Red is White: Faithful & Stylish

If you have the pleasure of owning a Red is White t-shirt, you may have wondered- as I surely did when it arrived in the mail- “Why in the Sam Hill is there a rooster on my shirt?” It took some investigating, but I believe I have gotten to the root of the matter!

Let me say first that one of the things I like most about RiW, is that it is a place which encourages honest, faith-based, inspirational, (and maybe even controversial), creativity. I used to get mad when I saw Christian-themed t-shirts that could do no better than rip off some kind of pop-cultural logo and replace it with a Christian message. Like a Pepsi logo that says “Jesus” in the same script that “Pepsi” is supposed to be written in. It looks like a Pepsi shirt, but it really says “Jesus.” Wow.

“Is that the best we can do?” I’d ask myself. “Our God created the universe and all of the glory and splendor within it, and the highest level of creativity we can reach is to steal from a Pepsi logo? You gotta be kiddin’ me!” On the other hand, I am constantly in awe at the amazing skills of those who submit designs to RiW. My thought has always been that Christian creativity should be on the cutting edge of everything artistic and creative. And I believe that I see that in many of the designs that are submitted each week. The designs I like the best are those whose message is not immediately clear. I like the designs that spark conversations, that cause people to question, “Hey, what does that mean?” or to realize, “Hey, I never thought of (fill-in-the-blank) that way before.”

All of this leads- in my possibly crazy mind- back to the rooster. The rooster was chosen by the founders/creators of RiW as a mascot (so-to-speak) because of its highly symbolic nature. What does it represent? Well even here, there is not one clear-cut answer. But I think that is a part of the beauty of it all. Here are a couple of interpretations.

To me, the rooster’s biggest Biblical role took place in the garden where Peter, as predicted by Jesus, denied him three times. This was possibly the absolutely worst moment of Peter’s life. I cannot imagine being in his shoes (or sandals) at this moment, as he must have felt like he just completely let Jesus down in the worst possible way. Wait a minute; maybe I can relate to Peter here. Let me check…yep. Yes, I have felt that way before! I have felt that I have let Jesus/God down in many ways, and in many times before.

But the questions remain, why did Jesus a) allow this to happen, and b) predict it by telling Peter that he was basically going to fail and that there was nothing he could do about it? The rooster here, in my opinion, represents the front part of a promise. That promise is called redemption. Did Jesus disown Peter after the apostle’s decree that he did not know the man? The answer is no. And in fact, Jesus went so far as to forgive Peter, and set him as “The Rock” of the very church that we know today as Christianity. I believe that the rooster represents Christ’s knowledge that we will fail Him, but also, that He will welcome us back with complete forgiveness for any and all of our trespasses.

Furthermore, the rooster’s crow can represent an arousal of Peter’s conscience. The crow was the backbreaking awareness that Peter had failed, and needed God’s love, forgiveness, and correction. I actually think it would be kind of nice to have this kind of alarm built in to my personal life, so that my failures would be more obvious, sooner. That way, I could go about my life without the pretentious attitude that I am basically as holy as anybody else out there, and that my farts do not stink at all.

Lastly, when do roosters crow? Typically, at the dawn. And there is countless symbolic meaning when it comes to dawn. It is the start of a new day. It can represent hope. It can represent a fresh start for us all. All things that point to Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection.

So there. Possibly a longer explanation than you wanted, but the beauty of it is that there yet so much more that could be said!