Re-clothed in Christ

The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh. - Romans 13:12-14

I have been deeply impacted by the ministry of Jon Watts and Maggie Harrison, who are traveling among Friends, preaching a message of spiritual rebirth. They speak to us of God's call to spiritual nakedness, recapturing the unabashed intimacy that Adam and Eve experienced in the Garden, before the Fall. They urge us to stand in the light of Christ, allowing his presence to strip away all the layers of falsehood that we have accumlated over the course of our lives.

Our wounds and pride, our fears and fixations stand as barriers between us and God; between us and our fellow human beings. We tend to believe that these barriers protect us, but in fact they suffocate life and wonder, cutting us off from relationship and intimacy. These deadening habits and hang-ups can seem endless; each time we remove one article of fear-drenched clothing, we encounter another layer beneath.

Yet, as we yield to Christ's action within us, we come to experience moments of real nakedness before God. We stand before our Creator in awe and gratitude, knowing in some small measure the reality of Jesus' prayer that we might be one with him, just as he and the Father are one. We are left defenseless, together in the presence of the Spirit, and all false distinctions melt away. We find a hidden unity that runs deeper than all the masks we hide behind.

It is in this unity that Christ invites us to be re-clothed. Standing bare before our loving Lord, he heals our long-hidden wounds and dresses them with the leaves of the tree of life. We discover a new nature that we can be clothed in.

Taking off the old, tattered rags that we used to hide behind, Jesus invites us to put on the pure linen of his righteousness. As we clothe ourselves in his character, we find that we become more truly ourselves than ever before. This new covering reveals our true heart to the world. Trading our old garments for the new life that Christ gives us, we acquire an amazing transparency; the Holy Spirit shines brightly through us. The joy within us irradiates our surroundings, inviting our friends and neighbors into this breathtaking life of wholeness in the Spirit.

What has it looked like in your life to put aside the deeds of darkness and to put on the armor of light? What does it mean to be clothed with Jesus?

Revealing the Children of God

I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God... - Romans 8:18-19

I am continually amazed at the unexpected people that God brings into my life. Christ's light shines through them, and the testimony of the Spirit permeates their character. Their presence fills my life with Christ's love. I am deeply impacted by these women and men, whom I never would have invited in on my own.

The Holy Spirit reveals these surprising individuals to me at moments when I have finally given up. As long as I am still striving to create the Kingdom myself, I cannot receive the free gift of God's children. When I am acting under my own power, I invariably pick the people that I like the best, those who make me the most comfortable. But the Lord picks his friends differently.

As one pastor here in DC said to me recently, "we spend so much time fly-fishing when the Lord is calling us to use a drag-net!" Jesus commands us to welcome everyone into the Kingdom - not to build a social club that reenforces our own biases and cliquish behavior. The sad truth is, my own tendency is to throw a party for the people that I have most in common with, but Jesus calls me to throw the doors wide open and invite everyone - including a lot of folks whose names would not have occurred to me. The Kingdom of God is not about assembling the people we like best; rather, it is about gathering together with those whom God loves.

Despite my human tendency to stick with people who make me feel comfortable, I am slowly learning to heed God's call to be part of a truly inclusive community. When I am able to let go of my need to create community in my own image, God unleashes the amazing power of the hidden Kingdom, in which the very people that I have always overlooked end up blessing my life. To my great astonishment, I find that my own salvation is tied up in the lives of those around me - whether they fit within my human criteria or not.

The Hope Within Us

You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God. - Colossians 1:5-6

This week, Faith and I are attending New York Yearly Meeting's annual retreat at Silver Bay - a beautiful, rustic camp located a couple of hours northeast of Albany. I will confess: The beauty and isolation of the site made me nervous at first. When we arrived at Silver Bay, I wondered whether we were just in for a week of Quaker-themed summer camp. Were Friends gathered here to listen to the inward voice of Christ and to be changed by what they encountered within?

Fortunately, we got here just in time for an afternoon plenary session led by Jon Watts and Maggie Harrison. Jon and Maggie have been traveling together in the ministry for the last year or so, delivering a message of transformation by the inward light of Christ. Using the image of nakedness as a spiritual sign, they are calling us to open ourselves to how God wants to reveal our fear, brokenness and darkness, placing our trust in the healing light of the Truth.

Jon and Maggie pushed really hard yesterday. They challenged New York Yearly Meeting to set aside the comfort of their false selves, to dive boldly into God's love. In one particularly intense moment, Maggie asked Friends why the reports from New York Yearly Meeting's local congregations rarely mentioned God. Isn't that what this is all about? You could have heard a pin drop as Friends took in what Maggie was saying. And then, someone yelled Amen!

Something is happening here. The ground is churned up, ready for planting. There is an openness here, a tenderness that cries out for the Seed to be lifted up. It feels like Friends here are sensing a call from deep within, inviting them into a new baptism of God's Spirit. Faith and I learned later that New York Yearly Meeting had already done some real wrestling before we arrived. In their business meeting, they openly and explicitly examined themselves as to whether they were indeed the spiritually grounded, inclusive community that they sought to be. As Friends here began to recognize the ways in which they fall short, they have also encountered a hope that urges them forward in faith.

God's word and life and power are filling the world, and we are being invited to participate in this story of transformation. We still catch only glimpses of this new life in Christ, and we often struggle to name it. But sometimes the truth is more complicated to describe than it is to live out. Do we have the courage to live into the hope that God has placed within us? This hope that God has set before us is real and true; indeed, it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world. Are we ready to be pruned so that we may grow into our full stature in the Truth? Are we willing to do the hard work that comes before the harvest?