For over seven years I spent many hours each Sunday at the church, this has been my vocation and my life. Rob and I felt it was best for us to make a move and therefore I left my paid vocation position at the church. The church where we now attend has both Sunday morning worship and a nice Sunday evening worship. We often choose to worship at the evening time and this has led to occasional relaxing Sunday mornings. Today I wanted something different and I drove down the road to a local coffee shop with no expectations. I had a curiosity about what happens in the world, during 'regular church time' and what people do with their time. Of course, there were numerous people running and biking and maybe a few folks out and about who went to the early worship service. To the coffee shop I went with a backpack holding my computer, a stack of books about triathlons, my devotion book I hadn't opened in a month and my journal.
As I drove down the street, I was wondering who I would see at a coffee shop at 9:30am on a Sunday? As expected I saw a handful of people in their 20s-30s with a laptop or other electronics, some with books, I saw a few people just done running, a girl sitting there knitting, a couple guys in their 50s, a 30 something guy just returned from a campout, a few folks who were wearing their Sunday best clothes and eventually a young family with their preschool aged daughter joined us. Using a ministry, churchy word, the Sunday morning coffeeshop crowd was truly an inter-generational group and a group who didn't just pass through, this group came to be in that place.
Upon arrival I placed my ordered and scouted out a seat at a table, waiting for the cozy chair in the corner to open up. I opened my devotion book and the chapter I left off at was titled, "The Practice of Being Present to God," how fitting. After reading a few pages, the chair in the corner opened up, so I made my move into the area with couches and comfy chairs. This move led to 2 hours of conversation about life with people like me, choosing not to be at an established church on a Sunday morning. Yet in a unique way--we were church together, sharing in conversation--deep conversation about our lives, about hopes and dreams and even moments where we talked of death. God was present and is present in these moments. As strangers, what did we talk about? Upcoming events in our city, what area of town we lived in, one guy share about his passion for auctions and his quest to furnish a whole house for less than $2000, a guy shared about his daughters college opportunities, a couple shared they were originally from Joplin, MO, they opened to share how death impacted their extended family through the tornado, and a lady talked about her graduate school work and vocational hopes, the list could go on and on. I can't count the number of times someone in our little couch circle said, "I overheard you saying..." and then they would continue to ask a question or make further conversation. Eventually another guy in his 20s showed up and just because we were talking about a new 'developing' area of downtown, he started talking about a new ministry that was beginning out of the Episcopal church--this young adult was 'burnt out from church' and actually sometimes attends or use to attend the church where Rob and I have been attending. My heart was grateful and prayerful for an experience outside of the typical Sunday Church that I needed.
Don't get me wrong, I am not at all saying Church is a bad thing, but there needs to be time we, church going people, spend beyond the church doors where we can 'be' and not just 'do'. Barbara Brown Taylor shares a quote in her book "Alter in the World" and it says, "The best preparation for a life of prayer is to become more honestly human," (page 175). Where do you become honestly human? Even deeper, are you truly honest to yourself and to God? In this book Taylor talks about written, sung, and spoken communal prayers as a centering way to begin our day and live our lives and what a blessing for us to be part of a communal voice of prayer during worship with fellow believers in a church community.
To live a life of prayer and always acknowledge the presence of God in our midst we must practice regularly. Now is the time to wake up, to know and live, that prayer is beyond what we say and what we do--prayer is acknowledging the presence of God wherever we are, prayer is a time to be. I encourage you to take a Sunday morning, during 'typical church time' and go by yourself to a local place where people may be instead of at church--and experience God in a new way. Go vulnerable and ready to share life with people you have never met before and may never see again.
My heart is open to a life of prayer in a new way. My heart is open to life with strangers and I lift prayers for them because of our conversation and sharing about our lives, which led to specific prayers I yearn to lift up for them. My heart is open to offering constant prayers of thanksgiving and prayers of hope for what I see around me. I am awake and I pray that you can be awake and remember that we are in God's presence and called to be more intentional about seeing the presence of God in the 'real world' outside of the church doors. I pray that more people who regularly walk through the church doors can intentionally open their eyes and see the presence of God beyond the church. I pray people of the Church can acknowledge there is need to INTENTIONALLY be in God's presence outside of the church building. INTENTIONALLY. Ultimately, remember to love Jesus, and love people in the real world, while you acknowledge the presence of God everywhere you go. May we all know that we are called to follow Jesus, just as we are. Being a follower of Jesus is not easy, and we must remember that following Jesus is a call beyond the doors of the Church building.
PONDER THIS
Where or when have you experienced God lately?
When are times you probably forget to acknowledge the presence of God?
In the future, how can you INTENTIONALLY acknowledge the presence of God?
Read Acts 13:1-4 and ask yourself, what are the people of the church called to do? (gather and go!!)
Where are you called to 'be' within your community? (note: not what are you called to do)
PRAYER
Lord,
We acknowledge the presence of the Holy Spirit in our midst and help us to know and remember the presence of the Spirit. Give us the strength to be vunerable and share life with strangers we encounter in our world and help us to see where in our community that we are called to 'be'. You are the reason we are here on this earth and for you alone we live to do your will. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
