coffee

Coffee with Christ

Introduction

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Welcome To Coffee with Christ. I’m your host, Nikol Jones.

Finding time to read the Bible is hard. We are so busy these days whether it is with work, family, friends, kids, extracurricular activities, or all the “To Dos” of ordinary life.

It is hard to sit down and read the Bible let alone process what you read or hear what God has to say to you.

If you’ve been in church for a while or you hang out around church-y people, you’ve probably heard the term “relationship with Christ.” It’s a weird phrase if you haven’t grown up around it. It’s also a weird phrase even if you have. I mean, what does having a relationship with Christ even mean?

Most people think it is going to church on Sundays

Maybe participating in a Bible Study if you’re really serious

or reading a devotional book.

And prayer. We can’t forget about prayer. Some people love it; others find it confusing and frightening. But we all seem to manage it when something is desperately wrong.

All of these things are GOOD things. They are building blocks for faith – every single one of them. But they are not relationship.

Relationships are two way streets. Think of how you interact with a friend. What do you do?

You call them;
you text them;
you listen or read their response.

On the best days, you make time on your calendar to be with them. Maybe you go to a coffee shop to catch up on their day or week or every how long it has been since you last talked.

You share what is important to you.
And they share what is important to them.

You listen.
You learn.
And this is how we love.

About 10 years ago, I decided to test out things I’d do with my friends (like catching up at a coffee shop) with my relationship with God. So, even though I’m not a morning person – I got up early one morning. I poured myself a cup of coffee even though at the time I wasn’t a coffee drinker. I sat in my favorite living room chair; and as silly and foolish as I felt, I invited God for coffee and said out loud, “Good morning, Lord. How are you?”

Then, I listened.

I listened to the clock ticking.
I listened to my dog snoring.
I listened to all the thoughts running through my mind about how stupid this was.

But I sat there – in the silence – and listened long enough to get through that first cup of coffee. I didn’t pick up my bible until I finished.

God didn’t speak to my heart that day, but as I kept inviting him over and listening, eventually He did.

And so, coffee with Christ was born. I have a blog (coffeewithchrist.org) where you can read what God teaches me in my time with him.

But I thought it would be fun to created a podcast where I can guide you through a similar process.

It is a time for you to sit back, enjoy a cup of coffee (or your favorite drink) and listen. I’ll go ahead and warn you – when you’re sitting alone in the silence, it will be awkward. But we will push through that together.

Then, I’ll read from the Bible and ask some questions. You can follow along in your bible but you don’t have to. You can just listen to God’s word being read aloud. That’s actually how God’s people heard it when it was new.

I won’t offer insight or discuss what we just read. There will be gaps between questions to give you time to think.

If you like it, I hope you’ll tune in regularly and pass it along to your friends.

So, are you ready? We’ll get started in our next episode.

Confession: I don’t drink coffee. Although there are other reasons, the bitter aftertaste and the possibility of slowly staining my teeth sealed the deal for me. (Call me a snob, but I’m pretty protective about my teeth and general oral hygiene.) I made a decision when I was about 13 that I didn’t have an interest in coffee, and I was going to be okay with that.

Here’s the rub: Coffeehouses are where it’s at! A childhood friend and I have a standing tradition to meet at a coffee shop every Christmas Eve and catch up. Tough conversations happen in cafes, and awkward first dates happen there. Good grief, I know of someone who slipped her phone number to a barista at a local shop, and today they’re married! What is it with the coffeehouse phenomenon?

I’ve read that coffeehouses go all the way back to the early 1500s, serving as the center of social gatherings where the public could read the paper, organizations conducted business, and people exchanged ideas. By the 17th century in England, they were a “social leveler” of sorts, inviting all people into a common place, regardless of social or economic status.

Based on that concept, I imagine that if Jesus were walking around London back then, he might very much like to duck into a place like that, where folks were learning, connecting, sharing about anything and everything, no matter where they’d been, or where they were going. I think he’d order the house roast, black, and pull up a chair. He loves to relate. He loves to visit and catch up. He loves to share, and to listen.

That’s what happens at coffeehouses, and that’s what we hope to do here. Grab a hot beverage, pull up a chair, get real, and visit our coffeehouse. Even though I have no idea what an “Iced Single Venti Mocha, No Whip” is, praise be to God, I’ve discovered steamers, ciders, and hot chocolates that give me something safe to cradle in my hands and sip on, while I connect with people. So, let’s hear it!