阅读经文 

在过去12年，当我在一所新成立的教会任牧职时，我曾多次听到一个相同的反馈，都是我从新会友那里听到的。那些没有在教会长大或过去曾被教会里的人拒绝或伤害的人分享说，当他们被邀请来到我们当中时，他们第一次体验到归属感和没有被人非议，他们知道这里有他们参与的机会，这就是他们留下的原因。

外邦人向来都被视为局外人，当他们被邀请参与神为所有人而设立的福音故事时，我在想像他们会有什么感受。保罗在以弗所书提醒他们，他们是神家庭中极重要的成员。神与人和好是一个奇妙的故事，耶稣为所有罪人在十架上的牺牲消除了万族之间的敌意。在十字架前，我们每一个人都是平等的。耶稣在十架上的牺牲赐给我们一个身体，而不是多个身体。这是我们放下彼此的分歧和抓住神的恩典的地方。

很多时候，教会分裂往往是因为我们为自己的喜好去争执不休，而不去考虑神为我们已经预备了怎样的计划。今天是一个好机会，去接触你的邻舍和任何需要知道福音的人。

Over the past 12 years while I have been a pastor in a newly planted church, one story I have heard again and again has come from new members. People who did not grow up in a church or who were rejected or bullied by church people in the past shared that as they were invited into our space, it was the first time they felt they belonged and were not judged. They learned that there was a place for them. It was the reason they stayed.

I wonder how it felt for Gentiles, who had long been treated as outsiders, to be invited into God's story of good news for all peoples. Paul reminds them in Ephesians that they are vital members of God's family. God's story of reconciliation is amazing. Jesus' death on the cross for all sinners has broken down the hostility between all peoples. We are all equal at the cross. Jesus' sacrifice on the cross gave us one body, not many. It is the place where we lay down our differences and pick up God's grace.

Too often in the church we have divided over what is comfortable for us rather than what God offers. Today is a good day to meet your neighbor or anyone who needs to know that the good-news story includes them.