Coffee Time

You're talking about adults who aren't mentally handicapped in some fashion, right? Do adults really worry about this? Functional adults are quite capable of listening to somebody talk without worrying about spilling their coffee.

 

Oh yes, that's why I always have a ruler, a micrometer, and a set of balances with me whenever I have a cup of coffee. It demands one's complete concentration to avoid spilling it. With all the measuring to be sure that's cup's level on whatever I put it down, and/or doing my calculations to make certain there is less than a .001 probability the surface of accomodation will not tilt sufficiently to open the possibility of a drop escaping out... yeah, your're right; all that does occupy one's concentration to where there's nothing left for the preacher's flattery of what a great church we have.

 

That's not my point, Dan. I'm not against coffee at church, but keep it in the fellowship hall. Coffee should not be brought into the sanctuary because the sanctuary is a place of worship. That was my point. Coffee time is "social time"--there is nothing wrong with socializing over a cup of coffee in the fellowship hall. That is the purpose of the fellowship hall. The purpose of the sanctuary is to worship the Lord.

Presenting a similar scenario--should people be allowed to "text message" on their cell phones during worship service? This happened in our church yesterday morning, and our pastor called out two of our young people for doing that. Now don't jump the gun---I did not say that nobody can bring a cell phone into worship service--many need to do that. I'm not talking about that. What I am saying is this: Worship time is worship time and social time is social time.

 

Okay, let's put signs on the entry doors to the worship center: FELLOWSHIPPING IN SANCTURAY PROHIBITED.

 

I get your point. :thumbs:

I have no problems concentrating, focusing, worshiping, revering God, or anything else with a coffee cup nearby.

 

Let me add by saying that I understand that this is more than just me being able to be in the "sanctuary" and have coffee with no problems. It is about whether it is disrespectful, or shows lack of reverence, to have it.

This is where we shall disagree. No problems if a church doesn't have coffee, by any means. Definitely no problems with a church having it.

 

Fellowship hall is for socializing--actually I have heard it said that the Fellowship hall should be called the "Social" hall because we all socialize there. Fellowshipping is done in the sanctuary, through our worship of the Lord.

That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. (1 John 1:3)

Fellowship in the true sense of the word is "koinonia", which means "communion" in the Greek (Strong's Greek Dictionary 2842)

No signs are necessary if we know what true fellowship is and we differentiate "fellowship/communion" from simply "socializing". I would think that God's people would know the difference.

 

That isn't similar at all. Go to a movie. You can eat popcorn and drink soda while you're watching a movie and you won't miss a thing, and you won't disturb anyone around you by doing it. But if you text message, you'll miss that part of the movie and you may disturb people around you at the same time.

 

As one who cleans the church.
NO FOOD OR DRINKS IN THE SANCTUARY.

 

No problems at all here.

Practical concerns, I understand.

Theological objections, I don't.

 

While in college I was the custodian for my home church, so I completely understand!

I agree with rbell, practical concerns I understand. Theological reasons I do not.

 

There may be theological reasons, I think. I don't want to rip things out of context, but does I Cor. 11:34 have anything to do with this, when it says to eat at home?

It is my understanding that the church at Corinth had problems in that rich people were bringing food to church and eating well in front of poorer members who had nothing.
So would it really be advisable for me to bring my KFC or Wendy's bag into the sanctuary and at the very least disturb people around me with the smell of the food and with my chewing? :laugh:

My church does provide a lot of food, coffee, juice, in a lot of contexts (not in the sanctuary because of cleaning) but it is provided for everyone that comes. Not like the problem at Corinth.

 

ummmm...yeah, that context is a bit different than what we are talking about. It isn't really about bringing food from outside the church whenever others don't have any either. It is more like it being appropriate for the church to provide coffee/food in the "sanctuary" for everyone to have.

 

I hear you.
Actually, my church does have a combination dinner/worship service once a year at Thanksgiving. People are eating while the service is going on.
During some of the songs, some people are chewing or getting up for more food while others are singing.
I think it is a great service and fulfills its goals. However, the practicalities of eating and drinking are such that cleaning aside, it would be distracting to me to have that happen during every worship service.