Nakedness.

About an hour ago, I took a shower. Before Hannah left, she’d asked me to pray for her. So while in the shower, I prayed for her. It only took about four seconds before my brain started wandering all over the place about why we ask for prayer, what we hope to get out of it, and then suddenly I stopped and thought “I am praying in the shower.”

Which was completely fine with me, because I tend to do that often but suddenly I realized that I was standing there without clothes on, trying to get the shampoo out of my hair without getting it in my eyes (I’ve never been good at that), and I was praying. I thought about how it could be weird to pray in the shower, all naked and stuff.

And suddenly it occurred to me that when I was in the shower, all naked and stuff, praying to the Lord, I felt a strong communion with him, because suddenly I stood before him how he created me. I started to think about what would happen if I began to spend meditative times with the Lord without clothes on. Praying on my knees, reading my Bible, writing in my journal… and I thought of how lovely that would be, to sit there and reject the knowledge of my nakedness deliberately when being with the Lord.

But of course, the risk would be that someone would walk in and violate that intimate moment. That the vulnerability of nakedness would come back quickly, because suddenly I would not be alone with my God, and I would be aware of my being unclothed.

Brandon Heath once sang this new song he wrote on some radio station, called Leaving Eden, talking about how we keep getting farther and farther away from Eden, from that state of perfection we were initially created to be in. and Phil Wickham has this beautiful song called Eden, about what Adam might have experienced on the other side of banishment. Listen to it.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN-BlKjqS7w]

When the first light brightened the dark
Before the breaking of the human heart
There was You and there was me
Innocence was all I knew
‘Cause all I had to know was You
We were running underneath the trees

I wanna see you face to face
Where being in your arms is the permanent state
I want it like it was back then
I wanna be in Eden

I remember how You’d call my name
And I would meet You at the garden gate
How the glory of Your love would shine
And I remember when the stars were young
You breathed life into my lungs
Oh I never felt so alive

I wanna see you face to face
Where being in your arms is the permanent state
I want it like it was back then
I wanna be in Eden

To be naked and unashamed
In a sweet down pour of innocent rain
I want it like it was back then
I wanna be in Eden

Where my eyes can see the colors of glory
My hands can reach the heaven before me
Oh, my God I wanna be there with You
Where our hearts will beat with joy together
And love will reign forever and ever
Oh my God I wanna be there with You

I wanna see you face to face
Where being in your arms is the permanent state
I want it like it was back then
I wanna be in Eden

To be naked and unashamed
In a sweet down pour of innocent rain
I want it like it was back then
I wanna be in Eden

…oh the things we gave up when we ate that stupid fruit. Sometimes I can taste it in my mouth.