Room With Christ

11So then, remember that at one time you Gentiles by birth, called “the uncircumcision” by those who are called “the circumcision” —a physical circumcision made in the flesh by human hands—

12remember that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

13But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

14For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. 15He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, 16and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it.

17So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near;

18for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father.

19So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God,

20built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.

21In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; 22in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.

Pasted from <http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Ephesians+2:11-22&vnum=yes&version=nrsv>

I met a gentleman a few years ago, wonderfully patient, helpful, he could be described as an all around nice guy. He had a serious issue. He was an illegal alien. He worked hard under an assumed name and social security number, yes in fact he was paying taxes yet lived in a constant fear of being deported.

I knew another person a woman who faithfully attended church and took care of her family. She was living in the U.S. under a traveling visa and has been living here in the states for many years now. She can't get a job because of the fear that she will be deported because all that immigration needs to see is you name on their desk to send you home. Her children are born citizens of the US and her husband is in the country on a working visa.

It doesn't take long, not more than 30 minutes on Fox news and then another 30 minutes on MSNBC and you find out very quickly how divided our society is on the issue of immigration. The news is rife with damaging polemics and arguments about state verses federal rights over the issue of immigration. Almost everyone has strong opinions on immigration but almost no one has solutions, as a song written by the band Genesis states "too many people, making too many problems, and there's not much love to go around." On this issue alone people make their decisions not based upon individuals and relationships but on policy and perceived threat. Immigration is an issue that divides and causes problems in every strata of our society.

In our scripture selection from Ephesians Paul is dealing with issues that divide the Ephesian church. Paul is not dealing with something small like division over what side of the church you sit on, or the color of the sanctuary carpet (even though that has divided more churches than we like to think). Paul is talking about the relationship that we now have in Christ and the division that is caused with our citizenship of the nation. Paul alludes to the fact that the "state" can't give us peace only Christ can.

In Paul's day the issue of citizenship was just as divisive as it is today albeit in different manners. Today we are arguing about illegal aliens, in Paul's day it was about protection of the law and the peace that the law promised. The problem was, as the Ephesian church well knew, the peace that Rome offered wasn't true peace. The peace that Rome offered was enforced with a strong hand with no consideration for the person. It was a "peace" of stability, not a peace that was real in the manner that we think of peace. It was enforced by crucifixion and Paul points to the fact that one they crucified in the name of peace is the one that truly brings peace by inclusion into the community and family of God.

Paul's idea of peace through God was, and is, revolutionary. In our context today it means deciding the political issue of immigration not based on our racism and perceived "needs" but on the fact that that young man or woman is a child of God and as such is part of the household of God and of faith.

When we put this issues into the frame work of Christian community as Paul does. We realize that Christ has brought "those people" "near by the blood of Christ." Eph 13. That in its essence Christ has abolished laws and commandments to make room for us within the community and that we should do the same to make room for others.

The story of our faith is one that we constantly need to struggle against the expectations of our society so that we can make room for people in our faith, in our church, and in our society. In 1956 The United Methodist Church voted to ordain women creating a space within the community recognizing the faithful work of women in the ministry. In 1969 with the merger of the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren we see the work being done for the full inclusion of African Americans within the life and work of the church. These issues are not done with but they are examples of living out the peace of God that has broken down barriers among us providing a place for all. More importantly we see this principle lived out in the actions of Christ. Who was seen and participated in community with people who were deemed unclean like the prostitutes, backwards like the Samaritan woman, or beyond redemption like the thief on the cross who Christ promises will be with him in paradise.

The application for our scripture today is as real as it is hard. It is easy for us to talk of inclusion usually we talk about it as talking about those who we already include. We don't have a problem with racism because we have a lot of black people within the congregation, yet if a known illegal alien were here in the congregation how would we react. We don't have a problem with sexism, we've had a women pastor, but bring in someone that’s homosexual just to sit in the church and well see what a difference that makes. Creating space in our church and in our lives is hard work. Voting for officials is hard when we start to realized that no one treats immigrants as people just as numbers on a page or worst yet dollar signs.

The place to start is with small steps make room in your life for someone different than yourself. Open yourself up to see a different opinion, or view with criticizing it or automatically saying its wrong. As Christ made space for you seek to make space for others. Amen