Monday, November 17, 2008

No Sign of Life


Obviously I love my church quite a bit because I quit a lucrative career to work there but lately I have been thinking about 1 of the things I love about it. We don't have those changeable church signs. Everyday on my way into the office I pass the same church sign. Recently a few have pushed my buttons so to speak. One week it said "Looking for a sign from God? Well this is it." And than proceeded to list their service times. I thought that especially arrogant that God had chosen their service times over any other. Plus it perpetuates one of my favorite myths that we should spend our lives waiting for some clearly visible sign from God over the more quiet relational ways He usually communicates.

The sign message a couple of weeks ago was especially timely as we were talking about Church at church. We were focusing on not being a building but being a group of people that go out and care about and for people. The adult message called it being rivers of life into the dead places. My insightful sign friends chose to post "Sign broken. Come in for message." And of course had the same helpful service times listed. I don't mean to pick on their sign, well actually I do because that is exactly the opposite of being a river of life. A building tells you where and when to come in. It's either open or it's closed. Rivers tend to run more on the 24/7 principle.

I just appreciate that for all our bumps and warts I do love the somewhat counter-church culture that we have. I am sure we can do more of that but as far as I know we don't have any tacky signs. With my flair for 1 liners I would love to have a crack at keeping a sign up to date but I don't think anyone would appreciate what I would have to say. I will have to think of some good ones and maybe drop off some suggestions for my sign friends.

2 comments:

JediJeff said...

I know the exact sign you are talking about.

Charissa (Holland) Motley said...

Me too. I drive past it every day and it drives me crazy.