An Ominous Title: "The Beard..."

The Pastor went on vacation with a clean-shaven face.  He came back from vacation with a 2-week beard.  What does this mean for the leadership of our ministry?

Ministry is serious stuff.  After all, it is the very battleground where faith, hope, new life, love of neighbor, and salvation are won.  But as serious as we take it, we must also work to find the same amount of joy and ease in our spiritual lives.  So today, rather than delve into the depths of Lent (the season before Easter), I've decided to venture into the discussion of a beard.

This is what we might learn from the beard today (not necessarily even mine, but ANY beard):

1. We don't go out and buy beards.  They grow naturally (to more or lesser degrees) on our faces. Truly, they are gifts from God.  Thus, letting a beard grow can be a model for letting who God created us to be "grow out" so that we can be a full expression of God's love.
2. Beards make everything different.  Pillows feel scratchy, wives squirm again during kisses, others' hair, lint, food, etc. have a new home, and everyone wants to know who the new guy is.  It's good for us to live in seasons of newness.  After all, it is God who ordained the new creation, the new day, the new covenant, the new earth, a new chosen people, a new gospel...  We are not meant simply to drone through our days and routines unchanged and unaffected, and changing one's outward appearance can be an easy way to model the deeper differences we should seek in our lives.
3. Beards take a lot of TLC.  Although it's nice to step away from the daily shaving routine, sooner or later, every beard cultivator ends up putting in some serious work on the fuzz.  Few have walked this earth with perfect facial hair.  The rest of us deal with bare patches, uneven distribution of thickness, inconsistent growth paces, the common calico affect, and  the hairs that prefer to stand out rather than lie down.  So bear owners eventually find themselves back in front of the mirror, inspecting, grooming, tweezing, and trimming--making sure it looks okay.  The same is for a our faith.  We like to think that once we get to a certain place in our faith lives, that we no longer need to do the heavy work and attend to the details.  But we see the truth that our faith is a life's work and journey, not something that just takes care of itself.
4. Jesus had a beard.  Actually, there's no telling whether Jesus actually had a beard or not.  For some reason, we like to assume he did.  It just fits our picture better.  But no where does it say that Jesus stood before the ____________ (name your subject here i.e. blind man, Sanhedrin, crowd...) and stroked his beard before answering.  We know Moses had one, so did John the Baptist, as did many Jewish contemporaries in Jesus' day.  But it brings up a good point:  How often do we assume things about the past and present, especially concerning our faith.  It's a good reminder that we should daily be prepared to be surprised in our faith, rather than continually seeking to be affirmed.  

And so, the beard continues to grow and teach.  We'll see how long it stays on my face.  I suppose it's safe to say that only God knows...  

More to come!

Jason <><