The Missional Coffee Cup

I couldn’t decide. One made my life easier. The other had a bunch of bells and whistles but seemed like such a hassle. Both served fulfilled their purposes in their own ways. So I just stood there. Staring at both boxes. I knew I had to make a decision…

Which coffee maker would I choose?

Amelia and I were getting married in a few months so we went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to pick out our coffee maker. To tell you the truth it was hard to pick out which one we wanted for our new home. They all seemed so technologically advanced. Its as though they were being made by NASA to brew coffee on the moon.

I was torn between two coffee makers though. The first coffee maker was a Keurig system. Boy that would have made my life so much easier. I just pop in a Keurig cup and I have one cup of coffee in less than a minute. Amelia doesn’t drink coffee, so getting a traditional brewing system seemed like so much of a hassle. I would have to brew 6 cups of coffee if I wanted to drink one cup! The Cuisinart system was really cool though, but it seemed so impractical! It takes longer to brew and it brews too much coffee. But then again, this system had a cool water heating feature for tea. All to say, the decision was a difficult one to make. That is until we added another criterion to the set –

Which coffee brewing system is more missional?

That seems like a ridiculous question, but bear with me. Being on mission does not simply consist of activities. Being on mission is a way of life. So we had to ask ourselves, which system helps us to be more effective for the mission God called us to?

Pros of the Keurig – It is a quick brewing system. It makes one cup (which is the perfect amount for me).

Cons of the Keurig – It makes just one cup at a time.

Pros of Cuisinart System – It makes many cups at once and you can make tea at the same time!

Cons of the Cuisinart System – It makes many cups at once, so I would waste coffee. It is to slow to make coffee in the morning.

Let me fill you in on the deciding factor – It makes many cups at once and you can make tea at the same time. This isn’t really a benefit for me, but I saw this as having a greater missional impact than a Keurig maker.

A huge part of being on mission is spending time with people, being able to open up your home to those far from Christ, and showing hospitality. Think about some of Jesus’ most impactful conversations with people… many of them were over dinner. In his day (as in ours) dinner is a time of getting to know people and engaging in meaningful conversation. In our day we engage in meaningful conversation with friends at home with a glass of wine or a cup of coffee. If Amelia and I wanted to open up our house for our non-Christian friends we needed to be able to offer them that glass of wine or that cup of coffee. Picking the Keurig system was just impractical for showing hospitality and being on mission. Yes it made it harder for me to have coffee in the morning, but the result is that it will be a lot easier to serve people and show hospitality to her work friends or our neighbors.

I could have chosen to have a coffee cup by myself. Instead I choose to have a missional coffee cup.

Question:

• Its easy to think of being missional as a major life decision, but it really starts with making smaller choices (like which coffee brewing system to buy). What small steps could you take towards living a missional lifestyle?