Playing Outside the Box

I see the world in a slightly different manner, especially concerning matters of the church.  I view the church and how it engages the culture (men, in particular) in a very different manner than most occupying the pews within it.  One could say that I am an ardent member of the sacred-cow-tipper club.  When you find yourself not being a conformist, or a quote team player unquote, with a penchant to ask uneasy questions, and you may find yourself nominated as a member of the “critical spirit honor guard”.

I have a t-shirt from the local Walton family box store showing a picture of two eyes peering out from two holes in a box.  The caption reads “how can I think outside the box when no one will let me out of it”.  Hmm…

Truly, you gotta know me to understand where I am coming from because it is all too easy (and hypocritical) for the inside-the-box (ITB) crowd to level their own version of criticism against my supposed criticism.  They simply don’t have a grid for my context.  I encountered a familiar strain recently when I was told that to play outside-the-box you must first play inside-the-box. Huh? The reason being that you must play inside-the-box to build relationships which then allow one to play outside-the-box.  Hmm…I am not buying it.

Show me one example in Scripture where this is the case.  Looking from Genesis to Revelation, I cannot find any of the key characters who were ITB.  Even within the twelve disciples of Jesus it was tough to find a team player.  They were constantly found stirring up trouble wherever they went.  Sometimes amongst themselves.  Especially when held up against the religious norms of the days.   But those twelve men changed the known world in less than a hundred years.

I hope the next few weeks of posts challenge you and your box.