The StarTribune had a story over the weekend about Nativity of Our Lord Catholic Church in St. Paul auctioning front-row pews to its popular Christmas Eve mass (read it here).
An excerpt:
To fundraisers at Nativity of Our Lord Catholic Church in St. Paul, front-row seats at a Christmas Eve mass have become the spiritual equivalent of arena skyboxes.
For about $1,000 per pew, well-heeled parishioners have bought the divine luxury of a reserved seat at the Rev. Peter Christensen’s 4 p.m. standing-room-only service.
The practice isn’t unheard of in the United States, and the money goes to Nativity’s populist-minded elementary school. But some religious scholars wonder if the auctioning of tickets to a celebration of the First Noel is more in the spirit of taking than giving.
I won’t assume we’ve got the whole story from the Strib, and I’m all in favor of letting markets work, but I can see where a certain ickiness can work itself into the equation. If only the Bible had something to say about this! Oh wait, I think it does:
James 2:1-4 (NKJV) —
My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at my footstool,” have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
