I'm in Australia with my wife this week without kids. We've come with some friends and I have just discovered what holidays are supposed to be like - we finally get to do what our wives want to do without interruption from children. It's much less stressful.
While the girls went on what felt like a three year shopping expedition, I managed to find the only useful shop for men. It sold books with pictures. I picked up the first one that caught my attention, "Things that you can do while you are naked". I had no idea. I thought nakedness was the sole domain of bedrooms and bathrooms for the purposes of sleeping, changing and washing. Places like the kitchen, study, garage and lounge had never featured in my mind as being areas to live as God originally intended.
The book has fixed itself in my mind for some time now. Why shouldn't I wash the dishes, fix the car, sort out my tax or even write sermons for church, naked? I suppose it's because the weather is chilly. However the real reason is that I can imagine being caught. But why worry? Well, I know that if I caught someone else doing these things without clothes, words like "pervert" and phrases like "sexual deviant" come immediately to mind.
If you don't believe me, try it. I can guarantee that if someone knocks at your door, opening it won't be your first thought.
It's all a bit sad really. The Bible states that we were intended to be naked (fortunately creation didn't take place in Dunedin) and hang out, male and female, without shame. After flipping through the "Naked Book" I began to wonder what shame is all about? I'm pretty sure Adam & Eve suffered a bit of hormonal intoxication, but that doesn't seem to be the source of shame.
Whether we like it or not, we've managed to make a mess of the best things about being Human. Love, intimacy, human form and mutual pleasure have been degraded into means for personal power and fulfilment. The shame we often experience is not that we have necessrilly done something wrong, but rather that we are driven to lust for personal pleasure at the expense of someone else. Certain actions that are benign in themselves (like nakedness) remind us how fragile or moral state is. We don't like abusing others and we don't want to tempt others to do the same, so we cover up.
Yet nakedness comes in many forms. We can feel naked when we've made a public mistake. Some people feel naked from overbearing insecurity. We just don't want to be abused. And rightly so. God intended that we can be who we are without shame. It seems that there are many places where we can feel naked and it has little to do with clothes.
The Apostle Paul said, we are God's workmanship created for good...peace...and harmony with ourselves, others and God. It's like being naked or exposed and not being ashamed. Imagine what your life would be like? So many new things to do.
Digby Wilkinson