05-09-21

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHING
May 9, 2021
Scripture: Ephesians 2:19
So now you are no longer strangers and aliens. Rather, you are fellow citizens with God’s people, and you belong to God’s household.

Thought for the Day: Paul was writing to the Christian community in Ephesus, a community full of tension, split apart by both real and fabricated problems. Yet Paul refused to allow such forces to divide a community built on the love of Christ. Though when we hear how there are no longer strangers and aliens, only citizens in God’s kingdom and family members in the household of God, we cannot allow ourselves to play the exception game that so many seek to play. There are too many people who read these words and then begin to explain the anomaly, the special case that does not fit into God’s welcome. They even make it sound really religious and morally upright as they kick a few to the curb. This cannot be a game we play! We cannot even dabble in exclusionary theology. The moment we leave even one behind is the moment we create a theology inconsistent and incompatible with the Jesus story.

Prayer: I want to live with the same grace and kindness that you have always shown, O Merciful God. Let me love others as you have loved them, loving without any exclusionary clause or rule of exception. It won’t be easy, but you have loved me with this kind of love. From it, I will draw strength and inspiration. Amen.

NOTICE SOME CHANGES

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