'Salt, Light and Hoodies' by Brian Garrod

Sunday 24 March 2013

I’ve started wearing hoodies. It’s probably my age. It must be either that I am trying to recapture my youth by ‘getting down with the kids’ or that I now need clothes that are good and roomy to accommodate my expanding waistline. There are two hoodies in my vast wardrobe: a black one that says ‘I believe’ and a dark blue one that says ‘Joio Byw’ (Enjoy Life). Each of these is statement I want to make to the world. People are supposed to come up to me and say “so what is it you believe?” when I wear the black one or “Wyt ti’n joio byw?” (Do you enjoy life?) when I’m in the dark blue. Actually it’s more often “What the Dickens does that mean – is it Welsh?” but at least it’s an ice breaker. So guess which one works the best? I have had no end of people coming up to me asking about the ‘Joio Byw’ hoodie but absolutely no one asking about the ‘I Believe’ one. It’s a bit of a puzzler but I think I’ve worked out why. I’ve come to the conclusion that ‘I Believe’ is just too threatening. Anyone with an ounce of sense knows not to mention it. The hoodie just says “Beware of the God botherer … do not allow yourself to get to drawn into meaningful conversation by mentioning it”. And this is the lesson I’ve learned. Jesus calls us to be salt and light in this world (Matt 5: 13-16) but sometimes we can be too salty or too bright. As a result, we end up missing opportunities to proclaim Christ because the world is too canny to let us do it. Someone who eats food that is too salty will simply spit it out! When you shine a light in someone’s face they will try to shield their eyes with their hand. So perhaps the better strategy is to take it gently. As Saint Paul said “I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22b). So from now on I will wear the ‘Joio Byw’ hoodie during the week and save ‘I Believe’ for Sundays. Then, when people see my hoodie and ask me “Do you enjoy life?”, I will say “Yes, I do … and I’ll tell you why … it’s because I have a friend in Jesus …” And I do. And what a friend he is!