Weekly Church Sign: Not a church sign, but it could be!

“Real integrity is doing the right thing even without any recognition”—that is a good message. It tells people passing by something about what this school values. Yes it’s a school not a church (French école = school in English). So maybe I shouldn’t review it as a weekly church sign, but I wanted to show that having a good church sign doesn’t have to be difficult. This message is certainly in keeping with our Christian values. I’m sure you could find a Bill Hybels version of it. He wrote a book titled, “Who You Are When No One’s Looking.” In that book he says, “Character is not what we have done, but rather who we are.” That’s a good one. Likewise, “Worry a little less about the darkness, and spend a little more time thinking about what you can do to leverage the light that you’ve been given.” A great quote that speaks to the values of your church can work well on your church sign.

I still like the idea of using a church’s sign to invite people in, but a good quote like the one above could earn 4 out of 5 stars. It’s a good way to bring some variety to the content on the church sign.

The quote on the school sign made me think of former US Vice-President Joe Biden. While at a movie theatre with his granddaughter, when he thought no one was looking, Joe wrote a note, gave it to a reportedly homeless man and talked with him.

As it turns out, this Facebook post went viral and media outlets went crazy reporting the story, but I believe Joe Biden was doing the right thing here by this man and was not seeking any recognition for doing it. That’s integrity. It jumps out at you when you have the concurrent contrast of President Trump paying off a porn star and Joe Biden stopping to get to know a homeless man. Seems pretty clear which one of them has integrity and respects the dignity of every individual.

Weekly Church Sign: Happy New Year’Easter!

This is a pretty good church sign or at least it was in January and maybe even in February. It’s kind of odd to be talking about the “New Year” in March! As we reach mid-March, shouldn’t our attention be turning toward Easter (April 1)? Zion Christian Reformed Church, it’s time to refresh your church sign!

In January, this sign would likely get around 4 out of 5 stars. It would’ve been timely, playing off of New Year’s Day. The triple repetition of “new” is an effective way of emphasizing it’s a new year, new church service time at 9:30am and you’re welcome to join us (New Beginnings). It’s simple, but I like it. Drivers on this medium busy road in Oshawa can easily process the message.

The only problem here is this message on this sign has been left up too long. This is actually surprising as Zion Christian Reformed Church is usually pretty good about frequently changing their sign. In fact, I found last year’s sign from this time of year on my camera roll! Hmm… last spring looks much springier than this spring!

So to review this church sign has a good message, easily understood by drivers. It’s welcoming and has a specific invite. Zion Christian Reformed Church is trying to make good use of their sign and reach out to their community. Subtracting one star because it’s been up too long, this sign still earns 3 out of 5 stars. I’m hoping they change it to a good Easter message very soon!

Weekly Church Sign: Don’t visit us, visit our website

Ritson Road is a very busy street in Oshawa. Thousands of cars are driving past this sign for Ritson Road Alliance Church everyday. Why not grab people’s attention with your sign, invite them to come to your church, or at least give them a smile? This sign is an epic fail. It probably got more second looks while my dog was sitting there than it had up to that point. Yes, it’s a clever website address with that .church domain, but let’s be serious most people driving by could find your church website if they wanted to. The sign is an opportunity to give them a reason to look you up online. And this website address fails to give them that reason.

At a minimum the church could’ve use the second line on their sign to say “Join us Sunday 10:30 am.” Instead they put that message, “Join us Sunday 10:30 am,” on the other side of the sign. That is a serious sign sin. You can’t put half the message on one side and the other half-message on the other side. Do they think commuters will put together the two halves by the end of the day? They could easily have put the full message on both sides of the sign. It still wouldn’t be very good, but it would’ve been better than splitting it up.

I’ll give them a ½ star for effort. Their church website http://www.ritsonalliance.church/ is actually pretty good. It’s friendly, welcoming and interesting. But I’m not evaluating websites in the Weekly Church Sign Review, I’m looking at signs. And the sign at Ritson Road Alliance Church is pathetic. Don’t advertise website addresses. Don’t do that! Instead give people a reason to google your church! They did have Sunday info on the other side of the sign, but there’s no humor here or any attempt to grab people’s attention. The sign doesn’t even light up at night! I was very tempted to downgrade to 0 out of 5 stars when I discovered the sign doesn’t light up at night. It’s very dark around this church at night, kind of spooky and not welcoming.

As I said last week, all too often churches fail to use their signs to try to draw people in. Admittedly, Ritson Road Alliance Church, you do not have much space on this sign. You might be able to purchase a set of slightly smaller letters that would allow you to put a little more info on the second line. That might help a bit. Even better would be to get a sign maker in to refresh and reconfigure the whole sign. Using your current letter set, I think this would fit (on both sides of the sign):

YOU’RE INVITED TO JOIN US
SUNDAY 10:30 AM

You could promote an upcoming event at your church. Why not put up a quotation from Jesus? I suspect you’ll find this to be too edgy, but here’s another suggestion that would fit:

LESS BUSY THAN WAL-MART
JOIN US SUNDAY 10:30 AM

If you can catch people’s attention and make them think about something, they just might think about your church the next time they think about going to church. And, yes, they might even google “Ritson Road Alliance Church” and find your website.

Weekly Church Sign Review: “Christian Budweiser”?

Churches can use their signs to tell people about their church, to invite people or to share their message. This is valuable advertising especially if the church is on a busy road, and, yet, all too often churches fail to use their signs to try to draw people in. I'm told I can be too cynical, so I'm going to try to offer some constructive criticism on church signs. While out walking my dog, I've been snapping pictures of church signs as a kind of hobby. Come back to the blog every Friday for my review of a local church sign. I snapped this picture just a couple of days ago...

½ star out of 5 stars

Playing off an 1980s Budweiser beer commercial which sings, “For all you do, this Bud's for you,” St. Matthew's Anglican Church in Oshawa is letting people in their neighbourhood know, “For all you do, this Blood is for you... and a wafer too!” I guess the aim of this sign was to be funny, but making light of that which is most sacred to the church, ie. the blood of Christ, is by definition sacrilegious. Some will rightly take offence at this sign.

I can see that they are trying to be welcoming, saying that the Eucharist (also know as Communion in other churches), the service of remembering the body and blood of Jesus in his sacrifice on the cross, is open to all... that everyone is welcome to eat the bread and drink the wine and remember the suffering and death of Jesus. By adding the Budweiser phrase “For all you do,” this invitation implies that people have earned the right to share in this sacred remembrance. But Jesus dies for us because no one is worthy, all have sinned and fallen short. Recently at a small group Bible study, we saw how Mark's account of the Last Supper (Mark 14:12-26) makes clear that not one of the disciples was worthy to be at the table and that was the point that Jesus was making. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). So all are welcome at the table, at Eucharist or Communion, but no one has earned that opportunity and it is only for those who believe in what Jesus has done for them and trust in him as Lord and Saviour.

Why the ½ star for St. Matthew's Anglican Church sign, the “Christian Budweiser” sign? Because they are trying to be welcoming and friendly with this sign. Unfortunately, it's too churchy for secular people. The humor fails. Theologically it's bad. And it has no specific invite. Usually St. Matthew's does much better with their church sign and I hope they change this one soon.

Previously I've seen on their sign an invitation to something called, “Church from Scratch.” I like the sound of that, like we'll start with the basics ingredients and figure out together how to do “church.” Their website explains:

At St. Matthew's we are trying to do what Jesus calls us too each and every day. We are called to help share and be the Good News of God. We are called to look for and connect to God in everyday life. The trouble is we have too often tried to make people fit out practices on a Sunday morning instead of first listening to you and responding to God that is working there too. We want to create an opportunity to explore your spiritual life on your terms, where you are free to decide for yourself when to stay or when to go deeper. Church from Scratch is one way we can do this.

“Church from Scratch” sounds like a great way to reach out and welcome people in. Put that on the St. Matthew’s Anglican Church sign and I bet they could score 4 or 5 stars ;-)  As I live in the same neighbourhood, I may have to check out this “Church from Scratch.” Hopefully they'll forgive me for rating their “Christian Budweiser” church sign so poorly.

Franklin Graham's Mind-Boggling Support for Donald Trump's Ban on All Muslims

I've been struggling to understand why so many evangelical Christians seem to be supporting Donald Trump to be the Republican candidate for US President. He has said so many things that are against our Christian values, the latest being his proposal to ban all Muslims from entering the United States. I can't begin to tell you how shocked, how horrified I was, really, to hear Franklin Graham give basically an endorsement of Trump because he too would like to ban all Muslims. It's just not a position I ever would have expected the son of Billy Graham and founder of Samaritan's Purse to proclaim. And yet he did.

For some time I have been saying that Muslim immigration into the United States should be stopped until we can properly...
Posted by Franklin Graham on Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Many of us in Canada and the US had no idea of the extent of the Syrian refugee crisis until Alan Kurdi, a three-year-old boy washed up on the shore of Turkey. He died, along with his five-year-old brother Galib and their mother Rehan, in a desperate attempt to escape to Turkey and then find a way to Canada where they have some family. Why are people so desperate to flee from Syria? The brutality Bashar al-Assad and the resulting civil war left much of the country open to the invasion of the Salafi jihadist militant group known as Daesh (or ISIS). And now the US, UK, Canada and other allies as well as Russia are carrying out bombing missions against Daesh in Syria and Iraq. Here are some quick facts about Syria from World Vision.

• 13.5 million people in Syria need humanitarian assistance.
• 4.3 million Syrians are refugees, and 6.6 million are displaced within Syria; half are children.
• Most Syrian refugees remain in the Middle East, in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Egypt; slightly more than 10 percent of the refugees have traveled to Europe.

It is the worst refugee crisis since World War II. And this is why the European Union and other countries are bringing in Syrian refugees. Canada is currently bringing in 25,000 Syrians. The US had committed to 10,000, but now even that number is in doubt, thanks at least in part to Donald Trump and Franklin Graham.

Perhaps giving shoeboxes filled with toys to poor children is the extent of Franklin Graham's compassion, but the Samaritan for whom he named his organization Samaritan's Purse does much more than that. The travelling Samaritan comes upon a man whom robbers have left beaten and bloodied, laying in a ditch. While the Jewish priest and the upright Jewish man have just walked by him and done nothing, it is a despised biracial Samaritan who shows him compassion and bandages up his wounds. At great personal risk, the Samaritan brings the beaten man into town and pays for his care. (In that culture Jews despised Samaritans so much that bringing the beaten Jewish man into a Jewish town may very well have resulted in the Samaritan being assaulted.) His compassion tells him it is the right thing to do in spite of the risk. And in case you missed the point of Jesus' parable, Franklin, it is the Samaritan who shows us the compassion God has for the needy, the compassion which God has shown to you and calls you to show to others.

As Christians that compassion tells us that helping the Syrian refugees is the right thing to do in spite of any perceived risk. Threatened by a brutal militaristic apocalyptic doomsday group (Daesh), these people have fled their homes and their country and are seeking refuge, but you would have us treat them as the enemy. How dare you flaunt your "Reverend" title and presume to tell Christians and Americans that they too should support Donald Trump's ban on all Muslims. We are not "at war with Islam" as you say in your Facebook post. No, America, Canada, the UK and their allies are fighting against Daesh, a brutal militaristic group which is a small faction of radical Islamic fundamentalism focused on bringing about an apocalyptic doomsday.  Given how diametrically opposed we are to Daesh and the horrible things they have done to both Christians and Muslims, can you explain to me in any coherent way why we would not show compassion to the victims of Daesh who have had to abandon their homes and flee from their country? Bringing Syrian refugees to our countries is not only the right thing to do and the humane thing, it is also certainly what the Samaritan would have done. You are responding in fear like the priest and upright man in Jesus' parable, and not with the compassion of the Samaritan.

Sunday Preview (5 Jan 2014, Christmas 2A)

As Christians, do you suppose we should spend more time or less time dealing with the biblical text of Sunday’s sermons? I guess I’m asking part of the bigger question James 1:22 raises about becoming doers of the Word rather than just hearers of sermons. And, yes, I suspect part of the answer is spending more time with the biblical passages behind the sermons so that we are better prepared to hear God speak to us through his Word through the preacher. Every sermon can have a life-changing impact on us. I’m a biblical exegete who no longer preaches every Sunday, but I do miss this process of grappling with God’s Word and making clear its message to us. So I’m going to try this approach of previewing the biblical text many of us, at least in churches following the Revised Common Lectionary, are likely to encounter this coming Sunday in hopes that we might do more than just listen to sermons.

Ephesians 1:3-14

This is an amazing biblical passage to read and to study for the beginning of a new year for people whose identity is “in Christ.” I want you to try this. Take a deep breath and read the full sentence Paul wrote here. It starts in verse 3 and ends at verse 14! That’s one long sentence. 202 words long. A sentence communicates an idea. In this case it is a big idea which is given many supporting reasons. Paul gives praise to God the Father for everything we have received “in Christ.” He repeats this key concept of “in Christ” 11 times in this one sentence. That’s gotta be important. This is certainly a biblical passage worth memorizing, if anyone does that anymore. I’d recommend it. Memorizing this passage will give you such a better grasp on what Paul has to teach us about being Christians in this world.

So what should a good biblical sermon on this passage sound like? One sentence, one big idea: Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because he “blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ” (v3). How has he blessed us in Christ? I see the apostle listing five big blessings we have in Christ, and, again, he’s listing these that we might praise God. Some exegetes point out that the phrase “to the praise of his glory” occurs in verses 6, 12 and 14, and that, therefore, Paul is listing three blessings, such that a couple of the five are actually re-instatements or expansions. That’s possible. Sometimes I think commentators try to make Paul out to be much neater than he actually is, but at least there is still serious engagement going with the text; however, I do get concerned with those who come out with a pristine three-point sermon looking something like this:

1. Chosen by the Father (1:3-6)
2. Redeemed by the Son (1:7-12)
3. Sealed by the Holy Spirit (1:13,14)

That’s very, pretty. Too pretty. This outline can be used to show that this passage is Paul teaching about our Trinitarian spirituality. Cool, but not sticking to the text. Again, Paul gives praise to God the Father. That is the main idea. He gives praise to God for all that we receive in Christ, as made real in our lives by the work of the Holy Spirit. The passage develops a list of five of these blessings we have received in Christ. So while it’s true that the Triune nature of God is affirmed here, it’s done incidentally not as the focus of the passage. In my opinion, that makes a stronger case for the reality of the Trinity than a direct argument. He can just assume it while making some other point. Hopefully, the sermon you’ll hear on Sunday will stick close to the text and cover these five big blessings we have in Christ, maybe three or four with some compression.

1. He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world (v4a) v4

God did this “that we may be holy and unblemished in his sight” (v4b).  Let me comment further under the next blessing as the two are closely related since God has chosen us in Christ and by doing so he was predestining us to adoption.

2. God predestined us to adoption as his sons through Jesus Christ (5a) vv5-6

Here’s the deal. Jesus is not merely a conduit of God’s blessings, like a live electric wire zapping us. They don’t come to us just through Christ, instead Paul repeatedly talks about the blessings we have in Christ. It’s about incorporation. We have been baptized into Jesus (Rom 6:3) and we have been united with him (Rom 6:5-8). This give us a new address in the heavenly realms that’s “in Christ.” Jerry Walls and Joseph Dongell in their book Why I Am Not a Calvinist say,

Now that we have been incorporated into Christ, we have entered into the drama of his own story. His death has become our death, his resurrection has become our resurrection (Eph 2:5), and his position of privilege at the Father’s right hand bring us an immeasurable wealth of grace (Eph 2:6-7)… It is in him we have been chosen and predestined (Eph 1:4-5). This means that Jesus Christ himself is the chosen one, the predestined one. Whenever one is incorporated into him by grace through faith, one comes to share in Jesus’ special status as chosen of God."

This is an awesome reality. Consider what we’ve become in Christ. Easy to see how Paul considers these to be reasons why we should praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

3. In him we have redemption through his blood (v7a) vv7-10

Verses 7-10 explore God’s plan of redemption through Christ, and, as it turns out, it’s far bigger than just “the forgiveness of our trespasses” which is already amazing. It’s very important for us as Christians to recognize that God’s plan in Christ is so much bigger than just me being forgiven of my sins. God is in the process of setting everything right in Christ and we’re part of that plan. Very cool!

4. In Christ we too have been claimed as God’s own possession (v11a) vv11-12

There’s a lot of divisive theology coming out of the interpretation of verses 11-12. Rather than getting hung up on each phrase and Paul’s precise sequence of thought, I see the passage clearly affirming that “God’s own possession,” a way of referring to God’s own people or God’s nation, has been transformed in Christ so that now it’s not just the Jewish nation. Now the people who belong to God are the Jews who have set their hope on Christ (v12a) along with the Gentiles who believe in Christ (v13b). We are God’s own possession, his people. We are in Christ and the focal point of God’s work in redeeming all this world.

5. In Christ, we were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit (v11a, 13c) vv13-14

The Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives is “the down payment of our inheritance” which means we’re not just getting a promise of redemption. No, the Holy Spirit is redeeming us, giving us the power to change, here and now. Praise God! We may not yet be all that we will be, but we’ve come a long way so far! And there is, perhaps, the best thought to relate to this being a new year coming. Thanks to all that we are receiving in Christ and to the working of the Spirit in our lives, we are being changed. Let’s praise God for that and really open ourselves up to what he will do in our lives in this coming year. Let’s not just be content that God has forgiven our sins in the past. Let’s look forward with hope and anticipation of what our great God will be doing to redeem us and to make us more like Christ in this year ahead. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!

John 1:1-18

The Gospel text would also make for a great sermon this coming Sunday. After everything I wrote about the Ephesians passage, I won’t say much here which is a crime, of course! This opening passage in the Gospel of John is a real power text. Much could be said about identifying the pre-incarnate Son of God as the Word and what the gospel writer means to communicate by this new title, not to mention the whole concept of the Word becoming flesh and light coming into darkness. But, since I’m keeping this brief, I want to look at just one thing, this “man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe” (vv 6-7). And in verse 15, we are told, “John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, ‘This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’’” So you’re thinking this is John the Baptist.

While Matthew, Mark and Luke all identify John as “the Baptist,” the Gospel of John never does. Every preacher I’ve heard preach this first chapter of John feels compelled to inform us that, yes, this John is John the Baptist. Rarely does any preacher ever answer the question as to to why the text does not name him as such. I think it’s a question we should ask. Why omit the title which would at once bring clarity, perhaps a needed clarity since the Gospel is named “John.” I want to say two things about this. First, it seems to me the writer is stressing that this was just an everyday man named John, you know, a bloke that goes by a common name. What he says about this John is actually to be true of everyone who believes, that we are to be witnesses and testify about this light that has come into the world. He is not presented as being anymore special or different than any of us. What we are told about John here is what everyone who comes to believe that the Son of God has lived among us is to do—to be witnesses and to testify.

Secondly, more as a footnote, I’d like to point out that John is definitely not “John the Baptist.” That translators still identify him as such is ridiculous, shoddy translation at its worst. What is a “Baptist”? I’m sure you’ll tell me that a Baptist is a member of a Baptist church. Whatever else John may have been, he was not that. He never even went to church, and he is certainly not the founder of the Baptist church as I heard so many times while living in the Southern Bible Belt. What Matthew, Mark and Luke are actually calling him is John “the Baptizer,” as in one who baptizes others. That translators will defend the Baptist title as traditional is indefensible. They know what “Baptist” means to people today and it is not what it meant to Matthew, Mark and Luke. They had no connotation whatsoever of this title relating to a particular church denomination, and neither should we. The Greek word is a participle, essentially a verb turned into a noun, “the one who baptizes,” i.e. baptizer. Join me in correcting this travesty. Whenever I’m asked to read one of the gospel passages mentioning John, I correct the translation and read “John the Baptizer.” We cannot let Baptists believe John began their church denomination anymore than we could let Pentecostals claim their church denomination started on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2.

Jeremiah 31:7-14

Here’s another splendid biblical text, caught up in that same tension of the “already, but not yet” that we saw in Ephesians 1:3-14. God is now bringing together his people from the land of the north and from the ends of the earth. “For the Lord will deliver Jacob and redeem them from the hand of those stronger than they. They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion” (vv11-12a). This is new the transformed people of God we described above in Ephesians, no longer the people of Israel, but now all who are in Christ. We will come and shout for joy on Zion. Indeed in the gathering of God’s people, we are that holy city. What Jeremiah prophesied is being fulfilled before our eyes in Christ.

For more insight into the texts for this week, I would encourage you to checkout an Australian pastor’s website, http://laughingbird.net. I’ve been checking out his site and using his Scripture paraphrases and prayers for more than ten years now. I love the way he writes prayers incorporating bits from each of the texts that week. Here’s his prayer of Commission and Benediction for this coming Sunday:

Go now, and bear witness to the light so others might believe.
Since you are chosen in Christ,
........live before him in love, holy and blameless.
Live with hope in Christ, for the praise of his glory.

And may God fill the earth with peace;
May Christ give you grace upon grace from his fullness;
And may the Holy Spirit, the pledge of your inheritance,
........lead you on straight paths where you will not stumble.

We go in peace to love and serve the Lord,
........In the name of Christ. Amen.

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Missing the point of Christmas

Watching the news on Boxing Day, I heard someone who someone who had been standing in line outside a box store for much of the cold night say the most absurd thing.  Asked why he’s been standing in line for seven or eight hours, the young man says, “Just for the fun of it. You know it’s the… Christmas Spirit, Boxing Day, something I wanted to experience.” (You can catch him at around 1:10 into this video.)

Standing in line outside a store on Christmas night, hoping to buy reduced-priced electronics for yourself in the morning—that has nothing at all to do with the Christmas Spirit! You might experience frostbite or the freezing of our soul, but you won’t be experiencing the Spirit of Christmas! Christmas is about the self-giving love of God shown in the birth of God’s Son as a baby in Bethlehem. God sent his son that we might have new life, that we might experience the power to change and not live in such self-centered ways.

The young man mentioned wanting to experience not only the Christmas Spirit, but also Boxing Day. I know it has little meaning to us now, but let’s be clear that the historical meaning of “Boxing Day” has nothing at all to do with the consumer-driven quest to purchase reduced-priced merchandise. Back in the day, Boxing Day was when the alms boxes in Anglican churches were opened up and the money collected throughout the year was given to the poor. It was, thus, an extension of the self-giving love celebrated on Christmas Day.

It can be entertaining when we see the ways in which the meaning of these holy days have become so twisted. But all that aside for a moment,  I think we have to admit that all this consumer-driven craziness does affect us. Was Christmas for me a celebration of God’s self-giving love or was I focused on what I was getting under the tree this year? Was I more prepared to persevere in long lines at department stores than I was to go out in the cold to attend special church services? Has the Christ Child been magnified or minimized in my holidays this year? Bah, humbug! I’m afraid people may have seen a little more of (pre-conversion) Ebenezer Scrooge in me and less of Jesus. Well, at least, there’s the makings of a new year’s resolution worth the effort.

Technorati Tags: Christmas