Merriam-Webster: “n: coffee brewed by forcing hot water through finely ground darkly roasted coffee beans”
Gabriela Keator: “n: a vocational calling. A thing that sparks immense joy”
For the majority of my life, I forced myself through tight spaces, hoping something good would come out on the other end of all this pressure to find a specific occupation. I was chasing clarity and just getting more lost in the process.
But then I started pulling espresso. In January of 2020, I started work at Crave Coffeehouse, a fully functioning coffee shop run by a church right off of SLU’s campus. You don’t go to a four-year liberal arts school to find your vocation behind a coffee bar. Except I did.
Espresso is the one thing in my life that is not complicated. Being able to work at a coffee shop inside a church allowed me to find new ways to connect and worship through being a barista, especially throughout the tension and unpredictability of navigating this past school year in a pandemic. It helped me begin to follow passions rather than obsess over outcomes. It provided tangible reminders that, beyond being called to a specific occupation, my ultimate vocational calling is simply to love.
In this share the wealth, I’ll share some stories of my time as a barista, highlighting how it helped me wake up to the world around me and reconnect with my faith. I hope to facilitate conversations surrounding how we each find joy and connect with the world around us through simple things such as coffee, encouraging each other to tap into connection and joy in extraordinary ways.
I recently graduated from St. Louis University with a degree in Sociology and Immigration. I met Mark through my experience with the Mev Puleo program in 2019.
Join us!
Sunday 11 July
7:00 Central Time
By Zoom: Email me for URL
