Where Are We? – May 2nd

"I am a foreigner and stranger among you."
Genesis 23:4

THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO, there was a moment when an old man mourned the death of his wife. He had no property, and no place to bury her. “I am a foreigner and stranger among you,” said Abraham to his Hittite neighbors in the land of Canaan. This was long before Israel was a nation, before the exodus from Egypt, wandering in the desert, or conquest of the “promised land.” This was an older and portentous moment: Abraham wept when Sarah’s earthly journey was over, but God’s chosen father of many nations had still not reached home. Promises lay ahead, but Abraham was still a foreigner and stranger. Among friendly neighbors, he was at least offered the land he needed to bury his wife. But Abraham’s acknowledgement of where he was – and where he was not, yet – becomes a paradigm for God’s people across this earth, including you and me.

WHERE ARE WE? This is an existential question. The answer depends largely on feelings of belonging or estrangement. It could be related to a certain place, or to a certain time. Some feel they are at home. Others feel they are somewhere they do not belong. They are lost, they are running, or they are passing through on their way somewhere else.

OUR SPIRITUAL ANCESTORS in the Old Testament lived with a tension between belonging and detachment. Over and over again, God reminded them of their story and their status, in relation to land, ownership, identity, and how they would treat foreigners and strangers among them. In the New Testament, the theme continues; we are told to identify as “foreigners and exiles,” while here on earth, promised “citizenship in heaven,” when our time here is finished.

I HAVE KNOWN THIS BIBLICAL THEME for many years. The concept of “traveling through,” is woven into the fabric of life as a Christ follower, and also for life as a community of Christians. But this strand of truth gradually unravels, if I surrender too much to a longing for deep roots, or a desire to feel as if I have finally “arrived”.  Recently, a very familiar symbol of faith has come more sharply into focus as a signpost, to remind and warn me as a Christ follower, I am still a “foreigner and stranger.” The cup and loaf we share have their origins in this. I now recognize another dimension to the CROSS, in addition to all it meant before.

Q: How does Jesus’s crucifixion shape this identity?
Q: What does this mean for us as individuals, or for us as a congregation? Where are we?

YOUNG CHURCH

• Godly Play: The Crosses
• Big Kids: ZOOM Meeting at 11:20 am on Sunday

BEYOND SUNDAY

• Four separate Small Groups meet via ZOOM on a regular basis – “Guys Group”; “Group With No Name”; “Crown Hill Group”; “POD-19”; email office@emmausroad.net for info
• New Horizons Dinner – sponsored every first Wednesday; email office@emmausroad.net for info.