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Malcolm Gladwell has written some great stuff. I just read his latest book, “Outliers: The Story of Success.” Every hockey player will want to read the first chapter- it will blow your mind! What is an outlier? It is defined as something that is situated away from or classified differently from a main or related body. 2. A statistical observation that is markedly different in value from the others of the sample. Hold onto that first part- “classified differently from a related body.”
He begins his book with a story, and one particularly fascinating to me- for it tells the story of a town not far from where I grew up in Pennsylvania. In 1882 a group of 11 men left Roseto, Italy for New York. They landed and migrated west until they found work in a slate quarry near Bangor, PA. The follow year 15 more Rosetans joined them. by 1894 some 1200 Rosetans were applying for passports- entire streets in Roseto were left abandoned, whole communities were virtually transplanted to PA.
The Rosetans were buying up land in the rocky Hillside of PA. They called their little town New Italy, but eventually just started calling it Roseto, since nearly everyone was from Roseto. Soon there was a vibrant Church, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and schools. The people built homes and raise animals, opened shops, bakeries, garment factories and the like. Walking down the street in 1900 you would have thought you were in Roseto Italy. Few would have heard about Roseto if not for Stewart Wolf.
Through a serendipitous series of events Wolf came to study the town and people of Roseto for for one almost off handed, but remarkable observation- nobody from Rosetos under the age of 65 ever seemed to have heart disease. Wolf investigated and discovered that sure enough, the death rate in Roseto was 35% lower than to be expected. There was no suicide, no alcoholism, no drug addiction, little crime, no one was on welfare, no one got ulcers. The people were living to a ripe old age, then simply dying of old age. They thought it had to do with the diet. They soon discovered that the people of Roseto did in fact have a remarkable diet. 41% of the average persons calories came from fat. They had switched from olive oil to lard, thin crust to bread dough, enjoyed meats and deserts in copious amounts! If anything, the only visible problem was obesity! These folks should have been dropping like flies.
But as they studied the townspeople they began to take note of some differences in life in Roseto- people were always visiting each other and bringing food. Many homes were filled with three generations represented under one roof, crowded by our standards. Nearly the entire town celebrated Mass together every week. They noted 22 civic organizations. There was an egalitarian ethos in the area whereby the wealthy did not flaunt their wealth, the needy were brought into the norm, and everyone respected their elders. The people of Roseto were healthy for not other reason, that they could observe, than they were from Roseto.
Roseto was an Outlier. It did not fit the mold. It was outside the main body. It opened the eyes of the medical field to begin looking not just at an individuals health, but the health of a community, and the role of the community on health.
Let me propose to you, piggy backing on Gladwell’s paradigm, that we as Christians, both individually, and as a community of believers, are called by God to be Outliers. To be in the world like everyone else is in the world, but in some significant ways we are to different, unique, set apart.
Our first week I ended with what I thought was a very profound statement designed to make you think. I said that just about the WORST thing anyone could say to someone who claims to be a fully devoted follower of Jesus is, you are just like everyone else. That is fundamental betrayal of what God is trying to do in our lives. That totally missed the the point of being blessed to be a blessing. That totally missed the point of what God has be doing ever since he called Abram. He told us we are to be a blessing to the world. Like Roseto, set apart and different in a way that is good. He has been calling people to be different, to be set apart, to be holy, to be Outliers.
But what exactly does that difference look like? How are we to be Outliers? How to we relate to the main body, the world? How are we set apart, and what should set us apart? People have been trying to figure this out for literally centuries.
Let me give you another lesson from another writer, Reinhold Neibuhr. He wrote a book that has framed this discussion for over half a century now. His book, Christ and Culture, took a serious look at the way Christians have understood and interpreted their place, their role, in the world.
He sets up a framework with the two extremes: At one end he places the extreme Outliers- the “Christ against Culture” approach. This is the extreme form of Christian separatist movements. Into this camp he would place such movements at the monastics, who lived separately from much of the world. Post reformation he would place in this group the anabaptists, the Mennonites and Amish. Basically, these are groups of Christians who by design or over time withdrawn from much of what we call the dominate culture around them, and create their own culture and society.
At the other end we find the “Christ of Culture” camp. Perhaps we’d call these guys the “Inliers” totally a part of the system. In this group being a Christian, or a part of the church, is so intertwined with the dominant culture, that one would hardly be able to distinguish between the two, nor should they even really try, because the culture is in fact the church, the people of God. This camp is associated with the mainline churches, or perhaps we might say, though it’s now a very loaded word, liberal church.
In between he has three camps- “Christ above Culture,” close to the Christ against Camp, but sees a place for more integration. In the middle is “Christ and Culture in Paradox.” This camp says I can see value in both a separate church culture, and in integrating with the world. I have to hold that in a paradoxical tension. The next, and the one the Niebuhr is biased toward, and the one he wants us to be biased toward, is “Christ the Transformer of Culture.” The fully devoted Christ follower is called to make a different in the world by have and transformative effect. We are called to a ministry of reconciliation in the world. We are the body of Christ, the ambassadors of Christ. Neibuhr stacks the deck in favor of this position.
But after a half century of analysis and discussion we can readily see how subjective this paradigm is to our cultural experience. In fact, we see that we must all see ourselves, and the church, on the spectrum. For example- when is it that many Christians withdraw from society and come against culture? When the dominate culture is against the church. Why did the anabaptists withdrawn from the world? It has something to do with their beliefs and interpretation of the bible, but practically speaking, it has more to do with the fact that they were being hunted down, persecuted and killed. I’ll speak for myself to say that if the authorities were trying to kill me for my beliefs, I may tend to withdraw from the culture.
But now let’s look at the other end, what happens when some Christian value or ideal becomes integrated into public life? Do we say, well, it’s a value of ours to withdraw from culture, so even though the culture is pretty good, let’s just leave because that’s what we do. No! When we see the church making a profound difference within the dominate culture we can celebrate! When the culture says let’s care for the needy, the church should say right on! When the culture says let’s support honest pay for an honest day of work, let's figure out how to structure the economy that way!
The point is this- and this is what most everyone agrees on now- Neibuhr is right- we have to transform the culture. Let’s just all embrace that title. But now let’s give some space and grace to understand that the way we will transform culture is going to look very different for different people, in different places and at different times. Some will be called to be integrated into the culture, transforming things from the inside out. At the same time someone might stand just outside what we would call the dominant culture, proclaiming an alternative culture and way of being and doing things. Maybe it’s not about labeling or avoiding the extremes. Maybe it’s about agreeing that the best way to transform the culture and the world around us is to approach it from as many angles as possible. Is there a place for the Christ follower in politics? IN most every case, yes! Is there a place for a house of prayer set up on the edge of the culture for people to nurture a relationship with God in quiet? I sure hope so. Will different Christ followers lean toward different expressions? I sure hope so! Can the blessed life in Christ look different for different people? Of course.
This is what it boils down to- we do the stuff Jesus does when we become the people Jesus invites us to become. Jesus will now make this abundantly clear. He wants us to become a certain kind of people that bring transformation where we go. The kind of people he wants us to be- salt and light.
Let me read out passage for today...(Matthew 5:13-16)
13"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.
14"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
Salt and light make a difference in people’s lives and in the world. Salt and light are necessary regardless of the time, the culture, the economy. Men and women, young and old, rich and poor, they all need salt and light. And everything that salt and light touches is in fact transformed.
Salt had two primary qualities for which it virtually changed life in the ancient world- first, it halted decay, and second, it added flavor. It is hard for us now to imagine the almost magical power of salt when it was discovered that it could actually keep meat from rotting. Until then, it was hand to mouth. But with the discovery of salt, all of the sudden what was once doomed to rot, was now preserved. The Romans used to pay their soldiers in salt, which is why to this day we call it a salary- same root word. They started salting their vegetables, which is why we call it a salad. And when someone is comes to Jesus, and gives their life to him, when we come to him and say Jesus, I have sinned, I have done wrong, I feel like a rotten person and I can’t seem to save myself, we come to Jesus and he offers us... a salt lick. No, salvation. Our lives are saved once they are in him. Like a chunk of rotting meat, the decay is halted, and our lives are saved. We experience salvation. Isn’t that wild- I’ll bet most of you never thought about it that way.
Not only does salt preserve, it adds taste. It adds flavor. It brings spice to life. And that the awesome side effect of having our lives in Jesus, not only do we have salvation, but now we are all so savory! We taste good! I remember as a kid hearing my mom say I could just eat you up! I thought that was so weird. Then I had kids, and now there are times when I literally want to eat them! They look so good to me, they make my mouth water, I’ve actually bitten my kids on occasion! That’s how the world should see us when we are being like salt in the world. We should look that tasty and good!
And so Jesus is saying that all of you can bring a quality of preservation into the rot of this world. We can bring flavor into the bland existence of so many who are looking for life. But let me add this observation- too much salt starts to become a bad thing. There are few things worse than an over-salted meal. There are times when we get too wrapped up with other Christians and in only church stuff. It is possible to be too salty. When that happen, it’s time to dissipate the salt again.
And that’s one of the most amazing properties of salt. You put fresh water and salt water together and what are you going to get- salt water. It will penetrate and permeate everything. Thus we must constantly be pouring ourselves out in fresh ways, in untouched and untapped areas. And when we do, we can’t help but bring the salvation and flavor of life in Jesus.
Light transforms as well. In fact, it the very nature of light to change things. I learned about the power of light through caving. I used to take students to a cave all the time. What I discovered is that students were less afraid of crawling underground in in dirty tight, cold places, than they were afraid of the dark. As long as you had your light, you were fine. But when I would have them turn off their lights, they would freak out. My favorite object lesson was simply this- to have them turn out their lights. To be consumed with the darkness for a few minutes, then I’d light a match. It was amazing the transforming power of the light. One tiny little match, and I would instantly have everyone's attention. You could not help but look at that light. It was salvation, it was hope, it was a way out. It meant everything. And that’s the power of the light- darkness has to flee. It can’t overcome the light. Even a tiny light, in a dark place wins the battle.
They other lesson I loved from caving, was the final revelation of light. After a few hours of caving, coming out into the daylight, the students would then see for themselves what I knew all along- they were filthy! After crawling around all that time they would be covered in mud from head to toe- they were gross.
And now what I’m NOT saying is that everyone without Christi is dirty and gross. I’m saying that when Christ’s light shines on us, we see ourselves for what we truly are- we are in need of cleansing. We need to be washed clean.
You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Jerusalem, the holy city, is perched on a hill. It cannot be hidden. And that’s the point of the location. It is to be a beacon of light to the world. You don;t light a lamp and cover it up- you raise it up, you want the light to penetrate all the darkness. Light a match lit in the dark, it will draw people in. And once people are in, when the are in the presence of the light, they will naturally see their need for cleansing. They will see that they need to cleansing and forgiveness of Jesus Christ in their lives.
Jesus closes this thought by saying in the same way let you light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. Jesus begins his message with the blessed announcements. These describe for the the essential character of the fully-devoted Christ follower. Then he moves into these metaphors which describe our influence in the world. And when we are the kind of influence on the world that Christ calls us to be, when we are as salt and light, the world around can’t help but give glory NOT to us, but to God in heaven.
We should pause on this progression long enough to be awed by it’s brilliance. We come to Jesus, we sit at his feet, we give our lives to him, and he transforms our character. We become poor in spirit, we mourn the death and pain in the world, we humble ourselves, we hunger and thirst for righteousness, we are made merciful, pure, peacemakers, we are even persecuted for our pursuit of the kingdom. With transformed hearts and lives, with Christ in us, we are different kinds of people. We are like salt. we are like light. What does salt and light do- we transform everything we come in contact with. We save what is lost to decay. We flavor what is bland. We penetrate the darkness. We attract like moths to a fire. We reveal what really is.
We’re gonna have some fun to close this one- the ushers are going to hand out some glow sticks. Please resist the urge to break them! We are going to turn out the lights. We’ll pause for a moment and let the darkness consume us- then I’m going to say a prayer and we’ll break out sticks. The band will play a song, and we’ll let our lights shine!
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