Naked & skinny-dipping with Jesus.

"The man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed."

Naked:
adj 1: completely unclothed; "bare bodies"; bare,nude] 2: having no protecting or concealing cover; 3: devoid of elaboration or diminution or concealment; bare and pure; "naked ambition"; [syn: raw]

Isn’t it interesting that in our desire to be God-like that we find ourselves clothed, concealing who are from each other? Because we have been duped by our lust to be in control we reach for the fruit unaware of whom we are as those created in the image of God. The fear of not being enough and wanting more lures us toward the "fruit." The thing that we think will open our eyes and "give us power" is the very thing that causes us to hide in shame.

I question if the church sometimes sets us up to be in control of our lives where we clothe ourselves concealing who we are from one another? I wonder if we inadvertently lure one another toward the fruit rather than helping one another get naked. I imagine that many folks who go to nude beaches were a little nervous or shy the first time they got naked in public. After a while, I imagine they grow comfortable being naked with others who are naked; being naked is no longer "second nature", but rather is first nature. It becomes more "natural" to be naked than it does to be clothed.

It's like skinny-dipping with Jesus. Being naked in front of God is how we were created. When we are naked in front of God we are not focused on trying to hide our warts from each other, but rather we expose our warts to each other. Some warts look different than others, but we all have them.

Frederick Buechner says, "Maybe our hunger to know each other fully naked is simply our hunger to know each other fully. I want to know you with all your defenses down, all your pretenses set aside, all your secrets laid bare. Then maybe I will be brave enough to lay myself bare so that at last we can be naked together and unashamed."

God created us naked-- and to be naked, raw and bare. Anything that attempts to shame us and tells us to hide is not from God no matter how appealing it is—including institutional religion and church. Maybe the church has something to learn from hanging around nude beaches.

I am going to church naked tomorrow; care to join me?