Misfits and Loners
Misfits and Loners by Consilia Karli

We are all misfits and loners, whether we know it or not. Anyone who thinks is a misfit, for no two people think exactly alike. Anyone who feels is a misfit, for no two humans feel exactly the same about anything. As misfits, we tend to sacrifice our individual thinking and feeling for the reward of fitting in and belonging, all in order to escape from our very human and very important individual loneness, our unique and sacred separateness.

Unfortunately, church too often becomes a gathering of the sealed, saved and delivered, a church of the safe and secure.  Yet “church of the safe and secure” is an oxymoron insofar as this life goes, for life is forever calling upon itself and us to change.  And change, no matter how well pre-planned, is always full of aloneness, risk and uncertainty.

Time and again, the ancient wisdom of the Scriptures reminds us to be watchful of settling into lives based on the pursuit of certainty, belonging, and security.  Naming this pursuit “idolatry,” the prophets of old warned against the short-lived comfort of escape from real life. They warned us  repeatedly of the unforeseen dangers of the pursuit of certainty, belonging, and security for individuals and nations alike, for rich and poor alike.

What church/temple/mosque/today takes heed of this warning?  What institution helps us own our misfit/loner-ness as essential to our humanity AND our holiness?  …Misfit/loner-ness as essential to any authentic coming together in communal oneness!  …Misfit/loner-ness essential to personal and global sanity and “wholiness“!!!