Coffee Together

Then the king's personal servants said: Your Majesty, a search must be made to find you some beautiful young women. Esther 2:2

“Then let the young woman who please you most take Vashti’s place as queen.” King Xerxes liked these suggestions and he followed them. Esther 2:4

“When the king ordered the search for beautiful women, many were taken to the king’s palace in Susa, and Esther was one of them.” Esther 2:8

In about 45 minutes I will meet with a number of people from my church for coffee. I have no idea how many, and am not really concerned with the number that show up. As I fell asleep Saturday night I was thinking about ways to increase real openness among ourselves as well as ways to let God’s word take a deeper place in our lives.

I have no idea how effective this new venture will be, but it is simple enough that if we find it unsuccessful little is lost. I am simply inviting any adults to a “Coffee with Pastor” time on Tuesday mornings at one of our local restaurants. I will be there every Tuesday at 10:30 and anyone who wants to join me is welcome.

I will probably open up conversation around a single verse of scripture snatched up from the previous Sunday’s sermon and hope it simply takes off from there. Personally, I have longed from deeper relationships but I am trying to approach this endeavor with zero expectations. Simply letting it happen and hoping that it will develop into a group of people who actually enjoy opening up to each other and honestly wrestling with applying Scripture to our lives.

I am trying the same thing with our teens. We will meet on Wednesday afternoons for “Pop with Pastor.” I am just as excited about the possibilities here, but also with zero expectations. I simply want to be able to share our lives together, and give the teens an opportunity to be honest with an adult they trust.

I am aware that coffee or pop shared in a public space doesn’t encourage the deepest level of sharing, but it also is non-threatening. As a pastor of a rural church, I have struggled greatly with two things. One is that, other than Sunday Morning Worship, the numbers are quite small for other attempts at a “service”. This “Coffee” or “Pop” time helps me lower the expectations about numbers and simply share with the number who show up.

Secondly, I have struggle personally with the lack of real friendships. Having been in one spot now for over four years, but having no close friendships, is death to my soul. I am hoping that this two opportunities through the week will provide the sharing and friendships my heart is hungry for.

So, how about that passage from Esther? As I approach our first Coffee with Pastor time, I think how God put a plan into motion to deliver His people before there was even a crisis. Later on in this short book, Esther will be used to keep the Jews from being exterminated by an angry lieutenant of the king.

I hope that these times together fit in with God’s plan. I do not expect that any of us will thwart any great conspiracies against the kingdom of God, but I do hope that, as we meet, we are one more piece in the beautiful puzzle God puts together using our lives.

It sounds strange coming from a vocational pastor, but the truth is, I am very weary of “church”. I want to break free. I want to literally fly in usefulness for the kingdom. There must be more than just what happens on Sunday morning. While I am quite aware that “just another meeting” offers little in the way of dynamic difference, I am hoping that the atmosphere that is built will provide something of truly essential difference.

Esther didn’t have to plan or connive, she just had to be available. So, I am hoping that these Coffee times and Pop times together will be one way of making our hearts a little more available to each other and to Christ. I am hoping that there is a longing in just a few people that will make these times a moment of fresh air in the middle of life’s constant demands.

If only one shows up, I will be happy, although I am always a bit shy about one on one conversation. I would be much more at ease if there were at least three of us. If no one shows up, that will be ok too. I have plenty of reading to do, and will continue to plant myself in the same seat Tuesday morning and Wednesday afternoon.

For my readers, pray that lovely things for God’s kingdom spring forth from a few rough-hewn sinners getting together to enjoy the grace we share in Christ.