July 18, 2021
St. John’s United Church of Christ, Union, Illinois
Ephesians 2:11-22[1]
The early church began losing its vision. Paul had started churches all over
The author of Ephesians has an idea of what to do next. This letter was probably written soon after
Paul died by one of the early Christians writing in Paul’s name. The letter to
the church in Ephesus was circulated to other churches as well. In that letter, the author redefines the
purpose of the church. Paul had
established churches with the idea that the end was coming soon. They were to be an apocalyptic group,
withdrawn from the world, waiting for the end.
Sounds a little like a cult. Ephesians
gives the church a new vision and a new mission. The church is redefined as the body of
Christ, the fulfillment of God’s promises to
In this new vision, the concept of who is, and is not, a
member of the community must be re-imagined.
Paul had already convinced the other leaders of the church – Peter,
James, the apostles – that the Greeks, the Gentiles, could join this Jewish
religious movement. Yet they were
treated as second-class citizens. The
Jewish Christians held their physical marking, circumcision, as the symbol of
true membership. The Jews knew that they
were members of the
Things are not so different today. We are constantly tempted to focus on what
divides us – the Muslims and the Jews; Catholic, Evangelical, and the Old Main
Line; the rich and the poor, women and men, the red states and the blue states,
gay and straight, white and black. It is
so easy to fall into “us” versus “them”, to focus on who is “out” and who is
“in”. By our words and our deeds we
exclude others, we exile people from our community. And to be excluded from the community is like
being condemned. The Greek word “Ghenna”, which is translated “hell” in
the New Testament, was the word used for the place outside the walls of the
city where the garbage was dumped, the place where the outcasts were
exiled. To be in hell is to be tossed
out with the trash.
The early church was divided. The Jewish Christians had the laws and the
commandments that they used to push the Gentiles away, to exclude them from the
community. It stinks to be treated like
an outsider. When you are left out, kept
out, pushed aside, how do you feel? Do
you feel resentment, bitterness, hostility?
The Gentile Christians did.
In his gospel, Luke tells us that a lawyer once asked Jesus,
“Who is my neighbor?”[6] Jesus replied with a story about a Samaritan,
someone who would definitely have been seen as an outsider by the Jewish
community. Using that story Jesus
redefines the meaning of neighbor. You
think that person over there is an outsider, a stranger, an enemy? That person is your neighbor, a child of God,
a member of your heavenly family!
So the author of Ephesians wrote to the churches, to the
saints who are faithful in Christ Jesus, to remind them that Christ came to
reconcile us to God, to reconcile both groups in one body through the cross, to
create in Christ one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace. One new humanity. One community of God. This is a new definition of community, a
community that is joined together in Christ, where there are no more outsiders,
only insiders.
In the midst of this community dwells God, God who has a plan,
“a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in [Christ], things
in heaven and things on earth.”[7] God gathers all things, not some
things, not some people only. In this
new vision, there are no more outsiders.
There is no room in this vision for
What does this mean for us today? What does a community look like that will not
exclude? What does it mean to be God’s
dwelling place, and to gather up all
things, all people, in Christ?
A story I read many years ago in Newsweek, back when it was
still a print magazine, featured the “Giving Back Awards.” The article told the stories of fifteen
people who had gone out of their way to help others. One of the people featured was Mona
Purdy. The article said that “When
vacationing in Guatemala in 1999, Purdy, a hairdresser from Illinois, noticed
children coating their feet in tar to
be able to run in a local race.”[10] Now, she was on vacation. This wasn’t her community; she was a
stranger, an outsider. Besides, what
could she do?
“She went home and began to collect shoes. Today, her nonprofit, Share Your Soles, has branches in 13 states and sends shoes around
the world. ‘I always thought I was too
busy to help others,’ she said. ‘Then I started this and found myself wondering
where I’d been all my life.’”[11] Mona redefined her community so that it
included those children in
In this church we seek to be a welcoming Christian
community, with open hearts and open minds.
Our definition of community includes Gahan, where Debbie and Larry
Colvin have served as missionaries for the past three years. Our community includes Cambodia, where our
giving through Our Church’s Wider Mission is helping people living in poverty
create sustainable and safe futures for themselves and their families. Our community includes Northern Illinois,
where our work with the Food Bank helped hundreds of people to put food on
their tables. Our community includes the
young people who learned music and performed a concert here just a week ago. And our community includes the people sitting
in the pews next to us, members of the household of God and citizens with the
saints.
As Christians we are challenged to see all people as members of the household of God. All
people are part of our family, heirs of the promise of salvation. As we go about our daily lives, let us strive
to include others in our community, to reach out to those who are different
from us, and welcome because they are members of our family, God’s household.
We belong to God. God
bought us with the cross. Through Christ
we are members of God’s family. God’s
family includes children of every race and every song. God’s family includes the refugee, the
hungry, the poor and oppressed. God’s
family includes you and me. Let our
currency be love, and kindliness our law, so that we may help to usher in God’s
realm of peace forevermore. Amen.
[1] The
scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard
Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of
the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[2] J.
Christiaan Beker, Heirs of Paul: Their
Legacy in the New Testament and the Church Today (Grand Rapids, MI: William
B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1996), 124.
[3] 1
Thessalonians 4:16-17 (selected).
[4]
Beker, 90.
[5]
Ephesians 2:19, 21-22 (selected).
[6]
Luke 10:29.
[7]
Ephesians 1:10.
[8]
Beker, 90.
[9]
Ephesians, 2:19.
[10]
Alice-Azania Jarvis, “The Giving Back Awards: Reader’s Choice” in Newsweek (July 3/ July 10, 2006, Volume
CXLVIII, No. 1/ 2), 64.
[11] Ibid.
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