feeling naked

Sometimes I am really slow. I took Brian's test on here and didn't even know what it was for. I was getting ready to mow the yard yesterday and my wife was reading email and asked me about these blogs I had posted. YIKES! I thought I had been posting in the safe confines of a semi-private blog site with Brian (the truth is out - Brian Miller is who corrupted me). Anyway, I spent the next four hours sitting on the lawnmower thinking about... feeling naked. I kinda felt a little vulnerable, you know. My thoughts being exposed to any-ole-body that happened to read the blog OR be on the 'interactions' list.

But then I thought... really, isn't the emerging church (or 'the church' in general for that matter) about getting naked? I mean, you've probably had those days where you bared your soul - only to be embarrassed as everyone stared at you covered in their shyness, timidity, or downright uptight indifference. Wouldn't it be great to have a church where EVERYBODY was naked? Where you didn't have to worry about how you looked, what you wore; even what you said or did... Because everybody would be focused on something... deeper. Everyone would only want the best for others, and there would be no bitterness or jealosy or animosity. We could all be free.... free to be open and honest; free to love and be loved; free to share and embrace and weep and dance. Sounds like a real garden party to me.

So... I guess maybe this is an invitation to get naked with me. Wouldn't it be cool to be able to come out of the shower and share our fresh ideas without worrying about covering anything up or wondering who might come to the door? Wouldn't it be nice to warm one another with friendly banter and drape ourselves in encouragement and intellectual stimulation? To have eyes only for Him and His ways, and be clothed in nothing but righteousness?

Well, excuse my lame attempt at trying to cover up. I don't really like being naked. But I guess I better get used to it if I'm ever going to return home. Jerry Seinfeld says there is a good naked and a bad naked. Most of the world would probably agree. But wasn't Jesus' thing to turn the world rightside up again? Maybe it's all good!

Okay, i will wrap this up. And, PLEASE, before anyone calls the cyber police... I am speaking strictly in metaphor. At least as much as the Genesis account of Creation and Fall were. I love it when the leaves begin to change... and fall. Wouldn't that church work were like raking fallen leaves; piling them up and burning them as an offering... so people wouldn't be afraid to be naked; that we might be known not for what we tried to hide, but for what we shared and gave, and how we cared.

Rock on,
Dan H.