I began this little "tearoom" over one year ago, then left here hidden on the gmail blogspot unused. It's not as if we were doing nothing this past year. However the actual tearoom my husband I hoped to open in this are was not meant to be at this time in life. Rather, we customized the dream to begin as best we could by finally opening The Rose of Sharon Religious Books and Articles in East Stroudsburg, PA. It's just a bitty shop, but has some neat religious gifts for the Christian community surrounding us. One plus, given as if to keep our hope alive, is that it also includes a tiny kitchen!
We are not set up legally to serve food for sale from that little kitchen, but it has allowed us to add to the warm atmosphere in our shop by decorating it as a kitchen with items people can use in their own kitchens, and which also have various reminders of the Faith, and our life in Christ--in the home. This is a great part of our mission with the shop--to encourage, and support Faith in the home, and in families.
As a child growing up in NYC, the Faith was passed to me in our home first, with it then being nourished in school and Church. It was in our cell group, our family, the domestic Church that I first learned of Christ and the great love of God Jesus came to announce to the world! Each day, after school, we'd have "tea" not simply as a hot drink, but as a family ritual, an old and, in its own way, a sacred tradition. It was, afterall, the time we sat and talked about my day in school. Sure, we also shared our family dinner, on schedule each night, but tea was its own kind of sharing time, somehow a bit more subdued than when the entire family gathered around the table for main meals. Tea was with my grandmothers! That in itself made it special.
Later in the evening, the family would gather once again for "tea" before retiring to bed. This was actually a small light meal, not quite the size it had been when and where the tradition began back on the farm in Ireland, but it was a bit more than a snack. This time for tea was not as subdued as afternoon tea with grandmothers. Night tea included whoever was home, parents, grandparents, uncles, the kids old and young, and often enough a neighbor still there from visiting in the evening. She'd have that last cuppa before heading back to her own home for the night. One for the road, tea-toteler style!
The beauty of these shared tea times was not just the comfortable cup of tea had in mid-afternoon or late evening; the beauty was the sharing within the family that was done daily in such simple, yet ritual ways.
In our little shop, I keep a kettle on, and we have tea available for anyone who might like to sit and look through a book, or just chat for a bit. It's not part of our business. It's part of our life. Sure, some prefer that "other drink" but whichever, it is the simple pleasure of sharing a few moment, an exchange of ideas, or experiences, or perhaps just a bit of relaxation from a busy day.
The Rose of Sharon is not a tearoom...but the hospitality is the same. "Sit long, talk much" the Amish saying goes. Such conversation had in a totally relaxed atmosphere allows for a great deal to be unloaded, and holy sharing, even among strangers, and, the truth be know, among Christians of different traditions! Ecumenical relations are enhanced by tea!!! We only need look at the accomplishments toward peace in the North of Ireland when Protestant and Roman Catholic women, mothers, wives came together for their morning tea groups! There were no wars, no bloodshed in those groups. Women seeking and finding peace together, amid their differing Christian and political views. These women then went home and influenced their husbands and sons, and eventually there was peace. Not, simply "quiet" but advances toward peace.
Tea...
Stop in for a cuppa, or if you can't we can talk here as well. This blog will be tied to our store website for the convenience of any of our customers who might like to jump into this world of technology that helps with communication!
Blessings, and welcome to all.
Cait
May 6, 2009: The Oral Tradition Today On the first Wed of each month we will include our discussion of various religious movies (new and old) that are available for viewing today in our own homes. On March 4th we will discuss the movie, available through The Rose of Sharon: JOHN XXIII THE POPE OF PEACE. This movie will open a discussion about the affect of JohnXXIII on Catholicism and all of Christianity. 
