All the great awakenings took place outside the walls of the local church, and outside the walls of papal institutions, liturgical traditions, denominations, and organized religion. The New Testamant was written in Koine Greek--the street language of the common guy--like the typical latte villager we see these days in coffeeshops--in the marketplace. The public marketplace, the agora, is really where things happen socially and conversationally. Years ago I began enjoying conversational prayer with people I had established rapport with in coffeeshops--especially in the Fig Garden Village area of Fresno, California.
Occasionally, it has been my privilege to be given permission to pray with and pray for folks. Some have had emotional struggles, or relational issues, or financial or employment problems, or physical maladies. Some were aware of profound ultimate concerns, ontological issues, or wanted to discuss spirituality.
I've always received as much as I've tried to offer to others. Sometimes it takes several conversations to build enough of a relational and friendship bridge so that we can feel comfortable to segue into personal issues.
Many people have touched my life and enriched me educationally, emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually--far more than I have them.
I always consider it a great honor to be invited into someone's life on a deeper and more personal level. Of course, I don't try to be the answer man. (I wonder if finding the right question to ask may be more important than having all the answers..?)
So many fun experiences occur in the agora that I can't imagine fearfulness and phobias associated with it--yet there are folks who appear to suffer from fear of crowds--or are carrying around in their purse or wallet the diagnosis of Agoraphobia, an anxiety or panic disorder.
I find the many 'phobias' listed in psychiatric tomes interesting.
In fact, a few persons even struggle with Phobophobia, the fear of fear.
(I wonder if anyone wrestles with Phobophobophobia, the fear of the fear of fear?)
My motto is: "A fiend in need is caffeined indeed!" (I'm debating whether to stencil it on a t-shirt--with a coffee cup picture?)
But while scribbling out my cartoons on any legal writing surface on hand I often experience a reverence for God and a deepening respect and empathy with my fellow brew-tasters.
These are folks practicing the art of conversation, some authentically commnicating, some perhaps enjoying the beginnings of koinonia and even communion--the rarest form of interpersonal communication--man to man and man with God.
Of course, there are always the studying ones, the readers. And the sketchers like me--but we're still here, as whole persons, individuated, but nevertheless part of the group, of this slice of life.
The latte village, I think, could be the perfect place for the troubled person struggling with the fusion-vs.-individuation polarity--the fear of engulfment on the one hand in tension with the fear of abandonment on the other.
You can sit there, drawing, or reading a good novel--alone--but not quite--around other people--connected in a sense to other living, breathing, humans. Maybe a smile, a greeting, or friendly nod is all the rapport-building you need for the time being.
But if the coffeeshop you land in is blessed with friendly management, sociable counter people, and at least a few substantive (non-shallow) personalities who possess a bit of empathy (and who're not rapport-impaired forrest gumps or meth-head bikers with deer-caught-in-the-headlights stares--ha!) you'll find the ambience a conducive arena for a Bible study or perhaps some officing.
Coffeeshops are ubiquitous nowadays--and one may become your favorite island of sanity. From the daily grind--to holy grounds...
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Copyright 2008 by Philip C. Brewer All Rights Reserved
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