Recently we were watching a drama where two of the characters spent a day together riding in a pickup truck. The conversation and their interactions made it clear both guys were displaced by society. Misfits as it were. As they departed one of men said to the other, "I'll see you on the fringes".
I found that parting comment striking. Almost immediately I thought about the places where Christ spent so much of his time. From the first miracle where he hung back at the wedding it seems Christ was most inclined to dwell on the fringes.
He could have been a people pleaser and maintained close relationships with the leaders of his day. Instead he was calling Zacchaeus down from a tree or he was healing the woman with the issue of blood who dared just to touch the hem of his garment or he was speaking to the woman at the well. Even at the end his last conversation was with a convict hanging by his side on a cross. Time and time again, he took care of those out on the boundry line. It seems to me often the center of the action is out on the edge.
Stone or forgive? Curse or engage? Condemn or bring healing? Love the misfit. Love someone not like you.
Hanging out on the fringes can be a bit different. There is none of the popular opinion that eminates from the center about politics and religion. There are no cute graphics signs to post on facebook. You can not simply chant the latest theme from your megachurch. There likely is not even a good bumper sticker to demonstrate you have the correct thoughts on some matter.
What's left? People...all kinds of people. It's a place where you build community one relationship at a time. It is a place to have real and true conversations.
I'll see you on the fringes.