I caught a show on one of the more obscure television channels recently with the title ‘Day of Gluttony’. The premise of the programme is that over the course of twenty-four hours, the hosts, Harry and Bruce, visit 24 eating establishments in a particular city. Thankfully for their state of health, they don’t actually have a meal at every stop. Alongside restaurants there are also milkshake shops, juice bars, and for me the most interesting, coffee roasters. 

The choice of coffee that is available at these places can number as many as a dozen or more. Each of the beans is roasted in house before being lovingly brewed into a cup of steaming hot deliciousness. The hosts don’t know what these coffees are going to taste like before they take their first sip, but they seem to revel in the opportunity of trying something new, something different, something unusual. There’s always the possibility that they may well find the perfect cup.

It’s a world away from the larger chains that are so prevalent in high street stores up and down the UK. One of the main selling points for these places is that you know what you’re getting. Not so many years ago, a spokesman for a major fast food retailer boasted that their signature burger tasted the same whether you were in Beijing or Basildon. Coffee at our nation’s favourite coffee establishments is served in a similar vein.

God is sometimes pictured in a similar way.

He is unchanging, immutable, abiding and eternal – the same whenever and wherever we are. Which in itself as far as God goes, seems like a good thing to me. But at the same time, the prophet Isaiah records God as saying that he is ‘doing a new thing’. How can God, who is changeless, do something new and different?

It’s all about the way in which he acts. God is love, so his actions are always those of a loving God. That doesn’t mean that he will do the same specific things time and time again. But those things he does do are always informed and inspired by the love he has for his creation. He is consistently loving.

And his people, the church, are called to do the same in the way we act out our faith.

We use both ancient and new words in our prayers. We sing timeless hymns and modern songs of worship. We try to love others as God has first loved us. We also recognise that although our culture changes, the God we worship remains the same. And that’s something worth thanking him for. Ideally over a large mug of extra strong coffee.

(June 2015)