Honest Value Tea

At a cost of only one British pound, I purchased a box of Co-op Honest Value Fairtrade Tea, which contained eighty bags. This seems like remarkably good value, especially to one accustomed to buying Twining’s and other ‘luxury’ brands. I have not fallen on particularly hard times, but I bought it to see if I would be able to taste the difference. At one penny and farthing a bag, we might wonder how a profit is made, or what manner of ingredient fills them: saw dust? Floor sweepings? Fag ash? Curiously, the packaging provides no list, so let us hope that it is just pure tea. Having tasted it, I really cannot tell the difference between that and other, standard blends, such as Yorkshire or Tetley.

Its name is curious. Alternatives such as ‘Cheap Tea’, ‘Basic Blend’, ‘Cheapskates’ Cuppa’ do not have a particularly attractive ring, but 'Honest Value' makes us think better of our purchase. Yet does this not imply that other blends, and the Co-op’s own alternative, pricier tea options are somewhat less than honest? The same old tea, but with more delicate packaging and more extravagant trade marking? Buying a £500 car is no bargain if one must spend many more thousands on getting it to run; spending 280k on a new Bentley is poor value for money if all one does is commute to work and pick the kids up from the pool. Value for money means that we get a good deal for what we spend. At a mere Pound Sterling, I think this box of tea wonderfully good value, and puts other, standard brands to shame.

Never mind tea. Does your religion offer good value? Does it make you toil for an entire lifetime, but never honestly offering you any assurance that you have done enough to get the golden ticket? Or do you cling to the gospel, in which Jesus Christ did all the work, but we enjoy all the benefits? Now that is good value, honest value, superb value. Even if adhering to the gospel costs you ‘goods, honour, children, wife’ -and even life itself, each one gains far more than he lost.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” Matthew 13:45-46

God's word, for all their craft and force,
one moment will not linger,
but, spite of hell, shall have its course;
'tis written by his finger.
And though they take our life,
goods, honour, children, wife,
yet is their profit small;
these things shall vanish all:
the city of God remaineth.

-Dr Luther, 1529