Introduction to Worship for 9/3/2017

Misfits:

As we come to the close of our journey through the Dark Wood, we are considering one final gift. Eric Elnes calls this the gift of “Misfits,” and by that he means two things. The first is the experience each of us sometimes has of being a misfit in our cultural context or our community, when it seems that who we are and what we want is at odds with the world around us. And the second is the gift of others who are also misfits, who guide and challenge us along the way as we strive to find our place and our purpose in God’s commonwealth together. He names this second category of misfits as “mentors”, and invites us to identify and to keep regular contact with those who can mentor us toward living fully in the gospel, and keep us from becoming too comfortable on the wrong paths.

Psalm 137: 1–6

The Psalm is the classic cry of the broken hearted, finding themselves in a faraway land and a world that does not value “Zion”—the reign of God on earth. By crying out their grief and their longing, this psalm gives voice to those who are desolate, and paradoxically gives the hope that they will be heard, and that their grief will find a home in the work of returning to God’s plan and purpose. Even the bitter anger of the last verses, left out of this week’s readings, give us the hope that God hears even prayers that are “wrong”—that express violence and anger toward those who are violent and hateful.

Romans 12: 1–8

The 12th chapter of Romans deals with the problem of how we work alongside each other to bring about the new world. We will not all have the same visions or the same tasks, and we may sometimes experience conflict about what the priorities of building God’s house should be. But Paul returns to what seems to be his favorite metaphor—that of the Body of Christ—to remind believers that God uses all kinds of people and all kinds of work to bring about God’s glory. We should not belittle the work of those who are doing what we cannot or would rather not; we should be grateful for challenges that come to us from people who see the Lord and his work differently from us. None of us is wise enough or whole enough to see the picture as God sees it; we must work together to show God’s love and compassion in all of the ways available to us.

Do you ever feel like a misfit in the current cultural context? Have you ever felt like the institutions in your life “own” you? Do you feel like your life is going somewhere, or you are on a straight path to nowhere? Are you in fellowship with any other misfits? What is the strength of having a community of people who will swim against the current with you?

Are you in touch with a misfit community of faith? What does it look like, and why do you describe it as a community of misfits? What distinctive calling or path do you see your misfit community possessing? How do you work together in your common calling, even with different gifts?