Jesus Has Left the Building

The newspaper article was accompanied by a photo of people taking pictures as it happened. From street level the cameras were focused on the roof as Jesus left the building. The 12 foot sign which read "Jesus Saves" was taken down the other day by a crew that was donating their services in order to "save" the Jesus Saves sign.

It seems that Jesus was being saved so that he could reside at another church campus that is offering him a home and another building to inhabit. They want the 60 year old "Jesus Saves" neon sign to continue to be a landmark for people who need to "find their direction today."

It seems that a campaign was launched to save Jesus from the wrecking ball that was soon to destroy the building upon which his name rested for all these years. Progress was going to destroy Jesus. His saving sign would no longer beam across the way. So the powers that be came together to save Jesus so that he could continue to "save" all who would pay attention.

I wonder how many who passed by paid attention to the sign? Are we saving a piece of history or are we saving something else? Do some people see Jesus much like they view this sign? Is Jesus like a museum relic? His shinning message was nice but now it is time to move on. We must make a place for modern things and new highways that take us places faster.

We no longer have the time it takes to pause and watch the on and off flash of words that say, "Jesus Saves." What is it that Jesus saves anyway?

Maybe one day it was a sign that people heeded but after all it is a bit "dated" don't you think? My friend Ed Kilbourne says in one of his songs, "I'd rather be 'used' than 'saved'". Well this Jesus was so used up that he almost fell victim to the recking ball.

So Jesus has left the building. The truth is that he left long ago. His rusting sign may have graced the roof for years but he was not there. The neon lights may have peered into the night but if you had investigated you would find the same thing that those distraught women found early one morning long ago when they went to find a relic in a graveyard. To their surprise they faced an empty tomb with a sign across it that read, "Jesus has left the building."

The "Jesus Saves" sign is something that some of his followers came up with much later. I suppose that "sign" has turned as many people "off" as it has turned people "on." I used to have a book entitled, "I'm Saved, You're Saved Maybe."

The Jesus I encountered a while back can never be confined to a sign or a building or a phrase. Religion likes to capture him but he will not have it. Jesus is...well...out there offering transformation to all who will pay attention. The choice is not whether to preserve an old flashing sign or relegate it to a museum. The choice is whether to be "used" by the very alive spirit of Christ or to be safe and "saved" from a world where change happens all too fast.

Jesus has left the building. Jesus "saves" all right; he saves us from hiding in the past and relegating his revolutionary message to a placard that decays along with that famous "moth and doth that corrupts."

Bless you,
jody