Naked and You Clothed Me

We humans come in to the world with nothing and exit much the same. Some of us are lucky enough to grow up surrounded by love and compassion and wear the goodness of our families like flesh and blood.

Others in our community have been stripped of the chance to feel a healthy self-esteem or a sense of personal dignity. You might say they haven’t fully experienced being “clothed in Christ.” (Galatians 3:26-27)

In the 2012 Scottish film The Angels’ Share* a group of young people are given one last chance at a new life. They will either go to prison or commit to community service (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1924394/). Of course, hijinks (and * warning * a fair bit of gritty language) are in order but it can also be seen as a metaphor for discipleship. This scraggly group comes together guided by a very caring leader and proves that they are not the good-for-nothings that the world sees them as. They are merely people with a past that left them naked and vulnerable—without the ability to see themselves as good and whole people.

Our protagonist Robbie is fighting against a multigenerational lust for violence and distrust. He finally has the opportunity to make things right in his life when he meets a friend of the family who seems to have the perfect life and yet ‘gets’ what he is going through and offers him a beautiful home in a new neighborhood.

Robbie: Why are you doing this for us?

Grace: Someone gave me a chance once, and it changed my life.

Naked and you clothed me.

More than a cliché, Jesus took one look and you and me and said we were worthy to die for. He saw as naked; all of our bumps and wounds and scars and said, yup, you are my beloved.

Mercy looks at the Robbie’s on our path and helps us to help them put on the clothes of Christ.

* The Angels’ Share refers to a portion/share of the volume of whisky that is evaporated within oak barrels during the aging process

Julie Berggren, MA, is Director of Pastoral Care at Holy Name Cathedral. She is a spiritual companion and accompanies those who grieve. She is a gardener and lives with her husband and golden retriever, Poppy. Poppy is the best listener in the house.

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