I may be treading on sacred ground here, but ...
Like most pastors I recently received my 2006 Resource Catalog from Warner Press. As a "good" Church of God minister I dutifully flipped through to check out what is new. I was especially interested to see some of the new books that will be published in coming months, including Are You Sure You're Right? by Jerry Hickson, What's Right with the Church of God by Thomas Pelt, and Preaching the Story by fellow Central Californian, Jeffrey Frymire. (I will review these books on this blog once they are available and I have read them).
So far so good. But, moving a little further along in the catalog my enthusiasm quickly waned. On page 14 staring me in the face is the Church of God flag. I don't know if this is a new item for sale, but it's the first time I've noticed it. And it just seemed to stand out like a sore thumb, complete with our dated and tired logo, albeit modified. The flag is available in handsewn cloth for $135.00, or nylon for only $55.00. (Shipping and sales tax extra. Call now - operators are standing by ...)Don't get me wrong. I'm not against a Church of God visual identity (although a new logo would be welcome!) or even a flag, I suppose (although I couldn't imagine buying one). What troubles me, however, is how it seems that our identity often is limited to such shallow representations. More than not our self-understanding tends to be wrapped up in clichés, nostalgic sentimentality and even trinkets. Buying and flying a flag is not going to strengthen our identity.
If salvation, unity and holiness are our "core truths" (as the catalog description states), how do we really express these meaningfully in our collective proclamations and expressions? What difference are they making in our mission within the world? I would hope that we would become devoted to struggling with these issues, as this will have the greatest impact on our movement and ministry.
3 comments:
I think your right on Lloyd. Here's the funny thing about the flag: I learned what the flames stood for from that flag. I asked someone in the presence of the flag durning ISL[find it @ www.iservant.org]. Which, let me tell was when I was in ministry for 2 years. After going to Anderson University [pretty much not a ChOG school anymore.] and that after growing up in the Church of God. I hear about people preaching ChOG docrtine all the time, I think was that the same Church I grew up in. So that was a strang way for me to say that we should all order a flag to hang in our office, so that daily I know what the we're about. I think that flag will really clear things up.
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Another waving banner showing how Anderson does not get it. The uproar was about our identity, or lack there of, and they push a flag at us. I am troubled by the credentialling crackdown by the 2004 manual and the authoritarianism coming out of what is supposed to be a de-centralized movement. At last year's convention, Reggie McNeal warned of the very thing Anderson is now doing: going survival and refugre instead of going native and missional.
How do you feel about "Called Unto Holiness" and our (Church of the Nazarene) outdated logo?
I actually like your flag and logo. I am happey to see "Holiness" proclaimed and waived wherever we can.
~Kevin
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