For years now I have been developing the idea of preaching a series, possibly writing a book and developing a church community on the following concepts:

 

– The Naked Christ (already a book by Wayne Jacobsen called The Naked Christ from 1998)

– The Naked Christian

– The Naked Church

 

The Naked Christ (God the Father) – The seeds of the idea were initially planted as I read Dietrich Bonhoeffer who referenced the need for the church to strip away years of human tradition which we have cloaked Christ with like heavy garments until he is nearly obscured from view. There is a saying that goes back to the early church fathers – nudus nudum Christum sequi  – "nakedly following the naked Christ" and the idea which was picked up (somewhat literally at times) by St. Jerome (circa 380 AD) and St. Francis of Assisi (circa 1200 AD) among others, was that Christ is at his most brilliant and Godly when unclothed of all that the world would lay upon him. Christ being the new Adam is not ashamed of his nakedness though we, sons of Adam and daughters of Eve (to coin a phrase) are instinctively ashamed of the naked Christ and would clothe him with human robes of tradition and ceremony. Christ’s own nakedness reminds us of our own and we are ashamed at ourselves as well. It is this Christ, who entered the world naked and left naked having been strippped of everything by humanity including his clothes not to mention his dignity from a human perspective, to whom we owe allegiance and homage.

 

The Naked Christian (God the Son) – is who we become when we comprehend the naked Christ in all of his brilliance unadorned and allowed to shine forth in true Godly glory. Nakedness is what we strive for ourselves, a goal, however lofty, to aim at. That we might be able to unburden ourselves of human expectation and encumbrance and walk into the world as if from new Eden stripped clean of worldly expectation, washed of guilt by the naked Christ’s own blood, and able to become a reflection of this new humanity modeled by Christ and available to all who would embrace him. The kingdom has come, is coming and will come and as a part of this enigmatic ongoing overlapping of heaven and earth we are capable of modeling these things even now as the old earth passes away before our eyes. As this happens we are reminded of the word’s of Christ in Revelation 21:5 "Behold, I make all things new" and this includes us as part of redeemed Creation who are then truly reborn from above and enter naked into the world as we first did from our mother’s womb.

 

The Naked Church (God the Holy Spirit) – then, is what we, as a movement of Christians unencumbered by such coverings, would become. the very naked body of Christ moving in the world in a way that seeks to transform and announce the coming kingdom already present. Idealistic? Possibly, but it is an ideal worth pursuing I think. The world’s response to such a church would be not unlike our own response to such a person – shock, fear, shame, and anger (not unlike the response of most people to Christ) and a move to cover the church’s nakedness. I am reminded of when the restoration of the Sistine Chapel was done after years of painstaking work by experts seeking to restore the painting of Michaelangelo to its original state. When the chapel was unveiled the priests and pastors of the art world (art critics) responded in shock and many were angry. They said the painting had been ruined. They were cartoonish and garishly bright in comparison to the muted subtle colours that had earlier existed. The reality though was that the restorers had simply, painstakingly removed centuries of candle soot and buildup that had obscured the brilliant original glory of Michaelangelo’s work. So is the likely response of the world to the unveiled, uncovered, naked church. Still some would be drawn, some would see the body for what it is, the promise of newness and salvation. It only takes a few. One God present amongst his children become 12, who become hundreds, who become thousands, who become millions, who become billions.

 

All in all it is a compelling vision I think and one that requires humility and utter dependance upon God to be one’s source for all things. One’s covering, one’s sustenance, one’s shelter, one’s healer, one’s everything. We would become empty and naked so that we might be filled by him and clothed in his righteousness.