Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and recognized them as companions of Jesus. – Acts 4:13 (NRSVUE)
Every few months I treat myself to stopping by a coffee shop to do some writing and planning. It’s a rare treat, but when it works well it is some of my most productive time. This past week I had an appointment end early, so I had some unexpected time. As I was driving towards church from a direction out of my usual path, I drove by a Starbucks I had never noticed before and decided to stop in. A Starbucks stop is even more unusual for me. It’s something I do maybe twice a year. I was excited to use my free time for some focused planning and imagining for the next several months.
I bought my too-expensive coffee and sat down in a quiet window seat. I got my laptop out, and found that it was out of power and my cord was in my office at church. I did not have any books or other materials to spur my thoughts or plans. There would be no deep flow, and outpouring of ideas. Just sipping some coffee. It was not a waste of time by any means, but it was so not a rare treat of focused productivity either. It was just a few mundane minutes.
In Acts, Peter and John speak boldly before the religious leaders and conduct healings. Yet they were also ordinary men with no special training. They relied on their experiences with Jesus, and trusted in him to guide them. I would guess that their ineffective attempts were not recorded, because that is mundane and to be expected. What is extraordinary is that sometimes in their faith they were able to speak with great boldness about God and do acts of extraordinary power.
There was nothing particularly God-inspired that I find in that moment in Starbucks. It was just an ordinary and rather disappointing moment. Yet it takes having these ordinary moments to open ourselves to God experiences. Just like I was not able to instantly order up a perfect moment of inspired planning an insight, we cannot orchestrate experiences of God in our lives. Yet, I could do things that usually work, even if the logistics failed me this time. I still know that often a time at a coffee shop is an effective time and so I will try again the next time an opportunity opens up. In the same way, regular times of prayer and worship may or may not always produce a “religious” experience, but sometimes it does. Some days the challenges of getting out the door and getting to worship make it impossible to focus on God that day; our power cord is missing. Yet that does not mean it will not be a powerful experience of God the next time.