The Dignity of a Haircut
Is a free haircut worth the effort?
Guest at Compassion Yakima
I'm reading a book right now...."Radical: Taking Back Our Faith from the American Dream." It had me really disgruntled this evening as I read. In one way or another it heavily attacked any sort of gospel proclamation that didn't verbally convey God's word and didn't include the balance of God as Father and God as wrathful hater of wrongdoers.
I know what I've been taught....believe it or not I paid attention--it was expensive. But I wrestle with what I see, hear, and feel. I know that sounds awfully like the path toward pluralism or relativism. But honestly--can't a man have doubts?
I have doubts that providing free haircuts has no implications on the inner heart of a human being.
I have doubts that the gospel can only be communicated verbally.
I have doubts that by listening and opening the door to uncommon dignity that I'm somehow ignoring Christ's call to go and make disciples.
They are doubts...I could be wrong...and I'm willing to admit that. But it feels good to hope for some grayness in a man-made world of black and white.
So is a free haircut worth the effort? At the Compassion Clinic events are we, as someone said to me once, "only pulling the weed and neglecting the root."?
What if that very paradigm is backwards? By measuring the value of an action based upon its ability to "convert the roots" assumes that there is no need for transformation in my own heart. What if the venue through which we serve, whether it be haircuts, pulling a tooth, or sharing a meal allows our heart to be more submitted to the Lord. Imagine for a moment the witnessing power of a submitted heart. A transformed life beckons to a broken person/world that the Savior is calling.
Of course the haircut is important to the person recieving it. Maybe it has little to do with their spiritual standing, aside from the humility it took to admit the need. But what if in the end the act of serving gives you the opportunity to cross the line and trust in Him. That God would give you the love to serve....which is radically eating away at your calloused heart....which in turn often times speaks silent volumes of Christ's profound love.
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