Clothed With Power

The Gospel lesson for today describes the Ascension. On Friday, we dressed up to attend the Scholarship Dinner so I guess clothing was a little bit on the brain still as I was reading the Gospel lesson last evening at St. Augustine's. Our culture puts a great deal of emphasis on clothing. Walk through any mall and you quickly lose track of the number of clothing stores. New trends are always starting. (And yes, sometimes the new trends are actually old trends that went by the wayside but found a way back.)

Clothing is also an important feature of the Gospel reading. According to Luke 24:49, "I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high."

A few months ago, Jenn and I were out and about and Jenn saw this purple and white checkered shirt that she thought would be a good fit for me. It might sound goofy, but this shirt offers a sense of power - a sense of being cloaked in love. On a recent trip, I specifically packed the shirt so that I could wear a reminder of Jenn and her love. The cool thing is that this shirt has resulted in many positive comments. But the best part is that I get to say, "Jenn picked it out."

This is certainly a material example, but in some ways it starts to address this idea of being clothed with power.

Being clothed with power requires some form of outward expression of an inward transformation. As an outward expression, it is visible to others. Some will accept and encourage the outward expression. Others will reject it. Either way, though, we are able to wear the expression with confident power because of the unconditional love freely given to us.