A Wardrobe Full of Clothes...

The following was written by my current ministry partner, Nathan Bills, about an incident that took place in church on Sunday, March 12th.


We jump-start every Sunday worship service with a time of testimony, confession, sharing, and prayer. This period is an opportunity for the church to get honest with itself about the struggles, the victories, and the places where God’s hand is at work (or needs to be at work). I never know quite what to expect, but we often have church members bring a range of emotions—joy, grief, anxiety, thankfulness—peppered with supportive “hallelujahs” or “help’em Lords.” It frequently becomes something of a faith rally for many of our members who feel burdened and beat up by last week’s events. We aim to give each other encouragement and comfort, especially to those whose self-esteems have sustained deep wounds. Yet, it was during this period of time a few Sundays ago that I had to laugh at a church member who began to self denigrate herself.

“I can’t hang,” she said as she launch her self assault. She went on to narrate an embarrassing experience that teenage girls would deem a nightmare. She had decided, with another church member, to put on some new clothes (i.e., get fresh) and find a club in Memphis where the duo could hang out on a weekend night. Now, West Memphis has it share of clubs, but these two ladies, like two kids sneaking out of the house against parental consent, both reasoned that by going to Memphis they would remain in cognito, avoiding the potentially awkward situation of explaining their little Christian lights in a nightclub (all around the nightclub scene, I’m gonna let it shine!). They had no intentions of participating in questionable behavior while at the club. They just wanted to hang out. They merely had a hankering to hang out…like they used to every weekend years ago.

The daring escapade was a disaster. They discovered they could not “hang.” The two felt so out of place that they retreated to their car soon after they arrived. Before declaring defeat, they discussed attending a club in West Memphis, but they could not muster enough courage even to venture into the parking lot. So, in an act of surrender they raised their white flag and went to Waffle House. There they sat, two women decked out in their finest passing each other the syrup. Not exactly the hot spot in West Memphis!

After lamenting her experience to the congregation, we all laughed. I like laughing with church members who are no longer in vogue, no longer hip, in the words of our youth—“lame.” She ended her statement by praising God for changing her. It was not too long ago, she recalled, that she lived for that kind of excitement. However, God is doing his work in her life, and she has found her previous lifestyle to be unfulfilling, to be nothing compared to “hanging” with the Christ. She is being transformed, and her fleeting flirtation with her old ways just confirmed for her how “out of this world” her life has become. But this has created a new problem for these ladies: they now have “a wardrobe full of clothes and nowhere to go,” as they phrase it. I disagree…they have clothed themselves with Christ and are set foot on the narrow road that few find.