Squirrely Joe’s Reformed Coffee: Somewhere in the middle of enjoying Silver Age and Golden Age comic book cover art, I came across a coffee ad in which the company not only named its coffees after virtues but also seemed eager to assure everyone that the people behind the brand actually live by them. At that point I had to replay the ad, just to make sure I had understood him correctly. According to the ad, these coffees aren’t simply named after virtues because they sound nice, but because the people behind the company actually live by them. I’m sorry, but that’s hilarious.
Maybe that’s why it struck me as so funny. I have no problem with coffee being named after nice things. But the moment the conversation shifts from the coffee to the virtues of the men behind it, something feels off. It turns into one more subtle way of putting the Christian in the foreground instead of Christ.
Then it got even better. At one point he explains that during Covid they were sitting at home listening to Reformed preaching and going down a rabbit hole, and somehow that rabbit hole led straight to roasting coffee. I have to admit, that one caught me off guard. I always assumed a reformed rabbit hole might leave a man with a shelf full of Puritans, a stronger commitment to Calvinism, and a few more opinions than he had before. I did not realize it might also end with a virtue-themed coffee company.
All joking aside, this is exactly the sort of thing that has always made me a little nervous. Christianity doesn’t call us to introduce ourselves by our virtues, but by our Savior. The moment we begin presenting ourselves as the patient ones, the wise ones, the courageous ones, or the faithful ones, we’ve already shifted the focus. The gospel doesn’t teach sinners to admire themselves. It teaches sinners to admire Christ. I realize this may sound like a small thing, but I don’t think it is. One of the easiest traps in Christianity is to slowly replace the message of Christ with a presentation of the Christian. Yet the apostles did not go into the world advertising their virtues. They preached a crucified Savior. MPJ