Yesterday was a great day until the children came home from school.

I went up to London yesterday to meet up with Richard – it’s great having a boss who encourages you and lets you know when you are doing well!

Walking through Covent Garden at just before 10 was eerie. When I meet Richard there I usually tube to the Embankment then wander up through The Strand to Covent Garden. I enjoy the walk. Today it was eeire as I left the business of The Strand to enter the complete calm of silence of a Covent Garden only just starting to wake up. I stood in the Piazza at for a good couple of minutes the only person there was me and all I could hear was my own breathing! It was strange but also quite refreshing to find unexpected calm in the centre of London.

The advantage of arriving early is that you can grab a table in Starbucks which is near to a powerpoint which means I can then work as long as I like. In the hour I waited for Richard (I was deliberately early and he was on time) I got a fair bit done.

As I was there I was very conscious of other people also conducting business in Starbucks. Two tables away was a young woman who was conducting very efficient 20 minute interviews on her own. Some people left happy, others didn’t.

Next to me were two guys getting fairly heated in agreeing the allocation of budgets between their various departments.

It seems no one goes to Starbucks to drink coffee socially anymore. I can’t talk – I was there to meet Richard and briefly catch up with Sharron.

I think I noticed it’s quite an energising way to work. At home, working on my own as I do a lot of the time, can be a drag. It takes masses of discipline, after all who would know if I did no work and watched DVDs all day! I miss that interaction from people, and I miss that work atmosphere from an office that seems to spur you on, a bit like a pacer I suppose in a race. You just have to be careful that you don’t try to keep up with the pacemakers who are just there to set a speed, look impressive briefly, and move on.

I wonder if this is why Jesus is so hot on community. I wonder why this is why the early church was so hot on the togetherness of believers. I wonder why this is why ‘church’ is so important.

I think there are times when we all need pacemakers. We all need to be able to run off from an atmosphere that is generated, and can only be generated, by people together in community. Yesterday morning in Starbucks in Covent Garden there was a little work community with a common aim – to get as much done in as little time as possible. Seeing the 20 minute disciplined interviews of the young lady across from me, acted as an inspiration to be disciplined in my tasks. To work at her speed though for the whole day (she was only there for 5 interviews) would have resulted in tense nervous headaches!

But it did inspire.
It did encourage.
It set a pace.

Is that why church is so important?
To be inspired, encouraged and paced by others?