I didn’t start drinking coffee until I was out of high school. It took a few tries to get used to the flavor, but I persevered and overcame my initial aversion to it. I drink coffee every day now. It’s a part of my morning routine. I even have a coffee maker that keeps water hot 24/7 so that I do not have to wait long for it. Coffee gives me energy, sharpens my focus, and holds up the dreariness of the morning, but coffee does not bring me joy. It might make you happy for a time, while you’re using the caffeine (if that’s the kind of coffee that you like), but it cannot bring you a deep sense of comfort, relief, delight, and hope that we combine to call joy.
I knew the smell of coffee long before I ever started drinking it. Both of my parents rose early around 5:30 and would start their mornings with cups of coffee. Most of the time, I do not remember smelling the coffee because they had finished with it by the time that I woke up. However, on particular days of the year, the coffee aroma would visit my room. It was beckoning me to come and see. These particular days were only a few holidays of the year when Dad wouldn’t leave the house for work. The coffee was alerting me: Dad is home. More than the presents that I might open or the food prepared or the lack of school that day, I remember the joy in knowing that our family was going to be together.
At our church, we are imaging together this Advent season in preparation for the arrival of Jesus the Messiah. Joy was our theme this past Sunday. I have found this holiday season, that we need to talk more about what actually brings us joy. We might be excited about purchasing or decorating, opening or giving, parties or gatherings, Christmas programs or cards, but after we’ve bought each gift and opened each present and cleaned up the party and prepared the cards and sang the songs and consumed all of the food, we might find ourselves tired and empty and alone. This is because the coffee does not bring us joy.
These days are meant to be holy days (holidays), days set apart for practicing what is right and true about our human experience when the rest of our lives leave us unfulfilled. What brings us joy is truly and authentically connecting with other human beings: friends, neighbors, church and family members as real people with real needs in a real world. We celebrate Jesus’s coming because Jesus showed us the way to be truly human, to love and care for our neighbors and allow our neighbors to love and care for us. Even more than that, Jesus showed us how to connect with God. As you continue to scurry around this holiday season, will you take your time, hold up the rush, cancel the busy calendar, and honestly connect with God and your neighbor? Maybe then you will begin to see that the aroma of the coffee is beckoning you to something deeper, something not held in a cup.
The above article was published in the Courier, our local Freeman newspaper, on December 16, 2021 here: https://newzgroup.com/SDArchive/455053/2021-12-15/455053_12.16_.21FC_.Page9B_.pdf
You can check out the Courier website here: https://www.freemansd.com/
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