Uniforms are obviously discussed a lot, what to wear, when to wear it. Going caroling there have been a bit of confusion about the storm jackets that prompted this cartoon.
Please do leave a comment if you enjoyed it (or if you didn’t)
On uniforms
Wednesday, December 5th, 2007Be separate!
Saturday, August 11th, 2007As a clarion call throughout space and time 2 Cor 6:17 challenges us to be different, to be separate. The more I try to shake the verse out of my mind the harder my mind is held captive by this simple statement that simply turns my life upside down….
Step out from the ranks of the world and be different. Don’t go with the flow! Be set apart, be holy! As Salvationists this is the bread and butter of our calling this is what it is all about. And yet I read forums, blogs and other media debating how we should just relax and be like everyone else.
Social drinking.
As my friends sit around the table and laugh at a joke that no matter how many times i run it by my clear mind is not funny nor will it ever be, I am astounded by the fact that some of these people simply would not get along or even socialze if it where not for the drink in their hand.
Not only do we say no to alcohol as Salvationists but we say no to the entire drinking culture. It is not PC and it is not normal but it is taking a stand against alcohol which is one of the socially accepted drugs that wreak most havoc in society and in family life.
We step out, we set ourselves apart and say NO! We are not going to be like everyone else, we will stand here and be light, be salt, be different for the sake of all of those who can’t and for all of those who couldn’t and fell prey to the destructive forces behind the alcohol culture.
Fashion.
As I walk down the streets of Riga I see young women and to some extent men who would rather spend their hard earned money on the latest fashion than a months worth of healthy food. Slaves under the whims of an industry that cares little for the victims it grinds down in its wake.
We step out and put on the Salvation Army uniform. It may not be as modern and fashionable as everyone would like. It won’t let anyone stand out as an individual we all look alike, faceless in a time where ego is celebrated.
Capitalism.
Money makes the world go round. Round and round it spins faster and faster as we get caught in a web of mut haves and can’t live withouts.
We choose to live with a less than average salary so that more hungry mouths can be fed so that more homeless people can be sheltered. The money we make is not ours but belong to God, in His kindness he lets us be stewards.
Tolerance.
In a world where it is almost a capitol offence to claim to know the truth and imply that someone else might be wrong. We step out and speak the truth!
We are called to be a salt and a light to the earth, to be different, to be holy to be separate!
Thoughts on loyalty
Thursday, June 7th, 2007In our small group yesterday we watched Swing kids to provoke our thoughts on what loyalty is and what it means. The movie is about a group of teenagers who like swing music at the rise of Hitlers reign in germany. And the teenagers have to choose between going with the mainstream and becoming hitler jugend or staying rebels with risk of persecution. They also had to choose between politically correct and family.
As such it is a great movie but it takes the concept of loyalty one step further. Do you stay loyal in your heart and pretend to be part of the world or do you wear your loyalty proudly and shout it from the rooftops?
What kind of Christians are we? Are we the kind of Christians who in the face of possible persecution will wear our colors and shout out our allegience to God like Daniel and his friends in Babylon, like the disciples of Jesus after pentecost or are we scared and powerless in hiding?
I for one will proudly wear my uniform, shout out on the streets that Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords! And I pray that I will not only be loyal to my Faith but I will proudly display my allegience to God in the face of anything and anyone!
Reports from IMG-5
Saturday, May 5th, 2007
So time for my second īsta Mīlestība Gaida (True Love Waits) conference here in Latvia, this time invited as a keynote speaker, talking on the 10 myths of Love.
Preparing for this event has been a pain because no matter how much time I spent praying I could not feel peace over my presentation. It was like I couldn’t hear what God wanted me to talk about. I prepared a flashy presentation in OpenOffice.org but wasn’t really sure about the message.
Trying to just relax and think about something else I cut of the epaulettes of my uniform (I had the Swedish silly R n D version of the uniform) and sowed on the new ones that we need for college.
When I arrive at IMG-5 I was encouraged by the youth all in uniforms and all prayed up, they proceeded to pray for me, my translator and the guy who was going to run the powerpoint. But God had still not spoken.
The worship was very good but wasn’t in the flow they did surprise me by playing Personal Jesus by Depeche Mod a point missed by most of the crowd who where just to young to know the song or the band. Oh my, I am getting old.
As I started to speak I was struggling to get the message straight. The translator, well, she wasn’t bad but I think she was intimidated by the size of the crowd, by me and by the microphone because she spoke to silently and with a level tone. After I had preached for 25 – 30 minutes, as I was in the closing of the sermon I read Gal 5:22-23 the spirit of God came heavily on me and it was clear that it was this God wanted to say.
The fruit of the Spirit is Love, Love is joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulnes, goodness and self control. The message that True Love brings self control is a message worthy of celebration. Self control, the control of self. If we sow the spirit of God into our life we reap Love and Love will in the end give us self control that is ultimate control over our lives. To do what we where meant to do, go where we where meant to go, become what we where meant to become.
I am sure I will come back to this topic later. The end of the meeting was spirit filled and powerful, the praiseband got deep into the flow and guided us on to meet with God. All in all I thing IMG-5 got of to a great start and it will be a huge success!
Salvationism revisited
Thursday, April 5th, 2007
Sister Eleanor at the Evening Beaches Blog picked up on the conversation I had wit Graeme on which he blogged over at UK Salvationist. At the same time the discussion about uniform is yet again adressed over at Blod & Eld1. It all comes together in a discussion about our Salvation Army identity.
Here is my reply to the comment on the fact that more uniform wearing will not save anyone. (Translated from Swedish)
The Salvation Army is a Christian subculture, The Pentacostal movement already exists, we do not need to be like them, {{We are The Salvation Army and only by being The Salvation Army will we see people saved.}} This is the mandate we have been given by God!
By trying to become like other denominations we will die, or just become that other denomination, but we will not be The Salvation Army and we will not have the mandate to do what The Salvation Army was raised by God to do.
The real question is not the uniform, but the real question is rather, Did God raise up The Salvation Army and does The Salvation Army still have a right to exist today and in the future?
I say Yes! God raised up The Salvation Army to do a job and God gave us a unique way to do it! Part of our uniqueness is the soldiership, the uniform, the mercy seats, the military metaphor it is what makes us who we are. It doesn’t make us specia, but it does make us The Salvation Army.
Sister Eleanor I will join the party I will celebrate God and His calling to The Salvation Army by being a Salvationist without abandon, I will join you!
- The Swedish Salvation Army Youth web community [↩]
Calebs cadre on the move!
Monday, March 26th, 2007
So yesterday it happened the finale of our soldiers courses. nine soldiers where enrolled and two adherents where welcomed into the Riga one fellowship. It was a glorious day!
The service was fantastic, the worship was heavy with the spirit of God and His presence could be felt in every note of worship coming from the plattform rolling over the expectant crowd like waves of heavenly grace.
The actual enrollment ceremony carried a sacred atmosphere and I bet the angels up in heaven crept closer to get a front row seat to this holy event. Articles of war was signed on paper but covenants was sealed in heaven with the stuff that souls and hearts are made of.
After the ceremony Hanna preached an intimate and heartfelt message about changing the atmosphere. God changes the atmosphere by His very being and we need to change the atmosphere around us by bringing the presence of God to wherever we are. The truth of the words where evident in the transformed atmosphere of the meeting hall. After the service we all went to Chili piča to celebrate and it was encouraging to see that most of them opted to stay in uniform for the outing as a witness of the covenant they had made in the morning. And they all looked so good!
It was a great day all in all and one that was the culmination of many months of preparation and prayer.
Since the start of winter we have been running a soldiers class with all the leaders of the youth leaders of Riga on, taking a leaf from the Salvation Army international I decided to have a name for the soldiers course, Calebs cadre. Caleb is one of my favorite heroes. When he ventured into the promised land and saw the giants he exclaimed, They are like bread to us! When he 40 years later (being over eighty years old at the time) was allowed to cherry pick his own place to settle in the promised land he said, I am as strong today as I was 40 years ago give me this mountain (the mountain being the mountain of the giants). Displaying not only a remarkable vigour for an eighty year old man but what we in the Schola would call a strong lion!
I pray that these soldiers will advance with the same sense of pioneer spirit and courage. I pray that they will keep marching until their legs won’t cary them any more and they will be promoted to glory straight from the battle field, in the midst of an ongoing attack, to a well deserved reward in heaven.
VIVAT!
The non uniform-uniformity
Thursday, February 22nd, 2007In reply to my article yesterday Emanuel Karlsten, High profile Youth leader in the Swedish Salvation army wrote this reply (I appologize to those of you who do not speak English). In short he says that he would not wear the uniform as it looks today (on account of todays uniform looking geeky) but would wear it if he like the founder (William Booth) could make it personal.
While I whole heartedly agree with emanuel that the uniform desperately nees to be updated to reflect modern times as William Booth did and I also agree with the fact that we today wear a parade or office uniform instead of a field uniform fit for battle.
But to go so far as to personalize the uniform, reshape and recolor it, I believe is missing the point. If we personalize the uniform or make the “field uniform” into any piece of clothing with the shield on it (which is the direction many territories are taking) Then we do not have a uniform but brand clothing, which in itself is not a bad thing, it puts our brandname and our logo “Out there”, it advertises the existance of the Salvation Army and it makes it “easy” to wear the SA clothing in a very non intrusive way.
{{The formal uniform is more like a fist in the eye. It states boldly and clearly that we are here on official buissness as ambassadors of Christ}} ( 2 Cor 5:20 ) and that we mean buissnes. The SA T-shirt with the shield comes in any color and or shape and therefore is no longer a uniform. We don’t look the same anymore. When a group of soldiers walk down the street it will not catch your eye, it will not make you ask yourself, what is this? It’s merely a bunch of people wearing the same brand (of some thrift store or the other).
Being unique and personal however is an important part of being a Christian, so the real dilemma is to find a way to express that and not break the uniformity. In the Guardian Angels we solved this by letting everyone put pins on the beret. Some volonteers wore a plain beret, some only thecrest of the Angels but some berets where literal works of art, with pins, brooches, patches and other adornments expressing the individuality of the uniformed Angel. We also had the choice of different BDU (battle dress uniform) trousers, some wore the plain black that where recomended while some others wore city camoflage or some other flavors of the BDU trousers.
Still walking down the street, there was no question that this was a uniform patrol of Guardian Angels. The red beret, the white T-shirt with the red crest, the red bomber jacket with the white crest, tied all the expressions of personality into a uniform whole.
I believe that the Salvation Army can change the uniform to make people like Emanuel feel individual and still make people like me feel that we are uniform. Without loosing the military metaphor or the fist in your eye bold statement of Faith as we stride down the street ready to win the world for Jesus!
I’d die for my colors!
Thursday, May 25th, 2006This was the cry of a young hispanic male in the movie “blood in blood out” making a grim portrait about gang life in LA. It is interesting to note that these young gangbangers are willing to do anything to defend the honor of their colors (wich is a gang tatoo, and a bandana of various colors depending on the gang). While we as Christians sometimes seem ashamed of even telling others that we belong to a church.
The gang culture offers a familly for kids coming from broken homes, protection for kids who are bullied, identity for kids who are lost, and confidence for kids who lack. And the symbol of all this that they cling to is their colors, the small piece of clothing or the tatoo that proves that they are indeed part of a bigger picture, that they matter to someone!
When we in our middle class corpse discuss the SA uniform it seems we are forgetting whom we are called to reach. The fatherless and the lost the ones lost without identity and self respect. These teenagers need the outward sign of the inward conviction, they need to be recognized by others as members of something larger, something better, something worth dying for and perhaps in most cases something worth living for!’
The Guardian Angel uniform (Se previous post) spoke to young people who would have joined a gang, instead they joined ours. A gang that would give them positive skills, like defusing anger, mediating conflict, self respect and self control. Are we not called as the SA to reach these young people are we not required to use every trick of the book and every tool we have to appeal to them?
The uniform will give them the mark of approval, the outward sign of their inner conviction, the identity of belonging to an army that will change the world. It will be a constant reminder that every day they are part of a bigger picture, they belong to a familly, someone cares what happens to them. It will be something to die for, Something to live for!
To dress or not to dress, is the uniform important?
Wednesday, May 24th, 2006So today we had a visit from our TC, Hasse Kjellgren. One of the topics that was discussed was uniform, some people got agitated because they like the uniform and some got angry because the uniform should not be a big deal and therefore, a waste of time to discuss.
The argument for the uniform is usually that it gives us visibility and therefore is a tool by wich we can reach the lost. The argument against is usually, it’s old fashioned it turns people away (especially young people).
I have a special relationship with uniforms that was fashioned during a decade of everyday uniform wearing. The guardian angel uniform (a red beret, white T-shirt or hood with logo on and BDU trousers black or camoflage) is a firld uniform and not a parade uniform like the formal uniform of the salvation army, but contrary to the field uniform issued in for example sweden and england, wich comes in many different models and colors it was a uniform uniform.
When I saw the first article i the local newspaper I thought, wow they are cool, I wan’t to look like that. I immediately applied and started the hard physical and mental training to become a Guardian Angel – Safety Patrol member or “safety” as it was called for short. The training was hard no compromise was allowed, if you even looked like you broke the rules (No weapons, no alcohol in uniform, no rasism, no violence, disobeying orders or disrespecting members, leaders or anybody at all in uniform) you where out the door. After two months of hard training that would make navy boot camp seem soft, some where given RTP status. Ready to patrol what a lovely day that was first time we got to don the beret. It was not full membership we had to wear a modified version of the “colors” (the uniform) where the words “Safety patrol” where replaced with the words “I Support”. It was surreal I was walking down the street a vortex of feelings, fear, mixed with pride, self conciousnes and many others. Everybody gawked at us as we walked down the streets, conversations died out, heads turned.
I remember our trainer saying today you will put on the uniform of the Guardian Angels, In these uniforms people have died to defend the weak and defenseless, today you will get the respect due to all the work the Angels have done all over the world, maybe one day you will deserve it.
I remember putting on the uniform with reverence (looking at pictures from back then I know I looked like an idiot, it took me at least 5 years before the uniform looked good on me, as I had become the man the uniform said I was). I saw how the body language and mindsets of my friends changed when they put the uniform on. Bullies became compassionate, scared geeks became full of confidence and strength. The uniform was more than clothes it was the symbol for justice and non violence, a symbol for all the blood sweat and tears of our training, a symbol for a better world than the one we lived in and it gave us courage and super powers. In this uniform I have seen a 16 year old girl half my height stop a hells angel dead in his tracks with a command. I have seen how teenagers have run in and covered victims of assault with their own bodies. I have seen feats of strength and courage I never thought possible, all this just because of a uniform and an ideal. Not by Faith since there is surprisingly few Christians in the Guardian Angels.
What the uniform gave these young people was identity. Identity and respect that they could never have gotten on their own. And when you are treated with respect you grow up to be respectable.
The uniform is so much more than visibility, it is so much more than just clothes. It is a very powerful tool, a tool that affirms that we are soldiers in a battle, that we belong together and that we belong to God. Every time I put my uniform on it is a profetic act, an act wher I say YES to God, I say here I am send me, use me! We need a uniform that fills all these purposes, one that is practical in battle on the streets, one that will make young people say wow, I want to look like them. But also one that will make people turn their heads when we walk down the street, and one that will remind us of the war, the casualities but most importantly the captain of the host, our saviour Jesus Christ, who made the ultimate sacrifice to secure our victory!
