I couldn’t ask for a better town to grow up in than Bay Village, Ohio. For an energetic boy with an equally adventurous sister, this town had everything for us to do. Lake Erie was just across the street and we would spend hours and hours there skipping stones & throwing sticks to our dog. There were numerous parks with hiking trails and bike paths galore. The public swimming pool with three diving boards was only a five-minute walk from our house, as were 4 baseball diamonds, basketball courts, tennis courts, a 10 lane bowling alley and a Baskin Robins Ice Cream Parlor! Bay Village even had a planetarium…can you believe it?
Even with all these options available to chose from, my sister Stephanie and I always looked forward to the 4th of July weekend when the carnival came to town: Rides, roller coasters, fun house and elephant ears. What kid doesn’t love that? But secretly, what really fascinated us were the “Carnies!” I know it sounds strange, but we loved to get to the carnival a few days early and spy on them. You know who the Carnies are, don’t you? They are the people who travel from town to town to do the set-up and take down of rides, they holler at people with their “colorful vocabulary” to pull people in to play the games of chance, they blast “AC/DC” music while strapping teens into the “Tilt-O-Whirl.” They are the few, the forgotten, the Carnies!
You may be wondering why we spied on them? Well, my sister has always been intrigued by the weird & strange. And being her little brother, she had a way sucking me into her covert Carnie espionage. Let me tell you, when it comes to weird & strange, Carnies as a sub-group of American society, are some of the weirdest! I have seen ladies with mustaches, guys with tattoos on their eyelids, and midgets wearing mullets. I remember one year in particular when the carnival had a mini freak show: there was a lady who had rubber skin where she could pull it 12 inches away from her body and it would snap back to place. And the craziest person we saw was a guy that could push giant needles through his tongue, cheeks and neck. This was way before piercings and plugs were even cool…watching him mesmerized and grossed you out all at the same time!
Now that I think about it, maybe my fascination with the weird & strange is why I went into ministry in the first place?
Church people have a lot of Carnie like qualities about them. (At least I know I do.). And before you protest this assessment, ask yourself: Have you ever wore a mullet? Have you ever played screaming loud music and loved it? Have you ever sat next to a person in church with piercings? Admit, we are all very strange! Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:25-29 agrees:
“For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.”
Think about it: “God chose what is low and despised.” Sounds like the Carnies to me. Why would he do this? It is very simple: when your skin is like rubber, or you’re walking around with giant needles through your neck you quickly realize you are in desperate need of a new life, you need God’s mercy. Romans 11:32 makes this very clear, “For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.” Great people take pride in their wonderful humanity, they see no need for mercy; Carnies are quick to admit their need for a life change.
And when it comes to being a child of God, this reality of human nature is what allows Carnies to have a much easier time accepting God’s main requirement to gain access into heaven: “You must be Born Again!” Human parents give birth to earthly beings; but to be accepted into heaven, you need to be born from above. Carnies are quick to admit they are made of clay and dust; Great people think their clay and dust is a little bit better – – of finer quality. Either way, earthly material cannot survive in the scorching holiness of heaven. (Not even Gandhi’s)
This Sunday, we are going to explore what it means to be “Born Again,” and why this requirement is a must. Meanwhile, sit back and look around– you will have to admit, we are all very weird and strange: You included!
