God is an entity encompassing all. Breath, living, breathing…Being itself. Does this kind of God require offering and
sacrifice? I don’t think the God Who is
All That Is; the God “I Am” requires such things. We humans imagine manifestations of Being;
gods who represent the best qualities we can imagine for a God Who is beyond
our understanding. These gods become our
focus for worship, our means of understanding the physical world we observe and
the spiritual realm we sense around us.
Once in awhile a person comes along who reflects the very
best we can imagine in a god or in a human being. These people become more than role models –
they become reflections of Being. These
humans are said to have attained a state of perfection, enlightenment, or even
godhood. Many people see this reflection
in the person of Jesus, who is believed to have attained Christhood and
resurrection after death. Others find
this reflection of Ultimate Being in Siddhartha, who is understood to have
reached enlightenment and Buddhahood.
There are many other facets of the Divine. Some are found in the faces of the many gods and
goddesses of the Hindus, who each reflect certain aspects of the best or the
most powerful that we can become. The
same might be said for the Orisha of Yoruba, Santeria and related religions, or
the Loa of Vodou. These and many more
glorious manifestations of our expectations of the Divine are prayed to, prayed
with, conferred with, and served in many ways. Humans have long imagined that these beings
have craved sacrifice and offerings to appease them or even to coax them into
providing favors to us.
God doesn’t require the kinds of sacrifices and offerings
that humans have historically felt the need to give. These things – burnt meat, fruits, or
vegetables, flowers on an altar, incense waved around a room, lives given up or
lived in misery “for the love of God” – these things are not what God
requires. We do these things for
ourselves. What God requires is
service. Service given from open hands
and open hearts without the desire for something in return is like a secret
window looking into the house of God. This
is clear from the teachings of Jesus, Buddha, the Hebrew prophets, Mohammed,
and even Lao Tzu and Confucius. I don’t
mean to say that sacrifice is never necessary.
Often, in order to serve, sacrifice is necessary. However, it is not the sacrifice, but the
service that matters.
What does it mean to serve?
How do we serve? Who do we
serve? When do we serve? I believe that to serve is to live a
compassionate life. It is to live in
Love. By living compassionately, one
gives of oneself to others. In giving to
others, one becomes a healthy, vital portion of the all encompassing entity
that is God. For most of us, I think the
idea of service has somehow become separate from the rest of our lives. Just as we often find it difficult to find
money to give, we find it difficult to find time to serve. Yet, this should not be. In fact, today I discovered that it is not
true at all.
While I am a parish
priest, in order to make ends meet, I must work what we lovingly call a “day
job.” Working as I do on the telephone,
selling a product, I have been wondering how I can possibly be serving God
while doing this. After all, it’s a full
time job, I’m tired when I get home, and once I’m home there are household tasks
to be done. For a long time, I have
belabored my inability to give of my time and my money. I only seem to be able to eke out a living and
a little time for ministry. So, when do
I serve? How do I serve? What do I sacrifice in order to serve?
I’ve thought perhaps my service is in the words I speak to
some of those with whom I interact on the phone, who often talk to me about much more
than their need for the product I sell.
Perhaps it is true that there is ministry in discussing kindness and
suffering, loss and joy with people from across the country. Indeed, there are many times during my work days when I know I have touched the spirit of a hurting person and both of us have come away better for our conversation. However, the real service I find myself
providing is much closer to home.
It’s all about the coffee.
You see, at my job we are provided free coffee, tea, and cocoa in the
break room (I know, we’re fortunate!)
When I get to work, I put my purse away, take out my notebook and pens,
set up my phone, and sign in to my computer.
Then I grab my coffee cup and head to the break room. Where I usually find two quarter-pots of
coffee, two empty pots, and a scattering of sugar and creamer on the
counter. Each day, I get my cup of
coffee, pour the coffee together into one pot, switch on the warmers, and make
two more pots of fresh coffee. I clean
the counters and set two filters with a packet of coffee in each one on top of
the coffee machine. If I have time, I’ll
make one more pot so there are close to four pots when I head in to work. In the end, all I have sacrificed is a bit of
my free time, and I’ve provided a little caffeinated sustenance to many of my
coworkers.
I do this because it needs to be done. I am not, by far, the only one who makes
coffee. There are perhaps five or six of
us who do this throughout the day. Yet
it seems like every time I head into the break room, it needs to be done
again. For the longest time I joked that
I did it because the food service business was bred into me. “You can take the waitress out of the
kitchen,” I would laugh, “But you can’t take the kitchen out of the
waitress.” I make coffee because that’s
what peons do. That’s what I thought,
anyway. Until today. Today, as I finished setting up the third pot
to brew and began to wipe down the counter, setting the creamer and sugar
containers straight, I had a revelation about coffee.
Coffee is a daily service that I can provide. Each time I make the coffee for my coworkers,
I am serving them. I am feeding
them. Service need not be fancy,
long-suffering, or expensive. It need
not be far away, late into the night, or in dangerous places.
Of course, I have dreams of serving more fully as a parish
priest, minister, and spiritual director as St. Brigid grows. There are factors that must come together
before the dream can come into full fruition.
In the meantime, I just make coffee.
It’s what I do.
What do you do?
