Today is the Feast of the Transfiguration in the Anglican tradition, and at church this morning we were reminded that Jesus came so that we didn’t have to live in shame. With the purification brought by His sacrificial blood comes the right to be righteous, and thus to clothe ourselves in the metaphorical robes of righteousness, because we don’t need artificial additives when we come before God. He made us, naked and unshamed, and that’s how He wants us to live and worship Him.
This coming week marks the start of Lent, when we traditionally give up something or take up something new to help focus our minds on God, based on the time of fasting in the wilderness that Jesus undertook before beginning His ministry. It’s a really powerful time in the branches of the Christian church that follow the liturgical calendar, as it reminds us that there will be challenges when walking in faith, but the endgame is worth it. Whether you consider that endgame to be some paradisical future existence in the sky, or the reestablishing of God’s kingdom on Earth, it still has to be better than this, right, when false Christians corrupt the Word for political gain, and where somehow Republicans and conservative evangelicals claim to be Christian while teaching concepts diametrically opposed to the Bible.
It’s an incredibly frustrating time to be a true follower of Christ, but every now and then you see something that reminds you of how things should be. This week has seen the final (I think) installment of a wonderful Godly series on Christian naturism by an Australian pastor called Richard Betteridge. I don’t know him at all, we have never interacted, so I don’t know his exact theological stance, but his writing is full of truth and love, so I’m going to share links to all 10 parts of his series “Bare Faith: A Christian Naturist Guide to Raising Kids Without Shame” here:
- Let’s Be Honest: The Church Made This Weird
- A Brief History of Christian Embodiment
- Why Kids Need a Theology of the Body Before Puberty
- What Christian Naturism Is (and Isn’t)
- Raising Body-Confident Kids in a Shame-Based World
- The Hard Questions: Safety, Boundaries, and the Law
- Talking to Grandparents, Churches, and Friends
- The Teen Years: Autonomy, Changing Bodies, and Faith
- The Critics: Listening Without Losing Yourself
- A Vision for Whole, Unhidden Families
As someone who wishes nothing more than that ALL young people could grow up in loving, shame-free, body-confident Christian homes, it’s deeply refreshing to see someone write something like this with such passion. With the way Substack is going, who knows if it’ll be up long-term, but I hope it is (I’ll be archiving it for my own use anyway). God has blessed Richard with something truly important on his heart, and I trust all will benefit from reading it.