Last week we looked at one image of the church, that of a circle of grace—God seeking, claiming and sustaining us. Today, another image, taken from St. Peter's letter to the early Christians of what is now Turkey, Asia Minor—a "peculiar people."

A dictionary definition of "peculiar" says: "Out of the ordinary, strange, odd, unusual." You might say "just plain weird." I preached a sermon by that title in Ann Arbor in the fall. Little did I know that we had visitors from Birmingham, and I suppose I will forever be known by Mackenzie Kreitz as the "just plain weird guy." Of course, "odd" or "out of the ordinary" all depends on what you consider "normal." In Lord of the Rings, Sam and Frodo were amazed to discover that their traveling companions had never heard of "second breakfast," and in t…