SAUCIER — Ears have not heard

We went to church with our son and his family.

Theirs is a young, vibrant community, but their worship space has the acoustics of an airport terminal.

Coupled with my diminished hearing, it’s a persistent problem.

The song leader announced the opening hymn, and my imagination filled in the auditory gaps.

I turned to my wife and asked incredulously, “O God, We Are So Crazy?”

“No,” she whispered in a common correction, “it’s, ‘O God Beyond All Praising.’”

I opened my hymnal and dutifully sang along, but somehow my mistaken title got lodged in my consciousness like an irritant splinter.

I thought about it later. “O God, We Are So Crazy” would not be an inappropriate title for a lyrical reminder of who we, as Christians, follow and whose teachings we profess.

It is a faith that is at least a little crazy, in that is not particularly logical, conventional or transactional.

In the end, we may get our just desserts, but there are countless examples of those whose desserts are far sweeter than what they deserve.

Our story begins in a holy book, a meandering history of belief that goes back to Creation, where mankind was first formed in the image of God and then goes on to commit every ungodly act one can imagine.

A long line of heroes that include murderers, adulterers, cowards, drunks and prostitutes nourish and carry our faith to the feet of the long-awaited One, the Messiah who will conquer with justice and set the world aright.

He chose a motley band of disciples to further his work, young men who longed for something more than the hard work of hauling nets, or the tedium of a trade.

These were the “the chosen” who would misunderstand him, flee from him and deny him.

He set the Gallilean world on fire with the marvel of miracles and impenetrable parables.

He entered Jerusalem to the shouts of joyful throngs but then died abandoned on a cross.

He taught that we should love our enemy, turn the other cheek when struck, and practice forgiveness “seventy times seven,” when one assumes that it has become reflexive and routine.

He championed new terms of judgement based on who we loved by feeding, clothing and befriending, rather than who we did not kill or covet.

He invited us to take up our cross and pay the price for the Kingdom pass.

So, as Paul suggests, are we crazy or what?