There are holiday miracles… and then there’s accidentally inviting a heavy metal band to your Easter play.
In a blessedly hilarious turn of events that can only be described as divine comedy, a group of churches in Salem, Virginia, accidentally used the actual logo of the legendary metal band Lamb of God to promote their wholesome Easter drama, also titled “Lamb of God.” What followed was a glorious collision between the sacred and the shred.
Now, before you start checking local church listings to see if Randy Blythe is headlining this Sunday, we should mention this unholy blunder actually happened back in April 2014. But much like the resurrection itself, this story just keeps on living, and Easter weekend is the perfect time to dust it off and bask in its unholy glory again.
You might be thinking they knew what they were doing but no they did not. Apparently, someone doing promo work for the church play typed “Lamb of God logo” into Google Images, saw something fancy and gothic-looking, and thought, “Yes. That’ll do nicely for Jesus.”
To be fair, when you search “Lamb of God logo,” the first image is the band’s menacing, sharp edged insignia, complete with vibes that scream “metal fest at the gates of Hell” rather than “family friendly resurrection celebration.” And unless you scroll a bit further, you’d never know the logo belongs to a band that once went by wait for it, Burn the Priest.Yeah. That probably wasn’t on the church bulletin either.
The metal meets ministry mix up was eventually caught just before the Easter drama’s opening night. Cue the awkward Facebook post:
“We understand there have been some unfriendly comments online because of a graphic we used on one of our invitation tickets that had not been properly vetted. That graphic is on those tickets only and is not the ‘official’ logo for the drama. We apologize for our mistake and for any confusion we may have caused. Now, back to our true purpose, and that is lifting the name of Jesus Christ!”
Respect. And hey, who among us hasn’t accidentally promoted the Gospel with artwork linked to a band famous for songs like “Redneck” and “Laid to Rest”? Classic mix up.
In the end, the Easter play went off without a hitch, and by all accounts, it was a big success. But we do wonder how many unassuming metalheads wandered in thinking they were about to witness Randy Blythe stage dive into a crowd of churchgoers mid sermon.
Moral of the story? Always vet your graphics and maybe don’t trust the first image you see on Google when it comes to promoting the resurrection.