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.