sound of silence

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon God they made.
And the sign flashed out its warning,
In the words that it was forming.
And the signs said, the words of the prophets
Are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls.
And whisperd in the sounds of silence.

–Sound of Silence, Simon and Garfunkel

 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.  Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

I John 4:7-8 (TNIV)

For those of you who are unaware of where my office is located, we have space in the basement of a bank.  Our floor can be accessed through the main lobby, but also there is a fire escape that leads to a door to the basement.  This serves as our unofficial “front door.”  This afternoon, I noticed that someone had written on our door (it is glass).  It said:

God is love–Period

This is atypical of your usual church door graffiti.  Generally, it’s something to the effect of God being not real or Christians being a bunch of morons.  Which makes me wonder where it comes from.  It’s usually done at worst out of hate, and at best out of misguided mischievousness.  This, at a glance, seems to not be the case here.  The message is written in marker on glass.  I attempted to rub off part of the hyphen to test the damage, and it comes right off.

Instead of vandalism, this is a profound message.  And that makes me wonder who wrote it.  While I know that such theological statements written on the church door is not unprecedented* (see Martin Luther), it is something I have never encountered before.

And it is a theological statement.  Prior to the hyphen, “God is Love,” is simply a quote of scripture (see above).  After the hyphen, “period,” is theology.  And it makes me wonder about who wrote this.

Is this an indictment of our ministry?  Is it an encouragement?  Is this person mad at us specifically?  Do they even know us?  Are they mad at Christians in general, and we just happened to be the door they took it out on?  Or, was it simply a message from a brother or sister out there, sharing what they deem to be the most important?

I wish I knew the intent of the author, but since I don’t know who that is, I’ll have to merely go with the interpretation of the reader, which makes this not only theological, but also artistic.  It also comes at a time where many in our group have been discussing the nature of love, which makes it also prophetic.

Since we rent and do not own our space, I’m sure it will be washed off sooner rather than later.  And, it makes me wish I had a camera.  While I don’t know the intent of the artist, I do know this:  If it’s a criticism, it’s a good criticism, and if it’s an encouragement, it’s a good encouragement.

* So technically it’s not a church door, since we technically are not a church.  But, we are part of the church, so it is a church door.