A Place to Belong. Ephesians 2: Pastor Andy Kinsey. August 28, 2011

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1 A Place to Belong Ephesians 2:11-22 Pastor Andy Kinsey August 28, 2011 You are no longer strangers and outsiders: You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. Prayer of Preparation - Ephesians 2:19 (The Message) O Lord, help us to hear your Word and to share in your work: to welcome those who are searching and to extend your kingdom of faith to those who are seeking to belong to you. In Christ s name, we pray. Amen. The Message I don t know if there are any fans of The Andy Griffith Show here, but if there are you may remember the episode where the Women s Historical Society had discovered that a living descendant of a Revolutionary War hero was living right there in Mayberry. The news generated excitement and curiosity throughout the town as people made plans to recognize the hero s relative. But there was a problem: Barney Fife had twisted his own family tree to the point that he put himself in line for the honor. The rest of the townspeople felt special because someone among them was related to the hero. And so, you can only imagine how shocked everyone was when the news finally came: a careful analysis of the records revealed that the hero s descendant was not Barney Fife, but Otis Campbell, the town drunk! Despite instructions to find a substitute Otis for the presentation, the real Otis showed up for the ceremony. When the Women s Historical Society gave Otis the plaque which they had engraved especially for him, he gave the plaque to the town. He said, Just because you are the descendant of a hero doesn t make you one. So I would like to

2 present this plaque to the town of Mayberry, to which I am just proud to belong. /1/ A Place to Belong It s what we have been sharing over the last few weeks: beginning with Pastor Jenothy s sermon on the search to belong and moving toward the need to belong and then looking at the adventure God invites us to take in prayer we have discovered that there is within us a strong inner desire to belong. When God created us, God created us to belong, one to another: to relate to and to respond to each other. God has given to us a kind of an inner honing device that leads us toward finding true peace and fulfillment with others, and when that honing device fails, we often find ourselves in trouble, or cut off from God s purposes in our lives (Eph. 2:11-12). We often find ourselves lonely, isolated, and separated, not only from God but from each other. A breakdown can occur personally, socially, and spiritually. Living amidst Breakdown When I say a breakdown occurs I am referring to the ways in which we as persons can become disconnected from each other, or detached from the wisdom of the past, or disillusioned about the present. I am talking about the breakdowns we see in families and communities and nations in which we seem to lose the ability to address problems and provide healthy solutions. Therefore, I don t think I am stretching it too far when I say that the breakdowns we are currently experiencing in our culture reveal what can happen when we no longer belong to or participate in a community that can provide us with a sense of stability and identity, with a sense of purpose: without being earthed or grounded in a community or family that knows who we are, we can literally become, as Paul says to the Ephesians, tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine or trend that comes along (Eph. 4:14). 2

3 Tossed to and fro : I am not talking here about the latest religious trend or political current: I am simply suggesting how we all can be tossed to and fro by what happens in our own homes: whether it s by staying glued to the television, or remaining isolated in our cars driving to and from work, there are few places left in our society where we can actually meet as neighbors, where everybody may actually know our names (as they used to say on Cheers)./2/ It s why I believe the church has a vital role to play: though it is no longer the center of American culture, the church still has a very important mission to carry out with respect to the way it can help people to belong, to connect. The church is still one of the few places left that has the spiritual and moral resources to build the kinds of bridges that are needed to deal with the challenges of breakdown. When Sandra Brown and David Clendening speak about the challenges they face as administrators, they are speaking about these very challenges: how do we find ways of helping children and families and schools and communities connect amidst the problems so many seem to be experiencing: neglect, loneliness, poverty, abuse, addiction, to name a few. As one who is married to a teacher, I believe I can share with you that there is more to teaching today than learning how to read and write: there is a recognition that too many children are growing up without a strong sense of support at home, without meaningful connections, without a sense of belonging. Was it was John Lennon and Paul McCartney who captured our age when they sang: All the lonely people; where do they all come from?; where do they all belong? And if Lennon and McCartney don t float your boat, do you remember what Hank Williams sang? I m so lonesome I could cry! Forgive me if I sound too critical here, but the longings of these artists, while varied, are only indicative of the longings of a wider culture that are not going to be filled by shopping at the Greenwood Mall or surfing the internet! 3

4 The problem goes deeper than that! Without the depth of a common life, that is, without a community that cares for you and grounds you, there can be no depth in life. And without depth in life, we can become as tumbleweed, unattached, blowing in the wind. No More Walls of Isolation It s the message the apostle Paul is sharing in our passage with the Ephesians: in this remarkable scripture Paul paints a picture of a community with the kind of depth that will keep you grounded forever! In this passage, we read how Christ, on the cross, has torn down the wall that used to keep Jews and Gentiles at a distance, isolated from each other, separated by centuries of suspicion and hatred (2:15)./3/ In this passage, we read how Christ, through the Spirit, has brought together insiders and outsiders into a new community, and how he has opened up access to God for both groups (2:18). And not only for both of these groups, but for all groups: all of us as God s children have access to the one true God, united together as family, as church, because of Christ s atoning work on the cross (2:21)! Those who were once out of it are now altogether in it on everything! And those who were once strangers are now next of kin! And those who were prodigal and wasteful and lost are now forgiven and welcomed home! Why? Because in Christ there is the discovery we belong here: in Christ we belong in this place! It doesn t matter how we got here whether we came early as a child or late as an adult, or whether we came with an education or without an education, or whether we came with a family or without a family, or whether we come from a church or no-church : in Christ we all now have a new family, and in Christ we all now have a new home (2:22)! Was it Robert Frost who, in one of his famous poems, said that home is that place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in? He was sharing about the depths of home : that place where, by virtue of belonging, we can become who God created us to become. 4

5 That s one of main ingredients of any true community: belonging must lead to becoming./4/ That s simply a technical way of saying that if Christ s church is to be that community where, when you go there, it has to take you in, then it also needs to be that place that receives you for who you are with the knowledge of who you can become! It s what we communicate when we share in baptism and celebrate in Holy Communion: God s forgiving grace is given to us in the hope that, in being brought into the church, we will become more than we ever dreamed or imagined (Eph. 3:20)! We will become the children God created us to be! Belonging to the Alternative That s simply another way at getting at what it means to belong, of getting to the point of it all: - That as folks search for identity, asking questions like Who am I? we as Christians can share with them the truth that each person is a beloved child of God, adopted into his family grace. - That as people look for a larger story to live by, asking How does it all fit together? we as Christ s church can share how God created this world and continues to love it to the end. - That, as people seek love amidst all the lonely yearning about To whom do I belong? and Whom can I trust we as God s people can offer the gift of the truth that we all truly belong to God. - That as folks wonder how to live as disciples we can demonstrate a way of life that gives direction to our use of money and time, for our church and families, for our schools and businesses, for our responsibilities and priorities and show others how there are ways to live with purpose that the world simply can t see. 5

6 - That as persons come to ask about meaning in life we can share how we have discovered that meaning by glorifying God and giving our lives to Christ in service to others. - And that as persons strive to find hope and courage in the world that doesn t provide much hope and courage we as Christians can share how we continue to trust in the day when God will wipe away all the tears and evil will be no more./5/ These are only some of the gifts we can offer when folks seek out what it means to belong. They reflect only some of the gifts we can receive when we take part in that family that knows us by name. And they are only some of the gifts we all can celebrate as we find that place where we all can say prayerfully and hopefully that it s good just to belong. Amen. Notes 1. Thanks to William B. Kincaid, III for this illustration. Go to for more information. 2. See Thomas H. Naylor, William H. Willimon & Magdalena R. Naylor, The Search for Meaning (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1994), p. 137ff. 3. See Eugene Peterson, The Message (Colorado Springs: Nav Press, 2002), p Jean Vanier, Community and Growth (New York: Paulist Press, Second Revised Edition, 1989), p. 23. Vanier s main argument is that without the gift of belonging becoming is impossible. 5. See Marva Dawn and Eugene Peterson, The Unnecessary Pastor: Rediscovering the Call (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing, 2000), pp Thanks to Marva Dawn for these insights. 6