The Christian Imagination

Palmer suggests that the church should become a kind of “halfway house between the comforts of private life and the challenges of diversity” (Palmer, 1981:28) The idea of intentional “halfway houses” where both the marginalized and church members come together as strangers has great potential for reuniting church and mission and for encouraging mutual transformation. Implicit in the idea of a halfway house is that the parties meet with the understanding that the place belongs to neither. The halfway house by its name is neither here nor there. God is the host.

…As people come together in hospitality, all parties must enter as learners (Van Engen, 1994:123-124). The risk for people who leave one community to go into another is that they will arrive as adults and not as children. They will come to offer service. They already know what to do. I really wonder whether anyone can commit themselves in a community if they do not first live a period of childhood there (Vanier, 1979:28).

The above is quoted from a chapter written by Kathryn Mowry in God So Loves the City. In context, it’s talking about what it means to welcome the stranger into our midst.

Can church on a Sunday morning be a neutral place? Should it be? I could argue that making a Sunday service too seeker sensitive can also make it less compelling. Worshipping God in community can affect both heart and mind. Hearing the good news can breath life into an empty soul. The author doesn’t appear to be talking about the music and sermon though, but about the body of Christ, and how we welcome people as a community. Therein lies the challenge. Can we be who we are, and also welcome strangers as they are?

Our church meets on Sunday mornings in a non-profit coffee house. The other 6 days of the week it’s open to the public. It’s a third place outside work and home where people gather, all sorts of people. While our staff and most of our volunteers are Christian, we are in many respects neutral. Many know we are church-affiliated, and we don’t hide that. For some, we are too Christian. For others, we are not overtly Christian enough. Still, we meet many strangers, and at times, we look around in surprise at the diversity of people sipping coffee in our community living room.

Mowry’s words remind me that God is the host, and while I have lived a period of childhood there, I wonder if it has become too familiar, and if I need to become a learner once again.

Palmer, Parker. The Company of Strangers: Christians & the Renewal of America’s Public Life. New York: Crossroad. 1981.
Vanier, Jean. Community and Growth. New York: Paulist Press, 1979.
Van Engen, Charles and Jude Tiersma eds. God So Loves the City. Monrovia, CA: MARC, 1994.

In this case, it means making espresso with using Novo coffee beans in a La Marzocco machine. Quite good. I like manual espresso machines. They give one the potential to make a really great shot of espresso coffee. Automated machines, such as used at Starbucks, provide a consistently average, but good, espresso shot. This approach has merit. But, the art is removed. The art that requires work, talent, practice, hope, expectation. The beauty that can be reached as light and heat and humidity affect the beans throughout the day, as the grind is set, as the tamp is pressed, and the button is pushed to send a specific temperature of hot water coursing through the grounds into a cup.

Why do I volunteer as a barista? I’m not always sure. Maybe so I can be crafted by the master barista. Being down here I serve, regardless of what I’ve gone through in the past week, and what I have yet to do. I step aside, clean tables, make coffee, listen a bit more, and focus on people. It leaves room for serendipity. For a brief, but meaningful conversion with Doug and Anna. And a girl who I danced with once remembering that I am part of this place who walked in to say hi.

And with that, I reopen this blog for conversation.

I recently back to the county where I grew up to spend some time with family and attend a high school reunion. It’s been awhile since I’ve been back, and it was a good time to get some perspective.

Way back when, I had thought about the need for a place to gather, to network, to be with people, in the city near where I lived. While there are likely some, there still aren’t many, and that became all the more real when I was there.

It’s then that I’m very thankful that I do have a place to go in Fort Collins, Colorado. There are a number of parks and coffee houses, and then, my coffee house, Everyday Joe’s, which truly is a gathering place where I can go and see many of the same faces each week, and perhaps meet some new ones.

In a culture where it’s so easy to stay in touch, it’s sometimes difficult to actually be touched, and have people connect with our souls. We can so easily be isolated in our offices or living rooms, watching TV, playing video games, or whatever the distraction of the day is. To be fair, technology has the potential to connect or isolate, depending on how we use it.

Is the church a place people gather? Or perhaps it really is the gathering itself (my preferred view). And when people walk into that gathering, do they feel isolated…or do they find connection? I believe a church is a people, not a place, but that doesn’t mean the place isn’t important. We need places, with people, to go and be. And when we find one, let’s appreciate it, because they aren’t always easy to find.

As part of my involvement in the coffee house community that we call Everyday Joe’s Coffee House, I mix sound for about 2 concerts a month, and have done so for 3 years or so.

I love live music, and this gives me a good incentive to not only hear their music, to but serve the musicians and get to know them a little better. It also gets me outside myself, as I have to be attentive to bringing out the best sound possible for any given song, to help the musicians enjoy themselves, and to keep the audience in mind as well. It’s rather surreal, really.

And while the sound is very important, so is the human element. Caring about people, and caring about the sound, and encouraging the musicians, and learning to empathize better with all that they have been through lately (driving, touring, lack of sleep, etc). We have all sorts of musicians from all sorts of places playing all sorts of styles come through our doors and grace our stage. Some share our faith in Christ, others don’t, but every weekend, we have an opportunity to love on them, and listen to them, and hear them, and it’s wonderful. The really cool part is how we’ve been able to build an extended family with some musicians and our coffee house community.

It just occured to me today that my life as a part-time volunteer sound tech is very relevant to this blog, yet I haven’t talked much about it, so this is a start. We hear a lot of great independent and soon-to-be-more-famous musicians, and there are some great ones to know. I may share some concert experiences, and who knows, maybe eventually I’ll have an occasional interview.

And if you are a musician and would like to play at our coffee house in Fort Collins, Colorado, let us know.