Modeling the Model
I’ll start with the famous words of nearly infamous Dave Barry: “I’m not making this up.” I was asked to model. Yes clothes. And I know it stretches credulity. But crazy facts are facts too.
The deal was this. The Missouri Baptist Medical Center’s auxiliary group was having a fashion show/fund raiser. KBC member Louis Duke asked me if I would “walk the isle” with Cecelia (it stretches no credulity to see her as a model). It was for a good cause and it came with a free meal… so you can guess how long I debated. How hard could it be? And so I showed up, put on a new shirt, sweater, and pants (never worn anything from Talbots before) and strutted down the isle. Well, actually I walked without tripping. Fortunately chewing gum was not required.
Everything went fine, no tomatoes were thrown. No body lost their lunch. But I think I’ll keep my day job. My favorite line of the day came from a complete stranger as Cecelia and I were leaving the hotel after the event. To Cecelia: “you were beautiful!” To me: “You were a great sport.” Oh well, so much for a second career.
Oddly enough, the Christian life is a lot like modeling. You put on clothes that you might not otherwise wear and you live before others in a way that sometimes feels like you’re on the catwalk. This is what is so important about Christian practice, about spiritual commitment, about actively abiding in Christ.
Let me explain. We all know that the clothes we wear on the outside, affect our feelings on the inside. Psychologists have demonstrated that clothes affect one’s work ethic. This is true in a broader spiritual sense. A commitment to the fundamental disciplines of the Christ-like way, the historical practices of Christ’s followers, feeds our souls.
Paul talks about “putting on the armor of Christ” and “putting on the mind of Christ.” These kind of statements imply an intentional effort to be “robed and in your right mind,” that is to put on spiritual/mental/emotional clothes which might feel unnatural, but which will form your soul. This is part and parcel of spiritual formation.
Don’t feel like worship? Come and sing in full voice and listen with a committed heart. Your worship clothes will open the way for the Spirit’s work. Don’t feel like setting aside time for the food pantry? Do it, and your heart will follow your hands. Don’t really want to welcome the stranger at church? Go, look in their eyes, and listen with all the heart you can muster. When you see Christ in their eyes, you might just have tears in your own.
The narrow road of Jesus avoids the broad road of easy grace where everything is about what you feel like doing, AND the dangerous ditch of religious obligation where activities are done for self-promotion. We are called to love. Love compels us to put on uncomfortable clothes. But beautiful clothes can make the ugliest of us an image to behold.
The deal was this. The Missouri Baptist Medical Center’s auxiliary group was having a fashion show/fund raiser. KBC member Louis Duke asked me if I would “walk the isle” with Cecelia (it stretches no credulity to see her as a model). It was for a good cause and it came with a free meal… so you can guess how long I debated. How hard could it be? And so I showed up, put on a new shirt, sweater, and pants (never worn anything from Talbots before) and strutted down the isle. Well, actually I walked without tripping. Fortunately chewing gum was not required.
Everything went fine, no tomatoes were thrown. No body lost their lunch. But I think I’ll keep my day job. My favorite line of the day came from a complete stranger as Cecelia and I were leaving the hotel after the event. To Cecelia: “you were beautiful!” To me: “You were a great sport.” Oh well, so much for a second career.
Oddly enough, the Christian life is a lot like modeling. You put on clothes that you might not otherwise wear and you live before others in a way that sometimes feels like you’re on the catwalk. This is what is so important about Christian practice, about spiritual commitment, about actively abiding in Christ.
Let me explain. We all know that the clothes we wear on the outside, affect our feelings on the inside. Psychologists have demonstrated that clothes affect one’s work ethic. This is true in a broader spiritual sense. A commitment to the fundamental disciplines of the Christ-like way, the historical practices of Christ’s followers, feeds our souls.
Paul talks about “putting on the armor of Christ” and “putting on the mind of Christ.” These kind of statements imply an intentional effort to be “robed and in your right mind,” that is to put on spiritual/mental/emotional clothes which might feel unnatural, but which will form your soul. This is part and parcel of spiritual formation.
Don’t feel like worship? Come and sing in full voice and listen with a committed heart. Your worship clothes will open the way for the Spirit’s work. Don’t feel like setting aside time for the food pantry? Do it, and your heart will follow your hands. Don’t really want to welcome the stranger at church? Go, look in their eyes, and listen with all the heart you can muster. When you see Christ in their eyes, you might just have tears in your own.
The narrow road of Jesus avoids the broad road of easy grace where everything is about what you feel like doing, AND the dangerous ditch of religious obligation where activities are done for self-promotion. We are called to love. Love compels us to put on uncomfortable clothes. But beautiful clothes can make the ugliest of us an image to behold.