Paul has a point. That first cup of morning coffee can bring peace. Whether I am sipping it fresh from my Keruig or I get it at Starbucks, that first sip brings an “ah moment.” If I am in the right emotional space, I remember to thank G-d, and all the little people who made that cup possible.
Modah ani lefanecha, melech chai v’kayam, sheheharzarta b nishmashi, bechemla, rabbah emunatecha. I thank you G-d. I thank you God, Living and Eternal King, for returning my soul to me, filled with Your trust. I thank you G-d for allowing me to wake up.
Or the ee cummings variant on the theme:
i thank You God for most this amazing day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything which is natural which is infinite which is yes
(i who have died am alive again today, and this is the sun’s birthday; this is the birth day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay great happening illimitably earth)
how should tasting touching hearing seeing breathing any–lifted from the no of all nothing–human merely being doubt unimaginable You?
(now the ears of my ears awake and now the eyes of my eyes are opened)
e.e. Cummings
If I am thinking about the people who brought the cup of coffee to me, I remember the Girl Scout grace: “Back of the bread is the flour, and back of the flour is the mill, and back of the mill is the wind and the rain and the Father’s will.”
There is a shortened version of Birkat Hamazon, the grace after meals, that appears in the Talmud. Hazzan Jack Kessler and Rabbi Shefa Gold has set it to music http://velveteenrabbi.blogs.com/blog/files/brich.mp3
“Brich rachamana, malka d’alma, malcha d’hi’pita. You are the Source of life for all that lives and Your blessing flows through me.””
One year at a retreat for the Academy for Jewish Religion, Rabbi Suri Krieger layered the tune with words like this: “We are grateful for the people who cooked this meal, who wash the dishes, who serve it to us. We are grateful for the people who grew the food and harvested it. We are grateful for rain in its seasons and the sun to warm the earth. We are grateful for being here, for being part of community, for being alive.”
If I have used my purchasing power correctly than I have purchased fair-trade, organic, kosher coffee. I have not used the disposable, plastic Keurig cups. Instead I have used one I can recycle—either the ones that are like cheesecloth or the ones that are refillable. We have those in stainless and in plastic. Then I compost the grounds.
Can a cup of coffee bring peace? I hope so. On a personal level, when I sit on my deck, steaming cup of coffee in hand, take a deep breath in and hear the birds. On the local level, when I meet a friend for coffee and we discuss the issues of the day. We might laugh together or we might cry. And on the macro-level. When Jews, Christians and Muslims come together to grow coffee. That’s what Delicious Peace coffee is. A coffee collective in Uganda of Jews, Christians and Muslims. That’s peace.
Off to find that first cup of coffee at a program called Java and Jews! Come find me at Starbucks.
Are you in town?
September 11th I will be in Boston. Right now I am in Elgin doing my highly caffeinated day. Starbucks, Panera, Calibre.
Each year, as we inch up on the High Holidays, I discover a strong urge to improve my path in some particular way. The first year I remember being aware of this annual inclination, the message was to be uber present – to remove my sunglasses and to meet the eyes of the cashier, for example. This year the urge is to reconnect to Jewish community, from which I have been more or less disconnected since my youngest daughter left for college. This has nothing to do with my morning cup of tea, although tea is a simple, peace-filled endeavor. This has to do with knowing that my urge stems in no small part from my reconnection here on your blog to Jewish community, which has readied me, even created a sense of urgency in me for reconnecting in my physical world. Todah raba.