Tuesday 28 September 2010

... by their beards, shall ye know them

Beards are funny things... I had one once... actually no, that's not true... since the hair grows more on the right side of my face than on the left, I had half a beard; I looked like I'd been caught in a particularly abrasive crosswind...

I'm not allowed a beard any more... The Wife won't let me, although occasionally I don't shave for a day or two as an act of rebellion... grrrr...

For those with less oppressed chins than mine, beards can be iconic. WG Grace's (and Mike Gatting's) Obelix belly/whiskers combination are virtually synonymous with the pre-cardiovascular days of cricket... Jerry Garcia's face-fro is the symbol of an entire generational movement who 'stuck it to the (presumably clean-shaven) man' by throwing down their razors and daaancing until the sun shone from every rainbow pore... ahem.

The growing of a beard can also carry meaning... North America's National Hockey League has a tradition that players don't shave during playoff season... although this rather backfires when any particularly young player can only muster a gentle suggestion of third-week bumfluff, while their grisled older opposition look like they've just crawled out of a cave, roaring and clutching the raw, dripping haunch of a mastodon...

In some circles a beard is simply the mark of a man... Bikers, for instance. I knew a biker in Canada whose beard was easily a foot long, it was shot through with grey, and cut in a perfect square at the bottom. It would part either side of his neck as he rode his Harley the ten miles to the States, where he could take off his helmet and ride free... grrrr...

Actually, there's an interesting second half to that story... aged in his late fifties, his beard had survived thirty years of cinders from his pipe, and - in his job as a mechanic - thousands of hours with his chin inches from a flapping fanbelt. It did not, however, survive the birth of his granddaughter who, upon reaching the age where she could sit on granddad's knee, reduced it - in a matter of months - to something that looked like it had been used as a source for hampster bedding. 

In all of these cases... a beard says something. It's not just 'there' because someone forgot to shave... it's there, and it's meant to be there...

So it is in the Amish, where (particularly in the old order) a beard can carry the same significance as a wedding ring... it marks out a man; a man who has gone through baptism, who has got married... and who has commited his life to following the teaching of the bible...

Along with hats, and bonnets and buggies and braces... the Amish beard is one of the most distinctive symbols of a community who have little regard for things that most people think 'normal', and who simply do their own thing... based on the way they read and interpret the bible... it's a key part of their witness... by their beards, shall ye know them.

In moments of exquisite madness, I wonder what it would be like if the entire UK Christian Church stood up as one... and adopted a witness that is as staunch and out of the ordinary as the Amish. What would we choose to give up... or to take up... or wear, or do? How would we travel, live, bank, shop, eat, care for each other, care for others? Fill in the gaps yourself... how would you live if you had a clean slate, to create a completely distinctive way of testifying to God's calling you to "Arise, and come away" (Song of Soloman 2:10)... Would it be helpful to mark ourselves out physically, behaviourally in some way? Would it witness for us, or help us to also mark ourselves out spiritually?

These are interesting questions... and, in the examples given by people like the Bruderhof communities, ones that have been answered by people brave enough to take up the challenge. 

It's odd though that, even though adopting not-of-this-world practices would quickly distinguish us from those around us, as far as I can remember the only things that Jesus actually said would mark us out effectively, is our 'fruit', and our 'love for one another'.

So here's the basic question... how much 'fruit' does it take to be as obvious as a bonnet... and how much 'love' to be as obvious as a beard...

That's our mission... that what we have to aim for...

9 comments:

  1. Today I am a restless ponderer on the earth.

    I was struck the most by your line "how would you live if you had a clean slate, to create a completely distinctive way of testifying to God's calling you to "Arise, and come away".

    It's something i've never thought of before. What if I stripped away all the cultural and religious influences (well, as many of them as I can), and made my decisions on everything according to what I know of God and the bible, regardless of popular opinion or logic or rhyme and reason.

    I need to ponder some more, I'll be back...

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  2. I am a sporadic beard wearer. Unfortunately for you my beard is rich and luscious!

    I share Pop's interest in that particular line, and the what if the whole church stood up together. Unfortunately as much as I would love that, I think it's going to take a brave few to stand up first... I'm up for it... you guys?

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  3. @ Pop... it's a tough one... and trying to imagine how you might do it if you found yourself with a fresh start - on another planet, say - doesn't help... because then you're not 'coming away'... you're just 'away'... Or does it? Should we be thinking to be 'anti-' whatever it is that surrounds us... or is that also a way of paying it too much respect... shouldn't we just 'be'... whatever that looks like? And care less what the world thinks...

    @ Nick... I'm up for it... *gulp*... the problem that I see is that one person's vision won't necessarily be another's... which is why there's so much variety in the first place... and a big problem. So, I guess, my question is a bit - how do we get to that intensity of 'away-ness', whilst preserving the unity that God calls us to by really not caring particularly what it looks like...

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  4. @ Nick - what do you mean by "stand up first"?

    I know you don't mean being the first to grow a particularly 33AD style beard.

    Or the first to sport a bonnet.

    @ Mome - I don't think we should be anti what is around us, unless it's against God and His purposes.

    I'd love to just "be", if I knew how to.

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  5. I guess I mean letting these thoughts that we all express on the page seep into our lives and become real, with Jesus' help of course.

    It's one thing to articulate our thoughts, and promptings from God, another thing entirely to put them into practise!

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  6. I agree with you; except as I get older I get more and more unsure as to whether it's God prompting me, or whether it's just me going CRAZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY.

    My money is on both, I just don't know which is which most of the time.

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  7. @ Pop... if my experience is anything to go by, you get less likely to take so many chances as you get older... so it's probably God. :)

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  8. In that case, I'm selling the house and going by private jet to minister to the lost souls in the Maldives...

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  9. @ Pop... your house is worth enough to buy a private jet?

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