…and you show that you are a letter of Christ, prepared by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets that are human hearts.
–2 Corinthians 3:3
It’s the oldest-known written example of a passage from the Bible.
In 1979 archaeologists found two small silver scrolls, sized to be worn around the neck, like an amulet.
Inside the scrolls was the following prayer:
The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
This comes from the book of Numbers, chapter six. It’s called the Aaronic or Priestly blessing. I know it well, as during my days as a youth director, we ended each gathering by saying the words together.
I love that somebody was wearing this blessing. It reminds me of WWJD bracelets, or cross necklaces…
or Grace UMC shirts.
Three years ago, we developed a new logo at my church. We had a graphic designer create our flame logo, and we came up with a slogan.
Grace: Where Real Life Meets Real Love.
And then? We made shirts. Lots of shirts. A couple times a year we offer a “catalog” of sizes, styles, and colors. We even made a pride version of our logo.
Everyone owns one or more. I think I have six different shirts with our Grace logo on it. I still haven’t bought the pullover hoodie, but maybe this year.
Any marketing person will tell you that this is just good branding.
Did you notice? Both the jewelry and the shirts talk about grace. The Lord is gracious. The Lord offers real love for our real lives. That’s a sentiment worth wearing.
What hadn’t occurred to me, until this last week, is that wearing faith was part of ancient Judaism too. In the last few centuries before Christ, some Jews were wearing phylacteries, these tiny boxes affixed to the body, and inside were four core passages of Scripture from the Torah. They cover many of God’s blessings.
It is a good thing for believers to be adorned with grace. Sometimes, like with our shirts, it involves being a public reminder. Other times, like with phylacteries or jewelry, the message is more personal, to be carried wherever we go.
And sometimes, spiritual adornment is invisible. Think of the water of baptism, or the sign of the cross on the forehead.
In 2 Corinthians, Paul reminds us that God’s blessing goes deeper than written words or fancy logos. God writes directly on our hearts.
How do you wear your faith? I for one love our shirts, and I love to see people wearing them.
Even more, I love it when our collective actions are a sign pointing directly at the grace of God.
That, my friends,
is wearing your faith on your sleeve.
Have a great week,
Mitch
Leave a Reply