I am preaching at our church in Ossian on Sunday and very much looking forward to it. The text I was assigned (I really do like being assigned a text as opposed to being left to my own devices to choose one) is 1 Peter 2:9-17. My sermon will be the middle sermon of a three-part series on “Seeking God’s Best for the Places we Call Home.”  This past Sunday our pastor preached on “God’s Best for our Community.” Next week a visiting missionary will talk about “God’s Best for the World.” My topic is “God’s Best for our Nation.” Yes, it fits well with July 5 and the semiquincentennial (I may even say that word in the sermon – our pastor said it Sunday) of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Oh, there will be a tiny bit of red, white, and blue in the sermon, but the point that comes from the 1 Peter text is that we Christians, while citizens of various earthly nations, are called to be a different kind of nation, “God’s holy nation,” Peter says. Unlike Rome’s goal to spread Caesar’s rule, our nation’s purpose is to “proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9)

The word translated “proclaim” in many English versions (“declare” in the NIV) has a definite sense of a spoken word. So, yes, Christians, citizens of the Holy Nation, are to speak about the marvelous light into which we have been called. But rather than offering us a script or a pamphlet with four spiritual laws or three silly circles, Peter suggests living in such a good and free way as to show others the excellencies of life in the Holy Nation. We’ll be mocked and belittled for our naivete along the way, but in the end, many will thank God for what they saw in us.

There is absolutely no doubt that evangelism, sharing the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light, requires words. We Christians, especially we Presbyterian Christians, would do well to open our mouths a little more often.  But according to Peter, all Christians would do well to adopt the Indiana model of evangelism.

You know the Indiana model, don’t you? The Wall Street Journal recently carried a piece about the experience in the United States being had by World Cup visitors. In it the author quotes a German tourist who made it to Indiana along her way from venue to venue, “Indiana is exactly how I dreamed America would be,” she said. “Small towns, wide open spaces, cornfields, barns, cute houses, diners, water towers, friendly people, great food, American flags everywhere, and so much more! … Thank you, Indiana!”

Saint Peter did not know what a Hoosier is, but he recommends our way of life as a model for showing the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. Maybe not cornfields, barns, cute houses, diners, and water towers, but the holy nation is to be marked by friendly people and so much more.

According to Peter, the Indiana model will bring others to give glory to God on the day of his visitation (1 Peter 2:12).

That German tourist has it right:  Thank you, Indiana!

And happy Semiquincentennial.