Life From the Fringe

Life from the Fringe simply means you are not in the mainstream of anyone’s attention span. You may be in the middle of a crowd, but no one is looking at or paying any attention to you. It’s almost like you do not exist.

We’ve all been there! Though we may feel we are on the edge of the great unknown, we’ve all been in the fringes of life where we yearn for some attention…and not one single person notices us. It’s almost as if you are a ghost and no one can sense your place in the world.

Living on the edge of civilization has always enticed me. Fleeing from the big cities, looking for the mountains and cold, and yearning for the life that has fewer people around me. Which you may find strange since I’m involved in the “people” business! But my reality yearns for the wild open spaces!

It’s yearning to experience the “Westward ho!” movement of the 1700s or to be that intrepid explorer that sailed west from Europe in the 1400s, not knowing if the end of the world really existed as many feared. I’m not sure I would enjoy the experience of pressures deep in the ocean where we cannot live without artificial means, or in space, but the idea that someone is stretching themselves into the frontier edge has always fascinated me!

This is probably why I’ve always enjoyed the novels from James Michener, Louis L’Amour, James Fenimore Cooper and all those science fiction writers that point to the stars! And, I’ve enjoyed those writers that paint the picture of life after civilization ends! (Pat Frank, Nevil Shute, etc.)

Yes! It’s a strange thing for a person who pastors, and who enjoys teaching, and loves being around family, one might say. But there should be in all of us that part of life that is always searching for the rugged edge of civilization. Pushing the boundaries of knowledge as scientist and astronomers are wont to do.

Yes…
Wont is a word, not just a contraction of Will Not!
Webster says it means:

Wont: Likely to do something : having a tendency to do something

In my old career of IT, we used to say that we are either on the “bleeding, leading or dull edge” of technology. Bleeding meant you were in the throes of dealing with the brand new stuff just coming out and generally unproven. Leading meant you used the latest and greatest technology as available, but there were many connections of what you were using with others around the globe. Dull simply meant you were the last to the game, buying the stuff as it is marked down in the salvage bin.

Now, before you think I’ve leapt off into the deep end, I do enjoy my creature comforts! That’s probably enough to keep my rugged edged desire from becoming too true! But that still leaves me wishing for uninhabited lands and I find many of my searches solved by reading good books and having a good imagination.

And I will say this is why the travel bug has bitten… I want to see places outside of my comfort zone! When we travel, I want to see how the “locals” live and insist on taking residential streets, shopping in the bazaars and grocery aisles, look into their hardware and resale stores… I’ve even wandered around a furniture store in Scotland! I’m not interested in being that tourist that only goes to the tourist places!

That is why I’ve enjoyed Bruce Feiler’s stories and videos, trekking into the lands of the Middle East, exploring the pathway of the bible. That’s why I enjoy Globe Trekker PBS travel episodes. Israel was fascinating, and Petra literally blew my socks off! That’s why I enjoy documentaries that show how people live in other places. One of my favorite videos is simply called Antartica: A Year on the Ice. Yes. I’ve lived in Alaska and have experienced body-numbing cold! I’ve been to Iceland, maybe Greenland someday, but definitely Antartica if I can afford it!

Choose Adam and Eve, Noah and his family, Moses leading Israel from bondage to the promised land, or even Abram as he leaves the comfort of his home in Ur and follows God’s leading to the promised land. I can imagine beyond the words in the Good Book. What was life outside of their comfort zone? Scripture does not paint a long drawn out narrative of what it must have been like during these times, but my imagination can surmise a lot.

I’m okay with that! How about you?

I may dream about the edges of my civilized existence, but what I do not want to do is live on the Fringe every day. I can walk into a room of people I know and if no one acknowledges me, then it feels like Fringe living. You can watch friends gravitate to others, and you observe like that fly on the proverbial wall that sees but is never seen. Why does no one notice you?

Here’s my thought today. I am thinking about that story in the Gospels of the woman who had a problem that is simply called an “issue of blood”. (Matthew 9:20, Mark 5:25, Luke 8:23) With an almost leprous like condition, she must have been ostracized from all her connections. She had spent all she had with doctors trying to fix her problem but to no avail. Instead, it gets worse.

I can imagine her with a broken body and broken spirit. Penniless. Who knows her living conditions or family status? All we know is what scripture tells us.

She must have been living on the fringes of society. Unclean, perhaps. Needy, most likely. Desperate? Definitely! Separated from all her connections. Ignored. Hopeless. Helpless.

But then she hears of Jesus. “If I can but touch his clothes.” Matthew and Mark state this was her intention. Her hopelessness turns desperation into a tiger of movement and she lunges through the press of the crowd and simply touches the hem (fringe) of his garment. (Luke) The border. The Fringe.

Fringe touching fringe.

Perhaps this is my true thought today. When you are on the fringe, you strive to be seen and heard of anybody, but what you should focus on is finding that other fringe that can perhaps make you whole. You push through the crowds of those who do not even know you exist. You reach out with all your effort.

You see. Although Jesus was Mainstream at the time of his popularity, he was still on the Fringe of religiosity. He was doubted, not accepted, and soundly criticized everywhere he went. But still, the crowds flocked after him. He had a strength of presence, voice, teaching, and ministry that people wanted, and needed. It seems many of them were the Fringe Element. Ignored by the powers that be. They were desperate for something more than what life afforded them. They needed Hope!

What do you do when you walk into a crowded space?

I’ve watched some glad-hand people, smile and say something witty, trying to put themselves into others lives so they will be liked… I sense they try too had as if they have something to prove. You know who you are. Is this you?

Some are focused on how they can be popular to the crowd and head for the elevated stage, microphone in hand, spotlights on…ready to woo and wow.

Still, some are on the back wall, in a crowd, and quietly looking on. The Fringe. I look for these souls and am drawn to their position because I’ve been there and understand what it feels like – that desire to be liked and sought for. I’m willing to let myself be vulnerable to their hard-shelled outlook on others. Listen to their complaints and dreams. Help them see a different way.

I was at a crowded conference last year, anchored to the back wall observing people. A sweet mother came with her little girl who could not be happy sitting in the crowd, but the mother so wanted to be involved. She put the little girl down to the floor, eyes glued to the front, and her daughter was still unhappy. I reached my arms out to this little 3-year-old, and she literally jumped in and I lifted her high so she could see me, face to face. Her mom smiled at me, and for the next 45 minutes I unloaded the mom’s anxiety and enjoyed entertaining the child.

Here’s an action item for you. Perhaps this is where we really need to be more like Jesus speaking out to that fisherman by the sea, “Follow me…” or to Zaccheus in the tree “Come down…” or Lazarus in the tomb “Come forth…” or the to woman caught in sin “Go and sin no more…” or to the little child who obviously runs to him “Suffer the little children…”

We need more action than words, while at the same time we should let words put salve on the situation.

To that woman with the issue of blood?

Jesus realized at once that healing power had gone out from him, so he turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my robe?” His disciples said to him, “Look at this crowd pressing around you. How can you ask, ‘Who touched me?’” But he kept on looking around to see who had done it. Then the frightened woman, trembling at the realization of what had happened to her, came and fell to her knees in front of him and told him what she had done. And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over.”

Mark 5:30-34 NLT

Jesus felt power go out of him and it went to someone who needed it. No one could explain the situation, except for that Fringe Element who fell to her knees before him, “It was I…” Her faith made her well. Peace filled her life. Her suffering was over.

Fringe touching Fringe.