Teaching Theology

Does God drink coffee?

Drinking coffee is a bit like the Christian Church. I had better substantiate that.

Firstly, it has a similar geographical history. It began as a significasnt practice in the Middle East, arrived some centuries later in Europe, eventually made its way across the Atlantic, became a partially capitalistic and expansionistic western phenomenon and came full circle, spreading back into the areas of the world from whence it came. So now we have Anglican churches and Starbucks in Jerusalem.

Secondly, many adherents practice an elaborate ritual. Every serious coffee drinker knows that you need to follow a step by step ritual to make excellent coffee. You must choose the beans carefully, then grind them to the right fineness, set the machine up properly, heat the special cup, check the temperature and pressure in the machine and ensure that the hot water goes through at just the right speed (about 40 seconds for a single espresso) and sugar it carefully. And this ritual like many others, is strangely peace-bringing as it gently leads you to the moment of taking the coffee itself. Like the Christian Church, you can either do this yourself or pay clergy (or baristas) to do it for you.

Thirdly, and at last I have got to the main point of this post after some wild speculations, you can choose to take it with others or on your own. It can be a social phenomenon or a personal religion. For the serious coffee drinker, it is often the creating of “me time”. You make the coffee (not necessarily as elaborately as set out above), sit quietly, heave a sigh of relief for a moment away from the chaos of the world, and imbibe on your own. However, the “me time” for the Christian so often turns into the “me and God” time.

Many readers of this post will know just what I am talking about. You make the coffee, go and sit down and say aloud or inside “Well, Lord……here I am again” or some such. You become reflective in His presence and enjoy the company for a few minutes until the busy world drags you back in to its whirlpool.

It was a strange title. Does God drink coffee? Probably not; but he is very happy to sit with you while you drink yours.

This entry was posted on September 29, 2017 at 8:46 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.