Apparently, it is fashionable for certain Christians, especially enthusiastic, newly-minted mainline clergy to describe themselves as “misfits.” I gather from context that this vaguely self-congratulatory adjective is meant to suggest superior creativity and above-average ability to identify and heal the injustices and sinfulness afflicting our world. Unfortunately, it never fails to conjure in my mind images of “Charlie-in-the-box,” square-wheeled locomotives, and the other inmates of the “Island of Misfit Toys.” More seriously, I assume that those using the term “misfit” intend to be speaking in the tradition of the “Letter to Diognetus” (Second century): “For Christians are not differentiated from other people by country, language or customs; you see, they do not live in cities of their own, or speak some strange dialect, or have some peculiar lifestyle…They live in both Greek and foreign cities, wherever chance has put them. They follow local customs in clothing, food, and the other aspects of life. But at the same time, they demonstrate to us the wonderful and certainly unusual form of their own citizenship. They live in their own native lands, but as aliens; as citizens they share all things with others; but like aliens, suffer all things. Every foreign country is to them as their native country, and every native land as a foreign country. They marry and have children just like everyone else; but they do not kill unwanted babies. They offer a shared table, but not a shared bed. They are at present ‘in the flesh’ but they do not live ‘according to the flesh’. They are passing their days on earth, but are citizens of heaven. They obey the appointed laws, and go beyond the laws in their own lives.” What is lacking in our contemporary appellation “misfits” is the explicit reference to the Kingdom of God. We Christians are not misfits because we are socially inept or suffering from mental illness. We are not misfits because of our superior wisdom and abilities. We are out of step with the world because we are conformed to the ways of God’s Kingdom. We need less shorthand at this juncture in history and more careful and explicit proclamation of what it means to live in and through our Lord Jesus Christ, he in whom all things cohere. (Colossians 1:17)
Posted on: Sun, 25 May 2014 00:28:46 +0000
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