Bumper Stickers
From the Pastor’s Desk:
Bumper Stickers
I enjoy bumper stickers. When I am driving, I enjoy reading bumper stickers. I have even been known to get closer to a car while stopped at a traffic light in order to be able to read a bumper sticker.
Bumper stickers are a way to attempt to communicate a message in few words. Usually, they speak about something that is important to the person—which is why the person put the sticker on their vehicle. Even though I enjoy bumper stickers, I am not a person who typically puts them on my vehicles. In my life, I have only had two bumper stickers on my car. Currently, I have a window sticker that says ‘Archery Family’--which communicates that we have someone who shots archery. The other one was years ago when I put a 26.2 sticker on my car.
While these stickers attempt to communicate a message, because of how short and pithy they are at times the message may not be as clear as we hope. Take for instance the 26.2 sticker. Some people may wonder—what in the world is that about. That sticker takes some background knowledge. The purpose is to communicate that the person has run a marathon (which is 26.2 miles). But if you do not know that, the message is meaningless. The other aspect of this sticker is that it only communicates that the person has run a marathon. But there is quite a bit of information that it doesn’t communicate. For instance, did I run it or did my spouse or someone else in the family run the marathon. It also doesn’t let you know how fast the person truly is. Many may assume that the person is a fast runner, but the sticker just communicates that the person completed the race and not whether they ran it in 3 hours or 6 hours or longer.
This ambiguity about the message is also true for many bumper stickers—even faith based ones.
Throughout the Season of Lent, we are going to have a series called ‘Bumper Sticker Theology.’ This series will look at short, pithy statements that are bumper stickers and examine what message is communicated through the sticker. Some of the things we find on bumper stickers are solid Biblical messages, some attempt to communicate a message (but actually miss the mark), and some actually run counter to Biblical theology.
I hope this series will be thought provoking in order to help us think about our faith and the Bible in helpful and constructive ways.
Below are the bumper stickers that will be examined (note these are both Sundays and Wednesday Nights):
Wednesday Night Services
February 14 (Ash Wednesday)
Don’t put a question mark where God puts a period
February 21
Jesus Loves You, but I’m His Favorite
February 28
Too blessed to be stressed!
March 6
God helps those that help themselves
March 13
Love the sinner, hate the sin
March 20
God won’t give you more than you can handle
Sunday Morning Services
February 18
I found Jesus!
February 25
The Bible says it. I believe it. That settles it.
March 3
God is my co-pilot
March 10
God needed another angel
March 17
WIGIAT
(Where is God in all this?)