Welcome!

     Well, it's been another year of my life.  It has been a good year, full of many blessings and highlights, foremost of which is the birth of our daughter, Francesca.  The first Christmas was doubly special because on Christmas Day we celebrated her baptism along with our families.  It seems as though every other highlight in this last year has revolved around that beautiful little girl, and I am so thankful for the joy she has brought to our lives.  Each night, whoever puts her to bed reminds her that we love her, and so does God.
     While I can't speak for Russ, when I say those words I make the sign of the cross on her forehead as a reminder of her baptism and as a reminder that she is part of a bigger family of faith - indeed she is a 'citizen with the saints' as Paul says in the second chapter of his letter to the Ephesians in our text for Sunday.
     This text happens to be one of the most radical (at least in my opinion) texts in the Bible because it deals with the nature of Christ's death on the cross and the implications of that death for us who benefit from it. 

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For 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. ~ Ephesians 2.13-14


     'Both groups' here refers to the Jews and the Gentiles of the time; the Jews believed that since they had been chosen by God from before they were somehow more privileged and better than the Gentiles.  They believed that their sign of God's promise with them (circumcision) made those who were uncircumcised could not receive the same blessings and benefits as them.
     It was a terribly bitter rivalry, those Gentiles believing that Christ was for them and not for the Jews, since God has already chosen them.  It is a case of both sides thinking they are equally right, and both sides equally upset with the other. 
    While the players and names have changed, the game remains the same: two opposing sides who can't get along because each thinks they are more right than the other.  This polarized game-playing is how most of our society functions anymore and serves to alienate and separate people more than it does to bring them together.
    This text will bring us together this week - by us I mean the 36,000 youth and adults who will attend the ELCA National Youth Gathering, Citizens with the Saints in New Orleans.  We will come from different places, different backgrounds, different political views.  We will differ in many aspects, but we will be one.  One body of faith held together in Christ Jesus, each of us citizens with all the saints.
     The text from Ephesians makes it clear that no difference any of us perceives is too great for Christ's love to overcome.  His love for us, poured out in the cross, is the agent that breaks down all barriers between people.  The work of the cross is inclusion, so that more and more may know and experience God's grace. 
     In a world where many people have negative feelings about the church, I wonder what we can be doing to further this attitude of radical welcome rather than spreading feelings of judgment and hate?  We are called to be citizens with our brothers and sisters, to welcome all people regardless of any differences, since it is the work of Christ that brings us together. 
     Since Christ has brought us all together, I wonder: who do we still need to welcome?  Who do we need to invite?  From whom do we still feel separated? 
     It is my prayer that as I get older, and as our little girl grows up, that we will be a world of ever more radical welcome, living in the peace that comes from Christ, who has broken down all the barriers for us on the cross.