Jesus was present with the Disciples at the last supper
Breaking bread as a symbol for his body and wine as his blood. I guess what you are saying is that folks drinking coffee in church are not in a “reverential” state by doing so
Question 1: Did God make you judge and jury about what is and is not “reverential?
Question 2: You are of course familiar with the loaves and the fishes used to feed the multitude as Jesus spoke and was among them, must seem blasphemous to you
My point is God is about love and not rituals. If I am alone on a desert Island and I talk to God am I damned because there are not “2” there as a previous poster implied?
I say you think what you want, there are 2 there
Me and God, actually 3 if you count the Holy Spirit who was given to us by God as our companion
So you believe and feel what you want and others can do so as well, if you think God is going to pull you off to the side when you get to heaven and say “nice move on that coffee call” and high five you then go for it
I think he is just a little bit bigger and wiser than that
And just for the record yes I am an ordained minister, not one who marches around spouting laws but love as Christ instructed us
God Bless
PS - Note that Jesus never mentions buildings as the Church, he means the community of all followers with our without a building
Currently the hermits are kept well to the back, but they're still there. The internet has come along just in time to preserve that form of reverential life.
Looks like I hit a nerve. You must be from one of the coffee-selling churches.
“Note that Jesus never mentions buildings as the Church, he means the community of all followers with our without a building”
AMEN, Bro!
Try re-reading the first recorded words of Jesus. Note the location, and the respect that the parishoners demonstrated there.
Amen. It’s not about the physical it’s about the spiritual. Jesus was most concerned about our hearts. There are congregations around the world that meet under trees, in homes, in schools, in warehouses, etc. does this make them any less reverential or godly?
I’ve been to a number of churches since I move around a lot. I drink coffee every service I’m in. Some churches sell coffee, others just give it away. The presence of coffee has never made a difference in those churches and the movement of God in them. What made the difference was the involvement of the congregation and the church’s leadership.
For example, my family and I tried a church for a couple of weeks in northern New York. “Come as you are and be loved” was their explicit motto. OK...that could mean a lot of things, but, fine, whatever. They had a large social area outside of the actual sanctuary. Free coffee, couches, some snack foods. Lots of conversations and general hanging out. No real issue there. Then the service starts. People trickle in throughout the worship service, a great number just continue to hang out in the social area. No effort is made to be punctual and engage in the worship service, but that’s understandable once you hear the worship service. Those people are the Walking Dead up there. No heart, no passion, just going through the motions. The lead “singer” just mumbles the words into the microphone.
When it’s finally over, the pastor gets up there and starts his sermon. The message is OK, pretty generic, but he seems like a passionate guy. Then he relates a story about being at a meeting table with other pastors and a prophet prophecies among them. He says he’s bored and not even paying attention. He brags that he’s “not a very religious person.”
After the service, we collect our daughters from Sunday school. The room the older one is in has a volunteer serving who is 100% open lesbian. No question about it. Now I know what “come as you are and be loved” means. We never went back.
Is coffee the downfall of such a church? No. The attitude of the people involved in it is. Church, to them, was just another hangout destination. Regardless of how casual or formal the atmosphere of a church is, it should be more than a place to gab with your friends. Fellowship is one thing, but this “church” was something totally different.
I have been to other churches with a similar setup (coffee, social area, etc) that was very powerful, and you could feel God move every service. The people were on-time, respectful, and engaged. The pastor was quick to crack the whip and demand better behavior from people who sauntered in whenever they felt like it or decided to get up and leave during altar call so they could beat the traffic.