cuppa ♥

The Church continues to amaze me.

Monday and Wednesday nights are the big party nights for students at the Uni in Chester. This whole partying thing is still a phenomenon to me...drinking and dancing on school nights, girls going out in twenty degree weather in nothing but a short dress and a pair of heels...it's normal here apparently. Welcome to England. I'm still trying to adjust...

Anyways, because there are a lot of students heading home from the clubs downtown really late on Monday and Wednesday nights, some of the people from the Christian Union started setting up a little table about halfway back to campus and handing out free hot tea, chocolate, coffee, soup, and biscuits (that's cookies, I've learned) between about 12:30 and 3:30am.

Genuinely and truly, the whole idea is simply love. They aren't there to pass out Bibles or tell people how to get saved or anything like that. It's so simple and so beautiful...

"Would you like a cuppa tea?"
"Milk and sugar?"
"You're so welcome. Have a biscuit, too."
"Yeah, see you! Get home safe!"

They call it Cuppa, because of the English slang way of saying "cup of." (I had to ask.)

I first heard about Cuppa, not from the Christians, but quite a few times actually from different people I met my first few days and couple of weeks here. Here and there people would mention how yummy the soup was the night before, or just that it was cool that the Christians did that. Honestly, people really like "Christian tea" a lot. That's the nickname it's gotten over the years, as happy drunk kids have made up songs and chants about it. The fact that I heard about Cuppa from the regular people, the people who routinely stop for a hot chocolate or a cup of tea, speaks volumes to me. Cuppa is not an arrogant act, it is just love.

Cuppa is financially supported by local churches, but even the Chester police department has made a few donations, because they appreciate the fact that crime rates go down when people are out doing something nice. I like that so much.

Last night I experienced my first Cuppa. I met some of the Christian Union kids at 11:30pm in a nearby church that lets Cuppa use their kitchen. Five of us were going out for the night, but there were about five more that showed up at the church just to pray with us. They just wanted to pray, support us, wish us well. That surprised me, but then again I've had many surprises here in England. Few more have struck me with such beauty.

So we prayed and prepared the stuff, and headed out to the city center wearing layers and layers and layers of warm clothes. The hours passed quickly as we chatted, served hot drinks, and made friends both among ourselves and with the people who came for a drink.

Of course there were a few drunk guys that were kind of obnoxious, but I never felt unsafe or in danger with Dave and Owen there with me and the other two girls, Liz and Beth.

We ran into quite a few of my American friends throughout the night, and it made me really happy to see familiar faces and be able to warm up their freezing bodies a little bit on their way home.

There is just something about serving someone a hot drink that is really beautiful. I don't know what it is exactly, but I've hand prepared and served hot coffees and teas to people at Starbucks, at the homeless shelter, and now at Cuppa. I love it every time. It's something about comfort. Something about warmth and filling you up.

At Cuppa, though, I really did feel so much love.

One guy even asked Owen why we were doing this, why the Christians gave out free drinks, and he just said "because we believe Jesus wants us to love other people. And we think tea and biscuits on a cold winter's night is a pretty okay way to show that love."

And the cool thing about love is that it's not a one-way street. I certainly gave out quite a few cups of tea, but I received so much more than I gave away.

Because at the end of the night it's not supposed to be about how cool we are or how yummy the tea is. It's about Jesus. And the way He makes this world a beautiful place.

I came home very, very late last night. With a smile on my face, a belly full of hot chocolate, and a heart full of love ♥