Community Supper

Overview

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

Swedenborg Birthday Community Supper, Friday, January 31, 2025

Topic: "Swedenborg as Memento Mori: Using the Seer to See Ourselves"

Speaker: Rev. Christopher Barber

Join us for an evening celebrating Emanuel Swedenborg’s life and legacy. Rev. Chris Barber of the Academy of the New Church will guide guests through a selection of sights, sounds, and stories of Swedenborg’s life, exploring how his natural world experiences prepared him for spiritual insights. Through imagery, music, poetry, and diary reflections, see Swedenborg's life not just as a historical story but as a mirror for your own life. Discover how the moments of your daily existence are woven into the fabric of eternity, serving as both history and a foundation for your spiritual journey. Reflect, connect, and celebrate the timeless legacy of this faithful servant of the Lord as you take up your own service to His Kingdom.

Food

Supper - Bring Your Own

Bring your own food from home, or takeout from a local restaurant.
Boxed meals WILL BE available for the January 31 Swedenborg Birthday Community Supper.
Boxed meals ($20 each) contains choice of one entrée (roast lamb, or herb-roasted boneless chicken thigh, or grilled portobella mushroom) mashed potatoes, roasted butternut squash, vegetable, and Lindy's salad (candied pecans, feta cheese, berries). No substitutions. Desserts, beverages and paper goods will be provided.

To order a boxed meal, send an email to churchoffice@brynathynchurch.org (include entrée choice and the number of meals).DEADLINE FOR ORDERS IS 3:00 PM ON WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29.

If you would enjoy bringing some supper to share with others around you, that’s great but it’s not expected or required.

Potluck Dessert

We provide desserts, beverages (coffee and 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.

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  

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

View Calendar

Feedback

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