Comments on: The Gospel of St. Arbucks http://www.tomcottar.org/2007/05/22/the-gospel-of-st-arbucks/ ...conversation for the Journey... Wed, 05 Oct 2011 14:54:58 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: jimmiekersh http://www.tomcottar.org/2007/05/22/the-gospel-of-st-arbucks/comment-page-1/#comment-8769 jimmiekersh Tue, 22 May 2007 21:57:31 +0000 http://www.tomcottar.org/2007/05/22/the-gospel-of-st-arbucks/#comment-8769 If you go way back, 2 melinia, you see the same thing as starbucks in Greece and Rome. The market, the senate, the place to go to hang out and be communal. That is where the church was birthed. We too were communal then. We openly accepted those who were so different from us for the sake of telling them about Jesus. We have forgotten communal as you have suggested and Len so sweetly reminds us. Though I am not into coffee, I am into iced coffee and Starbucks makes the best I have had. The probelm is that the church has forgotten that fellowship, true koinnonia is not for inside the 4 walls, it is to be out in the community of ideas. It is the free flow of ideas and passion and love and concern that will drive a community to ask, "what is so different about those people?" "What do I need to do to be like them?" We have closed ourselves off from the community because we are afraid of ideas in the community, like $4 coffee. To quote two of my favorite theologians, "it's a beautiful day" and "I want to be a clone" never fit in the same sentence unless you are absolutely braindead. This southern conservative Bible Belt boy was like that for way too long. Now it is time to brew a cup, sit down at a table and see what in the world is going on. The Cloiture Club is not for the church, but Boy George could cause that to happen. Bring on the glorious world that the Lord has made and let us rejoice together in public and be glad to be able to afford a $3 cup of His creation, embellished by Starbucks. If you go way back, 2 melinia, you see the same thing as starbucks in Greece and Rome. The market, the senate, the place to go to hang out and be communal. That is where the church was birthed. We too were communal then. We openly accepted those who were so different from us for the sake of telling them about Jesus.

We have forgotten communal as you have suggested and Len so sweetly reminds us. Though I am not into coffee, I am into iced coffee and Starbucks makes the best I have had.

The probelm is that the church has forgotten that fellowship, true koinnonia is not for inside the 4 walls, it is to be out in the community of ideas. It is the free flow of ideas and passion and love and concern that will drive a community to ask, “what is so different about those people?” “What do I need to do to be like them?”

We have closed ourselves off from the community because we are afraid of ideas in the community, like $4 coffee. To quote two of my favorite theologians, “it’s a beautiful day” and “I want to be a clone” never fit in the same sentence unless you are absolutely braindead. This southern conservative Bible Belt boy was like that for way too long. Now it is time to brew a cup, sit down at a table and see what in the world is going on.

The Cloiture Club is not for the church, but Boy George could cause that to happen. Bring on the glorious world that the Lord has made and let us rejoice together in public and be glad to be able to afford a $3 cup of His creation, embellished by Starbucks.

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