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Peculiar People

     But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.  Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (I Peter 2:9-10)

          In the King James Version, “God’s special possession” is translated as “a peculiar people.” I have to admit that I liked that notion. Like a lot of people, I would like to be special. Of course, it wouldn’t be enough to be different. If I had purple skin, I’d be different, but so what? Purple would only be skin deep. No, the difference needs to be something more significant. It needs to be a difference with a purpose, a connection, or, to be honest, a sense of superiority.

At the same time, I’ve never felt as if I fit in.  I was a Conservative in a Liberal city, a Protestant among Catholics, etc. Once, I drove into my driveway blaring Tchaikovsky’s Overture of 1812. My brother pulled in almost immediately behind me, and I don’t remember what his radio was blaring, but it was Rock. At one point, when I was trying to explain introversion to a coworker, she said, “You mean they could give you medication and you’d be normal?” These sorts of things happen with some regularity. Sometimes, they’re amusing. Sometimes, I wish I could be “normal.”

None of that fits what this passage is talking about. The whole point of the chosen people, the royal priesthood, and the holy nation is that there was nothing spectacular about them. They are not the focus. The priesthood isn’t perfect. It’s not made of special people. It’s made of people who are chosen, but not chosen because they deserve it. In fact, it might even be said they are chosen because they don’t deserve it, and they go on to prove they didn’t deserve it even if they try to live up to the standards set for priests. Priests are chosen because they’re normal, not special. If the NFL draft were like the selection of priests, I’d be a first-round pick. So would you.

So maybe it would be a good idea for us to start to learn what it means to be a priest.

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