Eph 2:19-22 / Lk 6:12-16
Alienation is not a new problem. From the beginning of time, people have found themselves feeling like aliens and strangers, sometimes even in their own land and in their own homes. Attila the Hun had a knack for making the Romans feel like strangers in their own town. Genghis Khan was an expert at turning people into strangers, and so were Hitler and Stalin. Though no one did it to them, our first-generation immigrant ancestors knew the bitter uncertainty of never quite fitting in after they left their homelands and came to America.
The problem of alienation isn’t limited just to immigrants and the victims of conquerors. It’s a part of many people’s lives in every age, and it’s a problem now: People feeling like outsiders, feeling alone and disconnected from the mainstream of their own culture, which seems to have gotten up and walked away from them. A sad sense of confusion, futility, and uselessness fills many hearts.
In this complex, rapidly-changing culture of ours, that terrible malaise can afflict any one of us, and it can be crushing if we’ve lost our compass by letting ourselves get disconnected from Christ. He is the one who speaks for our Father and helps us to remember who we are — not aliens and strangers, but much beloved sons and daughters, and heirs, who have a future that’s only begun to unfold.
So stay connected to him, and you’ll always remember who you are. Stay connected to him, and you’ll never doubt that you have a very special place in God’s world.
