Bored Panda reached out to the Journey of Faith Church in Baltimore, Maryland. Pastor Patrick Gahagen told us that they've been overwhelmed with responses about the sign: some of them have been "affirming and appreciative" while others labelled the church as "blasphemers and condemned" the wording.
"The sign came about from trying to figure out a way to encourage people to practice physical distancing. If I put 'Stay home. Be safe' nobody would have taken note. So with the approaching Palm Sunday celebration—scripturally Jesus rode a beast into Jerusalem which can be referred to as a donkey or ass so were good there. Practically, people need to keep their butts, derrieres, asses home."
Pastor Gahagen confirmed that the church is holding all of its services online. "We had already recorded all our sermons and had them posted to our webpage by the next day so now we just stream things on Facebook live at 10:30 AM."
The pastor also had some words of advice for anyone who's losing hope in these dark times. "Honor your feelings of hopelessness. They're legit. But know we don't stay there. In the same space where despair sits in the soul, so does hope. I have found my faith has become healthier when I have accepted the wholeness of the human and divine experience. It's not joy or sorrow but joy and sorrow. It's not love or fear it's love and fear. But because of the Easter moment and message of Jesus' resurrection—love wins!"
Pastor Gahagen added that "I believe as followers of Jesus, we need to cling more to our faith which is built around the questions of God and life and not our religion which is too defensive of our answers."