"memorial day is monday, lest we forget"
(or "if you think it's hot outside, try hell")


with all due respect to those that have given their lives for their respective country, that is the crappiest waste of church marquee space that i have seen in a while. how would we forget? i mean, seriously? most of us are off work. or out of school. or planning on a bbq and will be reminded by someone at the bbq that the reason the entire family is together is because it is memorial day. but some church on highway 11 that we passed on the way to our family lunch made sure to remind all passers-by that tomorrow is memorial day, for fear that we forget. great.

maybe i am just upsest that instead of eating ribs or hotdogs or cheeseburgers with family tomorrow, i will be working 14-plus hours. or maybe i am just upset that the church marquee fad of putting up something "clever" or some sort of wisdom imparted by the church's pastor has not passed yet. in the same way that i don't understand where the style of prayer that i mentioned in my previous post came from, non-practical use of the church marquee, also, is beyond me.

let me see. "how could we best use our outdated, plastic letter using marquee/electronic marquee?" "we could post service times?" "check." "we could post sunday school times?" "check." "we could post the names of our pastors?" "umm, useless, but check." "what else?" "we could post something about a ministry of our church that will directly benefit the community that passes us five times a week on their way back and forth to work." "no way, dude. i've got a better idea. why don't i put up some silly cliche'd quote, or a lyric from a song, or something threatening hell and damnation. i'll do that every week. people will look forward to and wonder, each and every monday morning, 'what indispensible nugget will they put up?' and we will be known as 'the church with the clever sign.'" "do you think that will entice people to visit our church?" "who cares. this is brilliant. if we put up something that's really offensive, maybe we'll make the evening news!"

not every church is guilty of ruining the idea behind having a marquee, but too many are. please, joe senior pastor, just ask yourself this one question before you make a joke of your church. does your marquee say something about your church, or does it say something about you? if it's the latter, maybe you should let someone else do it for while. cool?

cool.