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Now that I have your attention, let me pause to tell you we watched the Super Bowl as a family. The game wasn't all that exciting; the commercials weren't all that funny; the half-time show featured some gang of nursing home escapees. The lead singer's shirt was WAAAY too small and he seemed to need an albuterol inhaler every third line. I mean it was better than last year's wardrobe malfunction, but still? Cooper liked the huge tongue on the screen and they both had fun dancing around and clapping!
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Sometimes I wish we could go to church naked. I realize that would be a lot easier in Searcy, Arkansas or in Abilene, TX than where my in-laws are. (Not because there are more Christians, but because they have 10 inches of snow there right now.)
I have two reasons for this. First of all, getting all four of us ready to be out of the house by 7:45 or so is not an easy task. If we could forgo me trying on three different outfits, Abby wanting to put on her tights by herself and the struggle that comes with dressing a toddler we would have a much smoother morning. Today was so chaotic I left part of our lunch for the putluck cooking in the oven. I remembered it as I was getting Abby out of Bible class. My house smells like burnt pineapple.
My second reason is a much more important one. If we were comfortable enough with each other as Christians to be physically naked in front of each other, maybe we would be comfortable enough with each other to by emotionally and spiritually naked as well. And maybe if we would do that, people might hurt less because we would be sharing our struggles. Maybe if we would do that the lost of the world would see that where we are you don't have to BE anything more than yourself. That where we are, the clothes you wear don't matter, the heart inside does.
I don't really have a problem showing my true self to people. I'll talk to just about anybody about just about anything. But I know a lot of my brothers and sisters don't feel that safe - for whatever reason. And I'm not really advocating nakedness, I just wish we could tell each other when we were hurting or doubting or were ready to give up.
Downtown is better than a lot of churches about this, but I think Christians everywhere could use some improvement in being naked to the world.
2 comments:
I feel for you on the Sunday morning struggle. I get to do 3 people by myself, only Katie doesn't try to do tights by herself. It is better though - Rick and I never fight on Sunday mornings like a lot of couples do. One girl at church says that if she and her husband look like they are in a good mood or are being kind to each other when they get to church, you can be sure they are lying!
I'm not sure about the naked at church thing. Wonder if uniforms would work? I'd sure be glad not to have to decide what to wear!
We made nursing home jokes through half-time too!
I have to take exception to your description of The Rolling Stones... all of those "over the hill" jokes are so old and cliche. The Stones are my and Robert's favorite band of all time -- and they're still rockin' (all the way to the bank) after all these years. We've seen every one of their live shows, all slammin' -- and if you haven't seen them live even once -- then you don't know what your missing. There's a reason they're dubbed the best rock -n- roll band in the world. STONES STILL ROCK! WE LOVE YOU, MICK!
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