Community Supper

Recent Community Supper:
"The Strange History of Some Hymns" with Dr. Graham Bier

On Friday, October 4, the Bryn Athyn Church hosted a Community Supper event in Heilman Hall. The topic of the evening was “The Strange History of Some Hymns” with guest speaker Dr. Graham Bier, Director of Music at Bryn Athyn Cathedral. Dr. Bier delighted community members with entertaining stories behind a few popular church hymns. There was even time for folks to join in and sing together in beautiful harmony. We hope you enjoy listening to this evening’s program. 

For more information on the performances, please see below. Here is the link to the music channel referenced in the presentation:    / @brynathynchurchmusic  

Quote #1 - from Spiritual Experiences 289 (December 3rd, 1747)
Quote #2 - from Spiritual Experiences 491 (January 21st, 1748)
Quote #3 - from New Church Life, 1882, pg. 154
Quote #4 - from New Church Life, 1956, pg. 231
Hymn 891: an excerpt from Act II scene iii from the opera Orfeo ed Euridice, by Christoph Willibald Gluck. The part of Orpheus is sung by American countertenor Bejun Mehta, with the Czech ensemble Collegium 1704, conducted by Václav Luks.
Hymn 882: excerpts from the second movement of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Sonata 23 “Appassionata”, recorded in 2017 by Israeli pianist Evgeny Kissin.
Hymn 859:  an excerpt from the fourth movement of Beethoven’s Symphony 9, the “Choral”. Performed in London’s Albert Hall in 2015 by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Chorus led by Latvian conductor Andris Nelsons.
Hymn 903: an excerpt of Jupiter, Bringer of Jollity from Gustav Holst's The Planets.  Performed in 2015 in the Royal Albert Hall in London by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Susanna Mälkki.
Hymn 889: the beginning of Act I scene iii from the opera Alceste by Gluck. Performed in 2014 by the La Fenice Theater in Venice Italy, orchestra conducted by Guillaume Tourniaire.
Hymn 880: the beginning of Beethoven's Piano Sonata 21 “Waldstein”. Recorded in 2016 by Ukrainian pianist Valentina Lisitsa. Anthem 1116: from Part I of Felix Mendelssohn's oratorio Elijah. Performed in 2019 by the University of North Texas College of Music with Jeffrey Snider singing the role of Elijah and Allen Hightower conducting.
Hymn 933: excerpt from Act 3 scene i of Tannhäuser by Richard Wagner. Performed in 2008 with Philippe Jordan conducting the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchestra of Berlin and Camilla Nylund singing the role of Elizabeth.

Overview

Find information on this page about Community Suppers in general and specific details about the next upcoming supper.

Food

Supper - Bring Your Own

You are responsible for making sure that you have food to eat at the Community Supper. Box suppers are not available for this Friday, October 4. It's kind of like the New Church Day Picnic. You can bring your own food from home, or get takeaway from some local restaurant (Wawa, Lee's Hoagies, Provecho, Be Well, etc.). If you would enjoy bringing some supper things to share with others around you, that’s great but it’s not expected or required.

Potluck Dessert

The church provides some desserts, and coffee, water, and paper goods. We are also hoping that some people will bring desserts to share. This is not required. This is just an invitation for those that would enjoy bringing a dessert to share.

Alcohol

BYOB.

Room Layout

There will be long, rectangular tables, running from the back of Heilman Hall up to the stage. This means that everyone can sit with the people they came with and also be together at the same table with a larger group.

Childcare - No Childcare Provided But Babysitting Subsidy Available

We have not provided childcare for past Community Suppers. We would love to have as many parents attend as possible. We are happy to contribute $20 towards babysitting costs; please let us know if you would like help with that. In the future, we may be able to provide childcare for certain age groups. We might have one of the Community Suppers in a year be an all-ages supper. Stay tuned and let us know what you would like or, even better, let us know what you would like to be part of helping to make happen.

7th Grade and Up Invited

We invite people in 7th Grade and up to attend. Teenagers will be expected to stay with their parents for the duration of the evening (not eat quickly and then go outside to hang out with their friends). We don't want unsupervised teenagers wandering around the property. The point is for teenagers to come and be part of the Community Supper, from the beginning to the end. We will leave it to parents to determine whether their teenagers would enjoy coming to this event and being part of conversations with adults or not.

Program for the Evening

Here's the rough schedule of how things will go:

  • 5:30 pm - Doors open
  • 6:00 pm - Welcome, blessing, eating supper
  • 6:30 pm - Presentation Begins
  • 7:00 pm - Break for Dessert
  • 7:15 pm -Presentation Continues
  • 8:00 pm - End of the formal program
  • After 8:00 pm - Plenty of time for jolly, informal hanging out for those that choose to linger.

All of these times are approximate.

RSVP - Not Required

You do not have to RSVP to come to the Community Supper. You can decide at the last minute to come, even if you haven't told anyone that you were planning to come.

Recorded But Not Live-streamed

We record the video and audio of the program portion of the Community Suppers. We then make those recordings available to people, a few days after the event, on our YouTube channel (youtube.com/BrynAthynChurch). We do not live-stream these events.

Past Community Suppers

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.

Upcoming Community Supper Dates

Feedback

If you have thoughts, questions, or suggestions about any of this, please email derek.elphick@brynathynchurch.org.