When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins … -Colossians 2:13

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 23, 2015): Colossians 2

McDonald’s has recently taken some abuse over an advertising campaign that began during the NFL Divisional playoffs and the Golden Globes earlier this month. The ad features various McDonald’s signs, the space each store has to use beneath the Golden Arches. In the ad some of these spaces are used for congratulating a local couple on 30 years of marriage, and a man celebrating his 95^th birthday. Some of the signs were highly patriotic - “God Bless the U.S.” One of my favorites was the sign where some kind of disaster had destroyed the Arches, but the small sign remains, and it simply read “open.” But maybe the signs that some are most upset over are the signs that highlight national disasters – “We Remember 9 11” and “Boston Strong” – a reference to the bombing in 2013 of the Boston Marathon, an event that killed three people. The commercials say absolutely nothing about the food at McDonalds, but highlight the feel good feeling that McDonalds is hoping will revive it slumping sales. The campaign is built to stress the “loving” portion of the company’s campaign slogan “I’m Loving It.” But, at least for some, the ad appears to represent an incomplete pass.

But maybe what was most surprising was the reaction of the union-backed group “Fight for $15.” The group is advocating for McDonalds and other fast food chains to raise their salaries to at least fifteen dollars and hour. The response of the group was that McDonalds could have saved the money they spent on the commercial and should have given that money to the workers. But that most likely would not benefit the slumping fast food giant or its workers. The heart of advertising is to convince more people to buy the product. More sales increases revenues which allows the company to spend more on things like salaries, so the criticism of “Fight for $15” seems strangely placed. A better line from the group might have been, “McDonalds, remember that the people who do the loving and set up the signs are the very ones we are fighting for. As they love us, don’t you think you should love them? #fightfor$15” But instead the group seemed to have almost purposefully misunderstood the corporate strategy, which could have included them, in favor of a strategy that would seem to only be heading for bankruptcy and mass unemployment – the groups message seems to be “quit advertising and give us your money.” It is sad that they couldn’t have found a way to incorporate their desires into the company’s advertising plan. They might have been amazed at how well that could have worked.

Christianity has long suffered under the same situation. Too often the message of the Christian faith is made into a caricature of what it should be. It seems to be designed for sound bites that can be easily repeated while the key message is ignored. The Christian message is too often converted into hate phrases directed toward the homosexual community, or toward other faith groups, or even toward unwed mothers. Too often God is seen as a harsh tyrant waiting for us to fail so that he can punish us. But the real focus of the Christian Testament isn’t any of these things. The message isn’t even that God wants to make you good, after all, we need to understand that there are a lot of good people living on the earth that are outside of the faith. The simple core Christian message of the Bible is that God wants to make you alive (not good), and he has chosen to accomplish that by forgiving your sin.

And as much as we sometimes might want to deny it, forgiveness is something that we all need – but sometimes we have convinced ourselves is impossible. If you are reading these words, know this – You are Forgiven!  And if that is true, and it is, then nothing else really matters.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Colossians 3