St Thomas, Apostle

"You are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone." Eph 2: 19-20

Being a stranger in your own country, church or home is very difficult, and yet that is what happened to the earliest believers in Jesus. Excluded from the synagogue after the destruction of the temple when they refused to reject their belief in Jesus, the first Christians were lost, confused, and hurt. There is good evidence that they very much wanted to remain within the Jewish community and even take leadership roles, but their commitment to Jesus made this impossible, and this is why Paul, who knew this hurt himself, insists that belief in Jesus was enough for them to think of themselves as "members of the household of God."

Belonging is so central to our identity. Unless we belong to a family, a tribe, a nation or a religious tradition, we can easily get lost. How important it is to have friends and family with whom to talk over problems and share joys! How awful when we feel alone in the middle of a crowd. We can thank St Paul for recognizing and addressing this concern for the first Christians. Never forgetting how essential his Jewish roots were to his understanding of God's plan, Paul formulates a theology and spirituality for the earliest Christians that allowed them to develop as believers despite the loss they felt in being excluded from the synagogue.

Today, thank God for belonging to Christ in the church.

What most helps you have a sense of belonging to Christ and the church?