Someone asked me what the goal posts are out front. I laughed, “It’s where we are about to put the bulletin board back up; it’s been down since before construction on Old First House started in May 2023.
The bulletin board is a window into all that goes on in our church community, as well as to the values and beliefs that fuel our activity, fellowship, and mission. It’s also a subliminal message of sorts for people beyond our 4 walls: “We want to be in communication with you; we have more to share, resources beyond our own church community.”
But because the bulletin board will no longer be fastened to a brick wall, its backside will be visible. And Janice and Michael have figured out a way for it to display 4’ x 4’ chloroplast signs that we can just slip in and out of a track that holds them. We can have them printed inexpensively and switch them out as our messaging needs change.
The bulletin board will face our central walkway where people can easily stand in front of it and read or even study anything we display. But the backside, where these signs will be posted, is close to the dogwood tree. There’s not really room for anyone to stand there and read small print. So these will be larger-font, simple-message signs. Imagine a sign like “Be the Church” from the UCC (see above) or the “Black Lives Matter” sign we displayed after Michael Brown’s murder in Ferguson.
Janice expects to have the bulletin board in place in the next few weeks. We’d like to try slipping our first signage on the back too. Michael was so impressed with the voting for the worship time that he thought it might be fun to vote on the first few messages we want to display.
He thinks for the upcoming midterms, we should have a sign that reads “Bless the Hands that cast (and count) the Ballots.”
But we can put the other 2 other signs up for a vote. There are 9 choices for a “general message,” and 5 choices for the Advent/Christmas sign. Below are the choices for each sign and the 2 Ballots. Click on the hyperlink to vote on each sign.
GENERAL SIGN (please order them from favorite to least favorite)
___ Be Kind Whenever Possible (Pro-tip: it’s always possible)
___ Christians Against Christian Nationalism
___ God Desires Spiritual Fruits, Not Religious Nuts
___ God Loves You Just As She Created You
___ Human Diversity Reflects God’s Creativity
___ Kind Atheists Are More Like Jesus than Mean Christians
___ Let’s Be the People Our Pets Think We Are
___ More Fortunate Than Others? Build a Bigger Table, Not A Higher Wall
___ They Blame Immigrants so You Won’t Blame Billionaires
ADVENT / CHRISTMAS SIGN (please order them from favorite to least favorite)
There is nothing so secular that it cannot be sacred. That is one of the deepest messages of the Incarnation.
– Madeleine L’Engle
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before! What if Christmas doesn’t come from a store? What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little more.
– Dr. Seuss
Christmas is built upon a beautiful and intentional paradox: That the birth of a homeless child should be celebrated in every home.
– G.K. Chesterton
When God is going to do something wonderful, He or She starts with hardship; When God is going to do something amazing, She or He starts with an impossibility.
– Anne Lamott
We can’t move closer to God. God is always coming closer to us. Most especially in the stranger, at Christmas and with Communion…
– Nadia Bolz-Weber
