Identity.

I am presenting a paper to class today about the sociological factors that have shaped my identity. In it I concluded how in many ways I am an outsider.

In conclusion, there are a large number of social determents that have formed my identity as to who I am now. Earlier on I mentioned how at school I was the outsider. I have to say I am still in many ways an outsider. I’m a man who experienced abuse within a society that doesn’t acknowledge female abusers. I experienced disability within an environment that expected faith to work its miracles as well as experiencing divorce and remarriage within a sub culture that doesn’t really allow for it. And I am continuing my Biblical studies in a Pentecostal environment while fellowshipping and ministering within a Baptist church denomination.

Yet, while it may be true that within a anthropological sociological framework, I am an outsider; in Gods economy, I am an insider. For it is God who has accepted me as I am and drawn me into himself, through Christ. Not only have I been drawn into the goodness of God, I have been immersed and filled with his Spirit of life. The Holy Spirit dwells within, covers over and flows through me. And so I am immersed so deeply into him, that I am deeply embedded into him.

God calls us as his people to live as insiders within our communities, making Christ known, through the presence of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. Yet, we are also called to live as outsiders within our communities. That is, we live outside our communities normal expectations and ways of life. Instead we are called to live in a manner that transforms our communities from the inside out; and we can only do this, because we too have experienced the transformation work from the inside out.