's Swedish for ski-bush)