sharing coffee in the rain

June 22, 2009

This morning after breakfast, I made a carafe of coffee and took it, along with sugar and creamer and leftover biscuits and johnny cake, out in the drizzle, asking Papa to show me who to share it with. None of the “regulars” were in the regular spots, and I am nervous about people (especially men) that I don’t know at all. I went by the band-shell at the Park where street people often go to sleep dry when it rains, but I only saw people I didn’t know, so I walked on around the park/beach from the Peach to the other side of the Inn, then came back to the band-shell and saw GJ there with some young folks from somewhere, just getting up and packing their stuff – and they were all happy to have hot coffee, and some had biscuits too.

One of them asked me if I am a nurse or just “doing it from grace” (he said some places they’ve been, nurses come out and bring coffee!). I said, “Grace, I guess…because of the grace of Jesus.” (Thank You, Papa, for giving me boldness… and the opening of the young man’s question). I also told them about morning coffee on Tuesdays and Thursdays. GJ said something about getting preached at about Jesus, there … I couldn’t tell if he was just adding to the conversation, or if he was maybe upset by something he’d encountered at coffee time before? He speaks freely and cheerfully about Jesus out on the street… but I know one or two others have felt “preached at” at coffee time, and I’ve even wondered if that’s why ___ and ___ stopped coming; if they were “pushed” or something… maybe not, though; I don’t know)… Oh! The young folks wanted to give me something in return… they offered me some jam they had, to put on the biscuits, or told me I could choose from some hood ornaments they had a little pile of! I have noticed this about most street people; if you treat them kindly, they generally want to respond in kind! Often more so than “regular folks,” who really have far more to respond with…

(Father, I just keep coming, all over Your word, to references about caring for the poor and strangers and aliens (foreigners…)… and I know that often the references are to “those among you” or “in the church” or “of the brethren”… but not all of them, I don’t think… and anyway, we often don’t even go that far…)

(Papa? I only want to do what YOU want!)

(You love everyone… You died for “whosoever believes” didn’t You, Jesus? It’s not Your will that any should perish but that all should come to repentance, right?)