It’s a good day here in Greenville. Neil is in Tulsa at the Tulsa Soul Winning Workshop. He was hoping to catch John Dobbs and Trey Morgan’s presentation on blogging. I guess I will have to settle for getting the CD. I really like the workshop. It’s encouraging, uplifting, and our family generally just does better after we’ve been there. (I love Patrick Mead’s description of it as the “Church of Christ Tractor Pull.” ) The Memorial Road congregation is to be commended for its hosting of the workshop. Garnett for its instrumental role in creating it and hosting it through the years. It has changed lives and changed the world.
Meanwhile I am back in Greenville. What has kept me here is a huge celebration as well. It is Homecoming weekend at South Main. Danny Dodd is coming to speak for us, and lots of folks are coming from all over to renew aquaintances. It’s looking to be quite an event.
Getting ready for homecoming has involved looking at a lot of pictures. Its amazing how some people change while others are locked in place as far as their appearance goes. One thing that is never locked in, however, … the fashions. I would like to think we were so cool back in the ’70’s… but look at those suites!!! The evidence is undeniable. I don’t remember it looking that bad. Checks and wide collars, all of which, of course, are polyester.
You remember the ’70’s don’t you. They were right after Hippi talk (groovy, dig it, etc.) and right before Valley talk (gnarly, dude, whatever). When you “dressed up” it was the fashion equivalent of tupperware. [Younger audiences may need a historical reference from their parents.] Clothes were conventional, versatile, a little peculiar, and of course, made of plastic. [I had none of those loud colors and crazy designs in my leisure suit... for me it was a coal black suite, with a loud pink shirt. Yes, I was cool!] I had always thought those days were gone for good, but over the last year the hair has gotten longer, the bell bottoms wider, and that’s not to mention “Momma Mia.”
I ran across some JC Penney ads from the 70’s. Some people get upset over tattoos, but these ads help me. You can always put a shirt over a tattoo and nobody gets hurt, but hip hugging polyester leisure suits will scar you. You’ll never get rid of that image.
There is a verse in the Bible that says to “Adorn yourself with Christ.” I worry that many take that verse too literal. When they get up in the morning for worship, they adorn themselves with Jesus. When they get up for school they wear different clothes… work, that’s a third group, hanging our with friends a fourth. According to this group, Jesus also has fashion runs. In one generation he is adamantly Republican, the next Democrat; he is pro war, then pro peace. Whatever direction the cultural winds blow, Jesus matches the fashion.
While there is room for culture in Christianity, and God has no interest in “turning back the clock,” I long for the Christ who is beyond our whims of interest. The God whose values shape us in every situation and every generation…sort of a blue jean denim God. Generation after generation, in most every circumstance people either are wearing the true Jesus, or at least wish they were.
4 Comments
March 29, 2009 at 3:55 am
Hey Dad! Not only did you miss the speakers this year, but also about 8 feet of snow today! It was great though.
March 29, 2009 at 6:03 pm
I meant inches. They said it somewhere between 6-8 inches. definately not feet. that would have been catastrophic!
March 30, 2009 at 2:38 pm
To be sucha great event the workshop seems to have the worst luck with weather. This is the first time I remember “snow” however. Glad it was good.
April 6, 2009 at 1:55 am
Missed you at ISWW, DH–hope you can make it next year. Despite snow, rain, and crowded rooms for some of the lectures, it was a good weekend.