Driving on the southwest side of Columbus, Ohio in August of 2005, I was struck by the following sign advertising services for the CrossLink Community Church.
Alright don't worry, I'm fine. I wasn't actually struck by the sign. But it did make a big impression on me.
It's not something anyone ever talks about, but churches do tend to attract some unattractive people. Even if you're just gross and ugly and can't get a date with a dog even while wearing a pork chop necklace, church folks will still socialize with you. Hey, they pretty much have to accept anybody. Not to speak for any other religion, but that's probably one of the better points of the Christian churches I grew up in. They're a haven of acceptance for the socially inept.
But it struck me odd that a church would actually publicly acknowledge this, much less absolutely advertise it like this. Basic Christian agape would seem to prescribe a kind of polite discretion. "Hey, are you so gross and fat that you couldn't get a date with a crack whore while carrying a $100 rock? Come see us, we'll still accept you." That doesn't seem very nice. That would seem to be rubbing our ugly faces in it- not particularly a good act of Christian charity.
Talking about this oddity with my godson's Mama, she immediately went another direction with it. It has to be some kind of thing about us ALL being ugly with sin, and we love sinners.
Going to their church website seems to confirm this, as they are advertising "two chances each weekend in September to find out why we're all ugly."
See, says Mama, that WAS it. They were just making that quote for shock value to get your attention.
They certainly did accomplish that. But that shock value depended precisely on the indiscreet acknowledgement of that hurtful truth that I originally took out of it.
That's all there is to this humble little essay. I don't have any Deep Theological Insights here. It just struck me as curious strategery.
GOD AND COUNTRY Notes on God and Man and Law
Article comments
1 - zarife
i thought your website was apsolutly fucking shit,i could have achieved a significant amount more talking to a plastered over brick wall. i am warning you now that i will close your site down. thanks for not helping
2 - Phillip Winn
As far as comments go, #1 here definitely makes the top ten list of incomprehensibility for me!
3 - DrPat
Apsolutely, Phillip!
[grin]
4 - Al Barger
Perhaps Brother Zarife was in fact trying to TALK to our website, thinking that the church would answer back from the picture of the sign or something.
That's alright, I'm sure Cross Link Church loves imbeciles as well as ugly folk.
5 - garrett
hey i go to crosslink and ugly stands for Uncondicionaly God Loves You it has nothing to do with being ugly!
6 - Al Barger
Howdy Brother Garrett. Thanks for dropping by.
That's an interesting little acronym you're making of it there. However, the signs do not say that, nor does it say it anywhere on your website that I could find. It's "UGLY" on the signs, not "U.G.L.Y."
Clearly, whoever came up with the signs meant for us to take it as something to do with being either physically and/or spiritually ugly. That would be the obvious way to take the words on the sign, and the only interpretation that makes any sense.
Nor would your acronym make any sense dropped into the quote. "We love Unconditionaly God Loves You people."
I hasten to add that I'm not accusing your church of anything bad, maybe sloppy slogan design at worst.
However, it is in fact a pretty good slogan at that. It was striking enough to cause me to stop in traffic and write it down, and motivated me to go to your website and write it all up here.
Do please point your fellow congregants to this article. We would certainly be pleased to have your pastor or others expound more on this.
7 - ToHim
Fellow bloggers - instead of criticizing the slogan or website - why don't you come & visit. Everyone at Crosslink would welcome you. Come & see for yourself what it is all about. What could it hurt?
8 - Al Barger
Thanks ToHim. I live 150 miles away, but perhaps sometime when I'm in town visiting the niece again, I'll roust out and drop by. Hopefully, Yahweh will choose not to strike my heathen ass down with a big fat bolt of lightning for presuming to darken the door of His house.
Also, I wouldn't really characterize my comments as "criticism." The sign just caught my attention, as it was surely meant to.
9 - Bob A. Booey
They loves you, Al.
That is all.
10 - ToHim
Sorry, Al. I didn't mean to accuse you of criticizing. I would just really like you to visit us sometime. And the Yahweh I know would be thrilled if you came. I'm glad our sign caught your eye. Look forward to meeting you sometime. Have a great day!
11 - Bob A. Booey
ToHim, have you seen a picture of Al?
Take a look at his blog and e-mail him a personal invitation! :)
I think he'd fit right in.
That is all.
12 - Bob A. Booey
Just click on his name under the title of this post and take a good look around.
That is all.
13 - Thugs Ma
Who the hell is this Bob Booey character? I'll admit, I'm Al's best pal and he's the godfather of my son, so I'm partial to everything about the old boy, even when we disagree.
But anybody that would slam someone on the basis of their perception of beauty is an UGLY asshole. And I don't mean "unconditionaly God loves you."
You say things over email that you wouldn't have the balls to say in person. And if you were standing face-to-face with me, I'd be compelled to kick your fucking ass.
And if "that is all" really means "that is all," why don't you shut the hell up. You've only written that phrase about a thousand times, as if it's supposed to be clever.
That is all, you dumb bastard.
14 - themacattack
I know that this is really late addressing this converstation, however, I hope that my thoughts may be useful to those who come across this. I have yet to figure out what "Thugs Ma" is talking about. I would assume that the "Thugs ma" probably would not be happy with the way that he/she is speaking about other people. The thing is that everyone is ugly. The idea that any of us would even question this notion is really stupid. We all have things that we can't let go or come to grips with. The whole idea of the comment was to ensure that those who God is speaking too would know that they have a place to go were they would not be judged but be welcomed. Hopefully, those of you who decided to comment in a negative way will find a time or a place in your life that you can not denie the one true maker and savior.. GOD!! For those of you that think that he is not real, would you rather be wrong or right??? That's a gamble that I think you should think about.
15 - Emerson
Right on, there are really ugly guys at church - its true its the only place their accepted - thats a shame I wish they'd leave room for the normal guys!