Trips to Starbucks

January 2, James 3:13-18

Anyone who has lived in a college dormitory knows that community can sometimes be a difficult thing to build and to maintain.  I’ve been thinking about this very issue a lot lately, How is community built? What part do we play in that, and what part does God play? 

I’m sure many of us know from experience that a place with poor community is a very unpleasant place to live.  I really don’t like unhealthy community.  As I look back at my experience with it, I find a common factor.

It’s name is Starbucks.

You see, when I find myself in communities which I don’t like, or which are unhealthy, I tend to pull back and retreat into myself.  In order to spend as little time in my living space as possible, I spend outrageous amounts of time at Starbucks.  A few years ago, I didn’t like Starbucks coffee very much, but, for a few difficult months, the area I lived in only had one close coffee shop, and it was Starbucks.  So I actually taught myself to like Starbucks coffee.

Rather than fighting to be a part of a healthy community, I simply withdraw—waiting for everyone else to get it together so that we can live in peace.  You might not go to Starbucks, but is it possible you do this too?  

As we see in James, this is clearly not an okay thing to do. James writes

“Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.  But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial, and sincere.”

Oh. Ouch.  I am certainly not discounting the value of spending time in quiet and in solitude, but for me, my Starbucks trips are often not an effort to be alone with God for the benefit of the people I’m living with.  They’re an effort to escape from the situation I find myself in.  A selfish attempt to avoid the pain of unhealthy community. 

But, this whole “wisdom from above” thing sounds like a pretty good deal.  I started to think about what would happen if I began to seek God and his wisdom. Maybe those trips to Starbucks would grow less and less frequent.  Maybe we would begin to see how God begins to transform our hearts: replacing bitter jealousy with mercy and peacefulness, and developing impartiality and gentleness rather than selfish ambition.  What if all of the time we spend at Starbucks was spent pouring into our living spaces: our homes, our dorms, our apartments, neighborhoods?

James is pretty clear on that, too:

“A harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”

So, let’s think, friends… What’s your Starbucks? Why do you go there?  What does it look like if you seek the wisdom from above?

Let’s not be people who make trips to Starbucks.  Let’s be people who make peace.