In 1963, my family did not have a clothes dryer, so all of our clothes were hung up in the backyard on a clothesline. The clothes were hung up early in the morning and allowed to air and dry under the sun and then brought in before the damp fog rolled into the area in the late afternoon.
We don't see clothes lines filled with wet and drying clothes in the South Bay anymore and so clothes pins may soon become harder and harder to find. To make a cross of clothes pins may be a good reminder that the cross was lifted up into the sun and wind of Jerusalem that we all might see the light and feel the wind and allow us to be clothed with new and clean clothes. St. Paul called this "putting on Christ."
Whenever we put on Christ, our behavior is changed. As a child, I remember dressing up in my Dad's clothes and pretending to go off to work or play golf. The clothes did not fit, but while I wore them, I found myself acting like my Dad. I took on my Dad's mannerism, his attitudes, and his behaviors. As I have grown up, I have put on many sets of clothes. Some of these clothes did not really serve me or others very well. I found that these clothes actually fit me well and made me look good to others, but alas, my behavior and the attitudes these clothes encouraged in me seem very shallow and did not bring me real joy or a sense of wholeness.
In many ways, my Dad’s oversized clothes looked very silly on me, but they also taught me to value clothes of those whom I knew loved me. As a priest in the Episcopal Church, I dress up in a set of clothes that I don’t normally wear to go jogging and to the movies. These clothes represent for this faith community, the clothes of Christ. Because priests represent the people in the congregation, it could be said that I am putting on Christ so that you can see how we look as the Body of Christ in the world; so we can begin to think, feel, believe, and act the way Jesus acted. The first step is to put on Christ in some visible way. Clothes do, in a sense, make or create a person.
What represents your putting on Christ? A cross you wear? A style of dress you have adopted? A manner of life you embrace? Do these things seem to draw you closer to acting like Jesus in the world?
We don't see clothes lines filled with wet and drying clothes in the South Bay anymore and so clothes pins may soon become harder and harder to find. To make a cross of clothes pins may be a good reminder that the cross was lifted up into the sun and wind of Jerusalem that we all might see the light and feel the wind and allow us to be clothed with new and clean clothes. St. Paul called this "putting on Christ."
Whenever we put on Christ, our behavior is changed. As a child, I remember dressing up in my Dad's clothes and pretending to go off to work or play golf. The clothes did not fit, but while I wore them, I found myself acting like my Dad. I took on my Dad's mannerism, his attitudes, and his behaviors. As I have grown up, I have put on many sets of clothes. Some of these clothes did not really serve me or others very well. I found that these clothes actually fit me well and made me look good to others, but alas, my behavior and the attitudes these clothes encouraged in me seem very shallow and did not bring me real joy or a sense of wholeness.
In many ways, my Dad’s oversized clothes looked very silly on me, but they also taught me to value clothes of those whom I knew loved me. As a priest in the Episcopal Church, I dress up in a set of clothes that I don’t normally wear to go jogging and to the movies. These clothes represent for this faith community, the clothes of Christ. Because priests represent the people in the congregation, it could be said that I am putting on Christ so that you can see how we look as the Body of Christ in the world; so we can begin to think, feel, believe, and act the way Jesus acted. The first step is to put on Christ in some visible way. Clothes do, in a sense, make or create a person.
What represents your putting on Christ? A cross you wear? A style of dress you have adopted? A manner of life you embrace? Do these things seem to draw you closer to acting like Jesus in the world?
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