The Latest at the Common

I don’t normally like spoiling surprises but this time it will help with logistics: this  friday Jesus will die, on Sunday he will be back. The resultant celebrations mean on Sunday we will not be at the Welsh Chapel in Borough but instead joining in with the “Service of Light for Easter Day” at Southwark Cathedral - 630pm - see you there - don’t be late.

Oh - and on Monday we will go for a picnic in Greenwich park and we want YOU to come. Cyclists (with their trousers tucked into their socks) and pedestrians both meet outside the welsh chapel for a 1200 sharp departure. Or find your own way over and call someone. Message rich at borough common dot com if you want to join in so we can make sure we don’t miss you.

18th march - Nick and Ben: JOINING VOICES - what are the conversations/organisations that are out there for the borough common type of spiritual expression? What can we learn from them? What can we join in with? What can we add to debate/action?

25th - Steph and Luke: JESUS SPEAK - what are the Jesus principles of speaking up? What can we learn from him about appropriate ways to get a message out (talking in stories/parables, engaging with all types of people, sharing food, pointing to god not himself, etc)

1st April - Steve M: DO NOT JUDGE - how can we make sure we have productive conversations / dialogue with other opinions rather than making judgements about who we think is wrong?

8th - Easter: SPEAKING OUT WELCOME

15th - Katie and Francesca: THE JOURNEY - how can we recognise that the more expansive way of thinking about god/religion can take time to arrive at and is a journey that can feel vulnerable - both that some of us are still in that place and that people in other churches may find our view difficult to swallow - how can we speak with gentleness to this? 

22nd - Lucie, Ben and Carol: THE COMMON PARADOX - on one hand we celebrate diversity of opinion / don’t coerce shared opinion / so dont like (fear??) tying down a “borough common way of thinking”, yet on the other hand we are a group that does share a lot of perspective and has shared views - how can we find our way through this?

CREED

Next few weeks we’ll be continuing our series, inspired by the Nicene Creed

22nd - We Believe - multimedia service
29th - songs of the creed - musical service
5th Feb – ROBES training [a homeless project we’re volunteering for]
12th Feb – Sam Smith environment project surprise tbc
19th - Sacramental creed

26^th Feb – The end of the world?

Happy twelve everyone!

As a new year lies ahead like a fresh blank canvas, what better way to kick start your resolutions than to come to open planning this Sunday! Particularly if one of your resolutions is to get more involved in Borough Common [and if not, why not?]

We’ll be planning for the next few weeks and months ahead, and also looking at how we could be involved in the Robes project [a London winter night shelter]

6pm in the Welsh Chapel

Bring drinks and snacks if you wish [mineral water and fruit obvs.]

PS  a couple of thoughts for the interested on making resolutions: 1 and 2

In the run up to Christmas this year, the Borough Common has an exciting series planned, interspersed with some festive events and high octane merriment for everyone to get involved in.

sunday evenings:

20^th Nov – the story of incarnation: truth or fiction?

27th      – Christmas and childhood – how family impacts us

4^th Dec  – meal: the greetings card campaign + stories of hushed voices

18^th      – Borough Common Christmas Party!!!

25^th      – CHRISTMAS DAY [we probably won’t be doing a service today]

1^st Jan   – New Year recovery at the pub

special festive events:

4^th Dec – Contact the Elderly tea party – 3-5pm – helpers needed!

 11^th     – Borough Common 3^rd Annual folk singalong carols @ the Libertine – 7pm

 17^th     – Bermondsey Fayre – pop up Christmas poetry and performance - details tbc

Dear Commoners,

This Sunday we will be sharing a meal!

It will also be the first in a series of evenings on what it means to be a church.

Over the coming weeks we will be exploring questions like why do we care for others in our community? Why do we care about the environment? Why do we care for each other?  Why do we give? What is Diversity?

This Sunday will be a bit of an introduction, starting with a pub/sundayschool quiz on bible and church history, followed by some discussion on what church means to all of us, how the borough common fits into the church narrative and perhaps our hopes for the future.

It will be a pot luck so it would be great if you can a bottle of something or a small dish of something delicious – we have an oven, hobs and microwave for reheating etc.

You can bring food from 5.30 and we’ll be starting at 6.

Enjoy the sunshine!

As mentioned last Sunday, we would like to start a small group. We are going to try for a first meeting next Tues. Oct. 4, 7:00 pm at the Doghouse Pub (location subject to change). If you’re interested in theological conversation and maybe a baked good or two, please join us. Drop me an e-mail if you’re interested or if you have any questions, comments, or concerns (aburroug@gmail.com).

Ashley

meet 1pm at Palace Bowling Alley inside Elephant & Castle shopping centre

3-6pm will be fun activities in the local area [bring a camera, pen, umbrella..]

6pm will be in the pub tbc!

contact us for more info…