Naked Spirituality - a pre-response to Brian McLaren

When I wrote this I had just bought Brian McLaren's book with that title and thought I would write in response to the title before reading it.

Naked before God, like St Francis.

Stripped of burdens, but also of shields.

A life without iphone - how can that be!

No piano, guitar, or desk or pen,

but still with my mind, my voice, my me.

Does that give me the right to be here at all?

So let's go further: increase the pain –

no job, no degrees, no role in life.

Who's left? A puzzled man, and scared,

but still loved by family, friends and wife.

Does that give me the right to be here at all?

And I think I can see where this road will end,

the road of Job, an earthly hell.

A man without contacts, health or home –

am I still me? Do I have a soul?

What gives me the right to be here at all?

And now, standing naked, alone, bereft,

my identity gone, my being unfurled –

only now do I see how utterly much

my faith was wrapped up in the things of this world.

What makes me think I am here at all?

And now, can I muster the courage to be?

Is ‘God’s child’ an empty phrase in my mind?

Yet one flash of hope breaks as now I see

that God too stands naked, and undefined –

freed from my cleverness, culture and creeds,

is the future the greatest adventure of all?