Jesus Calls You To Be Eccentric

Matthew 3:1-12

In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’ This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,
‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
“Prepare the way of the Lord,
   make his paths straight.” ’
Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
 But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our ancestor”; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
 ‘I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing-floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’

A lot of changes have occurred since I last blogged...not the least of which being my Ordination to the Transitional Diaconate, my graduation from Sewanee: The University of the South, moving back to Jackson, MS, and starting my curacy at St. Columb's Episcopal Church. A lot of changes in a short amount of time. 

I have always been such a creature of habit, especially when it comes to what I wear. If you have been around me for any length of time, you know I have my stints of favorite shirts, shoes, and sometimes pants. When I was in college I loved to wear these lovely green sweat pants. I rocked them all the time - I once even wore them to a fraternity party. I didn't care, even when a cute boy pointed out that I was pretty bold to wear them. Actually, I still love them. At this moment they are in my closet, but the ankle elastic has dry rotted. If I thought I could mend them, I would. 

There have been other items of clothing along the way. Most recently, seminary found me donning a shirt which says "Relax, I Am Hilarious." My classmates at Sewanee just were not catching on to my humor. So, Mom sent me the shirt and it "broke the ice" a bit. 

And now, I find myself having to wear a new uniform...clericals. 

I am a little embarrassed to admit that when I went to seminary I had not given much thought to the fact that clericals would be my new uniform. Nor did I know all the rules that apply. For instance, I had no idea that Bishops wore purple/pink, and wearing such was a no no for anyone else. I remember wearing a pink skirt at a cookout a few weeks into my first year of seminary, and people laughed at me. I was clueless.

Now, I know the rules. Trust me when I tell you there have been a number of articles and books written in devotion to clergy wear. Plus, everyone has an opinion on how, and why, and where you should wear them. But, what I have discovered is that learning to wear the clericals is just an outward and visible sign of growing into the work of ministry. 

Some days I feel like John the Baptist. Not because people are flocking to me for repentance and baptism, but because I apparently look wildly out of place. I get lots of looks. I have also been asked if I am a Nun, a lot. 

The thing is, I have been through this before, kind of - I can't tell you how many times I went to the jail to introduce myself to clients, and after looking me over they would say: "YOU are my lawyer? If you will get me out of here, I promise I will get a paid lawyer." This face clearly invokes trust, huh? 

But now, I get this same sort of reaction everywhere. In fact, I met a guy recently who told me he sees me in Whole Foods all the time. I do go to Whole Foods a lot, but I could not recall the people I see in there...my friend Kate tells me these are things that only happen to me, but I think my new uniform doesn't help. It is a little ironic because I have been feeling really vanilla the last few weeks. Honestly, I feel like I need to be more eccentric, and that I need more eccentric people in my life. My boss thinks I am having an existential crisis.

The description of John the Baptist here in the Gospel of Matthew reminds me that the Jesus Movement is eccentric. Really, it is truly counter-cultural. And, we are all called to proclaim this counter-cultural way of Jesus in all that we do. No matter what uniform you wear, we are called to ministry - to reconcile all people to God and each other. 

What does this mean? It means that when you are in your lawyer uniform visiting a client wearing an orange jumpsuit at the jail, you still treat them like a human who deserves dignity. It means that when you are teaching dance to children, you take just as much time with the uncoordinated kid as you do the kid who has great potential to be famous. It means that whatever uniform we wear, in whatever profession we find ourselves, we proclaim that Jesus' love and mercy and justice knows no limits. It means we, too, are to prepare the way of the Lord. It means, be eccentric.