One of the more difficult things about my call to priesthood is not having a clear image of what I want to do and be that is also something that feels possible in the place and time I live. If I had no constraints, I know exactly what I’d do: I’d be a tea monk.

Becky Chambers’ Monk and Robot novellas are a delight: they’re calming, gentle, loving, and always questioning. I won’t spoil the books for you (though they are pretty much what they say on the tin: a monk and a robot meet and walk the world a spell), but I felt especially seen by the description of Dex’s tea service. Essentially, you set up some tables, chairs, and a kettle, and you wait. Sometimes you decorate the tables, or make a devotional altar to one of the gods. Sometimes you’re in the city, and sometimes you’re roughing it to visit villages on the outskirts. However your tea service looks, your job is to make a welcoming spot and wait for people to show up. Some people have big problems. Some people have small ones. There’s a touching story where Dex remembers being ten and taken for their first tea service when dealing with their overwhelming emotions. Anyone, at any time, can visit a tea monk for a cup of tea and a sympathetic ear to listen to your problems.

Dex struggles with questions of purpose. What are they doing with their life, and why? What urged them to give up their original, non-tea-related post at a city monastery and take on tea service seemingly at random? What’s the point of anything, and does that point even matter? I identify a lot with Dex. I especially identify with the confusion and doubt that keep them company. They just know they feel called to this vocational change and follow their heart. The entire story is about listening to the quiet still voice that tells you where you need to be, even if you don’t understand why or how or when or what.

I want to be a tea monk. I want to offer solace and hospitality to people who need it. I want to serve my gods by serving a community of people I might not even have met yet. I want to be an extension of Brighid’s loving generosity and grace. More than wanting, I feel called to it. This is a decision I am making, but it has also been made for me. So ultimately my decision is less “I am going to be a priest” and more “I am going to acknowledge that priesthood is happening.” I don’t know what that would look like in NYC at the beginning of 2024. But I would awfully like to be a tea monk.