“Attend the Church of Your Choice“: This message welcomes the traveller @ the typical entrances of Smalltown America. Even @ Grand Canyon, you may choose between the servics of seven denominations every sunday. Offering their blessings , some parishes and churches (as in TX , below ) come up with quite catchy slogans in order to lead the lost sheep ( back ) On the Road to The Good Shepherd (John 10:14-15) .
Sometime - as it is the case @ Los Lunas, NM - The Way up to God Allmighty might be obliterated by a closed Parking Lot …. : “construction area” in league with the devil ?! [[ There actually reigns some Sympathy for the Devil here : Village authorities indicate CODE YELLOW / ELEVATED , which in terms of Homeland Security warms of "Significant Risk of Terroist Attacks" / click here for more information (PDF) . ]]
The Topic of Church- related parking lots reminds me of a funny scenario on a Sunday morning @ Tulsa, OK, where the beliefers of six different churches bubbled out of the nearby underground parking lots … thereby perfectly staging the elevation of souls & spirits . What he haven’t seen insofar was a Drive- Thru’- Temple. - Have some fun , play along - and invent some prop- lines for such A Speed- Save- Soul- institution !
America’s belief in democracy is as deep as the quantity of denominations, churches and religious sects ranges high . The ARDA (Association of Religion Data Archives) puts Christian Churches into family trees unfolding into 18 main branches - plus a wide range of so called “other groups” . Their respective promises of salvation probably burn down to the one taken up by an Albuquerque- group calling themserlves THE MENDING BROKEN HEART MINISTRIES . ( Who would deny the benefits of a likewise service ?! )
Anyway , most of the Denomination Families …
( Adventist / Anglicanism / Baptist / Christian Science / Communal / European Free-Church : Brethren, Mennonites, Quakers, Amish / Holiness / Independent Fundamentalist / Latter-day Saints : Mormonism / Liberal / Lutheran / Methodist- Pietist / Pentecostal / Presbyterian-Reformed / Spiritualist / Western Liturgical - Catholicism )
… may subscribe to the heraldic motto of the MBHM depictured below . Sure : this is the humble and humetown stuff . If you reach out for a closer- to- life- experience, you may travel to Orlando, FLA , in order to wittness the Universal- Studio- based daily staging of Cruxification @ the HOLY LAND theme park .
But one should not assume that the “other groups” …
(American Mohammedian Society / American Moslem Brotherhood Association / Baha’i Faith / Buddhist Churches of America / Buddhist Mission of North America / Buddhist Society of America / Catholic Apostolic Church / Christ Community Church - Evangelical-Protestant / Christ Unity Spiritual Science Church / Christadelphians / Christian Catholic Church / Christian Union / Church of God as Organized by Christ / Church of God, General Assembly / Church of God, Reformation Movement / Church of Illumination …
… Church of Revelation / Churches of God , Greenville, S.C../ Federated Church / Hephzibah Faith Missionary Association / Liberal Catholic Church - International / Liberal Catholic Church, Province of the United States of America / Mayan Temple / National Organization of the New Apostolic Church of North America …
…. Non- sectarian Bible Faith Churches / North American Catholic Church / Reformed Catholic Church , Utrecht Confession / Rosicrucian Fellowship / Self-Realization Fellowship / Social Brethren / Theosophical Society in America / Theosophists, Independent Society of New York / Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches / Vedanta Society Church )
… would be less inventive in creating attractive features both for potential believers and potential potent sponsors . The Giant Cross erected 1995 inmidst the desert @ Groom , TX purely materializes promo & pride on a XXL- Las Vegas- scale : Depending on the respective view- point , this 1.250 ton- structure of 190 ft / 58 m / 19 story height goes as the largest / second largest cross @ western hemisphere . Best Bible Belt ! - Donations are welcome @ crossministries.net . ( If you are willing to trust in the Blogosphere , the free delivery of posted sermons may meet your spiritiual needs - same as religious radio- networks still feed their Lost Sheep ON AIR out there . )
At smalltown Shamrock, TX , the mission of sphaeric Ecology is charmingly calligraphed on the walls of a tiny family- Restaurant . “The Earth laughs in Flowers” - Nice call , but we did see hardly any flowers during our 66- pilgrimage yet .
Sometimes you may stumble upon - let’s call them - “interesting” interpretations of mundane words , as it happens on a hand- painted billboard @ Old Town Albuquerque . The malapropism of the word PERSONALITY into PURSE - ANALITY may simply derive from the restricted literacy of the artist …
…. Or rather not ?! - Perhaps this is an highly abbreviated version of the Freudian symbolic equation of MONEY to the ANAL phase within the small child’s evolution ??? - - - A hint on “The Worship of the Golden Calf” - the basic feature of Capitalist Society ? - The commen- sense term “Cathedral of Consumerism” denoting Mega- Marts and Malls speaks a clear language .
The “Church of Your Choice” here equates to the sheer appreciation of Choice and Variety ::: Above the Altar of Cereals , in front of which you may fall down on your knees and meditate (Mega Mart @ Tulsa, OK ) .
Politics , that’s for sure , are a question of pure belief - as it is ( among many others ) laid out by Edward Humes‘ Huffington- Blog posting on actual political / ideological Belief Addiction in the US ( Creationists vs. Evolutionists etc. ) .
So , if you want to believe in EVERLAST principles ( above : Decay of an EVERLAST- promise @ Halltwon, MO ) , you should certainly do some reading …. as provided by the nice Gift & Antique Books Shop @ St. Louis , MO .
After all ( and despite the menacing fence ) , God’s Own Contry’s all- over invocation speaks of the TRUE BELIEF outright and clear :
( Route 66 , past Albuquerque, NM )
“Bless You !” while you want to Watch out for the upcoming sequel : PITSTOP #11 : Paradis Artificiels 2 : Movie Theatres ! .
Where’s the sequel? Das gibt ja sonst ein zeitliches gap wie bei ‘Lost’, wo dann keiner mehr weiss, wer wer ist, hehe.
just have A look westbound , Paco , and U will disvoer A special feature to UMBLAETTERER @ Belief , part 2 . - Amy Complaints ? - Stay tuned and don’t drown @ Plattensee . You’ ll stop by at bjutufuel Vienna ?
Nope, leider nur Budapest, und leider auch schon wieder zurück.