Barefoot in the Church - Part 2

Continued from yesterday... 

Years ago we had a career military man in our congregation by the name of Eric Engstrom; Eric received new orders that took him from our rural area in the mountains of western MA to a new duty station in Kansas City. Our two country congregations were much like Bethlehem Church, people dressed in what they were comfortable with. Eric emailed me after he’d been in KC a week, and he made a point to mention that he had attended church last Sunday and it was a reminder to him of how many churches get all dressed – up on Sunday mornings – I think Eric probably showed up dressed fairly casual and felt out of place.  Isn’t it funny how we can be taught to dress differently and talk differently and act differently during a particular hour of a particular day?  Why can’t we just be who God created us to be in Jesus Christ?

           

            Why can’t we just go barefoot?

            Now I do respect the folks who will talk to me about reverence toward God.  I believe in reverence.  God is not to be messed with, He is not to be trifled with.  God is holy and we are called to be holy.  But holiness is not an outward thing, it’s a thing of the heart.  It will have its outward expressions, but it doesn’t begin with the outward, it comes from within.  The patterns of worship we see in the Scriptures range from the quiet and solemn to the wildly exuberant, and I’m for all of it in its due season.  Reverence does not mean that we put on a sour – puss face and attitude.

            Having acknowledged that reverence is important, that respect is important, let me suggest that one reason we go through a persona change on Sunday mornings is that we want to play it safe, we want to keep our shoes on.  We don’t want to expose ourselves to each other and we don’t want the Holy Spirit messing with our attitudes toward life or toward each other.

            Reverence is removing our shoes, it is removing our Sunday morning personas, it is removing our facades.

            When Moses and Joshua each encountered the True and Living God they were both told to remove their shoes for the ground they were on was holy.  Yet when Adam and Eve separated themselves from God their response was to hide and to cover up.  The New Jerusalem that the apostle John sees coming down from the heavens is transparent, you can see right through it.  When we live before God we are called to be transparent, and I think it is far better to learn that way of life here than later on, otherwise we might be a tad bit uncomfortable in heaven. 

There should be no barrier between God and us and there should be no barrier between one another.  When we find ourselves covering up like Adam and Eve - that ought to be a check in our hearts that we are moving in the wrong direction, away from God.

            Do we have a willingness to give to one another and a willingness to receive from one another?  Do we have a willingness to wash each other’s feet and to allow our feet to be washed?

            Let me share something with you that I trust will come as no surprise…not one of us is perfect.  Not only that, but we can all be mean at times, we can be petty, we can be self-righteous, we can be arrogant, we can be downright selfish and we can all be unforgiving.  And worst of all we can be religious…we can think we’re better than someone else.

            I am amazed when people have their little spats and then become concerned about who was right and who was wrong…rather than be concerned about reconciliation and restoring unity in the Body of Christ.  Where did we ever get the idea that forgiving someone is an option that we can exercise if we please?  How did this cancer ever get into the Church of Jesus Christ?  Who am I to say, “I won’t forgive this brother or that sister?”  What an arrogant statement for me to make!

            “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.  Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.  And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”  Ephesians 4:31 – 5:2.        

We have missed the point of the Cross if we have missed the point of going barefoot in the church of Jesus Christ.