“ec·cen·tric”
"Departing from a recognized, conventional, or established norm or pattern. One that deviates markedly from an established norm, especially a person of odd or unconventional behaviour."When Gordon & I emigrated to the United Kingdom from South Africa, we had no idea who the London Mayor was. So for those in the same boat, may we introduce the present London Mayor, Boris Johnson, to you, dear reader.
Before doing so, please would you please us by discarding, just for this post, opinions about Boris’ politics and values. Just for this post, we would like to focus one of his very well-known trait: eccentricity.
on the phone
Just being Boris
photo above – on St George’s Day - and then there's "the hair".
in casual garb as Boris and in the golden carriage as the Lord Mayor of London once a year, in November. 
Making a speech and pretending to be a London Bobby
So, there you have it: if Boris Johnson has been a stranger to you until a few minutes ago, you now have a fair feel for the Mayor of one of a world-city: a creative, individualistic, intelligent free spirit – who holds down a lucrative job as mayor and also writes a column for The Daily Telegraph -and getting paid a cool £250,000. Incomes not to sniff at! But that's not the point, this post is about eccentricity, or not.
You may, rightly, feel that it's a big leap from Boris Johnson to Christian practises such as prayer and baptism. Here's the bridge question: could prayer and baptism not be regarded as eccentric by our culture riddled with secularism?
To depend on one personal God for direction in life, to look in faith to a Saviour to pay for my sin which separates me from God, to rely on Him as my Keeper, Helper, Model and Friend - is crazy and unconventional to a godless society - really odd! Anyone's belief in independence logically makes Christianity appear impracticle, useless, leech-like, crazy and odd! Godly living in a godless culture may seem not only eccentric but really, really strange and annoying to a world in which many absolutes have stopped to exist. What an oddity the Christian faith is in a culture where facts can only be stated in the realm of science.
Where should Christ-followers stand? Inside the popular culture? Outside? Ignore it? Isolate ourselves from it? Consumed by it? Should we try to transform the culture and take it on the chin or go for total separation, or blend and get absorbed?
"..... they are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart; they have become callous and have given themselves up to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of uncleanness" (Eph. 4:17-19).Three guide-lines on how Christians could walk this tight line in the populare culture:
- Here's Paul again:
"For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, that I might win the more. And to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, though not being myself under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, that I might win those who are without law. To the weak, I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some. And I do all things for the sake of the gospel, that I may become a fellow-partaker of it (1 Cor. 9:19-23).
2. Old Testament Joseph, when he stood in Pharaoh’s presence, he shaved (Gen. 41:14), which was culturally very significant. A beard was highly regarded in Israel (cf. 2 Sam. 10:4-5), but in Egypt it was not. Joseph adapted to the culture of his day, yet in a way that did not violate any biblical principle. A beard was really a matter of culture, not of creed.
3. Perhaps Daniel is another striking example of cultural concession. In Daniel 1 we find the prophet and his three Hebrew friends taken captive to Babylon. All four refused to partake of the king’s choice food and wine (Dan. 1:8-16), which seemed to be associated with idolatrous worship. Daniel refused to stop praying (Dan. 6), and his three friends would not bow down to the golden image (Dan. 3).
4. The 4 friends were submissive to the king’s requirements by becoming educated in the schools of Babylon and of serving the king as advisors.We'd like to develop in discerning our culture and times, relate to all people while walking to the beat of a different drummer, Jesus our King - without being odd-balls in dress, mannerisms and lifestyles.
Does this mean our beliefs are to be banned to our private lives? I recall Monday-chat in the office: one work colleague bought shoes in Milan, another partied all night. Surely freedom of speech in this country allows us to tell of our great church service or how we cope in my suffering, without... the wagging finger and ramming the Bible down throats - without being OTT (over the top) and out of touch with the world.
A super challenge: will we allign with the living Word of the Bible at the cost of being labelled an odd-ball - even at the cost of torture and death? How tempted am I to be ashamed of Jesus Christ?
And bravo for Boris Johnson's eccentricity!
