Overview
A couple of times a year we have Community Suppers — a chance for the community to gather, eat, and listen to a presentation or participate in a program together. Read more about The Vision for Community Suppers below.
In most cases these suppers happen on a Friday or Saturday night in Asplundh Assembly Hall, starting at 6:00 p.m. and people bring their own food and some dessert to share. However, the exact details vary supper to supper. Please click on a specific event below under Upcoming Community Suppers to learn more about that particular supper.
Upcoming Community Suppers
We might not have any Community Suppers on the calendar right now. If an event has a unique title, then it will have specific information about that supper. If its title is just "Community Supper" then save that date and check back closer to the time for specific information.
Past Community Suppers
We record almost all of our Community Suppers and then upload an edited version to our YouTube channel. Check out our Community Supper playlist.
- Friday, April 4, 2025
Topic: “Dissertation Presentations & News from the Theological School”
Speakers: TJ Jackson, Dan Calvo, Rev. Scott Frazier
Watch on YouTube - Friday, February 28, 2025
Topic: “Connections Through Conversation: A Community Supper with Interactive Games”
Speakers: Nina Dewees, Amy Glenn, Christine McDonald, Jahnna Henderson - Friday, January 31, 2025
Topic: “Swedenborg as Memento Mori: Using the Seer to See Ourselves”
Speaker: Rev. Christopher Barber
Watch on YouTube - Friday, October 4, 2024
Topic: “The Strange History of Some Hymns”
Speaker: Dr. Graham Bier
Watch on YouTube - Saturday, April 13, 2024
Topic: “Weird Americans (and How to Stop Being One)”
Speaker: Dr. Greg Rose
Watch on YouTube. - Friday, January 26, 2024
Topic: “Is There a Thirst for Swedenborg in the World Today?”
Speaker: Curtis Childs
Watch on YouTube - Saturday, November 11, 2023
Topic: “The Four Gospels: A New Perspective”
Speakers: Rev. Dr. Ray & Star Silverman
Watch on YouTube. - Friday, October 6, 2023
Topic: “Artificial Intelligence from a New Church Perspective”
Speakers: Rev. Stephen Cole & Zach Odhner
Watch on YouTube.
The Vision for Community Suppers (from when they started in 2023)
We’re wanting to build community—to take a “big tent” approach to congregational life by laying aside our differences so that we may gather together for purposes bigger than our individual wants and needs. As a church community, we need each other more than ever. We’re living in an increasingly fractured, polarized world that too often pits us against each other unnecessarily. The church has a unique role in serving as a safe haven, a sanctuary, to gather people together under the banner of the Lord in His second coming and it is our hope, our prayer, that these new Community Suppers serve that end.
In True Christianity 433 the Lord describes "feasts of charity" that happened in the early days of the Christian Church that "were instituted to lift and unite Christians' hearts and spirits." The passage goes on to say that "While they were at the table, they would have conversations on various subjects—both domestic and civic issues. In particular, they would discuss topics related to the church. .... The spiritual atmosphere that prevailed during these feasts was an atmosphere of love for the Lord and for their neighbor. This atmosphere would lift their individual minds, soften their tones of voice, and allow a celebratory feeling from deep in their hearts to fill their senses." We pray that the Lord will bless our Community Suppers with that same atmosphere of charity.