But...there's always a BUT. After trying to get me to tell her that it was just temporary and I'd be taking it down any moment, she pulled out the firepower: "It looks like a used car lot." I responded with "That's the point" and she left.
I posted a brief version of this encounter on Facebook and got some great responses. Lent Madness Celebrity Blogger Heidi Shott said my post sounded like the start to a limerick. This naturally moved Lent Madness Poet Laureate Mary Cox to respond with one:
A woman from Hingham named Gail
proclaimed St. John's banner a "fail"
it's just SO indiscreet,
right out there at the street,
like an ad for what's free -- or on sale.
That's brilliant!
As the Rev. Maxwell Grant (a Congregational pastor in Greenwich, CT) put it in a reply to my post, "Please have the courtesy to keep your church lovely, unobtrusive, and irrelevant...thanks." And isn't that the prevailing cultural attitude? People don't mind pretty churches in their midst as long as they keep the lawn mowed, don't block my driveway on Sunday morning, do the occasional food drive, and don't ever invite me to participate in your community. They like Christians to be seen but not heard.
Well, I apologize but that's not how we do things around here. We really do believe what we say in the ancient Creeds and what we hear of Jesus through Scripture. We're called to share this Good News with which we have been entrusted not hoard it. And so I'm sorry if you don't like our sign (don't push me, Gail, or I'll invest in some neon) but it's not going anywhere.
Then again, maybe she just abhors the London Underground.
6 comments:
There will always be some disgruntled sourpuss. I'd wonder whether she even belongs to, let alone attend a service at, any church. Keep your sign and pray for her....I'd like to say that's what I'd do but then again, I'm not as sweet-natured as you. Keep the faith, Padre!
Might I offer the post I did on complaintments? Seems you've encountered one.
Actually, I'd just let it go. Not expend any more energy on it. Just a nieghbor with an opinion. :-)
Bravo, Tim. I love your conclusion: This could indeed be an indication of the brokenness in her own life, and a cry on some level for reconciliation.
Or, as you further point out, she just had a traumatic experience with the Tube. Hard sayin'.
Did you tell her how good the coffee is?
Maybe she fell down the gap at Bank Station.
Father Tim, Seems you a have a nor'easter gale on your hands.... Usually started by too much hot air and low pressure around these locales, though it's been rather chilly lately. At least the faithful use the car (parking) lot a lot.... without the need for deforestation.
I say Keep the sign and The faith. :-)
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