John Wesley once said that Christians are a “peculiar people”. Some of us are more peculiar than others! From our inception as God’s People traveling through the Sinai wilderness, the folks who follow The Lord are advertized as marching to a different drummer, living an alternative life-style. What ethic separates us from the Rest of the World? What understanding creates a set-aside from the prevailing common sense? This week’s Holy Readings remind us during Lent of Why We Act So Strange.
We begin in the Twentieth Chapter of Exodus, the Ten Commandments, controversial four thousand years ago as they are today. With only a passing nod to Hollywood, we skip the logistics of an extended mountain survival and the lack of written language to get to the meat of the message: this is how we understand our God and God’s people to act. Four of the Commandments explore how God deals with the People; the remaining six deal with how the People deal with themselves/the “neighbor”. The bottom line is the development of Respect and Loving Concern within the faith-community in order to survive and prosper. This is really unique in a me-first, grab-what-you-can culture!
St. Paul pulls no punches in his first Letter to the Church at Corinth. “For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1:18) He continues to say that our worship and discipleship of the crucified Christ is “a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks (Gentiles), Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” Community members who attempt to live in the ethic of self-giving and sublimation to the Greater Good will indeed be considered Strange by those who haven’t yet caught the Divine Vision.
The Gospel is John’s account of Jesus driving the purveyors of commerce from the Jerusalem Temple (2:13-22). John places it near the beginning of the narrative to announce that from henceforthThe Lord is taking a violent stand against business-as-usual, is publicly adopting an alternative core value which contrasts to the prevailing ho-hum attitude. Is this the same teacher who later allowed healing and eating on the Sabbath? The bottom line here is: How secular can the Church afford to be without losing itself?? My generation of clergy has embraced the mission of giving the Church visibility within the MarketPlace: have we gone too far? Have we diluted Holiness?
No doubt about it, we ARE a peculiar people! An ancient saint named Mathetes noted that we live within a greater culture, and yet “display [our] wonderful and confessedly striking method of life….They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives….they are poor, yet make many rich; they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all…” (from “Epistle to Diogenetus”) What is the central ethic driving our daily attitude and behavior? May Lent be rich with new and expanded awareness! They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love…..
God Bless Us, Every One Horace Brown King
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