In his book Dateline America, Charles Kuralt tells of a sign he saw on the door of a cafe in Indiana.  It said, Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Closed Thursday.  (Dateline America, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1979, p.  223) Now, that’s what is known as sending out mixed signals. 

I.  THE CHURCH HAS BEEN KNOWN TO SEND OUT MIXED SIGNALS, TOO.  For instance, one minister relates that during one summer vacation he and his family visited a church in Ohio where he was moved by the worship experience: the music, the banners, the liturgy, the sermon.  But there was one jarring note in his experience.  Right after the congregational Prayer of Confession, the pastor gave what is traditionally known as The Assurance of Pardon, which, on reflection, did not provide him with much assuran…