Coffee Shop Community

At the Panera that I frequent, there are two main groups of people—those who are eating alone with their laptops (of which I am often one) and those who come to connect with friends. So what’s the difference between these “coffee shoppers” that hang out at for hours on end: the quiet laptoppers and those that shove several tables together? In a word, community. Those eating together are sharing relationships—they are in community— while those by themselves are in close physical proximity, but not a community. They are not communicating; they are eating together yet eating alone. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a certain amount of communication between the “alone in community” folks. We chuckle at emails, and talk on cell phones. We even alternate using the electrical outlets. But our “community” is a sorry replica of the stories and meals shared at tables 10 feet away.
Proximity cannot compare with intimacy. We can fill a crowded restaurant, church or bar, and still be very much alone. Alone without God and alone without the love of others. The strange thing about loneliness is that it happens in the most crowded of places.

An Inconvenient Truth

Our faith community that meets in Tampa Palms has been looking at the New Testament book of Philippians. We have been discussing it for the past month will conclude our time in Philippians on Saturday the 21st.

Even though I continue to learn new things in our time of biblical reflection. I have been still wrestling with the text we looked at a couple of weeks ago. It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that responding to God's shaping word sometimes takes more than a week. These are the words that I am still mediating on:

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Philippians 2:3-4

One of the questions we often ask during our time focusing on Scripture is: how is God asking us to respond to the passage? And I remember that week trying to take other people's interest more into consideration. So I started with our family of faith

The whole week I was more prayerful about our community, I thought about calling and checking in with a couple of guys in our group. And I found my actions fell short, my good thoughts never fully translated to generous actions. I confessed my shortcomings and of course people where gracious. The following week I put my personal convenience aside for the interest of a neighbor. I didn’t do anything noteworthy, just what would have been the neighborly thing to do in decades past, which seems new and radical in an apartment complex where the only thing people share, is a parking lot.

And even in my modest living out of Philippians 2:3-4 I found it to be inconvenient. Taking others into consideration is inconvenient. It is easy to identify the interest of others as just speed bumps and distractions for my own pursuits for me pursing my interests.
Could it be possible that putting other’s peoples interests ahead of my own actually furthers the interests of God. That by putting aside my agenda and investing in others I am being obedient to God, I am following the Great commandment of Jesus to Love your neighbor as yourself.

So for the last month I continue modestly flesh out the Philippians passage in my life. Slowly realizing opportunities where I can surpass embrace the inconvenience by putting my interests and preferences aside for others. Even though I now wrestle with these inconveniences I look forward to a time when I boldly live out Philippians 2. Where I am more in tune with God’s heart not just for a few but God’s love for the whole word. I pray to become more like Jesus whom for our interests gave his life.

A"To Do" List that's Done!

Maybe it's just me, but I feel like my "To Do" list is endless! As soon as I cross something off, there's two or three more tasks to add. There's never time to bask in the satisfaction of knowing I'm done as there's constantly more and more "To Do".

Heaven, however, is a place with no "To Do" list. No homework. No "I really should...". Nothing hanging over your head that's not finished. In Heaven, the task is complete, the race is run.

In this life, it feels like the mad dash is never over. Oh sure, there are moments of rest. Glimpses of glory. Small stirrings of satisfaction as another item is checked off. But it's never complete--the road still beckons, we have not yet arrived, our travels are far from over.

But in Heaven, they will be. The rest--and the satisfaction--will be complete. And when we finally hear our Daddy utter those words, "Well done my good and faithful servant" we'll know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the journey, and the race has all been worth it.

Do you see what this means--all those pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we'd better get on with it. Strip down, start running--and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed--that exhilarating finish in and with God--he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!

Hebrews 12:1-3
The Message

Garlic Smashed Potatoes

We had a great Seed Group on Saturday night in Tampa Palms. We started the book of Philippians and feasted on the Word of God and some home-cooked barbecue chicken, mashed potatoes and creamed corn. This seems like a great place to post our "favorite recipes" so that they're accessible to anyone who wants them. These were definitely delicious!

As Justice says--
"MMMM...nummy papas!"

Garlic Smashed Potatoes

• 7 lb. small red potatoes
• 7 garlic cloves pressed/minced (or you can just use the already minced garlic)
  
• 5 Tbsp. olive oil
• Salt to taste
  
• Dash of pepper
• 1 cup water
• 1 8 oz. package of light cream cheese with chives, softened (you could add a bit more if you wanted to
• 2/3-1 cup of whole milk

Wash, then halve or quarter potatoes to make even sizes. Place potatoes in a 6 quart slow cooker. Add garlic, oil, salt and water and mix to coat. Cover crockpot and cook on high for 3-1/2 to 4-1/2 hours until potatoes are tender. Mash potatoes roughly with a potato masher (or a fork). It might be easier to put them in a larger bowl to do this, then transfer them back to the slow cooker. Stir in cream cheese until blended, then add enough milk for desired consistency. You can serve this right away, or cover and hold it in the slow cooker up to 2 hours on low.

To reheat, simply microwave and add a bit of milk.

ENJOY!

8 Months in Short

It's been a long time since we last wrote. Here's a breakdown of where we've been at...

December...

• Christmas Eve we invited anyone who wanted to join us to attend a nearby church's Christmas Eve pageant and service. We hosted a dessert reception at our home afterwards.
• Our Tampa Palms Seed Group changed nights for the month of December, from Saturdays to Thursdays. We wanted to see if this change would allow others to attend who had other obligations on the weekend. After a month of trying this on for size, we decided to keep meeting on Saturday evenings.
• We prayed and prayed that we would be allowed to introduce someone to Christ before the end of 2007--and at our final meeting of the year, on December 26, 2007, the Lord answered our prayer!

January...

• We went "home" to Jersey and shared a wonderful time of fellowship with family and old friends.
• We traveled to San Antonio, Texas, for the RCA's "ONE THING" conference. It was a really sweet time of rest and renewal as we were poured into by dear friends from seminary and challenged by amazing speakers. We got back to Tampa ready to "hit the ground running"!
• We arrived home from San Antonio to a flooded apartment. 400 gallons of water came down through our ceiling (in our absence) and the majority of our material possessions were ruined. We were thankful to have renter's insurance, but had to stay temporarily in a hotel and then sort through mildewed things and decide which to move and which to trash.

February...

• We moved into a "new" apartment one hallway over from our old one. We had a lot of work to do with moving/sorting/working with the insurance company, etc. The flood really wiped us out for almost an entire month.
• We began the process of making our home ready to host people again. The second week after the flood, we again had church in our home, albeit there was almost no furniture! For a month we held worship in an empty place; people were really gracious, and we were able to use the large "space" for some interesting fellowship activities--we even had a paper airplane fight one night!

March...

• Life finally returned to normal. Steve continued to meet with USF students, alternating between a weekly discussion of the Bible and a "walk out your faith" in which students were challenged to live out what they were studying. They handed out candy to strangers, dined "On Top of the Palms" to experience upper room fellowship and prayed for each other.
• Easter! We hosted our first "Celebration" on Easter Sunday. FRC, a sister church on the other side of Tampa, was kind enough to host us for a combined service. It was a wonderful time of sharing together what God has been doing in our midst.

April...

• Our second baptism! Dr. Sergei Paromchick was baptized in Tarpon Springs in the Gulf of Mexico on April 19. Sergei became a Christian while joining the "family" of the Tampa Palms Seed Group, and God is already starting to do cool things through him!
  

Eating and Drinking

Then Jesus declared, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. John 6:35

We have already shared how on a cold Easter morning we gave out coffee and donuts to people selling newspapers at nearby intersections. But this was the first of several similar actions. We went to downtown Tampa and gave cupcakes out to the homeless; on July 4th we brought lemonade to some women who were all day doing landscaping work in New Tampa. And just a few weeks ago we joined Amazing Love Ministries and helped them feed the homeless. Hmmm.... It seems like we are a church who is all about food and drink!! Not to mention that we start every Saturday Seed Group with the Lord’s Supper and a full dinner; then close our time with coffee and desert. We are a faith community that gathers in and around food.

There's a precedent set for that in Scripture. Jesus also had encounters around meals. After he spoke to the crowds, he did not leave them go physically hungry but multiplied bread and loaves to the point of leftovers (Mathew 14 &15). It seems that Jesus was always down for a dinner party--and was even criticized for eating at the home of some people with sketchy characters. (Mark 2:16) Jesus even advocates giving a cup of cold water to drink (Mathew 10:42)--or maybe even lemonade? After Jesus resurrected and ascended,the theme of food continued. The first century church ate in each other’s homes regularly (Acts 2:46).

So we invite you to eat with us, and help us feed others as we follow in the footsteps of Jesus and his first followers.

A Resurrection Meal

It started out as a rather “ordinary” Easter morning. It was the morning after our Saturday night Seed Group. We got up, hurried to get ready, and headed off to visit a church. But we had the time wrong, and were early. VERY EARLY. So we headed off to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast.

Perhaps it was our feeling of discontent, a holy restlessness that opened our spiritual eyes to the world around us. Perhaps it was the chilliness of the Florida morning, that heightened our senses to where He might be working. Perhaps it was Him Himself, working in us, whispering to us, prompting us to lay down our ordinary for His extraordinary.

We prayed, there in the parking lot. Prayed for the lost world and for the “least of these”. Then we bought donuts. A dozen. And coffee—10 individual cups. Enough cream and sugar to go around and individual bags for packing completed the ensemble. With the feast prepared, we headed out.

In Florida, people often hawk their wares in the middle of the road, especially if it’s a large road with a center island. It’s a place where they can set up shop, and often those with money will hire those without to stand there in the sun, holding signs for condos, promoting events and businesses, and selling newspapers.

And of course, on this early Easter morning, they were there, bundled in layers because of the chill, shivering slightly and holding up the newspapers. 50 cents for the St. Petersburg times.

We went to them, pulling up next to the island and stopping, and rolling down our window. We told them we wanted to share God’s love with them on this Easter morn, and gave them a bag packed with coffee and a donut. Not much, nothing fancy. They smiled and thanked us, and we drove off.

10 bags, 10 donuts, 10 coffees, cream and sugar. Not the usual makings of a Resurrection meal. Yet somehow, I felt as if I’d shared in a feast greater than the many far grander, with far more accompaniments.

We never got to church Easter morning—but somehow, I think we were the Church, and allowed to be at least a small part of the nail-scarred hands and feet of Jesus to some of the “least” in our community. And perhaps, those we shared with felt His touch and presence as well. It was, indeed, a Resurrection meal.

~Pastor Hope