Foreigners

¹¹ Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.-Colossians 3:11


For the last few months we've been getting weekly bulletin inserts at church called "Taking Faith Home."  They consist of daily bible readings, suggested prayers for the week, discussions, devotion ideas and ideas for serving and bringing new rituals and traditions into the home.  It is truly a wonderful tool and I have been trying to make a habit of taking them home and using them all week, but... well... you know how hard it is to form new good habits.


But I happened to remember this morning that I have one in my purse, so I decided to look over it.  What a wonderful theme for this week!... foreigners in the faith.  In the daily readings we find Jesus healing foreigners, the healing of Naaman in the Old Testament, the door being open to Gentiles in the book of Acts, and Psalm 87 which is about foreigners praising God.


I appreciate this theme because in my life I have often been a stranger or foreigner.  Born in Canada, I moved to South Florida when I was 10.  It was difficult adjusting to the speaking accent and way of life of new people in a new home.  After marriage, I traveled a little with Richard in the military and was often a stranger in a new town looking for work.  


Finally, we settled in Lincolnton, North Carolina.  If you've ever moved into a small town from somewhere else, you know that you are always, no matter how long you live there, a little bit of a foreigner.  It's not that people are unfriendly and friends are definitely fully accepting; but when conversation turns to "the good old days" or "whatever happened to so-and-so from high school" there is a real feeling of disconnection and being a foreigner.


How comforting the invitation of Jesus is!  None of us are foreigners in his sight!  He accepts even my accent that is a confusing cluster of Canadian, Floridian and North Carolinian tones.  He doesn't care that I didn't grow up knowing him, but rejoices that I know him now and makes no distinction from me, a late-comer, from the one who knew him from their mother's knee.


It is in Christ that each of us has our one true home.


Lord Jesus,
Thank you for your invitation that is open to every person on earth.  Amen.


Joys:  Using my lunch to walk the walking trail at the hospital; milder weather; remembering to use my "Taking Faith Home" insert.