Like Good Coffee

What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it?
- Mark 4:30

Few things are easy in the world, but good fellowship and good coffee can help us all move forward.
- David Robinson

Baseball legend and civil rights hero Jackie Robinson's extraordinary life came to an end at the age of 53. At that same age his youngest son David is continuing his father's legacy off of the baseball diamond and outside of the United States on a coffee farm in Tanzania. David Robinson was recently interviewed by Bob Costas on his program "Costas Now" in Tanzania, his adopted home. Robinson explained to Costas that "I’m in Africa because of my parents’ vision of wanting to have their son understand his race’s role and place in the world community.” He also talked about how returning to Africa was his way of becoming whole, because so much of his history as an African-American was lost when his ancestors were brought to this country as slaves.

Whereas Jackie Robinson dedicated his life to integrating professional sports and American society in general, David is an advocate of what he calls "economic integration." Like most of the world's poor, which make up 80% of the world's population, coffee farmers in Africa and Latin America make less than two dollars a day, despite the fact that coffee is a multi-billion dollar global industry. In an effort to help Tanzanian farmers get more of their fair share of the market, Robinson leads a cooperative of over 300 coffee growers called Sweet Unity Farms. Through unity this collective hopes to create a more integrated global economy by selling directly to consumers and retailers, so that large coffee wholesale and distribution companies are not the only entities who prosper from the product.

In hearing Robinson's story and the importance of coffee in developing this poor African country, I began to think about the growing importance of coffee in the church. Those ministries that seek to be culturally relevant have either added coffee houses to their facilities or used them as meeting places. Like the wine of the ancient world, coffee has become the beverage of choice for the purpose of conversation and fellowship. When you think about the demographics of the people who go to coffee stores, they are extremely diverse in terms of race and age. Due to the high cost of specialty coffees, poor people are often priced out of the experience and are the one group that is consistently absent from this cultural space.

However, the coffee shops of our society tend to be much more diverse than our churches overall. I wish I could say that at least the poor are accommodated better in the church, but unfortunately we often prefer charity over actual integration when it comes to our less fortunate brothers and sisters. When I take inventory of the ways in which the world reflects God's will more consistently than the church, I am reminded of how His grace can never be limited to the walls of religious institutions.

The church is ideally a foretaste of God's coming kingdom. If coffee can serve as a means for economic integration, could it also facilitate racial and cultural integration for the church, so that it can better fulfill it's role in society? If Communion is that time where we drink wine and break bread in honor of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for all of humanity and remember that through Him unity among all peoples is possible, then perhaps coffee can indeed serve as a supplement for the Eucharist outside of Sunday services and help build bridges where we find ourselves divided by race, class and culture. Then let us say, the kingdom of God is like good coffee shared among friends from many places.


P.S. For more reflections on church, race and culture visit a Jazz Theologian at Theomoments and Anthony Smith at Postmodern Negro.