Sermon 06.03.12 :: Insiders > Outsiders

Countercultural Christianity:

Insiders > Outsiders

Easter creates a new way of life. The empty tomb creates a new people with a new set of values, concerns, habits, and hope.  Such a life often proves countercultural to the systems in which we live and work.  The habits of the new life often appear strange to the norms of our society. 

Human nature longs to be an “insider,” to seek the security and safety of being “in.”  Yet in contrast to polarizing cliquishness, Jesus is always moving to the outside.  He seeks those on the margins and fringes.  What does it mean to be a Christian “insider” who lives freely and confidently on the “outside”?  

Scripture Reading:  Mark 1:40-45

"And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, "If you will, you can make me clean."  Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, "I will; be clean."  And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.  And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once, and said to him, "See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to them."  But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter." 

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