Transparent Wall Clarity Enhancement Specialists for the Kingdom of God

Last weekend Megan and I went out with some close friends for a night in the city. We rode together with Richie and Nicole and stopped first in Manyunk. (Having heard so much about this artsy, vibey neighborhood outside of Philly, we had to see it for ourselves).

As we were walking the streets of Manyunk, Megan and Nicole wanted to check out something in one of the stores, so Richie and I, like all husbands experience from time to time, waited outside until they were finished. While waiting, we stopped and talked with Mark, a window washer, who was quickly but gracefully moving his squeegee up and down and around window panes. [It's a little known fact that Richie and I - no joke - if we didn't work in our respected fields of work we would probably make our living as window washers (we think its the cleanliness and the instant gratification of progress that would be so appealing). So you can imagine why Richie and I wanted to talk with Mark - and you can imagine why talking with him was so interesting.]

For about twenty minutes, Mark told us how long he's been washing windows, where he buys his supplies, the logistics of the business and other elements of being a window washer. It was evident that Mark takes great pride in his work - as he should. He even let me use his squeegee on a pole to wipe down one of the storefront windows, which I didn't do a very good job...I left a lot of streaks and was extremely slow. (How do I know? Mark told me).

As we thanked him for his time and said goodbye, he gave us his business card. One of the best-worded business card I've ever seen. It read:

Mark Snyder
Transparent Wall Clarity Enhancement Specialist 
"Bringing You a Brighter Outlook and a Clearer Perspective"

We couldn't get over his job title: Transparent Wall Clarity Enhancement Specialist!
Great title!

Richie and I talked that night about our role as followers of Jesus is to do what Mark does. All day long Mark cleans windows to allow people to see out - or see in - with "a clearer perspective." We just finished a series at resonate called They Like Jesus But Don't Like the Church (based on the Dan Kimball book) and we talked in detail about how our job is to present Christ clearly in our lives and the world in which we live. We are called to be vessels of hope ("a brighter outlook") and provide a clear understanding of Jesus ("a clearer perspective"). Unfortunately and ironically, as Christians we can sometimes cloud people's perspective and often block their view of seeing Jesus clearly.

Imagine if took our role as spiritual window washers as seriously as Mark does.
What difference that would make on our culture if we were constantly washing off dirt, wiping out streaks and carefully rubbing away residue so that people could get a clear picture of the life of Jesus and the invitation of a life of meaning and purpose that he offers.

When we claim to be a follower of Jesus our job title becomes: Transparent Wall Clarity Enhancement Specialist for the Kingdom of God.

Comments

[Woody]

Great story and great challenge to us all, I love the picture it paints. Thanks man you have really spoken to my heart today!

[Joshua]

That's what I miss about working outside the church...you're around those people all the time. It takes intentionality working in the church to go out and meet, but when you do it's life giving.

You touched a bit at the end on living out the gospel. I love the imagery of cleaning up the dirt around us to bring out beauty. For me that's largely of what faith in Jesus is...a restoration to the original and inate beauty as we are God's created ones. That's what the mission is: To bring out the beauty in people they don't even know is there, and to help them see it is the fingerprint of God in them.

[David Johnson]

Interesting musings.

I was noticing some of the books you're reading right now and some of those you hope to read. I'm in the middle of N.T. Wright's "Simply Christian" right now. One of the blurbs on the jacket says that "we have no better interpreter of the Christian faith than Tom Wright." Based on what I've read so far, I think that that is a fair assessment. "Simply Christian" is amazing.