WHAT'S THE KEY?
Signs, ever look at 'em? I'm not talking about the signs that tell us Fall is here, or the signs that indicate Jesus is coming soon. I'm just talking about your average, run of the mill sign that you see in a community of any size. Signs are everywhere, just like the old seventies song by the Five Man Electrical Band (a Canadian band by the way) "Signs, signs everywhere a sign." Thing is, how much attention do we pay to them? If it's a speed limit sign, we certainly pay attention, even if we don't obey them. But what about all the other signs found on the highways and byways of any town or city? Do you realize that there are signs for almost any situation? There are "Neighbourhood Watch" signs, and "School Zone" signs, "No Left Turn" signs, "Warning Children Playing" signs and in our area "Moose Crossing" signs. The one that always gets me is, "Warning, Blind Hill" I mean, I understand that blindness in any situation is unfortunate, but when was the last time you saw a blind hill driving -- or, even walking for that matter!? It's just not a big deal in my books.
All that aside, I saw a sign today that has me truly baffled. And, in case you think that isn't all that difficult a task, it had everyone else who was with me at the time, baffled as well. Now, before I describe this sign to you, a word of explanation is in order for those of you who live South of our border. In the United States, I have noticed that signs more often than not, still tend to be written in English. But, in Canada, we've adopted an international sign policy that deals with symbols instead of words. The idea behind it being that everyone should be able to understand the signs regardless of the language they read. And, to be honest, the system works pretty well. Everyone can understand a red light with a upturned hand in a stop position, means don't walk. And, who couldn't understand a green man walking means walk? But the sign I saw today is truly a mystery.
At the top of the sign was an arrow pointing to the left. So far so good, I understand that the purpose of the sign is to point out the direction of something, but what? Well, below the arrow was the picture of an older style key — that's it! An arrow and a key. Somewhere to the left was a place, a person, a service, something that was supposed to be obvious to me from looking at the picture of a key. Was there a key store down the road? Well, it's not very often that you find a public sign pointing the way to a private business, so I kind of doubt that. Perhaps we're talking about a municipal key maker? Is there such a thing? And if there is, what kind of keys do they make that a sign would be posted on the side of a road? I asked everyone around me what the meaning of that sign could possibly be, and all we came up with was a goose egg, zip, nada. No one had the foggiest. So if someone out there, perhaps even the maker of this brilliant sign has an answer as to its message and purpose, please email me and enlighten this confused pedestrian on life's sidewalk.
What did I learn from
this symbolically challenged account?
Never assume that what is crystal clear to you will be crystal clear to me. Sometimes a thought, an idea, a concept, a need, or even a response will seem obvious to one person, but will then fly high over the head of someone else. Note: this is often the case when we are dealing with a combination of males and females. If there is anything that I've learned as a preacher, it is this: communication is a difficult business. We may think our intentions and ideas are as clear as the purest spring water, but to the person we're talking to, clear as the Detroit River is a closer analogy. How many friendships, marriages, business relationships and churches have split simply because people haven't been able, or willing, to communicate clearly with one another?
How good is the Church at communicating the Gospel? More than any other group (except perhaps, computer nerds), the Church is guilty of communicating in ways that have no meaning to those they are trying to reach. We use terms like "redemption", "sanctification", and "propitiation". These are words that theologians have a hard time defining, and yet we wonder why the world sits back and scratches their heads. The gospel message must never be changed but, the way it is communicated must, if we are going to be effective in reaching others with the saving love of Christ! We need to use multimedia, drama, music, whatever it takes to communicate a timeless truth to an ever changing society.
Sometimes I think we try too hard to be clever, or articulate, or deep and we're ineffective communicators as a result. . All I know is that hot air has a way of fogging up my glasses so that I can't see. If we want to be good at communicating our feelings, our vision, our testimony to those around us, let's do it as simply as we can. I'd rather use one syllable words and get my point across then use five syllable words and impress only myself!
Finally, the picture people get from our lives must not confuse the message we're trying to communicate with our lips. If we preach a gospel of Good News and live a life of legalistic bitterness how effective will our message be? If we preach victory in Jesus and live in bondage to Satan, who's going to be fooled? The entire picture (both words and deeds) has to be clear for the message to be clear.
Prayer
Lord God, thank You for being a God of communication. You have given us Your Word; You sent your Son, as a means of communicating Your will, Your plan, Your love. Help us Lord to be sensitive, and clear in sharing Your Good News with those around us. May people never reject the Gospel because we haven't been able to communicate its power and truth whether it be in word, or deed. Amen!
