Jesus Fan
WORDS FROM W.W. August 29, 2012
Thanks to a local funeral home we now have “Jesus Fans” in our sanctuary! No, not the ceiling fan variety; I’m talking about the fan that has a picture of Jesus standing in front of the open tomb on one side, and the name of the funeral home on the other side with a long wooden paint stir stick in the middle.
The kind that was popular back when I was in my pre-teens in the un-airconditioned Baptist churches of eastern Kentucky. Everyone needed a fan in July and August because of the Sunday morning humidity that left you always wondering “Is it the Spirit or the humidity that is bringing upon me this rise in body temperature.
Most of the time it was the humidity! Thus, Jesus commenced to waving. On the hand fan one of his hands was in the air like he was greeting someone. It made the waving part of the fan that much more relevant.
Some Sundays the Jesus Fans were the only thing moving in the church. Jesus Fans could be non-verbal indicators of what was happening during the pastor’s message. When the fans went to warp speed it was a sign that there was going to be a lot of discussion and dialogue after the benediction. Fans working at increased speed usually meant the pastor had offended someone, or that he had touched on an area that was bringing the waver under conviction. It happened, however, to usually be someone who didn’t like being brought under conviction.
Hot and bothered would describe them. They might show up at the Presbyterian Church the next Sunday. The Presbyterians didn’t have much conviction, but they did have ceiling fans.
A fan that was on “slowing speed” was a sign to the perceptive preacher that he was losing them. The Sunday afternoon nap might be coming sooner if he didn’t pick up the pace. A guest speaker with a slow delivery in August was no match for a congregation of farmers who had been at it all week. A waving Jesus was always better than a Jesus who was starting to look as ambitious as Junior on “Hee Haw!”
Back in those days “Jesus Fans” weren’t just for women having hot flashes. Everyone had “hot constants!” We were consistently hot.
So now we have air conditioned sanctuaries and everyone can cool together. Jesus Fans seemed to raise the connectedness between pastor and congregation. They seemed to help people engage in worship more. I even think there were more “amens” when Jesus was in the midst of his waving. And, without a doubt, when you had Jesus right in front of you it made you a little more God-fearing. Having the name of the local funeral home staring you in the face was also a motivator.
“Brown’s Funeral Home. We have a casket for you!”
Cremation wasn’t a big seller back in those days. When you are burning up every Sunday being laid down in the cool ground is a little more appealing.
I think I’m going to turn up the A/C temperature in our sanctuary this Sunday and put a couple of Jesus Fans in each pew rack.
Let the Spirit move…and Jesus wave!
Explore posts in the same categories: Christianity, Community, Faith, Freedom, Humor, Jesus, Story, The Church, UncategorizedTags: country churches, funeral homes, Hand Fans, preachers
You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.
Words from WW Blog 
Leave a Reply