I am fascinated by signs. I think that it is amazing how much information we can communicate with just a picture or a word. We use signs to communicate important information quickly, but because only a small amount of information can be presented certain nuances are inherently lost. For instance, a caution sign tells you to be careful, but it doesn’t tell you what to watch out for necessarily. In the same way, the church, in it’s attempt to share the Gospel to as many people as possible, often processes deep theological ideas and doctrines into manageable and memorable sound-bytes. In doing so, a lot of the rich detail is lost. For the past two weeks we have been exploring some of the messages the church sends out to the world. The first week we explored what it means to be open. The second week we explored the concept of repentance (U Turn). This week as part of our “Signs” series we’re going to explore what I feel to be one of the most difficult and often harmful mixed-message that comes out of the church, the paradoxical belief that we are created in the image of God and yet are a broken and sinful people who are in need of God’s forgiveness. This belief, by itself is not harmful, in fact it is probably one of the most beautiful concepts in the Christian faith; but in its sound-byte version it is often condensed down to “you are a sinful and broken people” and the divine spark that dwells within us all is left unmentioned. Where are we to  find hope if all we hear is that we are broken? It is similar to constantly criticizing a child – how are they to overcome adversity if they do not believe they have any value or redeeming worth? The truth is they can’t and neither can we.

Which brings me around to my discussion question for the week – what other mixed messages does the Church/Christians send out to the world?

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