I picked up a package of coffee beans to grind for my coffee this morning and saw this printed on the back of the package: “Our Calling Your Coffee.” It struck me as interesting that we now talk about “Our Calling” to describe lots of thing in our everyday life. We are called to an occupation, what we do for fun, and, oh yeah, what we do for our churches.
As a farmer, I do see my occupation as a calling. Being a good steward of the land and raising as much food to feed the world’s hungry is definitely a calling. My wife teaches high school math, and she also feels her occupation is a calling. Most people don’t take math classes for the fun of it, but there are a few. She will tell you that math is in everything in our world.
In both cases, we feel fortunate to have jobs that mean more to us than just a pay check. We know some people who have worked for an education and then a job in that field, but just feel that they have the job just to get a pay check. How sad it must to be to not see any higher value to your daily work then a paycheck.
What if we approached our faith like we do our jobs? I, myself have more than one calling: Farming, family and God are my top three. It is important to me that all that I do has value beyond the money that is involved. The world measures everything by money or by your title and power.
We as Lay Servants and Lay Speakers in the United Methodist Church also could measure our success by numbers: the number of sermons given, the number of classes lead or our position within our churches could all be measures of our worth. In the years of being involved with the Lay Servant Ministries, I have seen most, if not all, the people involved having that higher calling. I for one will tell you that I get much more out of whatever I do than those I’m working with in this ministry. If someone asked me why am I’m a Lay Speaker, I tell them that it is my calling. But God, through the Holy Spirit, enlightens me a little more each time I spend time working in this program. I always get more than I put into whatever I’m doing.
Back to the coffee. What if we adapted a motto of “Our Calling. Your Faith”? Like the coffee bag we would be trying to get people to buy God’s product. The bag goes on to say, “Some people love running, some are driven to save lives.” We could use that also, we’re in the business of bringing people to God so he can save lives. The things that the coffee has going for it is that it makes people feel good, uplifting them and preparing them for their daily tasks. Also, the aroma is extremely pleasing to most people. We have both of those attributes also. God can make people feel good, uplifting them and preparing them for their daily tasks. Our church also has an extremely pleasing aroma, especially at our monthly fellowship meals.
So, just like coffee, God can become habit forming in people’s daily routine. Stating with both a cup of coffee and prayer or Bible reading can make each day a little better. We can advertise the highest quality of product, and we can show that people are happier after using our product. We can also claim good health and fortune if our product is used daily.
In the morning when you smell the freshly brewed coffee and take that first sip, may it remind you that God is the rest of your morning routine. Both coffee and God together will make today a great day.
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