This morning I spent a couple of hours working on my sermon. Not unusual for a pastor. What is slightly unusual is that I did it not in my office or at home, but at Starbucks. I am making it a point to spend a couple of hours one morning and one afternoon a week there in a baby-step toward being present in and to our community.

The Starbucks at 415 Lake Avenue is hopping in the morning, let me tell you. There is a group of regulars there and I'm sure it will take me a while to crack that group. But as I was sitting there with my Bible flipped open and my notebook out, someone approached me and asked me what I was doing. Honestly, I hadn't been expecting that on my first venture out. I told the young man that I was the new pastor at First Congregational Church and I was spending some time preparing my sermon for Sunday. He proceeded to tell me how he went to a church when he was a kid, but hadn't been to a church service in at least five years. I mostly just listened as he told me how he didn't feel comfortable in church and how he thought church was just about a bunch of rules that didn't apply to "real life."
I shared with him that not all churches are like that and that I pastored a church that was at least trying to be real and make a difference in people's lives, helping them no matter where they found themselves on their journey.

Will I see him Sunday morning? Honestly, I doubt it. But I hope to see him again. I told him I would be here at Starbucks every Wednesday morning from 8:30-10:30.