Together we took a major step on Sunday morning at worship. We encouraged you to bring your coffee into worship without fear of retribution. We provided coffee for those of you who forgot to get some on the way to church. We even had someone serving it to help those who thought that bringing coffee into church was not something Jesus would approve of. So many of you thought this was such a good idea that we ran out of coffee about half way through the sermon because you went back for refills. (I’m thinking that is why so many more people were awake all the way through the sermon.)
Reports from Rick, our custodial engineer, are very good. He said, “There was less of a mess than usual.” When we talked about the coffee at our staff meeting this week we concluded that maybe we should do this again, maybe even keep doing it. And so, for at least the next three weeks of our “Learning to Tell our Stories” sermon series, we will. After that, we’ll see. For sure though, those of you who have your Caribou or Starbucks or homemade coffee in the car…don’t worry about bringing it in to church.
A lot of churches have been doing this for a long time and so to some, this is such a non-issue, that it is a bit odd for me to be writing about it. For others it is such a divergent practice that it makes you wonder if are we going to unplug the organ next. We are not unplugging the organ. So why do I think it’s such a major step?
I think coffee in church is such a major step for us because it illustrates a willingness to bring who we really are at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday morning into worship. Now of course you can do that without coffee, and there are some times when you should leave the little bit of comfort and distraction behind. But if worship is a place you bring your real true self….and if you are a coffee drinker, that real true self often includes something a little warm that you can sip on as you think and reflect, then as one great theologian has said, “Why not?”
My hope is that our worship continues to be a place where those of us who enter into it together have put aside our pretensions and facades and recognize that we are all beloved children of God who are in need of his grace. It’s that need that brings us together, not the coffee or anything else we have chosen as a measure of holiness.
So next week, bring your coffee or tea or whatever into church with you. And when you do, bring yourself also, bring your real 10 o’clock on a Sunday self. It is that daughter or son that God longs to touch, inspire, and send out.
Keep the Faith,
Pastor Dan
Reports from Rick, our custodial engineer, are very good. He said, “There was less of a mess than usual.” When we talked about the coffee at our staff meeting this week we concluded that maybe we should do this again, maybe even keep doing it. And so, for at least the next three weeks of our “Learning to Tell our Stories” sermon series, we will. After that, we’ll see. For sure though, those of you who have your Caribou or Starbucks or homemade coffee in the car…don’t worry about bringing it in to church.
A lot of churches have been doing this for a long time and so to some, this is such a non-issue, that it is a bit odd for me to be writing about it. For others it is such a divergent practice that it makes you wonder if are we going to unplug the organ next. We are not unplugging the organ. So why do I think it’s such a major step?
I think coffee in church is such a major step for us because it illustrates a willingness to bring who we really are at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday morning into worship. Now of course you can do that without coffee, and there are some times when you should leave the little bit of comfort and distraction behind. But if worship is a place you bring your real true self….and if you are a coffee drinker, that real true self often includes something a little warm that you can sip on as you think and reflect, then as one great theologian has said, “Why not?”
My hope is that our worship continues to be a place where those of us who enter into it together have put aside our pretensions and facades and recognize that we are all beloved children of God who are in need of his grace. It’s that need that brings us together, not the coffee or anything else we have chosen as a measure of holiness.
So next week, bring your coffee or tea or whatever into church with you. And when you do, bring yourself also, bring your real 10 o’clock on a Sunday self. It is that daughter or son that God longs to touch, inspire, and send out.
Keep the Faith,
Pastor Dan
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