The other day my friend Aaron reminded me that rain is good because rain resolves. Rain is redemptive. I am not sure exactly what Aaron means by "redemptive" because it is a term he uses often, but I think I know what he means be saying that rain is good and redemptive because it resolves, or as I would like to say it, rain is good because it draws our attention to distinction, and distinction leads way to otherness, which is holiness, which is redemptive. Rain, or all weather for that matter, is something that everyone within the community experiences together at the same time, albeit not in the same way, but nonetheless it is a shared experience, and an experience that is out of everyone's control. And I believe that anything in our day and age that can draw our pluralistic culture's attention towards unity is redemptive. To be more precise, it is not necessary that the thing bringing the unity is a good thing, for it to produce unity. And it is the experience of togetherness that is the thing that is holy. Such is always the case in my humble opinion. And it is this truth that makes things like coffee and music catalysts for redemption. And this is why the Coal Mine Cafe', along with many other places in the world, brings these things together. The difference between the Coal Mine Cafe' and most of the others,is that we are not charging anybody. This is not because we have some anti-capitalistic chip on our shoulders, but because we don't have to charge anybody. Steamtown Church owns the building, coffehas been donated, as well as the furniture, and music equipment. Perhaps we could charge for the electric, but what the heck. (Heck is a stupid word.I don't know why I said that, but you know what I mean.)

I think that whoever comes to this week's offering of the Coal Mine Cafe' Open Mic Night will be impressed. They should be impressed by how good the coffee is, how cozy the room is, how talented some of our home grown musicians and artists are, and how sincere we are in our vision of a free redemptive cafe; a cafe that not only wants to serve coffee, but people, not only wants to provide music, but community, not only wants to facilitate discussion, but bring about real change, change only possible when people love and understand one another. How do you get people to understand each other? You get them to talk to each other. How do you get them talk to each other? You provide a universal, all inclusive, truly redemptive experience, that can be shared over a cup of coffee, and good music.