The Lutheran Church of the Cross on Cedar Hill Road often has thought-provoking road signs, but its latest — a reference to the hit Barbie movie that premièred last week — inspired a viral video on TikTok.
The sign, a riff on the Barbie tagline “She’s everything. He’s just Ken,” says: “Mary’s everything/He’s just Joseph.”
UVic music student Carter Martin happened upon the sign on Monday and said he just had to take a video.
“Mary’s everything, he’s just Joseph? Mary’s everything, he’s just Jo-” he says in the video, repeating the sign’s words with rising pitch and intensity.
“Don’t remember this part of the bible,” he writes in the video description.
The clip has received more than 1.2 million views and 270,000 likes since it was posted to TikTok late Monday night.
The Virgin Mary is a central figure in Christian tradition while Joseph is viewed as having secondary importance — just like Ken in Barbie Land.
Martin, who thinks it was the unlikely combination of Barbie and religion that caused his video to go viral, said he makes a point of passing the church to see its signs, which often comment on social issues and current events. “They always have the funniest things on the sign.”
Past examples include: “It is okay to feel anxious/take your meds and drink water” and “The holy spirit is poly—lingual/happy Pride.”
Photos of the church’s signs regularly find their way to social media but rarely go viral. Sign messages often highlight the LGBTQ community, women’s rights and holy days of other religions.
Lutheran Church of the Cross co-pastor Lyndon Sayers said the church’s road sign usually changes twice a week, with the two co-pastors sharing the duties.
The Barbie idea came from the fact that “everyone I know was going to the Barbie movie,” he said.
He sent the idea off to Marc Allen, the church’s administrative assistant, before he went on vacation this week.
The road-sign message often acts as a conversation starter for his congregation, he said, although it can sometimes be hard to think of something snappy and uplifting that fits within the sign’s 44-character limit.
Overthinking it can take the punch out of the message, he said.
Sayers said it’s important to be a visible, affirming presence in the neighbourhood.
“We’ve received so many messages from UVic students saying that they feel so much safer living in the neighborhood,” he said, noting the church sometimes turns to an inclusive Christian student group at UVic for sign ideas.
Sayers said he encourages other religious congregations and organizations to have fun with their signs.
“Take some risks, and maybe we can support the community a bit more.”
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