Most of what a pastor or a priest does happens where nobody is watching. The early meeting, the hospital corridor, the funeral for someone the rest of us never met. October is Pastor Appreciation Month, and whatever else a gift does, a cup gets used every morning.

The Crusader's Cup is thrown by hand with a tall belly, and it carries a pressed medallion on each face. The Jerusalem Cross on one side. The Chi Rho on the other, the first two letters of Christ in Greek, the monogram carried on Roman standards in the fourth century. Turn the cup in your hand and the second mark comes round.

It comes in two glazes, Crimson Fall and Cream, and Dark Chocolate and Caramel. Each cup is glazed in a small batch, so the glaze breaks a little differently on every one. No two come out the same.