Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said a Christian exists for God and for each other.  This is the basis of our existence! The historical Jesus pointedly embraced them. He called us to love God and neighbours. His relationship with his disciples and those he confronted was in depth, personal and it sometimes brought him tears and frustration.  At times he went beyond the conclave of his friends and dined and ate with those outside the establishment of religion, as well as upsetting  a lot of religious folks of his time for doing so. There he met a lot of broken people and who went on to become great witnesses of reconciliation, pointing people towards God’s favour and grace

 

Some people outside the religious establishment came to Jesus as well enquiring how they can find favour with God. Some accepted and other postponed their possible relationship with God. It seems the challenge is twofold, the call for church folks to move from ‘my space’ to ‘our space’ opening our doors to all, even if it spoils our silence with noisy children or whispering adults who are not used to church environment

 

Let us challenge this space of ours and embrace the people outside this space like Jesus did. By doing so, we are allowing them an avenue to find favour with God in the context of own space. For those outside the religious space, have an enquiring mind, God is there for you too, knock at the church doors, bring your probing questions and you never know you might find the assurance that you have favour with God and this will empower you to live fuller life

 

 

Amen