CHRISTIAN IDIOT – XII   A PLATTER OF BLESSINGS

I am a Lutheran. My sister has married into the CSI church. I have come to my sister’s house for their Thanks Giving Festival. She is very angry with her husband and calls him “A worthless man who could not bring home the Platter of Blessings* auctioned in the church.” “If only we had got the Platter of Blessings,” my sister laments, “I would have put the little gold cross on my baby. It would have been a lovely dollar on the one hand and a talisman around her neck warding off all evil and bringing God’s blessings!” Her poor husband is sad because he could not successfully compete with the affluent members of the church. He sulking in a corner tying to pacify himself that families with single earning cannot aspire for the platter of blessings.

In 1517 Martin Luther raised his voice against the Roman Catholic Church which raised funds for fighting crusades and building cathedrals by selling God’s forgiveness of sin by signed papers called ‘indulgences’.   Martin Luther condemned this practice as buying and selling of salvation. 

Is it right that Christians today put God’s blessing up for auction sale in the form of Platter of Blessing and bid tens of thousands to get it? I am sad to say even Lutherans have forgotten what Luther stood for and have started this practice.  I may sound idiotic but I have a question: If God gives blessings on a platter only to those who give tens of thousands to receive it; what happens to that widow who dropped two coins and all other poor people like us?

I am at a loss to understand how that Platter of Blessings that caused so much disturbance in my sister’s house will shower blessings upon that family which got it at a cost of Rs.52,000!  What do you think?

*This is a large platter (in Tamil, “Aasirvaathath thattu) with some articles like a small gold cross, a bible and a devotional book and fruits presented as an offering at Thanksgiving festivals and auctioned after the worship. People believe (or made to believe) that God’s special blessing rests upon it and they bid in thousands to possess it.  Higher the bid; greater the blessing!