I wrote here elsewhere laying out my reasons for the change of this blog's title to "A Peculiar Gift." The "Gift" refers primarily to the divine gifts– God's grace. While the highest expression of the Gift is the Word Made Flesh, in these brief articles I examine the divine Gift in some of its unexpected colors and flavors as these small gifts (the Gift, in miniature) sprout up at odd moments and in odd places in our lives.
My own initiation into the word "peculiar" came in a way enjoyed by only a minuscule fraction of the English-speaking world. You could say it came in a peculiar fashion. I grew up down the road from Peculiar, Missouri, and I suspect my first hearing of the word occurred as my parents mentioned it in matter-of-fact reference to the nearby town. It may have transpired as I overheard one of their conversations: "Yeah, I think they live somewhere over by Peculiar. We'll have to stop by and see them next time we get down that way." Only later, probably, did I discover its more common definition and use.
After many years of using the word in my own conversation, I stumbled upon it in a very significant and unexpected manner at the age of 27, in my first reading of that collection of books referred to as the Bible. The first instance, which came in the second book (Exodus), caught me totally by surprise:
"Now therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine..."And three books later (in Deuteronomy) I read:
"...and the Lord has chosen you to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth."and:
"..the Lord has declared you this day to be his peculiar people, as he has promised you..."The remainder of the Hebrew Bible (the tanakh) contains similar references proclaiming the Jews, the progeny of Jacob, to be peculiar to God. Why would God so think the Jews to be "odd?"
Reading further in the Bible– specifically, those writings collected after "...the Word dwelt among us,"– I encountered yet more uses of the word "peculiar." In like manner, these instances refer to the people of God (those believing upon the name of Jesus, both Jew and Gentile) as being peculiar to Him. What so attracted God to weird people (or maybe, weird people were attracted to Him)?
In researching my chosen title for this blog, I recently investigated the deeper meaning and derivation of the word "peculiar." While the word can properly refer to the aberrant, weird, or odd, its original and highest use meant singular, unique, exclusive. The English word sprang from the Latin "peculiaris"– literally, "of one's own," in turn, derived from "peculium," or "private property," or more literally, "property in cattle." The roots of these words, "pecu" and "pecus," refer to "flock" and "cattle," respectively.
Of course, this speaks of the English word translated from the original Hebrew and Greek texts. And while more recent versions of the Bible forego the use of "peculiar" in these passages, I believe its use still resonates with the original languages. Often, in the ancient world (and even some contemporary cultures) cattle stood as the most important form of property. The original words translated into the English "peculiar" have the sense of "exclusive treasure," or "that which is valued above all else and is owned by only one." It is this kind of "peculiar" people that God claims for Himself.
In the film Toy Story II the animated protagonist, Woody, finds himself far from home and forced to make decisions to insure his survival. He reflects on his choice to abandon the risky context of love and belonging he always knew for the more certain state of mere existence. Weighing the two, he wonders about the possibility of somehow returning home. Cleaning off the sole of his boot, he sees the name "ANDY" scrawled in a child's script (with backwards "N") and remembers this not merely as a mark of ownership, but more powerfully, as a statement of belonging and exclusivity– a declaration of love. He realizes he is an exclusive treasure to his young "owner," and is deeply loved as well as owned. It is this kind of ownership with which God holds His "peculiar people."
I entitled this collection of articles "A Peculiar Gift," which speaks primarily of the astonishing gift of God's Son to those of us who, then, become His people. But gifts of great magnitude (as are all gifts of love) have a way of returning to their givers. When a gift of great sacrifice, great value, is transmitted to a recipient, the transaction, likewise, places great value upon that recipient. The one who receives the gift, receives it not only, but also receives increased value within. We love to get gifts because we are built up within ourselves– our personal worth increases– because someone outside of us values us greatly.
Our reception of that increased value cannot help but fill us with the desire to return such a gift, such a love, and prompts us to give ourselves back to the original giver. We then become, in some sense, the special property, the exclusive treasure of the giver. These transactions are the elements, the stuff, of love.
Only because of (as John Newton described it) God's Amazing Grace (or gift), can we enter into that freely reciprocal, divine communion. God is the great initiator, when it comes to matters of love, and as John the apostle so plainly put it– "We love, because He first loved us." He gives us the incomparable Gift of love, embodied perfectly and completely in His Son. We, in turn, give ourselves back to Him, and become, in the process, His Peculiar People, His exclusive treasure.
In his spectacular love poem "Song of Songs," the sage Solomon recites the breathless interchange of a love duet between a gorgeous and vibrant country girl and her equally striking and virile royal suitor. While it may simply stand as a mythical tale of the intoxicating power of the man/woman love designed by God, many have pointed to its obvious parallel in the nonpareil love between God and His chosen Bride– His Peculiar People. In the Song, the Prince's chosen maid says of him:
"I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine..."In any great love, each party is fully possessed, and treasured, by the other. The Great Giver becomes the Gift to His Beloved, who then gives herself to become the Exclusive Treasure of the Giver. May we be so captured by His love, as He offers Himself to us.
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Image above is courtesy of the City of Peculiar, Missouri.
>>> Unless otherwise attributed, all text and images are Copyright, Bill Brockmeier, 2015. All rights reserved.
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