Our True Home
Scripture Reading — 1 Peter 2:1-10
You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.
A friend of mine, born in South Korea, now lives in California. One day he told me he considers himself a “misfit.” I protested, pointing out his trendy phone, hip jeans, and cultural lingo. “You fit,” I protested. He nodded but said, “All immigrants are ‘misfits.’”
Baptism reminds us that in some ways each believer is a kind of “foreigner” in this world. Our heart and soul are only truly at home in God. Even so, our Lord is always with us!
In a divided world where politics and nationality try to define our identity, baptized people belong first of all to the group Jesus “calls out” to be his church. This new community spans all times and places; it includes “misfits” from every continent and language. In this community people who are typically pushed to the side or kept on the margin—immigrants, aliens, and people stuck in poverty—find a new expression of their humanity and belonging. Baptism joins slave and free, male and female, American and Canadian, Korean and Japanese, Russian and German, Nigerian and Honduran into one family.
Augustine, a wise Christian who deeply loved his country, said, “Christ is the true country.” In Jesus we really belong.
Are you a citizen of Christ’s kingdom?
Father, your baptism makes us live for Jesus. In the daz-zling array of nations, help us to see people of all nation-alities as our fellow citizens. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
About the author — Kevin Adams
Dr. Kevin Adams has served as a church planter/pastor in the Sacramento, California, area since 1991. He and his wife, Gerry, began Granite Springs Church in Lincoln, and this congregation has helped to nourish several other church plants. Kevin also serves as a director of the Sierra Leadership Network, a training program for new church leaders.
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