I’ve spent most of my life in church. I have vivid memories of going to church when I was five, standing on the pew next to my Poppa and singing, “Power in the Blood” at the top of my lungs.
I remember an old preacher who talked to us one Sunday about a funny word that meant “fellowship.”
Now, I knew all about fellowship… Our church did it a lot. We even had an entire building dedicated to the pursuit of fellowship: The Fellowship Hall. My favorite flavor of fellowship was Pie. There were ladies in that church that made the best pie that a kid could ask for.
Then the preacher said something that caught my attention and has stayed with me for more than 30 years:
Koinonia is about sharing what we have, about giving of ourselves and about supporting each other… Koinonia is not Greek for “pie.”
Now I have a degree in Bible, have studied Greek and been in the “fellowship” of numerous churches in my travels. I have experienced, in varying degrees, a measure of koinonia in several of these churches… and I have eaten a LOT of pie.
Today’s story isn’t about pie… It’s about coffee.
Koinonia isn’t Greek for “coffee” either.
I met two friends from church for coffee this evening. One is an artist who is transitioning from a full-time job to self-employment. The other is a programmer for websites. So, a Salesman, a Hippie and a Geek are sitting in Starbucks…
The purpose of the meeting is to help The Artist redesign the form and function of his website. The Geek was in his element: suggesting solutions and taking detailed notes. When the techno-speak got too deep, The Artist would get a glazed look and sheepishly ask for an explanation.
To be honest, I felt like the proverbial third-wheel… The Artist is really a top notch talent and The Geek could probably build a space shuttle out of household items. I offered a mind-numbing lesson on intellectual property and some pointers on branding.
But there was a wonderful peace while I sat with them. It was as if God had come and blessed the meeting with His presence.
Then it dawned on me. The three of us had come together so that The Geek and I could lend our peculiar expertise to The Artist. The Geek was offering functionality to The Artist that would cost thousands of dollars. He was going the extra mile, not just trying to come up with a solution that would work, but working to come up with the absolute best solution. The spirit of the meeting was about sharing what we have, about giving of ourselves and about supporting each other…
I hope we can do some of that around here…
It really is better than pie… And I love pie.
