[caption id="attachment_346" align="aligncenter" width="584" caption="Giant pencil sculpture reminding kids of what's important"][/caption]

Every time I drop my kids off to school I get a little kick out of seeing these giant pencils in the playground. They’re fun but educational at the same time.  It’s a sculpture that moves the school away from being only a functional utility, doling out education.  What the pencils do is speak of moral qualities that are far more important than any syllabus outcomes of arithmetic or spelling.

I wonder how many churches these days have thought about using art to get their congregation or even their communities, engaging with their core values and goals? Perhaps the vision of your church is a set of dot points or graphs on a power point slide that the senior pastor prepared? Hardly inspiring is it?  Churches might do well to think about using art to express their vision simply. Then as we gather together we’d be reminded of where we are going, what kind of church we are setting out to be.

What logo should the church use?

The most memorable art installation at any church is probably the good old crucifix. Like the Nike swoosh or the Macintosh’s Apple, the crucifix is simple and memorable enough to sit alongside any of the great logos of our recent times.

Logos aren’t just about products or services we buy. When we wear a surf label we want others to believe we are part of that ‘cool surfing culture’, even though we may not even surf! Logos speak of our aspirations. If we wear the Nike swoosh, we’re saying we aspire to be fit, high achieving sports people. If we drink Red Bull we want people to think that we have an adventure filled life with all the girls and buff bodies that come with it.

So what does this logo, the crucifix, say about those who bear it, who claim it as theirs?

It says that they want to be seen with the one who unjustly suffered and died. It’s pretty shocking really, why would anyone choose to say to the world, “I’m with this loser”?

I suspect even for those of us who are seasoned Christians, that suffering and rejection is probably not our first thought when we get out of bed each day. Unless of course you’ve suffered and been rejected a great deal and are still clinging to the logo, like I suspect some Christians in Iraq may be doing right now. But suffering can come in many forms: disappointment, sickness, relationship breakdown, unemployment.

So why use the crucifix?

Surely it would be easier for us to create something more palatable, presentable to sell Jesus? Did Christians down the centuries get it wrong? Is it too late to do a rebrand? I suspect some churches already have.

But we mustn’t trade the cross for anything else because it is the apex of the world’s history. The cross is the fulfillment of God’s aspirations to soak up all that is wrong with our world, deal with it and open a new beginning for all. Without the cross our experience of life doesn’t make sense. We can’t understand why there is evil that besets our lives and our world. Without the cross we forget that until Jesus returns, we walk in His footsteps. Without the cross we fumble blindly trying to understand how to love and be loved. Without the cross we fail to obtain the amazing future that lies beyond the meaninglessness of our days.