What Do Your Chairs Say about Your Spirituality?
Here are two concepts that we don’t often combine: furniture design and spirituality. And yet, furniture design is how we best know the Shakers. If their design legacy has something to say about their spirituality, maybe we should all take a few minutes to look around our homes and think about what our furniture says about our spirituality. For example, I have a friend who restores historic homes. He is convinced that the craftsmanship he puts into restoring built-in cabinets and stair banisters is a faithful reflection of God’s care of creation. He finds shoddy work offensive because it doesn’t use God-given resources to their full potential and beauty. These thoughts are knocking around in my head thanks to the article I read during lunch today.
At my desk I have a $9.99 folding chair from IKEA that despite being held together by a good amount of duct tape collapses two to three times a week often impaling me. Would that say spiritual crisis or some sort of bizarre asceticism?
23 February 2006 at 2:46 am