Renegades

Renegades.
People who go against the current, defy gravity, mess with the majority, seek peace in the midst of war, are suspicious about power, distrust privilege, advocate for the despised, don't let up fighting for the underdog, contrarian because their conscience won't let them be otherwise.
They're not hard to find in the Bible - I've been reading the minor prophets, and they're all renegades. Even Jonah, allowing that his renegading was against God.
But renegades in church? Give them a pulpit and the congregation shrinks. We're more likely to ask them to take their protest elsewhere!
So where do we start?
By talking with those outside our circle, whose persuasions are contrary to ours. With the aim to understand and not alienate. If you're pro-life, speak to a pro-choicer, if you're straight to someone who's gay, if a Christian to someone who is Muslim, if a church insider, to someone outside. If you're old to someone who's young, if you're young to someone who's old. If you're a rebel to someone who's not, if you're status quo talk to someone who isn't.
Around the table Jesus ate at were tax collectors, zealots, fishermen, firebrands and commoners. I dare say they could agree on anything other than who they were following - a renegade if there ever was one but truly unlike any other.
Hear a renegade and one hears the Lord. Not because a renegade and the Lord say the same thing but because both are inclined to say things we'd rather not hear about ourselves, about the church and the impact we could be making when we refuse to water down what Jesus asks of us.