Excellent!

by Sarah Teichmann

"Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection, outdo one another in showing honor.” Romans 12:9-10

When I read this section of Paul’s letter to the Romans there are a few images that jump immediately into my mind. Does that happen to you, too? You read something and some memory or association breaks into your flow of everyday thoughts and it is all but impossible to break the associations made.
So what associations do I make when I read the above passage? Well, one is from the summer of my senior year in high school. I was at a Bible retreat in front of 200-300 other teenagers singing a song that reflected this passage. This image holds meaning for me because it was one of the first times that I felt called into the ministry.

The other association that immediately jumps into my mind may seem a bit strange, but bear with me. When I hear Paul’s words reminding us to love one another mutually and genuinely I can’t help but think of Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. Yes, the zany comedy depicting the wild and well… excellent adventures of two high schoolers breaking through the space time continuum in order to graduate high school and forever change the world. Bill and Ted did not know the adventures they would encounter nor did they know the perils. In fact- they didn’t know much! This is why they were in danger of not graduating from high school. Though they lacked in academic achievement and intellectual perception, Bill and Ted were scholars in the art of friendship, fighting for what was right, and treating others with respect. Let’s not forget how they showed patience, hospitality, and a good time to historical figures like Abraham Lincoln, Ghengis Kahn, Joan of Arc, and Socrates (also affectionately known as “Sow-crates”). Their philosophy, beliefs and actions can be boiled down to the phrase “be excellent to each other and party on dudes!”

As Bill and Ted would say themselves this phrase is an “excellent” and “non-bogus” sentiment. It captures the “most triumphant” essence that Paul was communicating to the early Christians in Rome almost two thousand years before. Genuinely love and “be excellent to each other.” Hate what is evil and “heinous.” Work for what is righteous and “most triumphant” in the eyes of God. You are loved as God’s children, so don’t forget to rejoice in that love and “party on dude!”