1 Peter 2

9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

11Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. 12Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

Submission to Rulers and Masters

13Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, 14or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. 15For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. 16Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. 17Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.

18Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. 19For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. 20But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. 21To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

22"He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth."[5] 23When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 24He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. 25For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

This passage was just reinforcing thoughts I have been having about the importance of forming communities of faith that are deliberate about the mission of coming to know and understand the love of God while at the same time extending that love to places where it is severely lacking... which is going to entail suffering. But it seems our suffering is not lost on God, but is instead part the journey we signed on for. Anyway, this passage is a foundational one for the notion of Christian Anarchy, as it seems to reinforce the vital nature of focusing our efforts on things like care for the disadvantaged, etc, rather than political revolution (I still wrestle like crazy with the whole political engagement thing... hey Derek, at some point I want to have an in depth discussion on that one...). Anyway...

I don't say this to be preachy, but as someone who is currently gazing out over the chasm of who I am versus who I could be...

Again, this is mainly just for my own future reference, because I know I am posting almost never, and therefore few are coming by, so this may well become a repository for things I want to remember for future days. And information seems to survive longer on the web than on my oft-reformatted hard drives...