Monday, July 13, 2020
Coffee and Cream
on Ice
Sunset
Hosea 10:12
Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.
Ephesians 4:24
Clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
Words of Grace For Today
After a good night’s sleep in the cool air of July, freshened by the lake a few metres distant, there is nothing quite like pouring boiling water on top the coffee grounds in the coffee press, and then sitting down to say prayers and celebrate the Eucharist with the aroma of fresh coffee colouring the morning.
Then to press the plunger, pour out the coffee into the milk in the mug, and sip that coffee au lait – that is to reap the rewards of much forethought, preparation, and early morning work.
In the cold of winter, the wood stove is kept stoked, usually requiring a middle of the night waking to stoke it and clear out the inevitable smoke before settling back to sleep, the pan filled with water set on top the stove to be brought to a roiling boil long before the light of day rises.
In summer, the table is set outside, the extra back up propane stove hooked up to a tank, lighter is set ready. The night can be slept through. On waking a pan of water is prepared and with mosquito defences in full force, one braves the bug infested air to light the stove under the pan of cool water. With just enough time to prepare the table for Eucharist and Breakfast, the water will boil. The rush back into the bugs with coffee press and grounds in hand is to ensure as little propane is used as possible.
The press is a gift. The wood stove and the propane stove are both gifts. All these and so many others are gifts loaned. The coffee grounds are a gift. They are returned to the earth, after extracting delicious coffee from them.
God has saved us. We do nothing to earn that or make it so. We can do and do plenty to nullify that salvation, though God works to overcome our stubborn sinfulness.
Once we realize the salvation God worked so hard to bring to us, free for us, costly for Jesus, then we can start to work –
seeking the Lord,
sowing righteousness,
breaking up fallow ground in our hearts and minds,
clothing ourselves with the new self, the Holy Spirit gives to us,
Then, because God rains righteousness down on us, we can, by Grace, live in the likeness of God, filled with true righteousness and holiness, spreading true righteousness and holiness wherever we go, to whom ever we encounter.
We can try to earn all this, and in the process colour God’s gifts with our sin.
We can try to rationalize that we have earned the gift of fresh coffee in the morning, forgetting all the labour it took to produce and distribute the coffee, that someone paid for that coffee and gave it to us (or maybe someone gave you money in exchange for your labour and you bought it yourself), and that someone loaned you the stoves, the firewood, the propane, the table, the coffee press.
Maybe you can say you bought all these things with your money and that no one gave you anything to make your coffee in the morning – but you would be so wrong. God made it all possible, including whatever you did to get the money. For me it is clearer it is all gift, for you perhaps it takes some remembering who has blessed you in so many ways to entrust you with all that you ‘own.’
No matter how we see it: God provides, we enjoy, give thanks (or maybe we follow the Devil and do not), and then we share with those who do not have (or maybe we follow the Devil and do not).
We pray (not just because all our ‘coffee’ tastes so much better with a palette of gratitude) may we remember who provides everything for us, and to what purpose, so that we may give God thanks for everything, and share everything we ‘have’ with those who do not have.