My Kelli 05 Mug (a Steve Orr scripture reflection)

I have this beautiful, handcrafted coffee mug. It’s rounded, with wheat stalks etched into one side. There’s a tan glaze all around the outside, giving it a kind of leather look. Blue glazing — that dark blue of sunset— circles the lip and coats the inside. My mug is special for another reason, too: because of the way it’s made, there’s no other mug like it. 

It is unique in all the world.

I wouldn’t trade it for anything. 

How did I come to own this most unique mug? Just outside our town is a community of folk who practice and preserve the old ways. They grow and grind their own wheat. They build stunningly beautiful furniture using hand tools. They smith their own tools. They weave, sew, make soap. They have a farm-to-table restaurant on site ... their farms; their tables.  

And, they make pottery.

Each piece of pottery is lovingly created by one individual. Each one starts as a lump of clay. This crafter places the wet clay onto a circular piece of wood called a “wheel.” It is turned by that person continually moving their foot; speeding up and slowing down as needed. As the clay turns before them, these artists (for that is what they truly are) shape the spinning clay, working it in the direction they intend for it. 

This shaping phase is important. 

That’s not to say the other steps are unimportant ... just that the great creative work of the potter is in the initial shaping: throwing, slapping, wedging, squeezing. 

The other steps —the etching, the glazing, and the firing— must also happen, and happen correctly, or the initial work is for naught. But the shaping is so important that, just before it goes into the fire for that final stage, these artist do something supremely important: they sign their work by etching the year and their name on the bottom. 

My wheat mug is signed “Kelli 05.”

Think of my mug when you read this week’s Matthew passage. A lot of people assume this passage is about paying taxes ... and they conclude Jesus is in favor of us paying them. Sadly, they are missing the point. 

Oh sure, Jesus does tell them to return the coin to Caesar. So, in a sense, He is telling them to pay the tax. But there is a much more important point. We can be forgiven for missing that point: the Pharisees did ... and so did His disciples.

We, like they, think this confrontation was about taxes and choosing sides in a conflict. Look back at the scenario. It's clear what belongs to Caesar in that encounter: it has his imprint on it. But what about the second part of what Jesus says? What is it that should be given to God?

Us.

We bear the imprint and inscription of God. Like my mug, each of us is unique in all the world ... and we are signed and dated by the one who formed us. 

It’s us. God wants us.

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Some parts of this reflection are borrowed from Coin Trick, a reflection that appeared in October of 2017.

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Join us on Zoom Friday morning for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. We “assemble” at 8:00 for a great hour of Bible, discussion, and, a lot more than you might think, laughter. So, grab yourself a coffee (or breakfast beverage of choice) and join us.

Contact me beforehand so I can send you the Zoom link and advise our gatekeeper to let you in.

SCRIPTURES FOR THE COMING WEEK

Proper 24 (29) October 18, 2020

Find them here: https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=164

Exodus 33:12-23

Psalm 99

Isaiah 45:1-7

Psalm 96:1-9, (10-13)

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Matthew 22:15-22