Mochas and Idols
“Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole her father’s household gods.”
Genesis 31:19
I must begin by telling you I love mocha lattes. I would describe part of my life’s work as journeying the world in search for the best mocha. In every town I visit, I make sure to stop by a local coffee shop and try the mocha. Some of the more memorable ones I have had were in quite unlikely places. There is a coffee shop a few blocks from the state capitol in Cheyenne, Wyo. that was pretty good. I have also had some great “mocha experiences” in a quaint shop on the edge of a cliff in western Iceland, in the heart of downtown Nairobi, Kenya, and in the suburbs of Amman, Jordan.
And you know, the mocha in our church welcome center is not half bad.
I am led into temptation everyday I’m at the church with those coffee machines around. Like something straight out of Homer’s Odyssey, the mocha Sirens call out to me. Sometimes I am able to stop up my ears with wax so that their cries don’t pierce my heart, but other times I come crawling to their altar, seeking just a taste of the sweet cocoa they offer to all wearied travelers like me.
Yes, this may be a little silly, but whether it is a mocha or something else, we all worship something. For many of us on the staff, we mindlessly go to those coffee machine seeking caffeine or chocolate or some kind of comfort. It is a morning ritual for a lot of folks at the Church. We all have daily rituals — some good and some bad. And every ritual requires an altar. Whether it is the coffee pot, the TV screen, the treadmill, or the wine rack, we all create space in our lives (and in our homes) for these unconscious idols in our life.
Years ago, archeologists found Israelite homes with small niches built into the wall. When they were tempted to forsake God and follow Baal or one of the other regional gods, they would place an idol of the god in that niche. They had physically created space in their home for idolatry. We see this clearly in our passage from Genesis when Rachel goes into the house to steal her father’s household gods.
Houses have changed drastically since the time of Rachel and Laban, but we can still find niches in our home today. If archeologists uncovered our homes in a thousand years, what conclusions do you think they would make? What would they say we valued or prized most dearly from what we left behind?
I would love to sit down and hear your thoughts…while drinking a mocha, of course.
