Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

I’ve been the new kid a lot. Always moving cross-country and showing up wearing the wrong shoes, speaking with the wrong accent, and listening to the wrong music.

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I learned quickly to adapt when necessary. Hiking boots in Montana are pretty essential.

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I also learned to embrace and love who I am. Fountain drinks are Cokes, no matter where in the world you find yourself.

And no matter where we found ourselves, God was always there, waiting for my family and me in whatever new place we were moving to, and I believe he had just as much purpose for us in those new communities as he had for each of us individually in our own faith walks. But until I realized I belonged right where I was, I was just the new kid.

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Unsure of my place and purpose, and unsure of myself.

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The gentiles in Ephesus felt unsure of their place and purpose in a community of Jews who called themselves “the circumcision,” those set apart by God himself according to old promises the Gentiles only knew of through Jewish history. Before believing in Christ, they were outsiders, “foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12).

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“But now in Christ Jesus,” Paul writes, “you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:13).

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Still, they felt like the new kids, and in the midst of their uncertainty, God was there, his Holy Spirit preparing them for their purpose in the family of God.

Paul was a bold truth-communicator and leader, but he was also just one part of a body of believers.

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Sure of himself and his purpose, he faithfully lived into God’s calling on his own life when he wrote this to the gentiles of Ephesus: “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord” (Eph. 2:19-21).

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Paul, having once lived in hostility toward Jesus-following Jews, understood the outsider’s plight (Acts 9:26). His hope for the believers in Ephesus was peace and unity, regardless of the many backgrounds, perspectives, and gifts represented in that body of believers.

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God’s hope for us today is also peace and unity. Regardless of the many backgrounds, perspectives, and gifts represented in this body of believers.

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So, to those of us on the fringe, who show up each Sunday wearing the wrong shoes, saying the wrong things, or worse, feeling invisible, please know that by the blood of Christ you belong. No “new kid feeling” can trump the truth that following Christ makes us a part of his household, no matter where in the world we come from. And there is no need to abandon who you are in Christ to “fit in;” God has a purpose for who you are as an individual (Eph. 2:22), and it is essential to the health of the whole church body (Eph. 4:16).

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And to those of us more established in this body of believers, those of us more sure of ourselves and our purpose in this community, may we, like Paul, faithfully live into God’s calling on our own lives. As bold truth-communicators - as apostles, prophets, evangelists, preachers, and teachers (Eph. 4:11-16) - may we, by word and deed, show the new believers and returning prodigals among us that they belong right where they’re at, in the very household of God.

Dear Jesus, thank you for the blood of your sacrifice, which cleanses us, enlivens us with hope, and makes us members of the family of God. No matter who we are, no matter where we come from, we belong! We matter. We have purpose. May we live into the purpose to help grow our family and to encourage one another. We love you, dear Jesus, and it’s in your name I pray, amen.