Speak Ye Uncomfortably to Jerusalem
The mail has brought a packet of advertising from a big Protestant outfit called the Christian Purchasing Network. Among the ads is one with this headline: “Most Comfortable Church Chair in America!” Below that are a photo of the chair and a list of its virtues, among them:
Premium Comfort Best Value
New ComfortWeb Seat An Innovation
Never “Bottom Out” Again
It’s Like Sitting on a Cloud.
That’s good ad copy — straightforward and enthusiastic — but it arouses curious sensations. No, not because it promises “an innovation,” though the NOR is known for carefully scrutinizing claims involving that word. The odd sensations are aroused by the offer to make worshipers supremely comfortable in church. A comfortable seat at the ballgame is good. A comfortable seat at the opera would be nice. A comfortable chair at your desk can make the workday pleasanter. But in church?
You May Also Enjoy
American Catholics must be careful not to be more American than Catholic, especially since American politics is essentially Protestant.
Pope John Paul II wrote that we live our earthly lives in the gap between the person we are and the person we ought to be.
Jews of Old Testament times had to insulate themselves totally against the Gentiles because the pagan gods were demonic spirits.