A LESSON IN IRRELEVANCE

At some ungodly hour this morning, long before the sun had graced the skies or made any impact on the thin covering of snow on the ground, I took the Long Island Railroad into Manhattan.

Next month I will be teaching a major pastors' conference in Mumbai, India and for the very first time my wife is going to make the 8,000 miles trip with me. I already have a ten year visa, but Gill needs one, so I have come into the city to battle through Indian bureacracy and get the necessary paperwork for her. Everything has been submitted to the Indian Consulate and I now have to return there at noon, hopefully to pick up the visa.

Anyway, en route to Penn Station this morning, we passed a huge church right beside the railroad track, just a couple of miles before you enter the tunnel to go under the East River. It's a humungus building and someone had the brilliant idea of using their vantage point to say something to the hundreds of thousands of commuters whose journey takes them right past it twice a day.

So there's an enormous sign with a Bible verse on it. It's Lamentations 1:12 -

Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?

Lamentations is one of those more obscure Old Testament books, recording gthe response of the prophet Jeremiah to the destruction of the holy city of Jerusalem and the capture of its citizens who were then deported as prisoners of war.

The book opens in poetic fashion as if the broken down ruins themselves were talking. It speaks of the sin that had now been punished and how evil had brought the great city to its knees. Then comes a suggestion that those who see it should show some interest and learn from it, and this question, Is it nothing to you all ye who pass by.

Having explained that, maybe I'm making my point. What on earth does the average uninformed, unchurched LIRR passenger make of that huge sign?

I'm guessing here, but I reckon the answer is - very little indeed.

It might be a cute idea to put that verse there for people who pass by every day, but that's about all it is.

When will the church in general wake up and realize that back in the real world all they know of Jeremiah is that he was a bullfrog?

We do not live in a Christian country, generally people do not even know what Christian values are, leave alone live them out themselves.

Throwing obscure Bible verses at people doesn't work.

Let's face it, Jesus didn't do that even. He met, loved and helped people where they were at. We need to do that.

And when we do speak or write something, we need to try hard to make it relevant to the people we're trying to communicate with.