"The Strange, the different, the unintelligible"

"The strange, the different, the unintelligible, the subjective aspect of my neighbor is the garment in which God's grace meets me."

I heard this the other day and found that is simply MUST be shared. Get ready for this:

The strange, the different, the unintelligible...does anyone have someone who fits those categories? When you hear "the strange," someone instantly comes to mind? "The different"-- yep, look up 'different' in the dictionary and so and so's name is written there. "The unintelligible"-- man, there is this person in my life; i dont understand why they do what they do. They drive me crazy. Can someone BE that stupid??

He then says: The strange, the different, the unintelligible, the subjective aspect of my neighbor.....the subjective aspect! Hm that's great, isn't it? It's like--we know how the world works. You do this and then this is supposed to happen. When I say this, they are supposed to say this. But THIS person--they don't know how I've set things up to operate! They keep messing things up and its driving me insane! The subjective aspect of my neighbor--ya know what im talking about? They don't fit in how my world is supposed to work.

He says: The strange, the different, the unintelligible, the subjective aspect of my neighbor is the garment in which God's grace meets me.

This is what Paul's (in Philippians 2) saying: You want to understand God's love? You want to understand God's grace? You want to truly understand what it means for God to have enveloped you in His grace, peace, forgiveness, hope, and light?

Then orient yourself around the strange, the different, the unintelligible, the coworker, the embarrassing relative, the annoying acquaintance, the person who absolutely sends you mad.

Circle around them. And in your frustration of pain of trying to serve and love them well, you will be face to face with what it means for God to have embraced and loved you in all your strangeness, difference, and unintelligibility.

That person who most gets under your skin-- they may in fact be the garment of God's grace that is coming to you to bring you more fully into the love of God.

If I could actually learn to even take one step to encircle the interest of that person, it would be a step closer to understanding more fully what it means for God to love and accept me.

If I could learn to not hold their past against them, and not always holding them accountable for their past. Maybe I could come to understand what it means for God to not hold my past against me.

Maybe if I could take one lap around them with all of their flaws, I would better understand the God who embraces and loves me in spite of all of my flaws.

The other, the one in your midst that most rubs you the wrong way, the strange, the different, the unintelligible, the subjective one that does not fit into how your world operates, may in fact be the grace of God coming to you saying "i drive you nuts. And i am an invitation for you to understand the trinitarian nature of the universe all the more fully, my friend."

We discover respect for each other, not on this ground or that. Paul is not saying, in Phillipians 2, 'respect those who deserve to be respected. Find your peers, the people who get it, and respect them.'
We respect people on NO grounds. Maybe even COUNTER to any grounds. For no reason at all.

It is the most frustrating, maddening dimension of this person that is God's invitation to more fully enter in the grace and peace that God has extended to me.

The claim my neighbor makes on me, on my patience, on my attention, on my consideration, on my love--is the claim of God's grace. The degree to which this person draws out of me and demands of me things that are absolutely infuriating is the claim of God's grace.




This is a sermon by Rob Bell titled "Others." I strongly suggest listening to this podcast. Mars Hill Bible Church. 4/26/08. This was only a few minutes from it, so you can imagine the rest.
Man, can you say convicting?