Deserving Our Warning Sign

The Church is to lift up Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit, not the hydraulics of doctrines or dogmas or denominations, etc. God''s charge to the church is "See and Tell" before "Show and Tell."

My favorite question is this one from David Feldman's recent book: "Why are there so many warning signs?" (When Did Wild Poodles Roam the Earth? [New York: Harper Collins, 1992]). The traffic engineer who submitted this question to Feldman complained about the proliferation of warning signs everywhere. There are warning signs for Speed Zone, Deer Crossing, Ice on Bridge, Curve, Slow Children (why would anyone advertise that their children are slow?), Falling Rocks (why not Fallen Rocks?), Bump Ahead, Railroad Crossing, Church ....

Wait a minute! "Church"? What is the church doing with a warning sign? Does your church deserve a warning sign? Indeed, isn't this the nature of baptized and ordained ministries today -- to build communities that deserve warning signs?

But there is only one kind of church that deserves its warning sign. It's a church that's "ON FIRE."

Oh, we have a lot of churches "on fire" -- but they're burning down, not fired up. They're burning down from hellfire --...