Making a Home for God

I received a letter today from a member of a church still struggling with the community’s past – a history of racism that is still alive in many ways.  As I read, I was reminded of the words of Ephesians 2:19-21 from Eugene Peterson’s The Message:

You’re no longer strangers or outsiders.  You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone.  God is building a home.  God’s using us all – irrespective of how we got here – in what he is building.  God used the apostles and prophets for the foundation.  Now, God’s using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone that holds all the parts together.

Have you ever felt like the “stranger,” the “outsider” – maybe within the church, at home, or in the community?  I know you have. We have all at some time felt that we don’t fit in for some reason – the way we look, the clothes we wear, our chosen lifestyle – because of the person we are.

When I was a little girl, my family would go to visit my great aunt on Fire Island, NY.  The most exciting part of the trip for me was not seeing the sights of the big city or greeting the family, but parking the car in Manhattan and taking the boat over to the island.  There were no cars allowed there so you had to take everything you needed by boat.  That was a VERY foreign thing to do for a young child from Henry County!

We would be greeted by our relatives at the dock. As soon as we arrived at the house, my cousins, all of whom were a few years older, would drag one of the ottomans into the center of the living room, sit me down on it, and say, “TALK.”  Now, I don’t know why they thought I sounded so funny…but I certainly felt like the outsider in that place.

Whenever we as Christians seriously consider the question of who should be included as full and equal partners, connected with the living God, in our dwelling place, Paul’s words about Christ having “broken down the dividing wall of hostility” ought to move us toward the elimination of various prejudicial barriers.  A Christianity obedient to Christ’s peacemaking life, death, and resurrection must view each and every human being as one for whom Christ died.  Remember Peterson’s words?  We ALL “belong here….God’s using us all – irrespective of how we got here – in what he is building.”

If our lives and our churches are serious about making a home for God, that will always mean making room at the table for all people – including some folks we might not expect.  The Letter to the Ephesians describes a faith community that has become a dwelling place for God’s Spirit.  The images are of reconciliation, peace, inclusion. The church which makes a home for Christ also makes room for the “least of these” in whom Jesus said we would meet him.  Those who once were considered strangers and outsiders will have a place at the table next to us and will change us.

If we make our lives a home for God, with Christ as the cornerstone, we will become partners with God in shaping this world.  We take responsibility for our future, recognizing that the decisions we make every day will either allow God’s dwelling place to be made real on earth or they prevent it.  

“For God so LOVED the WORLD…”

Two words have stood out to me during the last week: “loved” and “world.”  Maybe it’s due to the world situation; maybe it’s because of the people I’ve communicated with and been around; maybe it’s because today is World Cancer Day or because it’s Heart Havens Month; or maybe it’s just where I am in my faith journey.

The word “love” as it is used is not love as an emotion or feeling or concept.  Rather it is love in ACTION; love that is willing to become vulnerable – even to suffering. God’s only son, Jesus, was sent into the world so that EVERYONE who believes can have eternal life. There are no limitations put on God’s love.  It is for the whole world, not a single state or country; not a specific group of people or faith community; not for those who have certain gifts and abilities; but for the entire WORLD.

When Jesus touched lepers, when he healed on the Sabbath, when he ate with those who were outcast from society, when he marched into Jerusalem and confronted the religious leaders, when he did these things and so many more, he became vulnerable to pain and suffering.  That’s what genuine love does. It takes risks.  And it has to start where we are, with the person sitting next to us in church, with the person walking beside you down the sidewalk, with the person living next to you in the community.

When we love one another, we show that we are no longer motivated by fear. You see, fear often holds us back from loving each other.  We fear people who are different from us, so we stereotype them instead of love them.  One of my favorite lines from a movie comes from the film, My Dog Skip. Skip is a Jack Russell Terrier puppy given to a young boy named Willie.  As both of them grow, they learn many of life’s lessons together.  At one point in the movie, Willie’s father is talking to a neighbor who has recently returned from World War I.  The father makes the statement, “Give a man a label and you never really have to get to know him.”  How often do we do that – give people labels so that we do not have to get to know them?  

This past Sunday was Disability Awareness Sunday in the Virginia Conference UMC.  While my church did not recognize this special Sunday, we did celebrate Holy Communion.  I was reminded of how personally meaningful taking part in Communion services was at my home church in the Danville District when Kira Lynn was a server.  We grew up together in the church and at the local swimming pool where I can still remember Kira Lynn trying to teach my mother to swim.  Her father was the doctor that brought me into this world.  There was always something very special to me about being offered the bread or juice by Kira Lynn who, by the way, has Down Syndrome.  It was a living reminder that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ; that our differences don’t matter.  It was a reminder of the gift of God’s unconditional love and acceptance AND the responsibility that comes with it to live our lives according to the example of Jesus.  Each time I received the elements from her, I realized once again that God doesn’t care what we look like, how much money we make, where we live, or how much education we have.  What matters is that we carry the same type of love into our world today that God showed to us in offering Christ for our sins.  

Fear or love? Only you can decide, but the world is waiting.