The GCBI Students put on an amazing showcase of their respective talents on Saturday, February 4th, 2012. Prompted by the need to raise money for their upcoming trip to Israel, they decided to give us an moment of enjoyment wrapped in a coffee tinted haze in return for our physical manifestations of support (I.E. cold hard cash)
Bruce, the owner of Brewster’s Coffee shop off of Route 27, generally keeps his shop closed on Saturday but kindly opened the doors for the GCBI crew and their crowd. If you found yourself unable to attend, let me recreate that night for you now.
First thing you notice, pulling into the parking lot, is some of the students manning a table by the front door. In the dark, it’s not until you are next to the table that you find it’s covered in cleverly packaged coffee. Each bag bears the pictures of the GCBI students and the history of the coffee. If you are a coffee snob, this is your heaven. The GCBI coffee is as snob friendly as you get (or should we say Connoisseur? Being a snob myself, I prefer it when people use fancy words to describe me). It’s sustainable, Eco-friendly and small farmer friendly coffee, sent over from Nicaragua and hand ground and roasted in Vero Beach, FL. The GCBI students drive over there themselves and get the job done. Half of the funds go to the farmers who grew the beans and half go to the students’ Israel fund. Other than the Civet Cat coffee beans, this is as chic as coffee gets.
Leaving the outside patio with its enticing and conversation inducing Coffee, you’re greeted by friendly chatter and the warm intimacy of a well-packed coffee shop interior. A burbling Espresso machine is behind the bar, quivering with anticipation of your every coffee need and bottles of flavored syrups line up like tin soldiers awaiting orders.
While you’re waiting for your drink the music starts. You grab a seat where you can see the bar, for your drink, and see the stage, where you’re regaled by ‘The Courtship’ (Kelly Pellham, Peter Pieringer and Ben Russel) as they sing a medley of inspired covers by All Sons & Daughters, Brooke Faser and John Mark McMillain as well as a few by Mr. Pieringer himself. You won’t be able to distinguish which were the covers and which were original creations. The band harmonizes well and you relax about coming. You won’t have to work hard to make polite conversation later about the performances.
Jessi Countryman allows you the privilege of being the first to hear her strum a guitar and sing for the first time. And if she hadn’t started of the set by telling you this, you would never have known. Her beautiful voice draws you in to the story she’s painting. Kirstin Nickish added two songs from her C.D. (available on I-tunes). The evening has become heavy with the sound of women’s voices, telling stories, entertaining, but more than that, sharing, pointing, explaining. Kelsey Younger reads her short story, or is it a prose poem?, about the Christian Path then shows us her art work, a story of Jonah, another of Leah, the evening has become an Art Happening. Daniel Zuercher reads his poem, ‘The Washtub’ (printed below). Emily Eshelman and Kirstin Nickish share just why it’s so darn important these kids get to go to Israel. (Because they’ve all dedicated a year of their lives to studying the bible. What better time to visit the holy land, than now, when they are chock full of references and stories and facts and data on the countryside they will find themselves walking in? It’s a rhetorical question.)
The night is coming to a close, you finish your coffee/milkshake/smoothie, or roll the empty cup between your hands, leeching the last of the comfort it can offer you from it. You notice the usual pauses in conversation as people are becoming aware of the time, searching for questions that don’t have long answers, when The Courtship announces they’re playing their last song. It’s good timing, because you’ve reached the point of pleasant satiation. It’s a worship song, and somewhere along the second chorus people begin catching the melody and begin to hum along. The words of praise fill the coffee shop as the song is lovingly passed from person to person. You are handed the invitation to sing, by the voices raised up around you and you accept. Closing your eyes you sit for a minute wondering at the transformation of this usual coffee shop scene, letting your mind work on the How and the Why of the room. How it seems warmer, smaller, and a lot cozier than a few moments ago. Then you too begin to worship. Not bad for the price of a few coffee beans!
~ Jen Stuck
The Washtub
By Daniel Zuercher
But He whispers in my ear
“The Washtub is there waiting”
I fall, I slip
the mire, the mud
how I hate the stench
here I am again.
I always come back
It draws, entices
But I hate it anew
How did I end up here?
I was clean, white
You washed me new
But as I began
I fell, slipped, down, down
Where did you go?
Where am I?
It was good, Good
But I fled?
I ran for destruction
Head first into the mire
you quietly called, a whisper
but how the Ear was full, again.
I know my imperfections
But my pride known them all not.
Father, will it end?
The charade, the game
The cycle is vicious
Spinning, twirling, up, down
Stumbling our, sick, despising
Are you still there? Do you still care?
Yes! Yes you do
Because…. the Blood
You called to me
I came running
Covered in my filth
But you hoist me up.
“I will always love you”
Then He scrubs me so clean
The waste goes with much pain.
I am left tender and pink
I see sorrow, I caused
I hurt me, I hurt Him
I’m tender to listen, obey
willing to follow His command
I will fall again
I know not perfection
True Love is not in me
As it is in Him.
But He whispers in my ear
“The Washtub is there waiting”
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