He was a tall, skinny kid with long blond hair that he let fall as wind and the casual toss of his head directed. He had come to the church office several times asking for food. Each time he came, a new embellishment had been added to his already impressive display of body jewelry. A ring of silver at the top of his ear. A stud on the side of his nose. Despite my personal lack of appreciation for such accoutrements, I saw a young man who needed help. I put him to work doing odd jobs around the church. After he finished one of his tasks I asked him what he saw in his future. He responded by saying that right now he just wanted to make some money. I asked him what he intended to do with what he earned. His response was immediate and sure: "I want to buy a new nose ring."

I've thought about the conversation during the twenty years since it took place. This kid saw the wave of the future and wanted to be on the crest. At one time, such displays were limited, for the most part, to sailors and motorcycle gang members. People paid money in the sideshow to gawk at the tattooed woman. Not so today. Body piercing and tattoos are an accepted part of American culture. Multimillionaire sports and media stars of both sexes cover all displayable skin (and some that is not) with tattoo "art." All manner of rings, posts, bars and other paraphernalia are placed/dangled/embedded/hooked in obvious and secret body parts. Adventist churches and campuses across America are not exempt. Airport alarm systems must go crazy when the mobile gallery goes through security. I am not aware that an Adventist church has installed metal detectors, although some might count them a welcome sacerdotal addition. Keep the saints pure, at least an hour a week, if only it were that simple!

For the record, I do not hold the notion that those who pierce, bedeck or attach things to their bodies violate a moral code. I may look with wonder at those who strut their stuff, which, to some degree, meets the purpose for "body art."

I often ask myself why people mutilate themselves. What need is satisfied by the display? Those who study human behavior have offered several suggestions. Historian Joan Brumberg calls the traveling gallery "'body projects' that turn the body itself into a canvas to be painted with one's identity, a page to be inscribed with bodily experience."

Professor Stephanie Paulsell, a teacher at Harvard Divinity School, wrote, "If we are to honor our bodies, it is important to pay attention to how adornment frees or constrains us. What is constraining for one person can be freeing for another. Whereas tattooing may seem a violation of one's freedom not to be wounded and permanently marked for one person, it might be a gesture of freedom for another." ("Body language," Christian Century, January 16-23, 2002, p. 21).

There are, however, impelling factors, apart from aesthetics and moral concerns, that body artists might well consider before breaking any skin surface to insert foreign objects: infection, transmittable disease, tongue studs that break teeth, and piercing, which can cause permanent deformity. Despite the risk, people want to make their mark, and that mark may be on or within their own body.

Jesus said, "Is not life more important than food and the body more important than clothes?" (Matt. 6:25). A person is more than the accumulation of her/his body accoutrements and markings.

The individual who seeks differentiation through adornment is as precious in God's eyes as the Puritan who eschews buttons and bows and is convinced that those who adorn themselves with silver or gold will one day be sent by their Maker to inhabit the lower regions.

We in the church possess no mandate from the Lord to winnow out those who follow a standard other than one we may value. Bible texts traditionally quoted to support an anti-adornment position (James 5:3; 1 Peter 3:3 and others) direct the exegete toward other conclusions than eschewing adornment!

Be gentle, is my plea. Be gentle with the woman or man who practices an adornment ritual different from the one we value. It is my hope that our sight not stop at the things displayed, but rather that we may by God's grace see and value the soul within.