Church Signs Make Me “Passionate”

This was the subject line of an email I once wrote to my Pastor back when the church was on the brink of the “greatest evangelistic opportunity” in church history. Yes, you remember, that was the year the “Passion of the Christ” came out. Anyway, the week before Easter (the movie was released on Ash Wednesday of that year) I was innocently driving down the road when this sore thumb of a church sign jumped out into the road and accosted me. Perhaps no one else noticed, but it really bothered me. It read: “Experience the Passion of the Christ this Easter.” Experience the Passion on Easter? I thought Christ experienced his “passion” on Good Friday? Well, anyway, that was the thought that rushed to my head to defend myself against this assault on my logic. Of course, forgetting that I’m a member of a Southern Baptist Church in the 21st Century, all I got in response to my statement was an explanation of how Christ wasn’t actually crucified on Friday, but rather on Wednesday . . . or was it Thursday? You know how it goes.

Anyway, this is just one humorous example of the emotional response church signs engender in me. What other kinds drive me nuts, you may ask? Well, look in your email software and open any list of good sayings of church signs that someone has sent you in the past, and one or all of those qualify. Besides insulting the intelligence of driversby, and diminishing the dignity of church in general, the more clever they try to be, the worse the effect, in my humble opinion.

Today I discovered a new one. Here’s how not to promote your church, or brag about your orthodoxy. I’m a 5 point Calvinist, and this sign still makes me nuts! If you want to know why, then post a comment to this post.