What do our signs say?

I have always, as many are, been fascinated with church signs - more specifically with the messages that are put up on church signs. Now, serving a church, I am even more acutely aware of the messages that we explicitly and implicitly convey through these common "advertising" devices.

Case in point...so last weekend was the 4th of July weekend. I was shocked (well, not really, but put off) by one church sign in my area that read: "America the Greatest County For Our God is Great".

So what put me off was the arrogance and exclusionary nature of this statement. To me it reads our God is great God, and your's isn't nah, nah, nah... And besides that, this is OUR God, NOT your God!

What does this say to a non-believer who is skeptical of the corporate church? What does this say to the immigrant or foreigner in our country?

It is no wonder that churches are seen as scary or evil in the eyes of some. It is no wonder that non-believers (and some believers) state that we have a policy of "Do as I say, not as I do" when it comes to what we teach.

Yes, I believe our country is great. We are afforded freedoms and rights that we take for granted, and that others (throughout history and still today) fight and die for. And I do believe that God is great - in fact on that I would stake my life. BUT, I don't believe that America is a great country because we have claimed "a god" who is greater than any other nation's god. I don't believe that God is partial to one country or another. I don't hear the ego and arrogance that I hear in this statement in the promise of God's love and life for all the world.

So in relation to this particular sign I want it to be know - the "god" that this church is claiming for America IS NOT the God that I know in and through Jesus Christ. This "god" is not the God I confess, who gave his life so that ALL may live. I am not sure who this "American god" is, but it is not the God I go to worship each week, or that I proclaim in my life.

Just a word of caution: careful with those church signs. Do discern and pray about what you will put up on them. When you are unsure - simply advertise your services, don't advertise a lie about the all-loving God of this entire world!

Just proclaim the Gospel - that God loves the world so much that God will stop at nothing, NOTHING, to bring all of God's people, all of the world back into full and right relationship with God and with all of creation!