One of the realities I've noticed in the past years of living in a community which is intent on living out the life of the Kingdom is that people who don't consider themselves part of the community tend to form all sorts of perceptions about us. These perceptions range from those which look at us with great admiration as if we're exalted heroes of the faith to those which perceive us to be the disdainful freaks we admittedly sometimes make ourselves to look like.

Either way, there'll inevitably be a time when living within intimate Trinitarian communities (like the early church did) begins to invoke a social cost. Those who previously exalted you get disappointed at just how human you can be after all, and those who previously looked at you with disdain simply persist in this rhythm of perception.

What should one do? Go around explaining to everyone what it means to live the Kingdom life, what it means to stand on the side of the marginalised (or even what the term "marginalised" actually means), and what it has cost us who have chosen to embrace this life? And then they'll just be convinced and let us work out our convictions in peace? And if we're lucky, we'll get their blessings too? One can only wish it were that simple.

Some realities about the Kingdom life can only be understood when they're lived out. They can't be adequately explained when people demand an explanation or justification for what we're doing or who we're trying to be. Conviction grows when we've tasted these realities and we know them to be true even if we have no adequate words to use in attempting to describe them.

So we keep living out the dream anyway - because we know of no higher way.