Thoughts from
Jim Teague,
Director of Communications
Automotive window decals are objects of never-ending fascination for me.
If it were up to me (and my wife has made it very clear that it is NOT up to me) the rear window of our car would be covered with them. Bumper stickers, too. They would let everyone I passed by or who passed by me know that I am a Pittsburgh sports fan, a soccer fan, a Star Wars AND Star Trek fan, a past visitor to Oak Island, NC, Mammoth Caves, Walt Disney World, the Badlands and the Georgia Aquarium, a low-key Harry Potter fan, a vintage motorcycle enthusiast, an amateur astrophotographer, a USA Olympic Team supporter, a World Relief supporter, an alumnus of Wittenberg University, and a proud parent of kids who graduated from Carnegie Mellon University and Bradley University. We actually DO have Carnegie Mellon and Bradley window decals on our cars, but those will likely be the only ones (see above regarding who gets to make that decision).
I get the giggles every time someone in front of me has a “My T-Rex Ate Your Stick Family” window sticker. I am rarely jealous of other people’s vehicles, but I feel a sense of loss when I see those “our family” representations made of Star Wars Jedi, stormtroopers, or droids, and know I will never have one.
Those who know me well know I love a little humorous sarcasm or a witty turn of phrase. I genuinely think there should be a Pulitzer Prize for automobile decals and stickers.
So, why do I have such an affinity for these car adornments? It all comes back to unity. I feel a connection with folks who have been someplace I’ve visited too, have kids at the same school one of mine attended, or just share the same quirky sense of humor. When the 20-year-old young man in the Jeep next to me has a Pittsburgh Steelers logo on his back window, I roll down my window as we stop at the light and try to engage in a brief chat about whether they will beat the Ravens this season. About 50 percent of the time the person next to me ignores me (or tells me the sticker came with the car when they bought it used from someone else), but often as not we share a brief, happy conversation and then go on our way with a wave and a smile. I really enjoy those kinds of connections, and I feel, for a moment, a greater kinship to those around me.
You might have noticed by now that I haven’t mentioned those embossed fish emblems, “Jesus is my copilot” bumper stickers, and such. I doubt I’ll ever put one of those on any of my vehicles even though I think they are fine and even a cool bit of connected history. Why won’t I have one? I’m really not a bad driver, but heaven forbid (literally) I should accidentally cut someone off, make an illegal u-turn, or fail to let someone merge in front of me only to have the one thing they notice be a symbol of Jesus. I believe our witness for Christ is relational and not a marketing plan. A “Jesus is my GPS” window decal is unlikely to lead someone to follow him, even if I do think it’s very clever.
I have great respect for the Christian fish symbol, known as the “Ichthus” which has some amazing history and also has ties to the idea of Christian unity. According to website 1517.org:
“The Ichthus is a confession in picture form, a visual sermon of the gospel of Christ crucified. Christians used it to identify one another in times of grave persecution and martyrdom, and to catechize the faithful in the words and ways of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, the Savior. The history of the Ichthus symbol is the story of God’s baptized people confessing the person and work of Christ our savior, even in the darkest days of Christian persecution.”
As the Greek work for fish, it works as acrostic. In English, the Greek is typically transliterated as ICHTHUS. Each Greek letter stood for the following.
Ἰησοῦς Χρῑστός Θεοῦ Υἱός Σωτήρ
Iēsoûs Khrīstós, Theoû Huiós, Sōtḗr
or
Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior
References go all the way back to the 1st century. Pretty cool, eh?
As we continue along on our own path to find unity here at First Pres, it’s my prayer that we keep looking for our shared connections—in our faith and throughout our lives together—even as we seek to acknowledge and respect our differences (yes, including those who root for the Ravens).
Peace,
Jim Teague
FPCE Director of Communications
