January 18, 2013
A cartoon with a point: If Jesus had a nightmare. . .
This cartoon by David Hayward, who blogs as “The Naked Pastor,” shows Jesus as a child waking up from a nightmare and describing it to his mother, Mary. It’s an example of the creative way Hayward presents spiritual insights that sometimes make you want to cry at the same time you are laughing, because his drawings are so incisive and can easily call forth an “Ouch”! If you’ve never visited The Naked Pastor website, you’re in for a treat when you do. Here is another example of his drawings, this one about the rigid mindset that is so often found among religious people (as well as others) who embrace dualistic thinking and fear questions. David Hayward left his professional paid clergy work after thirty years and now ministers in other ways. He started his blog in 2006 to use his drawings and writings to analyze religious attitudes and actions. He refers to himself as a “graffiti artist on the walls of religion.” The title of his website, Naked Pastor, comes from his desire to be transparent in his spiritual journey and continue searching for new ways to express his Christian faith and his desire for a religious community in which every person can be open and honest and feel free to be himself or herself without fear of judgment. In an interesting video posted on his website under “Talk,” as well as on YouTube, someone suggested that being a “naked pastor” could also mean a pastor who is without the formal structure of a church around him, and he says that’s a fitting description, too.
