While many who know me would say that my trademark choice of apparel is visible in the variety of sweater vests I don on occasion (provided the weather allows) I also enjoy a growing selection of, let’s just say, “colorful” footwear. On any given day my wardrobe is enhanced by socks adorned by the Mona Lisa, Van Gogh’s “Self Portrait,“ Munch’s “The Scream,” not to mention the ones emblazoned with “Boston Red Sox” or “Duke Blue Devils” or “I’d Rather Be Gardening” and even the State Flag of California, or pizza slices on azure blue. These are a few of the socks in my growing quiver.
The newest addition to my footwear arrived a couple of weeks back in a brown envelope, found hiding in the back of our mailbox. MHC (Methodist Home For Children) had just completed a unique fundraiser which through the aid of a generous benefactor doubled the gifts of all who contributed. The socks inside the envelope were a small thank you for participating. So a few days later while waiting at a local Starbucks to meet a pastor, a man seated near me said, “Nice socks!” We both laughed and began a conversation. I told him that the footwear bore the trademark of Methodist Home For Children, and that to-date, they represented my greatest investment in socks. And then I explained in my own feeble way a bit of the story of this significant ministry.
In the course of the conversation he identified himself as “JP” and said that he served as District Manager for Starbucks Coffee Company. He described his territory (all east of I-95) Then he asked me what my vocation was. I said, “Oh, I’m actually a pastor, serving as a district superintendent with The United Methodist Church, and our territories are very similar.” We both looked at each other and laughed again. I shared how an old friend (Bruce Stanley) served as Executive Director for MHC. And when I shared the goal of MHC, to help students whom they serve to reach their goals in higher education, his eyes grew wide. He said, “”That’s a core value of Starbucks, too!”
https://www.mhfc.org/services/higher-education/
Soon my appointment arrived and our conversation ended, but not without exchanging business cards and my helping to connect him with Bruce, whom he called before the close of business that day. Time will tell if those socks will assist another youth in achieving their goals for college. When I communicated with Bruce later that evening, he referred to this simple conversation as another example of evangelism. I guess in some ways you could call it, “wardrobe evangelism.”
There’s nothing so new about this. We’ve been called to remember this during Charge conferences this fall. The Apostle Paul noted it’s existence long before Starbucks was imagined. “For as many of you as we baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” (Galatians 3). Old Paul would be quick to remind us that “clothing” ourselves with Christ is about more than the socks on our feet. Clothing ourselves with Christ, according to Lauren Winner, is a phrase worth pondering.
God doesn’t just clothe us with skin…; God clothes us with God’s own self…
If to change clothes can be to change one’s sense of self; if to change clothes
is to change one’s way of being in a world; if to clothe yourself in a particular
type of garment is to let that garment shape you into its own shape — then
what is it to put on Christ?” (from Wearing God)
For our friends from MHC some of the answer to her question can be found in their mission statement:
Our mission, in service to God, is to build upon the social, physical, emotional,
and spiritual strengths of children, youth, and families, and to affirm their worth
Wearing God……….In the prologue to his gospel, John said it like this:
But whoever did want him, who believed he was who he claimed and would
do what he said, He made to be their true selves, their child–of–God selves.
These are the God–begotten, not blood–begotten, not flesh–begotten, not
sex–begotten. The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the
neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one–of–a–kind glory,
like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish……
John 1:12c-14 | MSG
Still In ONE Peace,
Jon (the Methodist)
If you would like to view past editions of How Sweet the Sound, follow this link: https://sounddistrictnc.org/category/from-the-ds/