Monday, October 29, 2007

Christ and Coffee

Ok… I am a coffee junkie and a coffee snob. I drink a ton of coffee and I consider it bad day if any of it comes out of can. I am often saddened by the lack of Starbucks within reasonable driving distance of my home and office. But these are not the reasons I read The Gospel According to Starbucks by Leonard Sweet. It had been in my cart on Amazon.com for some time but I didn’t buy it until someone recommended to me. (Someone other than Amazon.com who always tells me what I should be reading and is usually right.) One of our newest District Superintendents (the United Methodist equivalent of a regional manager, sort of) recommended to me. I think United Methodist District Superintendents have one of the hardest, sometimes most soul-crushing jobs in the world of religion. So, when one of them is really excited about something, I take a lot of notice.

People in my present community may not totally get the idea behind this book because they don’t experience Starbucks unless they work in town. But Starbucks raises an amazing question that church people should be asking, “Why are young people perfectly willing to spend four dollars for a cup of coffee?” The answer has more to do with church than you would think. Leonard Sweet uses Starbucks as both a allegory and a practical example to show what people are searching for that the church used to provide: a spiritual experience that is experiential, participatory, image-rich and connecting (EPIC).

This book is so rich that I can’t write any more about it without feeling like I am doing it a disservice. If you are truly interested in how the church can regain its role of being a relevant force in society and how it can reach a new generation of human beings with the critical message of the Gospel, read this book. Read it, give it to someone else to read, start a study group around it. In other words, I recommend it.

peace,

will

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