What Peculiar People We Are

What is a heritage? And what is this heritage that I want us to reclaim? If Heritage is in the name, both of this Blog and of my upcoming e-zine, it needs some clarification. At least it would be good for me to understand what that means. Then, perhaps I can help you to understand it as well.

My online dictionary gives the following definitions:

A heritage is property that is or may be inherited, an inheritance. These can be valued objects or qualities, such as cultural traditions, unspoiled countryside, and historic buildings that have been passed down from previous generations: the richness of our diverse cultural heritage.

I recall that when my mother died my sister and I were going through her things. This led to a discussion of what my sister wanted of Mother's possessions and what I wanted. One of the things I kept and later passed on to my son was a maplewood table, chairs and hutch. That particular table and chairs have recycled back to us and are now in our vacation home in colorado. I suppose that when my wife and I join the company of the saints, there will be things our children will want to pass on to their children or keep for themselves. In a very real sense, we have started to think of our vacation home as our family heritage.

But going on. In speaking of heritage we can talk about a sense of history, as of a plant variety not hybridized with another. One example of this would be old-fashioned, heritage roses. Why there's even an organization devoted to preserving heritage roses established just twenty years ago. They call themselves the Heritage Rose Foundation.


Finally, the word heritage has a somewhat outmoded and archaic sense to it. It can refer to a special or individual possession or an allotted portion. So the people of Israel were taught to think of themselves as God's chosen people. The basic example of this is recorded in Deuteronomy 7 where Moses tells them that they are a "holy people unto the LORD thy God ...chosen ...to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth." That could get to you, especially if you begin to think of yourselves as better than others. However, the LORD doesn't permit that kind of thinking, especially since He wants them to know He chose them because of the promises He made to their forefather Abraham and because He is a God of grace and love.

Archaic or not, that's what I see this e-zine and this Blog being about. We Christians also consider ourselves to be chosen people, do we not? It was the Apostle Peter himself who called us believers in Christ God's chosen people. The old King James Version translation of the 1 Peter 2 text also says we Christians are a peculiar people. I've often felt that way about Christians. We are a peculiar lot, very peculiar at times. However, I later learned that peculiar in the sense used by the KJV refers to something or someone you have gone out of your way to possess, so it or she is particularly yours and no one else's. Maybe one ought to think of all the trouble, time and money a young man spent in courting his wife. Now they belong to one another and to no one else.

It is this sense of who we are, this sense of being special, chosen and, yes, peculiar that I seek to reclaim in all its ramifications. Once you know that this is your heritage, then many things about how you live, how you see yourself and how you view the world follow.