On The Table

I write from the very place we meet each week, Jammin' Java in Vienna, Virginia. Except that this isn't Sunday, and we're not setting up for one of our worship experiences. There are three staff people here, but there aren't any customers for them to help. It's just me on a Wednesday afternoon, all alone but for the 90's mix of music pumping out of the speakers. I'm here to meet a new friend, to talk about our church and fill him in on some of the relational flavor that he just couldn't taste from the website. I figured since Vienna was between us, why not meet him here and let him get an idea of what we're about and where we meet? Except I'm sitting here thinking about all that's happened in this space, and how strange it is to be here by myself. I miss everyone, and I'm thankful for all we've shared together.

But in the middle of this day in the middle of the week, it's the space that really has my attention, this place clear of all chairs and tables and equipment, this palette upon which we try to do some collaborative art, inspire some worship, and spur one another's thoughts, each week. In a couple of days, we'll gather in this same space to talk about space. To talk about emptiness, actually, and the liturgical season of 'Ordinary Time'-- the comparatively quiet time between Christmas and Lent, on this especially lonely Sunday that holds a place between our Service Worship project last week, and the beginning of the 40 days of Lent next week. We hope you can join us this coming Sunday at the time of day we call 10am, where we'll talk about how space and emptiness and ordinariness is anything but nothingness-- it is the very place where our lives in God play out.

Mike Stavlund

Labels: space