Just this weekend, my sister and I were having a rather flippant discussion about the more earthy aspects of a career in prostitution when we passed a readboard that read “Only Jesus can fill the emptiness inside”.
I pass a Quaker meeting hall everyday with such a readerboard. For much of the summer it read:
TORTURE IS WRONG
Well, okay. I’d like to think most people know this already, but, hey, it’s your readerboard. I think I’m missing something with the current message, though:
IF YOU ARE NOT HAPPY
HERE AND NOW THEN
YOU NEVER WILL BE
Not very comforting. And “JUST GIVE UP” would be easier to read while driving…
There was one church in SC that must have had a third grader putting up the letters, because I cannot tell you how many misspelled words, poor grammar, and just wrong words they used.
The one I remember most was, “Eating unforbidden fruit can get you into a jam.”
There’s a church in the town where I grew up that had the best messages ever. Unfortunately, I can only remember two at the moment:
TRY US OUT
OUR SUNDAYS ARE
BETTER THAN DAIRY QUEEN
and:
YOU CAN DO A LOT
OF GREAT THINGS
WHEN YOU’RE ON YOUR KNEES
One of my all-time favorites was in Tennessee:
TODAY: (some name) FUNERAL AND MEMORIAL SERVICE
TOMORROW: DUNKING BOOTH
A few years ago, the church I grew up in (I left it long ago, but my parents were still there when this happened) put the following text on its readerboard:
PROUDLY SERVING STARBUCKS
We were speechless. What they meant was that the coffee at the after-church receptions was being provided by Starbucks. But what happened to “thou shalt have no other gods before me?”
Yes, they took the sign down, but not because of public or even congregational outcry. For copyright reasons, Starbucks made them take it down.