On The Table

The Weekly Announcement of Common Table Church

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

February 21st through 27th

Hey church,

Well, February's a short month, but it still doesn't seem possible that it's almost over. But if a certain prognosticating rodent is to be believed, winter may be nearing its end as well. Which is swell, if you ask me.

But in any event, this will be the fourth Sunday of the month, which means that we will NOT be gathering for worship at Jammin' Java. However, that doesn't mean we won't be gathering!

Firstly: on Thursday the 24th, at 7pm-ish, the CT Mid-Week Group will gather at Kriss and Ben Buss's house to begin discussing the book What Every Church Member Should Know About Poverty, by Ruby K. Payne. This will be a preliminary discussion of the book topic, so don't worry if you haven't read the book...neither have we!! If you've never been to mid-week, you're more than welcome. On a typical week, we will eat, drink, goof around, perhaps discuss something (such as a book on cultural differences among social classes; or our favorite YouTube videos; or whale vomit), and pray together. If you'd like to join us, and need directions to Kriss and Ben's place, please contact us.

Secondly: we won't be at Java on Sunday, but we will be joining our friends at New Hope Fellowship. Pastor Pat is turning over the service to us Commoners, and the plan is to share stories of how God provided [something significant or unexpected] in our lives. So please come equipped with your craziest God stories, and look forward to hearing some amazing ones from new and old friends.

Worship there begins at 10:40am at the Greenbriar Community Center, and our own Jen, Craig, and Moff will be leading worship music. We're all invited to join in making the joyful noise, and are welcome to stay for the post-worship meal and fellowship. Additionally, our 9:30am Club will be gathering beforehand (at 10:00am) for informal worship music and practice - all are welcome!

Finally, many of the folks at New Hope are homeless, and Pastor Pat said that since the county hypothermia ministry (which provides winter shelter to homeless folks in Fairfax County) is over in two weeks, tents are needed to stay warm, along with propane heaters, general camping gear, and camp stoves. Anything along those lines that we could bring to donate would be greatly appreciated, along with low-denomination gift cards to casual restaurants. (We should give all donations to Pastor Pat so she can distribute them.)

That's it for this week - but next week is shaping up to be pretty lively, with a karaoke party on Friday evening and our return to Jammin' Java for worship on Sunday. And the week after that centers on Ash Wednesday, and the beginning of Lent. Watch this space for details on all of that, and in the mean time, stay warm, and remember that loving each other is not just a good idea - it's how we know God.

Peace!

Mike Croghan

posted by Mike Croghan # 4:32 PM 0 Comments

Friday, February 11, 2011

February 7 through 13

And now a message from this week's Master of Ceremonies, Craig Frogale...

When I think of all the gifts that God has given us to endure, none seem to address our quandary as effectively as the gift of humor. From a Christian perspective, humor helps us to zoom out and see our present circumstances in the light of eternity. A good laugh can carry us through the absurd and sublime happenings of our world to a feeling that we are closer to being in on the joke.

What role does humor play in your understanding of God? Most of us don't associate comedy with the Church or the Bible. Do you think people of faith have lost their sense of humor? Does God have a sense of Humor? Come out to Jammin Java this Sunday at 10 am to explore the holiness of humor with myself, Heidi and Amy. Feel free to bring a joke or story to share with us about how a good laugh helped you to feel like God is giving you a wink and a smile. Hope to see you there.

posted by Moff # 3:40 PM 0 Comments

Friday, February 4, 2011

January 31 through February 6

This has been a really rough week for many members of our little community, with various kinds of loss or impending loss weighing us down. For some members, it's been a rough year, a rough couple of years, etc. Several of us have felt like we need some kind of group recognition of this, so this Sunday, we'll be sitting shiva, Common Table style. Put extremely simply, shiva is an Orthodox Jewish observance of mourning for the dead. This Sunday, we will link our Common experience of mourning with Psalm 77.

Here's what we mean:
Shiva is primarily about remembrance. This is one of the things that distinguishes it from other forms of mourning that focus primarily on the immediate loss. Shiva pulls the beauty of the past into the present. When you have a memory of the deceased, you must speak of the deceased. In this way, you honor that person and remember that this grief is not the whole story.

Psalm 77 does the same thing. It is a shiva for past times when God's goodness was readily apparent, when the question "why me?" was an expression of gratitude at God's abundant grace, not an expression of disillusionment at His current absence or even of His apparent curse. By engaging actively in the process of remembering what was beautiful, the ways in which God has blessed in the past, the hope of the Psalmist is restored.In the process of grieving, there is often a lot of regret... in a sense, we grieve the loss of our better selves. If we'd had more time, maybe we could have done this thing or that, changed things or made them better. One of our meditation points this Sunday will be the need to not only accept our losses, but to accept *ourselves* and our shortcomings.

We hope to see you this Sunday at 10am at Jammin Java for this group exercise in grieving, remembering, celebrating and forgiving... followed by burritos, because you can't have shiva without a lotta food.

Amy Moffitt

posted by Moff # 3:51 PM 0 Comments