On The Table

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.

Hope you'll be spending it with loved ones around. If you're looking for someone to spend Christmas with, contact us and we'll try to hook you up.

There are no official Common Table gatherings this week, but we wish you a very merry, warm, and blessed Christmas!

Peace,
Mike Croghan (with a tip of the hat to Suzy - and Linus)

Labels: Christmas

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

After what feels like a long time away, we're convening at Jammin' Java again this week! Our Creative Team has been working on an introduction to Advent, the time of quiet waiting for Messiah Jesus to come and set his people free. This Sunday at 10am, we'll be looking at the Advent in Mark's Gospel, and we hope you can come and share in the experience.

Several of us will also be gathering at the Vienna community center to help with a 'sibling shop', where kids can come and create gifts for their families. It's a carefully organized event, and so we've already signed up all of our Common Table volunteers, but if you'd like to see some heartwarming Christmas goodness in action, you can stop by between 1:30 and 4pm this Saturday.

With Advent expectation,
Mike Stavlund