I walked into my favorite coffee shop yesterday morning, in my usual hurry to get my weekly treat and head off to work on time. A bit dismayed at the long line in front of me - and glad that I got in before the two people who entered immediately after me - a series of events quickly changed my annoyed tune. As I was waiting in line, a man in front of me turned and said good-morning, a woman who had just gotten her drink and was on her way out smiled as she passed, and then I heard the Barista greet the next customer in line by name, well before he had spoken a word or shown his "loyal member" card to identify himself.
"Hmmm," I thought, "She must know him."
But they did not engage in any deep or personal conversation that would suggest they were friends or even acquaintances outside of the Barista-customer relationship. "But she knew his name before he even got there?" I just kept thinking.
I placed my order, was called by my name (after I showed my "loyal member" card), and paid for my drink. But not before I heard another worker at the coffee shop say "Hi Ahli" as he stepped forward to the till to help with the growing line behind me. A man stepped towards his side of the counter, said "hello" back, and placed his order.
"Wow," I thought, "He knows his name too."
Having finished with my order, I walked to the other end of the counter to wait for my drink. And as I waited, I watched the first Barista I had encountered this morning give the man behind me his total, before he had even reached the counter also.
"Holy Moly," I thought, "She knows him so well she already knows his order!"
I witnessed the workers of my favorite coffee shop call numerous customers by name, have their orders memorized, give a complimentary carton of coffee to EMT workers to take with them, and even offer to help carry drinks - all with a line of customers long enough to stress out the normal worker of any business, let alone their impatient customers in the line. But as I waited and watched, taking in all the smiles, "hellos," names and interactions of folks on both sides of that counter, I realized that the line there this day was perhaps a bit more than just a line of "customers."
It was a line of community.
That small, crowded shop seemed brimming with a sense of unity, regardless of the diversity that filled it. These people - who I had never seen here before, despite my regular stops - all seemed to belong here, to belong to one another in the various relationships they had with staff or one another. Even I as the stranger felt like I somehow belonged to them as I encountered it all! And each small action of outreach and relationship seemed to help spur one another on in cheer and a positive outlook on the day ahead.
It was a community!
* * * * * *
Now I don't pretend that the recognition of a few "regulars" automatically institutes a community. Nor that rush hour at the coffee shop is equal to that of a strong faith community or family. But I also realized in that morning experience, that the two are not mutually un-equal either.
For it was in the simple act of acknowledging another - with a smile or hello from strangers - that I felt a sense of welcome.
"How good and pleasant it is
when God’s people live together in unity!" (Psalm 133:1)
when God’s people live together in unity!" (Psalm 133:1)
And it was in the important act of calling one by name - an effort in building and acknowledging the relationship - that I could see individuals feel a sense of belonging.
"For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members
do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form
one body, and each member belongs to all the others." (Romans 12:4-5)
And it was from having experienced those first two things that people moved on to serving others also - offering smiles and hellos of their own to strangers (heck, even I offered to help someone carry her coffee trays, and held the door for someone entering as I left) as they entered into a sense of involvement.
"And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good
deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of
doing, but encouraging one another." (Hebrews 10:24-25)
A few weeks ago at a talk by Alejandro Aguilar Titus, Assistant Director for the Secretariat for Cultural Diversity in the Church, he listed these three things - welcome, belonging and involvement - as the important stages that people need to move through in order to have community development within a faith community. I have been reflecting on them ever since, thinking about the ways I have moved through these stages in my own various communities. I even spoke about these stages at a talk I did in a parish earlier this week. And yesterday morning, I saw them played out right before my eyes in a small coffee shop on my way to work.
And while I again do not pretend that the community built in that coffee shop holds the same value or power as a faith community, it was a reminder to me of how important those three stages of community-building are. Of how very important community in general is!
As I got in my vehicle - iced mocha in hand, ready to face the day - I felt something other than the caffeine buzz stirring inside of me. I felt joy. I felt power. I felt a sense of pride in my world. It was honestly not a feeling I can say I feel all the time or even every day. But this morning in what I witnessed, I felt an overwhelming mix of positive emotions, as I had no doubt I had just experienced holiness in that little corner shop. For that is what community is - holy.
* * * * * *
Although I was very proud of my preferred coffee shop on that morning (and now prefer it even more), this is not a commercial for the business. It is a commercial for community. The holy community that can happen anywhere when we slow down and take the time to acknowledge those around us and allow ourselves to open up to one another; when we share life together - from the simplest events such as morning coffee to the big celebrations of sacraments - with each other; and when we work towards each of the stages of community-building our church calls us to - even outside of the church.
No matter where you find your community, I encourage you to think about the ways you encounter and interact with others within it. Do you offer simple acts of acknowledgement and welcome? Do you continue to build relationships, calling others by name as GOD does for us, so that they may know they belong? Do you make efforts to involve and be involved?
And for those of us who are members - especially leaders - of a faith community, can we take a lesson from my Baristas and fellow costumers, recognizing that we too probably still have work to do in these areas. There is no community too big, none too small, no gathering of humans in church or synagogue or mosque or office building or coffee shop or corner of the globe that cannot continue to work on building community with one another!
This is our call. We are one human family - "neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male and female, you are all one" (Galatians 3:28).
We are all one - coffee lovers or tea drinkers, students or businessmen, "regulars" or those surprised by grace on Friday morning!
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