Sitting
Over cups
of coffee:
old men talk about the weather…
professors and students talk about their latest assignment…
young lovers discuss whether or not to make it facebook official…
seasoned lovers plan for their retirement…
she plays with her cup, as she tells him "I don't think this is going to work"…
friends ask, "how are things?" between sips and slurps…
strangers play a friendly game of cards…
business is done, and hands shake…
and the barista briefly becomes a priest,
as news, the good and the bad, is confessed.
old men talk about the weather…
professors and students talk about their latest assignment…
young lovers discuss whether or not to make it facebook official…
seasoned lovers plan for their retirement…
she plays with her cup, as she tells him "I don't think this is going to work"…
friends ask, "how are things?" between sips and slurps…
strangers play a friendly game of cards…
business is done, and hands shake…
and the barista briefly becomes a priest,
as news, the good and the bad, is confessed.
Life has a tendency to happen over a
cup of coffee; tea; wine; beer; water…
Sitting in this booth at that new coffee shop in town, I’m reminded of that night, in that upper
Sitting in this booth at that new coffee shop in town, I’m reminded of that night, in that upper
I give you a new commandment, that you love one
another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.
In his farewell discourse, at a shared meal, over
bread and a cup of wine, Jesus reminds the disciples...
…reminds us…
that our identity is not in our titles or labels or
even the names on our sign out front; neither are we defined by our
creeds, charters, or the confessions we have in our constitution; nor does it
lie in our ability to recall all 66 books of the bible; nor is it in how
articulate we are or sound when we use them Christian-ese words like justification,
sanctification, or when we theologize the Incarnation.
Rather, we are defined by Love.
The story of this love is also told over our Sunday
meals— the one with a loaf of bread and a cup. Around that table and over one
cup or many tiny cups, we are moved from being the citizens of empire to the
citizens of heaven. We taste love, those words Jesus promised with a cup in his
hand:
a cup of compassion
a cup of justice
a cup of mercy
a cup of spirit
a cup of love
a cup of life
Over cups flowing with wine, Jesus gave us the
language of love. But Wisdom’s whisperings weren’t contained only in that upper
room. We see Love wooing on streets full of those living in the shadows, at
pools where those burdened by bad luck gathered, and in homes of those who had
only perfume in a bottle to offer. Jesus never withheld love and never does.
We as God’s people, as followers of Jesus, witness to
God’s love for the world by living as a community in which the presence of
Christ obscurely manifests in the love we share for one another.
To fully know the love of God we must not be afraid
to come to God exactly as we are. Those whom Jesus loved(s) struggled
through crowds, traveled long distances, and defied the status quo to sit in
the presence of Love Incarnate. The result?
They received life, while Christ lost his.
One cup marked the end of one life, only for it to
overflow into the cups of others.
So take a moment, remain sitting, and over a cup of tea, or coffee, or
whatever it is you are drinking, and consider what is happening above, around,
beside, and within you.
What is happening over your cup of life?
What new stories of love are
being told?
What new insights of love
are being made?
What new dreams are
unfolding, inspired by love?
May you have courage to brew
with God a life of joy and excitement. May you in turn, offer the goodness that
is your life to the empty cups around you.
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