By Michael Motes

If you stop for coffee and a ham on rye at a certain downtown restaurant, Father Joe Cavallo might be the waiter who takes and serves your order.

The young assistant pastor of Sacred Heart Church is one of many volunteers from 22 area churches who wait on tables and offer counseling and friendship to those who drop by the Common Cup coffee house at 848 Peachtree Street.

The atmosphere is reserved and surprisingly sophisticated. Sleek wooden tables, modern cane-seated chairs and soft, indirect lighting has been well blended by volunteer industrial designers. An attractive gift shop offers ecumenical reading material and a variety of handmade crafts. Several different blends of coffee are marketed from freshly ground coffee beans.

The only person who receives a salary for working at the Common Cup is executive director George Sheridan, a Baptist minister who once wrote for the CHRISTIAN INDEX.

Sheridan describes the coffee house as “an oasis of peace” in the hectic area near the center of downtown Atlanta. Each evening before the Common Cup opens for business, Sheridan and his team of volunteers (usually 12 per night) meet for an hour and a half to discuss any problems they might have and how they might best help others.

This time is spent “trying to perceive the unique gifts God has given each of us,” Sheridan said, and to discuss how they might share these gifts with others.

Friendship abounds among the volunteer waiters and waitresses. They cordially introduce themselves to all they might serve and if time allows sit down with their customers and discuss the events of the day.

Walker Knight of the Southern Baptist Home Mission Board serves as president of the board of the Common Cup, which is a non-profit, tax-exempt enterprise officially listed as the Peachtree Coffeehouse, Inc.

On Tuesday nights guest speakers present a program on a topic of current concern and Sunday evenings are devoted to entertainment. Sheridan and Knight work together to secure the guest speakers and entertainers. Open dialogue is encouraged between the speakers and customers.

A recent discussion featured assistant chief of police Joe Amos, of the Atlanta Police Department and assistant district attorney Joe Drolet.

“We do not try to push any one viewpoint here,” Sheridan says. “We want to create a relaxing atmosphere and help to manifest the Kingdom of God by participating in a self-exploration trip. We like our customers to feel at home and want them to leave knowing they will be welcomed back.”

The Common Cup is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. to midnight Monday through Friday and from 8 p.m. to midnight on Saturday and Sunday.