I’m a Creep 😀

I remember back when I was 18, I started taking up a collection in work for a third-world charity. I don’t think we’re allowed use the term “third world” nowadays. Perhaps it’s “majority world”. Anyway, the charity were so pleased with me that they asked me to be on a committee. When I went to the first committee meeting, I was surrounded by people who seemed to me like posh businessmen. I felt a little out of my depth. At that time, at least in my own mind, there was a big gulf between working-class people and middle-class people.

When I first started attending evangelical churches, I began in a Pentecostal church, that had plenty of working-class people like me. When I discovered a local Baptist church, I liked it because it was evangelical, but not as intense. In the Pentecostal church, I didn’t really like how people shouted and cried during prayers, even though they seemed more zealous. So, I settled into the Baptist church, but I initially felt slightly out of place because they weren’t many working-class people there. But I soon settled in and felt at home. Over time, more ex-working-class Roman Catholics like me joined. And maybe I got a bit posher myself 😀.

One other time that I remember feeling out of place was when I was a young teacher. As a student, you wouldn’t mix socially with teachers. You’d be a little bit afraid of them. Then, you’d find yourself sitting in the staff room with teachers who had taught you perhaps 7 years earlier. That took a bit of getting used to. And another staff room experience was sitting in a staff room where all the men sat on one corner talking about nothing but yesterday’s hurling or Gaelic football game. I had little or no interest in sport. I didn’t want to sit with the women, so I just had to stay there grinning and bearing it. If I had my time over, I would have gently changed the subject, but I was probably a bit shyer back then.

And how can I weave the Bible into this post? Well, if you try to follow Jesus, you are probably often going to be seen as a little odd, even if your country is nominally Christian. I suppose the same can be said for other religions. People who try to be genuinely devout rather than just identify with the “tribe” are viewed as being a little weird.

1 Peter portrays Christians as aliens in a world that rebels against God.

1 Peter 2:11
Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.

Jesus warns his followers not to follow the crowd in sin:

Matthew 7:13-14
¹³ “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴ But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

When Jesus was crucified, most followed the crowd, but there were a few exceptions:

• The Penitent Thief Luke 23:39–43
• Mary and other women, who, unlike the apostles, stayed with Jesus near the cross John 19:25
• The Roman Centurion Matthew 27:54
• Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Jewish council who did not consent to Jesus’ condemnation John 19:38–42
• Nicodemus, a pharisee who had earlier visited Jesus by night John 19:39–42

However, in a few short weeks, many who had supported the crucifixion of Jesus repented and became part of the early church. So, my hope is that even those who go on the broad road to destruction will eventually turn to Jesus, even in the last moments of their life. But I wouldn’t want to leave it to then myself 😀.