As I visited a professor couple down the street today, my friend tells me about his day and how his Saudi student brought coffee and dates to his office. The student, so far from home in Saudi Arabia, wanted to introduce his professor to a meaningful tradition. The student explained the coffee ritual and the custom of offering only a small serving of coffee—often just enough to cover the bottom of the small, gold-rimmed cups (finjan).
The tiny amount of delicious coffee requires that the guest immediately ask the host for more. This allows the host to demonstrate the core value of generosity.
“So I didn’t have enough coffee on purpose—so I could then ask for more—so I could experience the host’s generosity over and over again,” my friend explains. I look down on the counter to a large package of dates that accompanied the coffee as a further display of generosity. I lift the heavy present and look at the golden dates that I’m told taste just like caramels. My friend shows me with a cup from his cabinet how small of a serving the coffee ritual involves. “He wants you to keep asking for more” he says, and points to the half-filled cup.
I nod my head and close my eyes. “Of course,” I agree. “How beautiful!” I pictured the ritual and this wonderful dance of giving and asking, giving and asking again. In my heart, I knew I was learning something about God and how He might only give a little bit of something so we will come to Him and ask for more, so we might experience Him as the Generous Host.
The coffee ritual shows the guest how much the host wants the guest to linger, to enjoy more and more, and to interact with him by asking and enjoying, asking and enjoying.
God gives me a small taste of heaven, but maybe not enough, precisely so I’ll keep asking. I can imagine myself in that ritual, sipping from my gold cup. “More, please! More and more and more!”