On The Table

Hi church,

As I write this, it's just a few minutes after midnight, and Ash Wednesday is now past. I still haven't washed the ashes off my forehead, but I've smudged them pretty well over the course of the day. (I should probably go to bed.)

We're starting our Lent kind of slowly, since this Sunday is a fourth Sunday and we're not going to be gathering at Jammin' Java. However, a bunch of us are planning to go to the Taizé Contemplative Worship with Healing Rite at the Church of the Holy Comforter in Vienna at 5pm on Sunday. We'd love for you to join us!

Another group is starting regular Friday gatherings during Lent to talk about spiritual formation and how we can become more like Jesus. They will be watching a DVD resource by Dallas Willard and sharing their own ideas about growth and transformation each Friday evening at 7:30pm in Falls Church. Contact us for more information.


Other than that, I guess I'd just just like to wish you a Lenten journey that's powerful and transforming. Hope we get to walk some of it together.

Peace,
Mike Croghan

Dear Church,

There is so much to be angry about these days:  politics (of both kinds), the fact that there are only two kinds of politics, traffic, the economy, report cards (giving and receiving), civil wars (and the fuel prices that get blamed on them), joblessness, sleeplessness, poor health, and mattress advertisements featuring dancing ex-Presidents. 

Even after Common Table's recent foray into 'turning the other cheek', it seems that anger is in the air.  So our Creative Team was inspired to explore this issue of anger-- how it works, how it harms us, how it benefits us, and how we can use it for good.  This Sunday at 10am at Jammin' Java, we'll be sending you on a multi-faceted journey through anger, then stopping to hear our collective wisdom.  We hope you can join us.

Don't forget to bring your grudges,
Mike Stavlund

Hi church,

As winter (such as it is) progresses toward spring, we also draw near to Lent. And it's a presidential election year, which (in Moff's words) "means that the candidates do everything they can to stir up our sense that We Are In Peril and Only They Can Save Us". Add that to the continued sluggish economy, an Occupy movement that flourished and then (perhaps) died in cities around the world, an Arab spring that has now continued through four seasons, and throw in a dash of Mayan apocalypse, and it's fair to say that many of us are feeling some ambient anxiety.

Hi church,

Say, did you hear about the groundhog? Seems he saw his shadow and predicted six more weeks of winter. Which (it seems to me) is a bit like announcing that your crazy uncle who visits every year is planning to stay for another six weeks, when as far as you can tell he never got on the plane from Saginaw this time around. (I never put much stock in marmots, anyway.)

So what's going on this week? First of all, we'll be gathering at Jammin' Java at 10am on Sunday! Here's what P3T3 has to say about that:

This week, the normally uncontested, undebated and unpreached - yet very well-known, accepted, and even cherished teaching of "turn the other cheek" is put on trial in our third Radiolab-inspired service. What does "turn the other cheek" mean in your faith tradition or to you personally? Is it intrinsic to Christianity / Christ's teachings? If so, where do we see it at work in western Christianity?

There is still room to sign up for sharing five minutes of your thoughts on our planning google doc. You might also consider bringing a real-world scenario in which the group can discuss what a "turn the other cheek" response might be in a given circumstance.

And after that - well, there's been some talk of a possible Soopah Bowl gathering Sunday evening. Give us a shout if you want to be in on that, because plans haven't gelled yet as of this writing.

And that's all I know. What do you know? Come join us some time and share it with us!

Peace,
Mike Croghan