Thought for Today
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth,
Leviticus 5:2 Or when any of you touch any unclean thing-- whether the carcass of an unclean beast or the carcass of unclean livestock or the carcass of an unclean swarming thing-- and are unaware of it, you have become unclean, and are guilty.
Matthew 15:10 "Listen and understand: 11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles."
Luke 6:45 The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.
“substance (Lat. substantia, ‘that which stand under’) Translation of the Greek terms hypostasis and ousios. It was used in the Nicene Creed and early Christian writings to refer to God in God’s eternal being as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” (Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms, pg. 271)
“species (Lat. “a seeing’) A group of individual entities that are considered as a group because of a certain element they have in common.” (ibid, pg. 265}
“transubstantiation (Lat. transubstantiation, ‘essential change’) In Roman Catholic theology at the consecration in the Mass, the changing of the substance of bread and wine, by God’s power, into the substance of Jesus Christ’s body and blood, which become present while the ‘species’ (bread and wine) remain.” (ibid, pg. 286)
Hopefully, right about now, you are wondering why a Protestant minister is thinking about or wondering about those definitions; and, what does any of this have to do with what’s on my mind this morning! Maybe, also, what does all of this have to do with those verses above.
I thought about all this as I sipped my first cup of coffee this morning. I do not know whether the ‘experience’ is the same for tea aficionados, but there seems something almost ‘holy’ and spiritual about that first cup of coffee in the morning. Especially before the sun has come up and the earth is quiet and still. Yet, to say or write that almost seems blasphemous and inherently wrong.
Whether consciously or not, most of us seem to divide experiences and things into separate categories of (1) holy, and divine verses (2) ordinary and somehow debased or unclean. Or, in theospeak, substance and species. Sometimes we think of those allegedly separate categories as divine vs. ordinary.
Much of this derives from ancient Greek philosophy and its influence on the Gnostic heresies of the early church. “Gnosticism (From Gr. gnosis, ‘knowledge’) An amorphous movement during the early church period which featured complex views that focused on the quest for secret knowledge transmitted only to the ‘enlightened’ and marked by the view that matter is evil. Gnostics denied the humanity of Jesus.” (ibid, pg. 114)
Can we separate the holy from the ordinary? Are some things inherently unclean or debased by their very nature? And, what does all this have to do with coffee?
I believe the best place to begin any consideration of things holy or things unclean must begin with Genesis 1:1 and the story of Creation in those first few chapters of Genesis. God created Creation . . .all of it! Take notice of “2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die."
Interestingly, the word unclean does not appear in the Bible until the book of Leviticus. “unclean In biblical usage, a person or object that violates a ritual law of Israel.” (ibid, pg. 291) For what it’s worth, my morning coffee ritual is not part of, nor based on any “ritual law of Israel.”
I believe it is important for Christians to remember those words of Jesus about what comes out of our mouths and what pours forth from our hearts. If you’re still not convinced, read Acts 11 about Peter’s vision, especially “11:9 What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” Any uncleanliness, any profane comes from our own disobedience, not from our Creator God.
Is my morning coffee holy, divine or even spiritual? It is part of God’s good Creation. As I sip that first cup of coffee, as I begin my day, I am communing with my God.
Stay safe, begin your day communing with God, trust God,
Pastor Ray