“You Belong” Psalm 24; Ephesians 3: 1-14
“Kia Ora” is the way one greets another person in the traditional Māori language of New Zealand. In general, it means, “Hello.” But there’s a deeper meaning. It acknowledges a welcome to the whole person—where they come from and especially who they come from. It is a welcoming hello to a person as well as a blessing that sees both the physical and spiritual aspects of the person. This a custom shared across many faiths and cultures. In high church they begin with, “The Lord be with you,” to which the congregation responds, “And also with you.” In Arabic, whether religious or social, the phrase is “As-Salaam-Alaikum,” meaning, “Peace be upon you.” In Jewish tradition, it is “Shalom Aleichem.” And here, we usually say, “Howdy, y’all!” Different cultures, similar greeting.
Each of these greetings communicate a welcome that speaks to the physical presence of the person as well as the spiritual aspect to the person. And all of them communicate something beyond simply saying welcome—it’s a sense that you belong to the community. Paul wrote in our Epistle for today about such a sense of belonging. In the early days of faith, it was generally believed that following Jesus was open to Jewish people, and not necessarily Gentiles. In order to properly follow Jesus, Gentiles must convert to Judaism, be circumcised, then find Christ. It was a long and difficult process that did not go straight to Jesus but took a roundabout road. Paul challenged that notion with an expansive idea of belonging and welcome.
Paul writes, “And this is God’s plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children.” He goes on to write that essentially both belong to Christ equally, in the same way. This was an incredibly challenging idea to the more Jewish-oriented members of faith and astounding to Gentiles who were always considered outsiders. But Paul was a big advocate of people coming directly and personally to God. He wrote over and over again of this sense of belonging to God’s family, children of God, heirs of God. Paul’s understanding of Christ was personal, relational, and intimate in the way a close and trusted family member would be.
The church should practice this same sense of welcome and belonging. Our mission and work should reflect what Paul writes here. We should usher folks “boldly and confidently into God’s presence.” When I was in Danville, Kentucky, I played a couple of services for a local church which shall remain nameless. It was not the Disciples of Christ church, so don’t worry. I asked one of the townspeople I was friends with to describe this church. Her response was a smile and to say, “It’s one of the nicest country clubs we’ve got.” That’s not what church was intended to be. Paul reminds us that God’s purpose in everything was that the church display God’s wisdom. But the church should also display that hello, welcome, and convey the idea that you belong.
The reason for it is found in the Psalm. The words of our hymn, “This Is My Father’s World” are echoed in Psalm 24…”The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to God.” We belong here because the Creator created us, fashioned us, and placed us here in the world to belong. If people feel like they don’t belong at church, in our presence, or in this world, then we have failed at one of our most basic callings from God. The Good News was not meant to be guarded or limited. Paul teaches of God’s plan that the Good News should be expansively told and the House of God to extend a wide welcome telling all—Gentile and Jew—and everyone alike, “You belong.”
The truth is you and I belong here not because of a human invitation, or membership policy, or conversion letter. We belong because the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it—and God has created it all. I feel like we could have done without wasps and cockroaches, but I guess they’re God’s little critters too. The church is the very representative of God’s welcome and belonging here on earth. Sometimes we struggle with people who are different, but I imagine the admission of Gentiles was a hard pill to swallow for the Jewish churches in Paul’s day. Yet God gave a mission and a calling that included both.
Many believe Paul wrote this letter from prison as he references trials and suffering. His plea from captivity was that the church would not be factious and contentious separated by Jew and Gentile as well as other factions. He encouraged them to be THE church, perhaps different in practice and style, but united in Christ as the head and foundation. Though Paul respected the diversity of Corinth, Ephesus, Jerusalem, and Galatia, he called on them to understand that there were not different Jesuses, different churches, different organizations. There was neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, woman nor man, for all are one in Christ. There is THE church and THE faith to which we belong.
Paul’s pleas are echoed in another letter from jail. In May of 1963, at a time when racial strife was at its peak in the United States, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote his famous “Letters from a Birmingham Jail.” His words draw on the theme penned by Paul centuries earlier. Dr. King wrote, “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly....Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.” His meaning is clear and unambiguous—you belong. I think American educator Edwin Markham sums it up nicely in his poem, “He drew a circle that shut me out- Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout. But love and I had the wit to win: We drew a circle and took him in!”
One of my favorite things about New Zealand was the work being done to bring some harmony and mutuality between the indigenous Māori people and the English settlers. For several years, there has been a concerted effort to use both the English word as well as the Māori word for different things. Streets, cities, trash bins, everything with a label has both languages on it to offer that sense of mutuality and understanding between the two cultures. It’s a testimony of how two very different peoples can live, work, and exist together in a relatively small space on the island.
Paul understood how important this was. He worked hard to connect with the different peoples and cultures to whom he told the Good News of God’s love. He made himself part of the family and fabric of the places he went. He adapted and conformed to make the Good News understandable and relatable without compromising the truth. It was never about Saul the former Jewish Pharisee telling this story of a Jew named Jesus whom they killed. It was about Paul, the Apostle, telling the Good News of love, welcome, and grace found in the person of Jesus and the hope of a risen Savior who welcomed Jew and Gentile, white and black, poor and rich, native or immigrant, all peoples everywhere. And we are given that same calling as Paul the Apostle, to tell the Good News of a Savior who offers love, grace, and hope to everyone.
The church must be about the work of sharing the Good News, no matter to whom, what background, or where they came from or presently find themselves. The Good News is for every single person on the planet. It is our mission to usher people boldly and confidently into God’s presence and to leave them filled with hope and welcome in a church designed for all. So, Kia Ora. You belong here.
Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/809124414620159