Dancing In Coffee Shops :)

There's something about the rhythm of a coffee shop. 

Each one is different. Unique. Some are just the right atmosphere for studying, others for long conversations with friends. 

Coffee shops create a beautiful space for encounter with God. They create space for community. And in community, I see God. Or when by yourself, they foster a space to be reflective. Or even simply to be extra aware of being by yourself, and thus notice God in the absence of others. 

Also, coffee shops have baristas. Beautiful humans with the gift of encouragement and conversation. They have the special opportunity to fill a physical need (for caffeine) but also, an emotional and spiritual need for human connection. For smiles and joy and thoughtfulness. Even in brief interactions. 

I have truly seen God in my interactions with baristas. 

Last year, a sweet Coffee Cottage barista Naomi, asked me how my day was going. I smiled (extravert that I am, thrilled to being having a conversation with a new human). I also sighed, telling her of my busy schedule and exhaustion. I was probably close to tech week for a show. She was so sweet and encouraging. She pulled down her mask to offer a brief smile, and told me her name. And then she wrote 'beautiful' on my cup instead of my name. 

She quickly became my 'barista bestie.' 

I never knew her outside of the coffee shop. But every time I came in she remembered who I was and always offered kindness and encouragement. And even occasionally, hugs. 

I think God works through people. He showed his abounding abundant love for me through a stranger providing the coffee in an exhausting season of life. He fills my soul with joy and love through the kindness of others. His love is so overflowing that He can love through others to people they don't even know. And coffee shops are a place so evident of this. 

I also think coffee shops are an amazing opportunity for encounter with God because the best coffee shops have muuusic. 

Like right now for example, "Fever" started playing in Coffee Cottage. I'm sitting by a window. Some days this old house turned coffee shop is full of Adele music (which always gets me rockin' and smilin') and boisterous chatter among moms, co-workers, old friends and college students. 

But today, at 2pm, it is mellow. Chatter is minimal and mostly comes from the kitchen and order line. Footsteps click on the wood as people walk to and from tables. College students bend over ipads and notebooks studying for exams. The lights twinkle and laughter flows from the baristas. It is bright and sunny outside and I am sitting with a good friend by the window. We are doing homework, and only have less than an hour to get an insurmountable amount of homework done. 

Yet, despite the freakishly long to do list...I am full of nothing but joy and a desire to dance. 

Because the BEST music is playing. (Okay...I like a lot of kinds of music...but this is the music that just makes my soul sing and my body want to dance. )

"Fever" by Peggy Lee sends me snapping my fingers and bobbing my head. The attitude and energy and jazzy sound transports me to the joy of past memories of jamming out to jazz with my family. 

Now "Stand By Me" by Otis Redding is playing and you can't help but smile. I sing along in my head. I can't stop swaying and moving to the music in my chair. 

You know...music is such a gift from God. And not just one particular genre. And not just traditional worship music...though I think there is a special need for those hymns and praise songs. 

But...wow. God made us to dance. To sing. To laugh. To bask in his glory. To delight in His presence. 

And he gifted us the ability to create fun rhythms and chords and dissonance and resolution. And sometimes it helps us to process or empathize with a particular story or emotion. 

And sometimes it reminds us of our brokeness and thus of His grace, power, and glory to fill our broken parts. 

And sometimes it causes us to delight. To simply have joy because the sound is beautiful. OR funky. And it causes us to dance. And dancing brings joy and laughter. And this joy and laughter is only possible because of God, and that is truly amazing. 

Music is the heart beat of the coffee shop. And it takes everything in me (on multiple occasions) to keep from getting up and dancing. And sometimes I can't help it. In Chapters Books and Coffee the other day I got up to use the restroom and danced across the shop on my way there. 

It is this indescribable feeling of wanting to soak up the art and the beauty. 

This past week, my theatre professor quoted C.S. Lewis about how we can't just behold or observe beauty. We want to get up inside of it. 

That is how I feel with the groovy jazz in the coffee shops. 

ooo! I googled and I think this is the quote:

"We do not want merely to see beauty, though, God knows, even that is bounty enough. We want something else which can hardly be put into words — to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it.” 

We want to immerse ourselves in beauty. We crave it. And I think that is because beauty is from God. He makes beautiful things. 

And He's making beautiful things out of us. 

Have you ever heard that song:) I'll link it here if you want to take a listen. So good!

And it's so true! He is making beautiful things, out of us. Us. Us broken, weak, messed up humans. 

Today in class we were talking about the kintsugi art. It is "the Japanese art of putting broken pottery pieces back together with gold — built on the idea that in embracing flaws and imperfections, you can create an even stronger, more beautiful piece of art."

We talked about how in our brokeness, God's glory, power, and strength shine. Our brokeness is valuable because it reveals our lack and weakness. And in that lack we become more aware of our need for God. 

2 Corinthians 12 says how His power is made perfect in our weaknesses. His grace is sufficient. And we should boast in our weakness because in it God's glory shines. 

Wow. 

God has been teaching me this so much recently. Two weeks ago the sermon at church was on this very passage. And then it has been on my mind since, and relating to our conversations in Theater ministry about faith and art. 

It made me realize that in our brokeness God creates beauty. He doesn't just return us to how we were. We are not made 'un-broken.' But we are made into something new. Refined and beautiful. A new work of art that God has redeemed from our broken pieces. 

Well...you know me and my music...this makes me think of the song "Broken Vessels." This song was so special to me in highschool, and still is (though I haven't listened to it in a long time.)

"All these pieces, broken and scattered, in Mercy gathered, mended and whole. Empty handed, but not forsaken. I've been set free." 

There is a freedom in knowing our brokeness is being redeemed. That it is being turned into something beautiful and in our weakness God's glory shines brighter. But we are empty handed. It is not at all us. It is only through Christ's love and power. 

All this to say. God is teaching me a lot right now. Humbling me and making me aware of my weakness and brokeness. I can't avoid it. But - I can recognize my weakness, and praise God for how He is working in my broken pieces to create art. 

And He is working in you too. We are all screwed up people. Messy and broken. But in that He is making something absolutely beautiful. And for that, I will boast. My God is good. He is abounding in love and Grace. May my life, art and brokeness be a testimony to that. 

Much love for you all. May you enjoy a delicious cup of coffee and notice the presence of God in the sounds of the coffee shop kitchen and the conversations (or lack thereof) around you. In the joy of the jazz music that God has given us the ability to create and enjoy. 

May you find yourself dancing in coffee shops and immersing yourself in the beauty of God. 

Sincerely, 

Sophi