Be sure to read the comments below the photo… Indy

Jeff, I showed it to the wizard. Here’s what he said,

“If a Wizard Academy student came up with this idea, I would encourage him or her because it’s brilliant. Joseph’s perspective is often overlooked. This billboard is not going to be ignored. That being said, I would not have used those images. Those images will cause the billboard to be perceived by many as a judgmental commentary on the erosion of the family. The people most wounded will be the ones who are unfamiliar with the details of the Christmas story, who don’t immediately connect those images to Joseph and Mary. They will assume the billboard to be a stinging commentary on their life choices. Instead of feeling understood, they will feel judged, scolded and mocked by ‘religious people.'”

After he shared those thoughts with me, the wizard laid out the billboard you saw on the previous page. “Indy, because the words of this billboard deliver an unexpected perspective – second person, present tense, ‘You’ are engaged… ‘You’ are not the father – we’re going to use the cliché image of Joseph leading Mary on a donkey since it will help the reader aim those words at Joseph instead of himself. The words are brilliantly creative, but creativity is pointless until clarity has been achieved.”

You might also have noticed the wizard didn’t put the name of the church on the billboard. He said it’s because the billboard will be stronger, feel more sincere and achieve far better results if it promotes nothing but contemplation of the birth of Jesus. – Indy

“This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus…” – Matthew 1:18-21